Excellent Gaming Editorials: 1UP.com’s “What If” Alternate Realities in the Videogame Industry!
We don’t usually plug editorials from other gaming sites, but 1UP tends to churn out some truly excellent ones. The recently splurged with very thought-provoking “What If” scenarios in the gaming industry, turning the tides of history by exploring the most game-changing (pun intended) points over the past three decades. Three scenarios really caught my eye and may bring in some interesting discussions on what might have been:
1) What If Shigeru Miyamoto Chose to Pursue Manga not Games?
2) What If the SNES CD Add-on by PlayStation Came Through?
3) What If Square Never Left Nintendo During the n64 Era?
I highly recommend you give all three a read. I especially loved the Nintendo/PlayStation scenario. Really insightful stuff and some of the best editorials I’ve read in a long while.
The real history behind the Play Station is extremely interesting, and had the partnership not fallen apart I really wonder how successful it would have been. The main problem with the deal was that Sony would get all the money from games developed on the CD add-on, and given it was cheaper than SNES carts, why would anyone make SNES carts? I still don’t understand how Nintendo’s lawyers didn’t see that as a potential problem. That device was doomed to fail from day one because of logistics over anything else.
As for these articles, really fun stuff :)