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Editor’s note: Andrew argues that episodic gaming is a success. He doesn’t mean episodic in the traditional manner, as in the Sam & Max or Half-Life series. He means DLC, from expansions to songs for Guitar Hero (and even the quirky Noby Noby Boy). What do you think? His counterpoint will appear on the front page Friday. -Jason
Episodic gaming is a success. It’s invaded the biggest blockbusters and the cheapest budget games. It’s in your single-player games, and it’s in your multiplayer games. It’s everywhere, it’s healthy, and it isn’t going anywhere.
While you may see some of the failures out there, and the successes look very familiar — especially if you grew up on PC games in the ’80s and ’90s — that is only one aspect of episodic gaming. Sure, the buzz word isn’t thrown about much anymore, but let me throw out its brethren, an especially hot buzz word in 2010: DLC.
Last year saw many triple-A titles of this generation hit the DLC circuit, and they are episodic through and through. So while they may not have started as episodic, Fable 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Fallout 3, and Borderlands (just to name a few) dispense episodic downloadable content at a frightening rate. You could almost get a single year’s worth of play out of any one of those games.
You can see the ethos of episodic content in other forms as well. Look at the plethora of plastic instrument–based rhythm games. New tracks and albums are constantly coming out for these games, and while you may claim they are only songs, they certainly fit any sort of definition of episodic gaming you could care to write. Just because they are bits of gameplay that are only 3 minutes doesn’t count them out.
MMOs are also rife with episodic content. Commonly called patches, they continue serving up staggering amounts of content, putting those subscription fees to good use. While the survival of an MMO is an unpredictable affair, continuous content is a necessity.
MMOs are not the only games redefining the patch. IPhone gaming has made huge leaps, and companies like Ngmoco are leading the way. Once you purchase a game, you can expect all sorts of updates, and it isn’t just limited to extra content. The way you play games is becoming episodic, as developers analyze data to see how people are playing and change the game on the fly to improve your experience with a fully functional and already technically sound game.
Episodic gaming continues to evolve. Experiments like Noby Noby Boy are pushing the envelope, allowing the combined mass of players to define when the next episode arrives.
If you choose the Telltale games as the be-all-and-end-all of episodic gaming, then yes, things look grim. But the idea of episodic gaming is inherent in the relationship between developer and audience. The lines of communication between the two are opening up, and what we used to think as DLC or episodes will simply be called “video games.”