Sort of like Spider Man (the movie) is to Spider Man (the old comic book) -- Metroid Prime (the GameCube game) is to Metroid (the original Nintendo game). I loved the old, in both cases, and the new is amazingly a thousand times cooler.
But that's not what this entry is about. What I wanted to address is the shift in focus on video gaming. The GameCube comes with four controller ports. The games that we got for it (aside from Metroid Prime...) become more fun the more people you have playing.
This is a great step forward for video games, but it is not the only change happening. The bulk of the market for video games is still the ultra-realistic violent or sports games. Aimed at single, male players. And generally imbued with very little plot or real strategy.
Real life is about stories. And family life is a cooperative story. Why don't we see more games like that? Even most of the GameCube games (vaunted earlier as great examples of the progress in video gaming) are simple, skill-based games.
I think this is the idea I love most about Alternate Reality Games -- they are almost nothing but story! When a game company hires twelve 3d animators and three engine programmes and one writer, we have a problem. When a game requires a team of six writers and then a tech guy or two to pull it off, that's a much more promising mix.
Ender's game, the Giant's Drink, is the game I most want to play. But until the computer can write, I want to see a team of writers (or one very hard-working writer) supporting the ongoing development of a plot. Interacting with characters.
ARGs as presently constituted are more about advertising than fun. A truly fun ARG would likely start a huge shift in gaming as we know it.
So, as soon as I get fired, that's what I'm starting. :o)
The Citizen Project.