Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Lost Planet 2 Producer Hopes Casual Players Pull An 'Anakin'
During a Lost Planet 2 presentation in Honolulu, Hawaii last week, producer Jan Takeuchi spoke about casual gamers’ responses to Lost Planet 2. Would you believe me if I told you that Takeuchi expects casual players to derive fun in the game by pulling off cool feats by accident?
Much like when the young Anakin Skywalker single-handedly and accidentally destroyed a gigantic enemy star base, Takeuchi believes casual Lost Planet 2 players are given so many weapons and toys that they are bound to do something spectacular.
“There’s a lot of things that the player can do that they can’t do in other games like [Call of Duty],” said Takeuchi.
“There’s all these vehicles to ride, sorts of outrageous weapons, the more things a player can do, the more of a chance they have of actually doing something on accident or by coincidence,” he explained. “You could launch a rocket just to see what the rocket launcher looks like and you accidentally hit an enemy. You could be trying to do something else and in the process dodge an incoming enemy attack.”
“We get a lot of feedback as well from the Japan side where most of the people don’t play a lot of shooters if they play anything at all,” Takeuchi continued. “Yet they still seem to be enjoying themselves a lot, so we have evidence to make us think that it’s more open for casual users than it might appear on the surface.”
Before you cry foul on behalf of all serious gamers who complain endlessly after succumbing to a “lucky shot,” Takeuchi also clarified the statement. “If we’re going to put a really fine point on it we’re talking more of a casual subgroup from within the larger culture of relatively hardcore gamers,” he said. “They already have the hardware, etc.”
We’ve all been on either side of the situation. Maybe you climbed into a mechanized Vital Suit and pushed a button not knowing what it does. A second later and you’re staring at a smoking crater with a “+10 kills” on the screen. Or maybe you’re in the smoking crater. Either way, inexperienced players lend a quality of chance to online matches congested with snooty “pros.” It’s very cool that Takeuchi encourages this type of experimentation.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
