Ben-DutkaPerhaps it's all a matter of perspective. Many will say the "golden age" of gaming was a good 25-35 years ago but Warren Spector says in fact, it might be right now .
The creator of Deus Ex , Thief , System Shock , and most recently, Epic Mickey , told VideoGamer that currently, the industry is "in a great place."
"Actually, I think that this is kind of a Golden Age. I can make a Wii-exclusive game featuring Mickey Mouse. Someone else can make an all-original $100m MMO. I've got friends who are literally working alone on indie games that have no prospect of profit or commercial success. I've got guys working on iPhone games.
There are so many ways to reach an audience now, and so many platforms. There's downloadable stuff, Facebook games. Anybody who can't find a way to fit into the game business, who wants to be in the game business now, or anybody who can think of a games style for which there is no market… I mean wow, you're way more creative than I am!"
Variety is indeed the spice of life and Spector goes on to say there's "something for everyone, which means there's something for every developer to do that's meaningful for them, that will ignite their passion." Now that gaming has gone mainstream, and it's probably not hard to find the head cheerleader and the quarterback playing video games in their spare time (could be on the iPhone or Facebook, or it could be Guitar Hero ), the industry is in a very different place.
We tend to focus on the cutting edge, progressive-oriented, zillion-dollar budget titles but as Spector said, there's so much more out there. Game designers really have free reign to target whomever they wish, however they wish. In that way, maybe this is a Golden Age or, at the very least, a Renaissance of sorts.
