Why the PS3 and Wii aren’t enough
It’s too soon to assess the impact of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii, two machines with the potential to revolutionize video games.
But let’s assume the PS3 and Wii succeed on a level that expands the number of video-game fans, foments new styles of interactive play and even changes the nature of family recreation.
Would that be the pinnacle of what the video-game industry can achieve culturally? Would that put game designers in the same creative category as authors, choreographers, movie directors, musicians and sculptors, to pick just a handful of examples?
Well, no. That’s because three other types of change have to take hold before video games realize their ultimate social clout.