Around one year ago, I put up the ‘Blue Ocean Articles’ that are found on the main site. They were first graciously hosted on Infendo and then I made a free site here at 50webs which hosted them (so if someone wanted to read them, they didn’t have to dig through Infendo archives). A year ago, this site was completely white with links to those articles.
At the time, the Wiikly was over. The ‘Blue Ocean Articles’ meant that I could write it however I wanted (Wiikly had an editor). I thought that since gaming is a fantastical medium, why can’t its articles be a little fantastical as well? This is why those articles veer toward the crazy. Why can’t gaming articles be a narrative? Why can’t gaming articles be a little more dramatic? I always think it is good to differentiate, to explore different possibilities.
I’m the type of person who LOVES reading something on the Internet that offers a new context, a new lens, for seeing something. It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree with it, the different context makes me think. The more entertaining it is written, so much the better. I’m happiest with a mug of something hot and a meal while reading something *fascinating*. Of course, fascinating things do not appear all the time. It is always a joy to read something like that. And I always want to make articles like that. Something where when a person is sick of reading message posts and is generally a slow news day, they can come to a favorite site and read something in the archive to entertain them.
I’d like to mention the context in how the Blue Ocean Articles were written…
Drowning in the Blue Ocean– This article appeared before E3 2007. We kept hearing ‘Blue Ocean’ all the time from Nintendo, but no one seemed interested in diving into and trying to get at the guts of it. There was also much talk about what ‘New Generation’ was. So the article attempts to go more into depth with ‘Blue Ocean’. The most important part of it is the ‘value map’ of different consoles per generation. I thought it was interesting how the NES and Wii had values totally different than their competitors.
Fool’s Paradise– As the consoles launched, we kept getting rained by analyst quotes and predictions. Naturally, they all said PS3 would win overwhelmingly. Why? Technology. I strung all their quotes together and put on a stage as if they were some elitist royalty. Why did I do this? The Internet has a short memory, and I didn’t want analysts to get away with saying ‘PS3 is so awesome, 360 is awesome too, Nintendo’s Revolution? Psssthhh!’ when I knew they would suddenly start saying the reverse. However, just listing the quotes isn’t enough so framing it in that type of ‘royal court dialogue’ was entertaining… at least to me. The Chorus and Shakespeare quotes were more of my desire of ‘fantastical’ since gaming is a fantastical medium. It is fun to be fantastical and, hopefully, it is fun to read.
Iwata’s GDC 2006 quote of the New Market being ‘an explorer who had set foot on a new continent’ really stuck in my mind as it really went with the whole ‘Blue Ocean’ thing. I love metaphors and have a habit of thinking more metaphorically (perhaps too much) than I should. So I thought to myself, “Why do articles have to always be seperate? Why can’t they be connected like a saga or trilogy?” So the idea with the four remaining articles was to literally represent the idea of Iwata, being a Columbus, discovering a new continent. Then, the old continent, filled with riches and decadence, of streaming spires and majestic cities, would slide into the ocean. The hardcore would scream and would be drowned out by the Blue Ocean. At this point, the ‘Fool’s Paradise’ refers to the illusionary world of the old continent. Iwata even appears in the article dressed like Columbus.
A Rising Continent– What is interesting about the Wii, unlike most other consumer products, is that Nintendo executives were very open and blatant about their strategy. Again, I put all of the quotes, mostly Iwata’s, and put it on a stage. This time, it was divided by time so you could see what Iwata was saying in 2003, 2004, 2005, etc. At the end of the article, the New Continent appears which throws a tidal wave on the Old World, smashing the Kutaragi statue (i.e. he ‘resigns’), and the ‘party’ of the hardcore ends in sudden concern.
Washing the Hardcore Away– The hilarious consequence of E3 2007 was that the hardcore went mad over Wii Fit. “It is the end of gaming!” they all cried. When newspapers and other outlets praised Nintendo’s conference when the hardcore hated it, they became even more stirred up (which was why Wii Bingo was made because they became so predictable). The hardcore were just begging to be mocked. To those who think this was ‘offensive’, keep in mind that no one, to my knowledge, was mocking the hardcore at that time. Instead, everyone was bashing ‘casuals’ and ‘non-gamers’. Why should hardcore be allowed to attack other gamers, especially the new innocent ones? So this is why the hardcore are depicted as ‘foaming at the mouth’ and all. I believe humor, in order to be funny, has an element of truth in it. It was funny because it was partially true. At the end, Malstrom and a hardcore venture off to the New World and discover that the Blue Ocean had become a ‘Green Ocean’ with dollar bills growing from the ground and all. The unstable and growing nature of the island forced them to retreat (and drowns the hardcore).
The New World– This article explores Iwata’s ‘new continent’. I thought the previous articles were too anchored by quotes so that is why this one is almost entirely dialogue. The bigger purpose was to try to connect the NES and the Wii which is why the characters get in a delorean and go through time. The future of regular games being on one side and the ‘new games’ being on another side was based on how the DS, in Japan, had divided its stores. The mention of economic decline STRENGTHENING gaming and even fueling the mainstream adoption of gaming (likened to the Great Depression making pinball popular) was made before the Credit Crisis and all. And what has happened? Despite the panics in the American economy, the Wii systems are still sold out and putting out amazing monthly numbers. Some people take everything in this article to be a ‘serious prediction’, some of it was just fun. We hear Nintendo say they target ages 5-95. That is why in the article, an old Reggie declares it is time to make games for the younger than 5. There are legal reasons why this will likely never happen, but it is just delightful nonsene. If I wrote this article today, I probably would have the ‘hardcore’ take the deLorean back in time and attempt to assassinate the Wii ‘in order to save gaming’ with Malstrom having to hunt them down and fix history before the universe collapses from a time paradox.
When it came time to do the Disruption Articles, they took a more serious and academic tone. This was only possible because the Blue Ocean Articles got the craziness out of my system. Interestingly, some people say they missed the ‘narratives’ and ‘dialogues’. Don’t worry, they’ll be back for the Luddology section (everything I have read about Luddology has been academic, scientific, and boring. It will be fun to try the opposite).
Reader reactions to the Blue Ocean Articles have interestingly changed over time.
First, Malstrom was labeled a viral marketer. Why would anyone possibly write so much about Nintendo’s strategy and hail it?
Before ‘Birdmen’ came out (early 2008), I was even getting emails from people complaining that the ‘grand metaphor’ of Old World sinking to the New World with screaming hardcore didn’t seem to be happening. I told these people to wait a little longer.
When Wii Fit came out, the idea of a ‘sinking Old World gaming continent’ didn’t seem so strange anymore. Still, it was seen as little over the top.
Now, after E3 2008, no one is laughing.
You might ask, “Malstrom, why are you making an anniversary post on your articles? Don’t you think this is a little silly? Don’t you think you will appear narcissistic and all?” Remember, once an article goes up, it does not get its content changed. I believe we are in a historic time, and the articles are like messages in a bottle, like time capsules, sent to the future to myself. I will look back and see what I got right and wrong to better my own education.
The reason for this post is to show how fast things have changed. The idea of core gaming collapsing and being replaced was seen as absurd back then which is why I got called a fanatic and viral marketer. A year later, such a metaphor is generally accepted by many people who do sense a massive change going on. And we can all hear the hardcore screaming louder and louder
If things have changed so much in one year, think about the next year. In 2009, what might be seen as ‘radical’ could become ‘standard’. And what is conventional wisdom today will become laughed at 12 months from now.
Things are changing faster than anyone suspected.
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