168 So Many Explosions

E3 is upon us once again, and with it comes a downpour of new trailers, announcements, and exciting tidbits of news to consume. And wherever video games go, violence follows. Playstation’s stage presentation of Call of Duty: Black Ops III was bombastic as ever, riddled with explosions and the heart-pumping intensity we’ve come to expect.

And I can’t deny the appeal of fast paced, action-packed, high strategy gameplay. But I also can’t help but focus on the violence, destruction, death, and general gung-ho army vibes of these types of games. Why is so much harder to create an analogous experience that’s free of the war and destruction dressing.

Let’s put our energy into creating experiences that can compliment the war and destruction titles, but present the concepts differently while maintaining the energy, strategy, and appeal. A good example of this is the recent Wii U release Splatoon. Although it’s still in the “shooting things” wheelhouse, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Even so, there’s no reason the experiences need to “dumbed down” or presented using a children’s aesthetic to achieve differentiation.

We can make more immersive game experiences for adults that aren’t centered around guns.

#game-opinion