Miniscule

Mini games are sooo in right now. Wii Sports, Assault Heroes, Rayman, Wario Ware coming soon... on top of that the best selling system (the DS) has loads of mini game carts. I’m thinking there are two reasons for this.

1) ADD. No, not with numbers… A.D.D… Which can probably be attributed to Sesame Street. People are getting shorter attention spans for many reasons. One of which is the content they watch when they are kids. Sesame Street is programming that is constantly bombarding kids with stuff all the time. And I think that may have a part of it.

So these people who were being bombarded as children have aged a little. Now they need to get a healthy dose of ever changing game-ness. And mini games are there to fill that void.

No need to dwell on long term stories or spend hours in a dungeon trying to navigate your way around to finding the boss. Just pick up the controller and change your mind every few minutes.

2) Time. Old people just don’t have the time to invest 20 or 40 hours into a title. With kids, and spouses and careers… ok, so they’re not old necessarily, but they are busy. And yet the game makers have responded by producing quick games that you can pop in with no real commitment. Because another string tying you down may not be something you want do deal with, and the thought of being fragged by some 12 year old might be more than your ego can stand.

The DS has kind of capitalized on grabbing the every day on the go person and pulling them into gaming. And if that every-day-on-the-go person has ADD… well that’s even better, because they probably want some entertainment while they are on the train, or in an elevator, or not doing their work

There are the Brain games of course… Brain Age being the big one as well as loads of other games like Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2. Where there is an outer lying story, but it’s broken up into tiny pieces and you can do a piece then stop and get back to your real life.

The GameCube kind of fell into a party situation at the end of its lifespan. Mario Party, Donkey Konga, and games of the like were pretty successful in my humble opinion. Well I guess it wasn’t just my opinion since the Xbox Live Arcade is just that… a bunch of small games that could probably be busted out at a party. Why else do they have so many arcade games? Because the arcade was the first place people got together and played videogames.

Now, back to where we started. We are currently in the era of the mini game. And the more outrageous things you can do with the controller the better. Weather you’re playing a guitar like controller, or swinging your arms around over your head the crazier the idea the more fun it is to do with your friends. I think that might be why Dance Dance Revolution is popular. Because when you do ridiculous things with your feet to ridiculous music, and everybody wins.