LFTE: Attending My Own Funeral (April 11)

Every year, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts my favorite video game event of the year, the D.I.C.E. Summit. It is the ideal affair for many reasons, especially because it brings a cross-section of the video game industry into one place to hear and see what the people that drive the companies that drive the industry think.

This includes backward-looking panels, forward-looking speeches, and some sessions that don't say anything at all. You never know what you are going to get, but it is always an interesting look at all the known reaches of the video game universe, including mobile, social, and the core games that I consider the greatest expression of the medium. Not to say that I don't appreciate a good mobile or social game, they just aren't as near and dear to my heart as the next big-budget console or PC game.

As I realized at the conference, mobile and social titles fill a different void in my gaming life. As EA Mobile VP of worldwide studios Travis Boatman pointed out, mobile games aren't just people filling in spare moments in their daily lives, they are an entertainment destination of their own. This is true of all the avenues the industry is heading, and is a testament to the power of games.

Case in point: I don't just watch television shows anymore. The first lull in the program, I break out my phone to catch up with work, read something online, or fire up one of the many games I take with me everywhere. Usually before I know it I'm more invested in the game than the show I sat down -to -watch.

Games were the surprise hit for the iPhone. Games were the surprise hit for Facebook. I'm going to go ahead and say games in whatever form are going to define all the technology we use in the future as well. That future is self-evident when you look at how many elements of our lives are filled with achievement points and badges for accomplishing the most mundane things. Gameification is happening everywhere, from frequent flier miles to making restaurant reservations.

For all my good feelings about the power of games and its future control of the human race, I can't help but get the sense that many game executives and game developers are pulling away from the beloved core game, at least to some degree, in favor of these casual alternatives. The social and mobile game spaces are different in all the ways that game executives love. They are easy to develop, cheap in comparison, and even a simple game where you shoot pigs with a slingshot can garner major motion picture interest.

I don't think triple-A super releases are going away anytime soon, but remember there are a lot more moms spending their afternoon playing whatever "-ville" game they love instead of watching Oprah than there are core gamers buying the next big thing. If you want the core games to keep coming, show the industry you care by throwing your support behind the elite blockbusters (and not just first-person shooters). I know I couldn't live without them. Trust me when I say some of the D.I.C.E. sessions made me feel like I was attending my own funeral.