The way Gaming is presented compared to other mediums.

[AppleQueso]

After a derail in another thread, I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread about this. I wasn't sure if it should go in Games As Culture or in General Gaming, but a mod can move it if they feel it doesn't belong in here.

Gaming is treated very differently from other media.

• Console exclusivity is unique to gaming. Movies and Music on the other hand aren't tied to specific hardware manufacturers or platforms. Only thing that changes are the media formats, and most Movies/Music are made available on any format that's relevant at the time of release.
• Re-releases of old games are expected to be priced significantly less than new games. Again, this is in contrast to Movies and Music, where old movies are re-released and albums are reissued at the same price points as their modern counterparts.
• Historically, Game reviews have read more like product evaluations than content reviews, which is something you typically only see in Movies/Music when comparing different releases of specific films/albums. This is slowly changing however.

These are mostly just observations. This is focused mainly on movies and music, however similar comparisons can also be made with books, etc. Feel free to post any other examples you might think of.

What do you think? Should gaming strive to be more like other media in the way its presented and consumed? Should gaming strive to be even more separated from other media?

[Ivo]

It seems to me that the differences you have identified are all tied together with the technological requirements of games, compared to those of the other mediums (the tech. reqs. of games I guess are also associated to some extent with games being interactive).

[BoringSupreez]

[*]Re-releases of old games are expected to be priced significantly less than new games. Again, this is in contrast to Movies and Music, where old movies are re-released and albums are reissued at the same price points as their modern counterparts.

I think this would be because of how gaming technology improves at a very rapid rate compared to music and movies.

[jfrost]

• Console exclusivity is unique to gaming. Movies and Music on the other hand aren't tied to specific hardware manufacturers or platforms. Only thing that changes are the media formats, and most Movies/Music are made available on any format that's relevant at the time of release.

It should be said that they tried exclusivity a few times in other mediums. Amazon has closed off their Kindle to only .mobi format and Apple has tried to use a different standard for their store. Amazon has caught flak for their practices, but still does them, and Apple has backed off.

I just hate this exclusivity thing so much. I wish there was a single agreed upon standard companies could make games for. If games need motion controls, by all means sell the motion controls also. But have a basic technology that can run the bare minimum of games.

I get bored with console wars and lately I can't even bother to follow hardware news. These console reveal conferences annoy me. Because consoles aren't what matters. The games are. I just wish these multiple standards would get out of the way.

The PS4 and Xbox One being built with off the shelf parts give me hope, though. It's probably going to be the less exclusive console generation ever (considering also that the Wii U is catering to the same types of players).

[Jmustang1968]

After a derail in another thread, I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread about this. I wasn't sure if it should go in Games As Culture or in General Gaming, but a mod can move it if they feel it doesn't belong in here.

Gaming is treated very differently from other media.

• Console exclusivity is unique to gaming. Movies and Music on the other hand aren't tied to specific hardware manufacturers or platforms. Only thing that changes are the media formats, and most Movies/Music are made available on any format that's relevant at the time of release.
• Re-releases of old games are expected to be priced significantly less than new games. Again, this is in contrast to Movies and Music, where old movies are re-released and albums are reissued at the same price points as their modern counterparts.
• Historically, Game reviews have read more like product evaluations than content reviews, which is something you typically only see in Movies/Music when comparing different releases of specific films/albums. This is slowly changing however.

These are mostly just observations. This is focused mainly on movies and music, however similar comparisons can also be made with books, etc. Feel free to post any other examples you might think of.

What do you think? Should gaming strive to be more like other media in the way its presented and consumed? Should gaming strive to be even more separated from other media?

A topic we could possibly bring up in the next show. Maybe pose a question for us ?? heh