Letter to the editor:

by me. I letter to the editor I wrote in response to this column from the Post, which is Ohio Univeristy's student-run newspaper.

And, yes, I am so excited for the Unfinished Swan (mentioned below) to come out at some point. Should contact the developer for an interview :3

Post Letter: Gaming column forgets quality low-budget titles
10/14/2009 11:15:00 PM	Email this article • Print this article
Letter to the Editor As a video game enthusiast, I love seeing games covered in newspapers and general interest publications. But I felt Greg Mercer's last column could've used a little more research, and a bit more of a solution to finding those smaller-priced, but still high-quality niche titles he's looking for. Pointing out how the movie and game industries alike roll much of their budgets toward triple-A titles is always worthwhile, but the smaller, lower-budget games have been in the market for at least the last three to five years. A look into gaming's last few years could've revealed (and recommended to readers) lower-budget games available on consoles and online. Many of these games are available on online services each current-generation console offers in the $15 and under price range: the Nintendo's WiiWare store (i.e., LostWinds, World of Goo), Sony's PlayStation Network (PixelJunk Eden, Echochrome), and Xbox's Xbox Live (Braid, Castle Crashers). Desktop Tower Defense, Line Rider, and N+ are all popular online, Flash-based games that were ported to different platforms, promising to suck up your free time not just at your PC at work, but your game consoles at home. Most of these titles may be more familiar to the hardcore gaming crowd, and maybe not so much to the "general public," but the general, console-owning public could probably find these games accessible and enjoyable. PopCap Games, a successful company that makes games of non-blockbuster, but profitable proportions, has been dominating the casual gaming market with titles like Bejeweled, Zuma and, more recently, Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle. The article also seemed to confuse what defines blockbuster, niche and casual games. Wii Fit is not a "smaller, niche-level game." I can't even begin to guess how much money Nintendo poured into research and development alone on this product that aims its $89.99 suggested retail price squarely at the casual gaming crowd. The gaming renaissance has been here for a while with the slew of "indie" games that gained recognition in the industry, just as independent films are occasionally recognized in their respective medium. Video games have so much more to offer beyond Halo, Mario, Zelda and Rock Band. Don't just tell disinterested readers that - show them. P.S. - Kudos to the editor who put in the note about GoldenEye 007, which did garner "Game of the Year" awards and other accolades for the year of its 1997 release. If you had an N64, that game most likely remains in some fragment of your childhood memories. Remember multiplayer Moonraker-only showdowns? Good times. P.P.S. - An indie game to get excited about is The Unfinished Swan. Watch the game demo online. Meghan Ventura is a senior studying journalism.