It seems that another notable game designer thinks this idea has merit, as well.

I think the real problem is games are too hard, too long, too grindy. Yes, by all means, let the consumer skip or cheese through the challenges to get to the story bits; the aforementioned titles would all still work as interactive stories.

I really think that you’re on to something here – there’s a lot of reasons for this to happen, but most importantly, I think it’s because this is really a natural evolution of games. As you hit upon, the mix of interactivity and high quality storytelling are what make games great and both pieces should be celebrated and available for consumption, separate from one another.

Another thing that you bring up that I think has a lot of potential is this idea of being able to “catch up” on a game by using Movie Mode. I think that this could be very helpful in creating new franchises. Sports franchises are relatively easy to create on a recurring basis, once you’ve met with success. They don’t require that the consumer knows the “back story” in order to buy this season’s product. However, episodic games are more of a challenge, because of their back story. Your idea could really assist in making game franchises more easily approachable.

I have long since lost count of the number of games I’ve quit in frustration (Devil May Cry 4 comes to mind as a recent example), but still wanted to know how the story comes out. A simple fic like this would allow me to enjoy the narrative without forcing me to endure a game I no longer like playing.

It’s time for developers to realize that we don’t consume games the same way we consume movies – even short games take many hours, usually broken over days or weeks. A movie is consumed in one sitting. It’s unfair and unreasonable to expect gamers to “watch” games the same way they watch movies.

Recently Warren Spector pointed out that 100-hour games are a bad idea since, as you say, many gamers never finish. “We want you to see the last level,” he said. And this is a way to help realize that goal without affecting the play of the game. Those who wish to challenge themselves can do so, those who just want to see what happens can do that. It’s a simple, perfect idea.

Thanks for the great post!

I really liked Heavenly Sward and particularly enjoyed the characters they created, good dialog, nice interaction and humor. I made it all the way to the big boss at the end of the game but you have a 3 round fight with him and I lost interest after about 2 hours of trying to win the last round.. I gave up. It pissed me off because I am sure the movie sequence that follows the final victory is good, probably wraps the story up nicely and I am sure I would have enjoyed it.

On the flip side..

Having just endured MGS4’s 700 hours of bad dialog movie length cut sequences I also think a movie-less mode would be good.

MGS4 was ok, playing a FGS (First Geriatric Shooter) was a new experience, having the hero stop mid shootout to rub his old back was funny once, annoying many many times. There was good character development but like many action movies it was ruined by the compulsory (and badly written) love affair between the secondary characters.

So, movie mode and movie-less mode… that way the consumer decides what they like in the product.