I think that the majority of people connected to the internet knows what Angry Birds is. They've either played it on their cell phones, someone's cell phone, their computers, somewhere. They will even be able to play it on Facebook in the near future, making FarmVille and such obsolete. Which, quite honestly, it should be obsolete anyway, because FarmVille is about as interesting a replacing the batteries in my wireless mouse.
So, knowing that there are millions of Angry Birds players out there must make the creator of the game, Peter Vesterbacka, feel pretty good. However it doesn't excuse him from making a tool of himself in public.
Vesterbacka said that consoles are dead, due to overpriced games and hardware upgrades. Now, I can agree that throwing down sixty dollars on an X-Box 360 game (come on, Microsoft, they are on DVD's, just like your last console) is far too much to ask when the economy is in such dire condition as it is, but his statement is insane.
Let's look at it this way--console gamers usually couldn't care less about a casual game like Angry Birds. Most of them are too busy playing brown FPS's with overpowered tanks for characters to notice that such a thing even exists. The market of the average console game developer and the casual game developer are completely different, and they are able to sell their games to their audiences effectively enough that both can co-exist peacefully on opposites sides of the giant country of gaming.
Now that the obvious out of the way, I'm going to point a giant finger at the elephant that is sitting in the corner that everyone else just seems to ignore--Rovio Mobile, the studio responsible for the cell phone crack addiction, is porting their million dollar effort over to consoles.
Alright, Pete, I'm dying for your explanation on this one--why are you spearheading a series of console ports if you think that the console gaming industry is dying? It doesn't make much sense. Especially since stand alone retail versions of major casual titles usually die on the shelves because people can already play those games for free on their computers, thanks to advertising paying for the experience. If you need proof for that, head over to your local GameStop, or equivalent game shop, and look at the Wii shelves. At least 75% of the Wii library is made up of these simple games, remade and recolored for release as a way to milk that money machine a bit further, all in all making the market overcrowded with games that just aren't selling. Just because you can move several million dollar downloads doesn't mean your game is bullet proof in the console market.
Between the arrogant statement, and their trio of console versions, I'm not sure that the folks over at Rovio Mobile are thinking very clearly about their future in game development. Sure, you don't really have anything to worry about financially when you finally bury your corporation in the coming years, but you are just another one hit wonder in the gaming world. As a console gamer, I couldn't care less about your inevitable downfall. Sure, Angry Birds is fun. It's a quick to pick up and play game that is fun if you are on the go, and don't really want to break out the DS/PSP. But trust me, there will be other games. Your work isn't going to last forever. Think about that, Pete and Co. This is a fast moving industry, and you will be victim to it like so many developers before you.
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