Cheeseburger Logic

Cheeseburger Logic



So earlier this month, I had the rare (get it) opportunity to have a Kobe beef burger. Now I’m not sure if it was beef just from the region of Kobe , or if it was simply beer-fed and butt-massaged cow from somewhere in the Union (probably the latter, due to FDA regulations). But this doesn’t matter, what matters is that it was perhaps the most delicious cheeseburger, transcendent on so many, many levels. It didn’t need ketchup, the natural aroma and flavors and juices were sufficient to tickle my senses and delight my palate.



So let’s think of a moment of cheeseburgers. There are these rare (get it now) burgers which are fairly expensive, and then let’s look at the McDonald’s cheeseburger. Both contain similar ingredients with remarkably different results. One costs a lot of money and is very good. The other one costs very little and isn’t so good.



The simple fact of the matter with video games is that casual games are selling better than hardcore games. Quantity is winning out over quality, which causes many in the speculative internets to decry the value of leaving the core gamer behind. This, as I am hungry for a cheeseburger, got me thinking about the mutual existence of the McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger and the Kobe Beef Burger.



The first and most obvious fact is that both exist. The other simple fact is that the double cheeseburger finds its way to many more mouths. There is an argument amongst food elites (aka the French/snobs/yuppies) that hot wax would be preferable to the taste of McDonalds’ offering, and that everyone should imbibe only the finest cattle when placating their palate.



They are wrong on so many levels, as are the doomsayers about video games.



The simple fact is that casual games, like McDonald’s Double Cheeseburgers, are initiates to the wider world of burgerdom/ gamedom. There is a marked gap in quality, but in a busy market (and it is very, VERY busy) not everyone can afford the Kobe Beef, the Playstation 3 80 gb with Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle. It is simply not in the budget!



Now to further complicate matters, gamers are reacting lividly to the current direction of the market by companies such as Nintendo. To the food snob this is akin to your favorite local bistro being razed for a Wendy’s. The quiet air, modern salt shakers, and keen lighting to be replaced by fluorescents, grease, and the squeals of children getting their Kids’ Meal.



But unlike the razing of the restaurant, Nintendo is finding the money, and is finding it in droves. McDonald’s has a core audience of regular customers who genuinely love the quality, texture, and taste of their offerings, but they also have a stable of people who just need a quick and cheap meal, and why not wash that down with some high margin Diet Coke?



In the world of food, we call this a success story.



What gamers fail to consider is that the cost of producing games is higher than ever. There is a lot of bloat, and not a lot of cost control. Games that should take on a medium role are given a much larger marketing budget, eroding profits and quality in the sake of deadlines. This is not a new phenomenon, it has happened in many businesses and will happen before. Game companies that could rely on one or two marquee titles to prop up their entire fiscal solvency will find themselves on the ropes should one of their products languish.



This is, to be quite honest, dumb. There is more money in a McDonald’s than in a custom eatery. The market is going to have to learn flexibility.



High end game companies such as Square and Blizzard produce products with longer than average shelf lives, and the key for them is to control costs comparable to returns. What they will find is that they, much like the chef who dreams of gourmands extolling the virtues of his/her kitchen, will have to have a level playing field of tools, product, and labor, and above all a higher but acceptable price point, in order to get people to spend money on their cheeseburger.



On the flip side, companies that produce a middling product (Ubisoft, Ubisoft, and Ubisoft) are going to concentrate on the more casual market because they, whether you like them or not, have many mouths to feed. They have more labor, and the high cost route has burned them. Granted, this is in no small part due to heinous marketing decisions, but the mold will fit their company better. More mouths to feed on aggressive schedules.



But No Pants Kid, the gamers are fickle and will tire of these games! They have no loyalty! Flash in the pan, one and done!



Except they do make games, and they make them cheap, and they continue to make money. These are not fun games, but they exist in the same craposphere (love that word) that filled the coffers of the Nintendo and Sega systems. If you had to show, to play those games, how many would you play? Probably no more than 20, because a lot of them are crap. They’re managing their costs and their budgets in a profitable manner.



Now for the jaded gamer, the market is rapidly shifting and they will, too, have to tailor their model with an efficient, lean, but high quality burger. And there will be fewer great games, but that’s fine. There weren’t that many to begin with. They are not system sellers; the current cost of product (ie: the console) has meant that the number of system moving games are going to diminish. Gamers are going to look for the longer term investment. If the restaurant was shit, the service was shit, the service rude, the margaritas room temperature, would your favorite burger joint be as great an appeal?



I would venture, no. Gamers, as in food lovers, will look towards the whole package to decide where to spend their money. The value of the cumulative portfolio of top tier games (Halo, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Ninja Gaiden) is going to out weigh slighter portfolios.



Game companies are going to go through a rough transition of change, the rough, error-prone middle ground of the Playstation 1 and 2 era is going to end. Companies that can carve a niche in this rough ground will find their profits, and companies that do not will languish.



Judging on the sales figures for almost every game company to make this divide, they know what kind of cheeseburgers they’re making.

Nothings Perfect, but why not try?

Metal Gear Solid and GTA: The fourth time is the charm

Let’s talk cinema. Gone with the Wind was filmed in Technicolor, on an inferior grade of film. Its sets and backdrops couldn’t hold water with even the simplest of Mel Brooks comedy. Now Casablanca? No color, there’s grain all over the place, the soundtrack is in mono, and there’s no blood when someone gets shot.

My point?

A perfect score does not equal perfection. It equals as close to perfect as anything can be, a pinnacle worthy of some hyperbole, the mark by which other movies may be judged. These aren’t perfect movies, it’s that in spite of their flaws they manage to transcend their banal medium of celluloid and glitz. That’s what sets them apart. When works of transcendency and wonder do occur, there tends to be a lot of hyperbole about how great a game is. People can and always will find a flaw, and proclamations of perfection is just that. Gamers are not the same group who all owned Super Mario 3 and fell in love with sidescrolling perfection. There’s too many games, too many choices, and too many nuances to ever achieve such universal acclaim. It’s naïve, but not a sin, for people who play video games to extol the virtues of games they consider near perfect. Time will stand up to the critics and the naysayers.

Metal Gear is a game that’s as cinematic as a movie, with engaging characters and enough humor to know when to just be a video game. It’s deep and nuanced for replayability if you have the patience for it (most people don’t). It’s long, but it’s merciful. The load times are amusing AND practical. If you don’t take breaks during the course of this game, well, your eyes or sex life are not long for this world.

Grand Theft Auto is a game that I always assumed as an exercise in anarchy. This game is an exercise in being a thick rubber band. It’s thick and hard to move, but with enough tension things explode and there’s a magnificent twang. There is no voice acting this good in any video game. There are few games that decide to create this kind of world. This game shows where Nintendo goes wrong. It’s not about the maturity level, it’s about the detail. It’s a hell of a ride.

Of the games that come out this year, when you train a designer what to appreciate from this era, when you need to play something that defines an era, this is what they’ll look at.

And that’s as close to perfect as we can get.

And that’s always a 10.