Interview: Bill Kunkel — The Game Doctor - Page 5

BK: Yeah, I guess they shoot them quickly and they go home with many thousands of dollars for a week or so's work.

RF: Must be nice! I recall that you're into titles that take a minute to learn and lifetime to master. It seems Nintendo is taking that direction with some of their DS titles. They've also expressed interest in doing the same with their Revolution console. Are you excited or appalled?

BK: I'm... intrigued. When it was first released, I thought the DS had all the potential in the world, but I don't hear any real buzz for it. I like the fact that they appear to have simplified their Revolution controllers because it was just getting ridiculous. I have no idea how anybody can play with an Xbox controller — all those buttons, analog joysticks, directional commands, yadda yadda yadda...

RF: Everybody knows how to use a TV remote.

BK: As PC and home games have moved closer, the console gamers have been forced to use the sort of complex, multi-command interfaces favored by PCs — since they have keyboards.

RF: Yeah.

BK: I thought the N64 controller was just about perfect.

RF: And not every gamer has the money to shell out for console keyboards if they're offered at all... the N64 claw!

BK: Then everybody jumped the shark.

RF: I thought the Dreamcast controller was just about perfect for 3D stuff, especially racing games.

BK: Yeah, what a sad story that system was.

RF: Yeah, to say I was upset when they killed that system is an understatement. Dreamcast had the second most successful console launch in history behind the PS2.

BK: It just shows how foolish is our obsession with "the specs" of each new system really is. The most elegant machine often loses its round because of pricing, marketing and, of course, a lack of killer app titles. Remember the 3DO?

RF: In Sega's case it was a history of console failures. Of course! 3DO made sense on paper, design a console and let a third party manufacturer take the risk. Trip Hawkins has come up with some great ideas.

BK: Trip Hawkins wrote the most brilliant business plan — people who were there still marvel at it. But you can't price the thing at $700 or whatever — it was like asking the early adopters: "Okay, so just how big a tool ARE you?"

RF: Yeah, it was $700.

BK: It's one of the oldest and surest axioms of the game business: You can't sell a console list at a SRP higher than $300. Just can't do it.

RF: I'm with you...until this gen. $300 isn't what it used to be but obviously a lot of people are still with you, Microsoft for one. That $299 core system for 360 is a load of crap.

Article Author: Rob Faraldi

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