Friday, March 21, 2008

Triumph of the Game Seller.

by Anand Ramachandran




Huzzah.



I've been spending the past month or so holed up in a flat in Mumbai with five other guys. Two comics artists, two filmmakers, and Aditya Khanna. Now, they're all playing games!



Evenings used to consist of a lot of TV watching. The usual. Annoying news with gratuitous graphics. Bollywood beauties shaking a leg. Whatever.



Until, a few weeks ago, I stocked up the flat with a pile of XBOX 360 and PS3 games. The rest is history. Now, every evening sees a respectable two hours or so of FIFA 08, Burnout, and , god bless us all, DOA 3! Everyone loves breast physics! And games!



My point is actually this - it's not that difficult to get people playing games. None of my flatmates are regular gamers, and some of them haven't played a videogame since childhood, making them pretty much n00bs by any standards. Yet, after just a little taste, they're enjoying it and looking forward to it.



Why? A few reasons :
  • The experience was delivered to them. In a comfortable, relaxed situation.
  • The subject matter of the games they were introduced to was familiar. Football. Racing. Martial Arts. I didn't have as much success with games like Mass Effect, Gears of War, or even Portal - they lost interest quickly.
  • The games they play are high quality games. No lame-ass titles. Only top-drawer stuff.



A lesson here for retailers? Hmmmm . . . . . .

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