Or after having tasted success, the next challenge is to come up with something new that would be even more successful than the first.

A couple of years back, my definition of innovation is simply creating new ideas, transforming or improving old ideas into something new.  Today, innovation is not just about creating new ideas, your idea should also sell.  Innovation to me is all about marketability of your idea and putting your target market as your top priority.

Let's take the case of the gaming industry, considered one of the fastest growing industry not to mention the most promising industry.  An industry that is bringing in billions of dollars worldwide.  Guess what?  It's now slowing down.  Why? Because of the challenges brought about by innovation.

Creating new and exciting titles will no longer be enough, it has to sell.  And for it to sell, it has to be affordable and would entail more investments, more risks, and more research.  With the availability of different platforms like video game consoles, PCs, PDAs, mobile phones, handheld game devices and online/internet, this translate to the vagueness of how gamers play their games: Why? What? Where? and When?  With all this factored in, game developers are in a dilemma which road to success should they take. 

To prove my point, check out the recent game releases, you will notice that most of them if not all are sequels and/or a game based on a movie or sports license. Why change the formula if it's still bringing the buck right?

To date, the top 10 games for all formats are as follows : Athens 2004, Doom 3, The Sims Deluxe, Singstar, Driv3r, GTA: Vice City Platinum, The Sims Unleashed, Pokemon Ruby, The Sims Superstar, SpiderMan 2.

In a recent interview,  Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said he fears for the future of the industry and has warned that it must innovate or die.  He added unless things changed people would get tired of games.

Mr. Iwata's warning need not wait for long to happen. Recently, US video game maker Acclaim filed for bankruptcy because of low sales and it cannot cope with the increasingly competitive gaming market.  Acclaim is the maker of popular titles like Turok, Crazy Taxi and BMX XXX.

The coming of the next generation of consoles like the PS3 and Xbox2 is adding to the game developers problems.  Games for the new consoles would be 100% to 200% more costly to make than current titles.  That makes the risk factor go a lot step higher.  If a game developer doesn't deliver a high quality and marketable game, the cost and its losses will be staggering.

So what are we going to see in the near future?  With the cost, franchise issues and risk involved, I would dare say that small gaming companies will not make it.  We will see a lot of consolidation and acquisitions as big gaming companies will look for talents to help them develop new games for the new consoles.

What is happening to gaming industry goes against the very rule of innovation, and that is not to repeat things that have already been done. But because of survival and stiff market competition, everyone seems to be willing to ignore this.  Risk factors are taken out of the equation because failure means extinction for them, and because of this, innovation suffers.

Or perhaps game developers have taken innovation to the extremes that they forgot all about playability and simplicity.  With the enormous power consoles are offering, too much emphasis were put on game complexity and realism thus translating to sophisticated control systems which alienates many potential gamers like me.  Gone were the days where I can just sit back, relax and enjoy the game without feeling dizzy and consulting the internet for cheat codes.  I guess it has something to do with my age also.  Either way, its not helping the gaming industry.

People always say that life is a game.  For the game developers, gaming is their life.  If there's anything they would want to hear right now, these are the words : GAME OVER.

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Announcement :

I would like to invite all of you to attend my 1st public seminar entitled "Powertips - Extending the Limits of Knowledge" on Oct. 25, 2004 at the Edsa Shangrila Hotel.  In this seminar, I will reveal the secrets of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Tickets are available at all SM TicketNet outlets.  For more information, visit www.brainshare.com.ph/powertips/. I hope to see you all there.  God Bless us all!!! Logging Off.

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For your questions, comments and suggestions, please email infochat@mozcom.com or visit www.infochat.com.ph