I'd like to write and let you know Computer Games
is a great magazine. I've read a few issues over the years and thought CG
had a great viewpoint of what's going on in the PC gaming industry. I
swung by the CG booth at this year's E3, grabbed a free issue, and was impressed
by the new layout. I finally ponied up for a subscription, and the
September issue found it's way to my doorstep and crawled right under my
skin. Phil Steinmeyer's Inside The Sausage Factory was condescending and
out of place in what I'd otherwise consider to be an excellent
publication.
Mr. Steinmeyer seems to have a bone to pick with
the first-person action genre. I agree, FPS games hog much of the glory in
this industry and steal the spotlight from strategy games like Tropico;
however, that depends on where you get your news from. Voodoo Extreme
(www.voodooextreme.com) and Blue's News
(www.bluesnews.com) rode in on the
first wave of FPS games and have an audience with certain expectations.
They've managed to branch out beyond action games but, for the most part, people
who visit those sites expect and are served news which suits their needs.
Perhaps Mr. Steinmeyer would feel better visiting Strategy Planet (www.strategyplanet.com) which is quite
robust and lives outside the influence of the FPS genre.
NPD Intelect (www.npd.com) sales statistics support Mr. Steinmeyer's assertion
"strategy games aren't just nudging out other genres--this is a full-scale rout"
to a degree. Tribes 2 and Serious Sam held the 11th and 18th
positions for May of this year while all the "Top 10" games landed squarely
outside the first-person genre. Mr. Steinmeyer continued to claim
"strategy games occupy seven of the top 10 slots." That's a little hard to
swallow with the ambiguous Sims titles and Black & White
claiming much of the space. Diablo II was firmly seated in the
10th slot.
With two titles in the Top 20 for the month of May,
it would seem Mr. Steinmeyer is correct and the FPS genre is decreasing in
size. The future may only hold about 3 or 4 major titles per year for
action fans, but that's the way it's always been. A handful of
*quality* games are released each year which copycat developers try to imitate
with varying degrees of success. Remember DOOM? The only thing which
has changed is we're not blessed with all the clones, and that's a good
thing.
FPS games still lack the statistical brawn of Mr.
Steinmeyer's Tropico, so he'd have all the "younger" and "vocal" first-person
shooter fans abandon their PC gaming systems for PS2 and Gamecube
consoles. Being a professional 32 year old who happens to donate a
considerable amount of time to an enthusiast computer site, I don't
appreciate being pigeon-holed and coerced away from my PC. Consoles have
their place in this world and I may spend plenty of time reaching out to ping
someone in first-person, but I also play sports, sim, light RPG, and strategy
games. If I continue to buy one game each month and there are only 3 or 4
major action titles each year, the rest of my money will be spent on other
games including some from the strategy genre. Does he really
want me to take my money and walk away form the PC?
Mr. Steinmeyer may feel better if strategy games
captured a few more headlines, but I don't think he needs to vent his
frustrations by alienating the FPS genre or it's fans. He should be
satisfied with his accomplishments and not seek blood from gamers, not to
mention other game software companies. There's enough Console VS PC
arguments being slung around, and we don't need one of our own game developers
adding fuel to the fire. If Mr. Steinmeyer is really burning for more
attention, have him fill out his staff with John Romero. I hear he's
looking for work...