Peter Moore Hints at “Episodic Gaming”

We’ve all seen more game sequels lately than we can shake a controller at, let alone play, so when Xbox architect Peter Moore recently hinted at episodic gaming on the 360 my first question was; aren’t we already there? Moore made this statement in an interview with MTV, and the implications for gaming are tremendous.

We already rush to the stores as the floodgates opening on Atlantis every time there’s a new re-hash of our favorite franchise title. The only difference between this and serial gaming is the increase in frequency, and the obvious decrease in play time per release. The markets have already proven they have an interest in small chunks of content. For instance, Apple Itunes recently added some T.V. shows to its selection, available for $1.99 each. Also, experiments have been made on Xbox Live, including the purchasable Halo 2 map packs.

I hate to admit that I’m one of the suckers that actually bought the Halo 2 pack pack. Yea, the one that was going to be released for free in one month. Yikes! The dangers of one or two dollar releases on Xbox Live to my pocket book are astounding.

How did we end up with these 20-50 hour long monstrosities of games anyway? Every other form of entertainment on the planet tends to run from 1-4 hours . . . including opera. Also, there aren’t too many pastimes that cost quite so much per chunk of investment, especially pastimes aimed at younger participants. Do gamers have some sort of super-attention span that other sections of the population don’t? Do gamers have more money than other entertainment buffs? The answer is no in both cases.

I think that episodic gaming is more than overdue with the rash of expensive sequels and the exploding penetration of broadband. The only question really left is which company will corner the market first.