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The Bitmob Writing Challenge asks our community members to craft an article about a specific topic each month, and this time they were put into an odd-couple situation with the Crossover Appeal prompt. I asked Bitmobbers to compare two games of different genres and discuss what they had in common. If you wanted to know how anime high-school students and Tex Avery soldiers, Nintendo slugfests and Harmonix jam sessions, and blobs and wolf goddesses could appeal to the same audience, read these entries and find out.
Rewards for socializing in Persona 4 and Team Fortress 2
By Jonathan Oyama
Persona 4’s social-link system is a clever way to give you tangible rewards for interacting with other characters in a single-player role-playing game. Jonathan argues that, while these interactions are only with the game’s A.I., they aren’t that different from how you gain weapons and items from your real-life Team Fortress 2 comrades. All you need to do to succeed in these games is make sure you keep talking.
Accessibility and depth: The keys to success in popular media
By Jonathan Engel
Learning a fighting game or how to play an instrument is not just about memorizing long combo or note strings. You also have to understand how to execute them in the middle of a live match or performance, and that's where the difficulty is. As Jonathan Engel writes, Super Smash Bro.s and Rock Band are successful because of how accessible they are to new players. Hardcore players have a lot they can analyze and train to do, but neophytes don't feel like they need to be at a certain skill level to have fun.
A Boy and his Okami
By Edward Varnell
Unfortunately, being a critical darling doesn't always lead to financial success. Edward compares two cult hits for his article: the puzzle-platformer A Boy and His Blob and the adventure game Okami. While a lot of people may have missed these titles, he argues that their refreshing art styles and their use of an unlikely duo as protagonists make them worth hunting down a copy.
Final Fantasy 13 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2
By Chris Hoadley
While Jonathan Engel viewed accessibility from a casual player’s point of view, I looked at the issue from a hardcore perspective. Final Fantasy 13 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes have battle systems that are relatively easy for anyone to understand at first, but beating the hardest challengers requires fast thinking. The only thing between you and a quick defeat are your reflexes and having Final Fantasy 13's Fang or MvC's Sentinel dish out pain.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge. If I missed your article, which might have happened since this is the first prompt to use the general "Bitmob Writing Challenge" tag instead of a prompt-specific one, please let me know in the comments. This month's prompt is Knights of the Roundtable, created by community member Jeremy Signor. It's a great way to talk about game issues with other Bitmobbers, especially with E3 around the corner, and you can ask me to join your discussion if you need more participants.