All Games Large and Small

So what is the hot button topic that is one the minds of video game design students. Well my fellow students and I seem to keep coming back to the same topic. All of us have been very intrigued by the idea of smaller scale games on the new consoles and also by the idea of online game delivery systems.

I once brought up the idea of online game delivery systems like Xbox Live Arcade, Valve's Steam and Nintendo's Virtual Console, to my Ludology (Game Studies) instructor Jason MacIsaac webmaster of www.elecplay.com . He went as far to say that online delivery systems like Steam "are the future of gaming".

Not only do these delivery systems make content more accessible for consumers but they seem to have created a whole new gaming market that Sony, Mircosoft and Nintendo are very eager to explore. Let's look at some of the most popular games on Xbox Live. Yeah we know that Halo 2 and Call of Duty: 2 are extremely popular among Xbox Live's subscribers but those who are luck enough to own 360 have shown that smaller scale games like Geometry Wars and UNO can be ridiculously popular.

Now as a game designer I think I would be very happy designing little games that are distributed for little money or even free. Who needs the constant pressure of producing AAA titles. I think that developing really solid casual games is a great way to spread the positive influence of video games to people who don't really see the benefit of video games. This early in my career I don't really know where I'm going to end up in this massive industry but I do know one thing. I have been a life long advocate of this medium and it's power to enrich people's abilities whether it's by improving eye hand co-ordination, problem solving skills, thumb dexterity or the proper way to trash talk at some kid you just owned at Halo 2.