The Art Of The Game

One way publishers are managing their risks is by developing two types of games simultaneously. Koei, whose war-simulation game Kessen combines the pageantry of Akira Kurosawa's epic "Ran" with the in-the-trenches combat of "Saving Private Ryan," is also developing a decidedly non-violent mah-jongg game. "There are two ways of thinking about this," says Koei managing director Kiyoshi Komatsu. "You take a game they already like and make it better. Then you take the new machine and do something different."

Others are taking a chance on online games, which are played over the Internet and until now have been the province of PCs. Square, publisher of the hit franchise Final Fantasy, plans to launch its own worldwide network in the spring of 2001. Called Play Online (or POL), it will offer e-mail, chat, sports scores, downloadable music--and, of course, games, with an eye to attracting a wide audience. "Ultima Online and Everquest are good games, but it's difficult for children to enjoy them," says executive vice president Hironobu Sakaguchi. "What we'll do with Final Fantasy [online] is bring in a story line and effects that will draw in all consumers."

So if everyone's playing games on PlayStation 2, who stands to lose out? First victim: PC games. Sales of console games already dwarf those for PCs, and with piracy rampant in Europe, U.S. developers of PC games can no longer count on that market to prop them up. Of course, diehard PC-game developers have no plans to close up shop just yet, even if that means they have to stop worrying and love the console by making PlayStation 2 games as well. "PCs are always evolving--we're never going to lose our excitement about that," says Mark Rein of Epic Games. But publishers, who often hold the purse strings, disagree. "The PC was never meant to be a game box," says Eidos president Rob Dyer, whose company distributes the popular Tomb Raider series starring Lara Croft. Instead of 20 PC titles this year, Eidos plans to ship only 12 in order to focus more on the next-generation console boxes.

Another company threatened by Sony's new machine is Sega, whose Dreamcast did much better than most people expected after being introduced last fall. Yet it's practically dismissed by Dyer as a "transitional platform" that he's taking advantage of before PlayStation 2 hits these shores. "I actually think they [Sega] should have done better," says Mike Wilson, CEO of PC publisher Gathering of Developers, who's releasing his titles for 2000 in both PC and Dreamcast formats. "Sony limited what they could do, with basically a bunch of press releases," he adds, referring to Sony's highly publicized, vaporware-like announcement of the PlayStation 2 last March.

Fortunately, Sega still has some of the world's best game developers. Crazy Taxi is selling very well, and by year-end, Sega will release Seaman, a virtual pet simulation; Shenmue, an ambitious adventure game/interactive movie; and Chu Chu Rocket, an online puzzle game that will kick off Sega's Dreamcast network--something Sega brags will distinguish it from PlayStation 2 until 2001. Due this fall is arcade guru Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Space Channel 5, in which an MTV VJ-style newsbabe must rescue humans from dancing aliens by mimicking the aliens' moves. (Bonus for '80s-pop fans: rescue Michael Jackson from the little green groovemeisters and he'll join your dance troupe.) Easy to learn yet difficult to master, it's the perfect example of a simple concept brilliantly executed. So if Sega's designers can keep turning out inspired games, they may just survive Sony's onslaught.

Still, game developers are explorers at heart, pushing the limits of each system until the next one emerges. Tecmo's Tomonobu Itagaki is extremely proud of his fighting game Dead or Alive 2, which is coming out for Dreamcast in the United States later this year. But having maxed out the graphics capability of the Dreamcast, Itagaki is psyched for the increased realism offered by PlayStation 2: "I can create a more emotional world with more details and more realistic facial expressions. The physics will be more accurate. I'll be able to do smoke, fire and water. With current technology, the thickness of the fog is even throughout. With PlayStation 2, one part can be thin and another thick." Play-Station 2, the ultimate keepin'-it-real machine, seems like it will satisfy these relentlessly inventive designers... until the next paradigm-shifting polygon powerhouse comes along. PlayStation 3, anyone?

© 2000