Jan 28 2009
Netbooks - A New Gaming Platform?
Netbooks are the new hot product in the computer hardware industry. Over 14 million of them sold in 2008, and they are the fastest growing product in computer hardware. They tend to be cheap, they are ultra-portable, and they cannot run high end games. Does this mean they are not a viable gaming platform? Heck no. What it means is MUDs and web based games have ANOTHER platform ripe for customer aquisition. The quest is whether MUDs will fail yet again to jump on such an opportunity. The web game companies out there are pretty shrewd, so I have no doubt they will seize the day.
If you are unfamiliar with Netbooks, then I recommend you read an article I wrote recently that gives you some of the basics: Netbooks vs. Laptops. That article does not go into the potential effects on the gaming industry, however. That’s what this blog post is for.
What Opportunities Do Netbooks Open Up for Gaming?
What are the key components of the Netbook: low price, portability, and low system specs. What type of games fit that profile?
Low Price => High value games. Bai bai big budget, $50 + subscription games.
Low System Specs => Games with low system requirements. Again, big budget games with heavy graphics requirements need not apply. This rules out almost all modern MMOs. It also rules out FPS/action games.
Portability => Games that can be played casually or are at least interruptible. Also, games that are best played with an external mouse are at a disadvantage here. Lugging around a mouse defeats the purpose of portability.
Will Netbooks Give MUDs a Shot in the Arm?
MUDs fit this profile perfectly. They are extremely high value, have the lowest possible system requirements, and most can be played completely at a command line. MUD owners would be wise to jump all over this as fast as possible. Figure out a way to get your game into the minds of people buying netbooks.
My prediction? Not much will happen. Unfortunately, the MUD community is not very unified. Too many MUD administrators snipe at each other, undercut each other, or get consumed by jealousy of the successful games that they would rather sink the whole industry than see a few get ahead. There are, however, some signs of unity in the MUD community. The recent Wikipedia situation with Threshold was indicative of that. If MUD administrators can rally together at all, and work to get the word out to Netbook owners about MUDs, a little growth is possible here.
What About Web/Browser Games?
There is definitely some potential here in the Netbook space. The only downside is many (if not most) web/browser games rely heavily on the mouse. If the game requires any kind of rapid or precise mouse control, the Netbook will not be an ideal platform. Mousepads and little track buttons are fine for basic UI navigation, but not for serious gaming use.
But still, browser games fit all the other categories very well. So there is great potential here.
Verdict
MUDs and Browser Games both have a huge opportunity here. It will be interesting to see if they seize upon it in 2009. What do you think will happen?
http://hommkingdoms.uk.ubi.com/
Even the Heroes of Might and Magic series is going to become a browsergame. The market for big budget MMOs has a raging bull named WoW that not many dare to fight.
I also like the approach. As I was younger and my daddy and mommy still paid the bills for the latest generation of graphics cards, I believed that new games also need to have higher hardware requirements and supposedly better graphics. But gameplay and entertainment are not solely tied to graphics and appearance. Good graphics does not equal or even demand high hardware requirements either.
Browser games are still often rather shallow and often have browser compatibility issues - despite all efforts, each browser still seems to have issues where others work and vice versa.
Browser games can turn into a valuable lesson for game designers: Making a simple yet still complex and interesting game that does not tax hardware overly much and still have appeal in both game design, user interface and eye candy is truly a challenge. Many of the more complex browsergames often end up like an excel-spreadsheet.
WHY NOT… have a isometric 3d-looking 2D world (basically, again, Ultima Online… god, I love this game… forgive me…) with beautifully rendered tiles and player equipment? WHY does a game really need an engine that uses the latest DirectX engine of this or that kind. Are we still in the age where every game has to be “3D” for the sake of being that???
The funny thing is, the icons for tanks, infantry and hex tiles of the age old Panzer General for Windows still look acceptable and nice in 2009. But the semi-3D and full-3D models of tanks and the full 3d map of the later titles, which also sucked in terms of gameplay, besides that, are just utter crap today. Having a tile-based game world perfectly suits the capabilities of a browser game and low hardware requirements.
It is also about time that the full potential of Java gets realized or that it gets improved/replaced. Puzzle Pirates is a good example that you do not need a 3D engine and still look good. Interestingly, it has a certain style, just like WoW has its own comic-style. This is what makes a game look good, if people accept that style in particular. Without the need for a 3d rendered character that can still look awful. EverQuest II has a engine capable of spectacular graphics, but some of their shields, armors and char models are just plain awful, even if they are rendered in 4096×2048 with 16x Antialiasing.
Gamers AND developers are also still hesistant to come up with huge browser game worlds for the explorer type of gamer like me. They somehow do not believe that it is possible or worth it, somehow! Maybe Kingdoms of Might and Magic will change this, who knows!
BTW: If someone can tell me a browsergame with LEGO graphics, basically Ultima Online, and a huge world to explore where I can hack and slash and maybe something besides that, too, I would be happy.
Oblivion : Fallout 3 is like Java : Flash and Bluetooth : WLAN in my book. I have no idea about your experiences with Bluetooth, but I pretty much agree on Java, and I tried and did not like Oblivion either.
I would not mind if Flash would become the standard for web based games. Java is always told to have more potential, but while I was never let down by Flash so far, Java often caused issues or did not work and whatever.
I am unfortunately not a developer, but I could not stop thinking about web based games. People probably still mix them with the minigames in games that we were/are talking about earlier this month.
I wonder how long it takes till someone comes along and takes the “strategic map” of some strategy games or hybrids and adapts it to webbrowsers. HOMM online is already in development for quite some time by now, I cannot remember when they started.
Webgames could also follows Tesh’s favorite idea of alternative payment methods besides subscription or paying once for a singleplayer game.
I will be waiting for Primordiax, despite reading your blog I do not really know what it is all about!
I guess I will play Fallout 3 and/or Mount & Blade for a while and then Mass Effect, I ready too many positive reviews about it - and wonder that none of my friends told me about it.