14 DAY TRIAL // How do you feel about World War II-themed games? Some of you will say, "naaa, not for me," while others will say that they're simply in love with all the WW II-themed titles. Overall though, gamers have a good impression about games based on the greatest conflagration in the history of mankind. But what if I were to tell you that all that was going to change and that war games won't be so WW II-inspired in the future? Scary huh?
"Throughout history, one of the most incredible tests, is the test of a soldier," says Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford. "From shield and spear to tanks and battleships, war and soldiering is one of the most interesting human experiences. Thus, it is one of the strongest human fantasies."
So naturally, what better time to throw gamers into this "core fantasy" of theirs than WW II? "World War 2 is the greatest war," maintains Pitchford, as NextGeneration reports. "It's arguably the most important and certainly the largest scale war the Earth has ever known." The site also mentions that there are currently 23 WW II-based game titles out there, including special editions.
However, as gamers learn more and more aspects of WW II, they tend to get bored of the same colorless settings and time period, with which they're already quite familiar from school. But there are more reasons as to why WW II is so popular among game developers, as the same site points out.
"Another reason [why we see so many WWII games] has to do with the popularity of the war, particularly if there are other movies and television shows currently out on the subject," says Sony Computer Entertainment America's Dave Karraker. "Naturally, it also helps if we actually won the war, which is why you probably don't see many Korean War games," he continues.
If you ask me, you don't really need a degree in psychology to figure this one out, nor do you have to be working for SCEA, but yes, it is the truth to why WW II is everywhere these days. Basically, this is how developers decide on a period for a given war game, as the same man points out:
"The time period of a game is really dictated by the kind of game the developer wants to create," says Karraker. "If developers want to create a war game, then they will look at the variety of wars that have occurred over the years, from the middle ages to Iraq, and see how that war can, for lack of a better term, 'facilitate' the type of gameplay they want to explore."
And if gamers do get bored of WW II, which eventually they most likely will, here are the alternative topics for future video games, pointed out by the same site mentioned above, inspired by humanity's history: The Civil War, The Renaissance, The Mongolian Empire, Ancient History (why not?), The Enlightenment (wouldn't be catchy at first, but who knows?) and even Non-Popular Modern themes (1800-1920), such as the American Old West, cowboys and Indians, Billy the Kid and so on.
I know what you're saying: Bleah! Well, let's see if you like 23 more WW II-themed games then.