[Fairygdmther]

If I were a developer, what I would look for is the next ICO - a sleeper of a game that has become great by word of mouth, slowly growing in potential, and why? Because of the unique presentation and the story. With each new next-gen of consoles or major PC upgrades, there have been sleeper games - ones that didn't get the hype, but hung in there and continue to grow even many years later. Look at Sanitarium, and Obsidian. Sanitarium has been rereleased at $10 or less and has probably sold more than the original release. If there was still a company behind Obsidian, I'm sure it would be the same thing. These were truly original games, in concept and storyline. Wouldn't you prefer something like this than FF#87?

Story should not become a dirty word or something for the developers to hide from the publisher. As mentioned, many genres include storylines, and, as in books, people DO like to follow the same characters, as they feel they know them. Publishers need to put their PR people in the hot seat and ask them why games are only aimed toward the 14-24 yr old males. Don't they WANT to sell games? Don't they WANT to broaden the market? The video gaming industry needs a good shaking up! Tell them to get off their duffs and do some research.

For starters - get some info on REAL games sales - the ones currently available are only from the brick-and-mortar stores except for EB Games. All of the online sales are excluded. WTF is that all about? How can you make any decisions based on such bogus data? Someone, somewhere must have access to real sales figures. It's almost to the point that what sells at Wal-mart is what is driving the gaming industry. NO store should ever have that much power - either for volume or for influence (especially in ways such as censorship).

FGM