Todd Howard: Games Industry is in danger of pigeon-holing itself

Bethesda’s Todd Howard has warned that the video game industry is in danger of pigeon-holing itself and is worried about certain consoles being stereotyped, such as the Wii being labelled as a console that only holds games aimed at children, while both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are all about M rated killfests.

”I’m worried the Wii is getting stuck with quick-buck games aimed at children who don’t know any better, and the 360 and PS3 are all about M rated killfests.” said Howard in an interview with AIAS.

”As an industry, we have to make sure the world knows that gaming is for everyone, and not just kids or thirtysomethings who never grew up. “

Howard then went on to talk about how developers can make it easier for first time gamers by figuring out what confuses them, or by making sure the player is having fun while they are in the learning stages of the game.

”Everyone needs to think about the player who is playing for the first time and really figure out what confuses them, or how they can have ‘real fun’ while they learn the game.

“Frustration is the number one reason people of all skill levels stop playing,” he added. ”Everyone needs to get better at the ‘learn-play-challenge’ design ramp.”

What games did you recently play and drop due to frustration? For us it would have to be ShellShock 2: Blood Trails, sorry Mike.