SF Chronicle Covers Serious, Peace Games In Depth

Two separate reports by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper have examined the popularity of several notable serious games such as Peacemaker and Re-Mission, while also examining games for peace, as part of the burgeoning mainstream interest in the market. The first report on serious games in general is particularly interesting when investigating why some a very few serious games such as Nintendo's Brain Age, which has sold millions in Japan, stand out as as particularly profitable in today's market. Nintendo of America's George Harrison told the Chronicle that Nintendo realizes that in its attempt to create games that have a broad appeal, it too must make sure that the titles have "significant commercial potential... I think the key is it has to have enough mass appeal to generate volume to justify launching it," Harrison said in the report. The second report, covering games for peace, talks to Ari Hollander, the subject of an upcoming Serious Games Source feature, on his development an immersive virtual-reality tool to help psychotherapists treat survivors of actual terrorist attacks. It also covers the Nobel Peace Prize game design challenge at this year's Game Developers Conference, and suggests that some serious games "...speak to a glimmering maturity in an industry that to its many critics comes across as a gawky, geeky, hormonal juvenile delinquent who has an unhealthy fascination and mercenary interest in violence, combat, criminality, guns, porn, trolls, mutants, explosions and splatter."