If you were in charge of the Games Industry...

[Ady]

- Set a more reasonable price point (especially for handheld games)

- Make consoles region-free

- Enforce a rule whereby proposed sequels have to be approved through a board (no more facile franchising and definitely no Ico 2!)

- Enforce a rule whereby 'me-too' titles (say, games with superflous stealth elements) have to be approved through a board before they're released

- Provide measures for indies (ie provide stripped-down dev kits etc)

- Stop Square from releasing another Final Fantasy game ever again

- Enforce a rule whereby manufacturers are not allowed to release new consoles until at least 5 years (we rarely see the full potential of today's machines as everybody is quick to move on as soon as Sony says "PlayStation 3")

- Force Nintendo to make the GBA an 'open source' platform that anyone could develop for.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Me

I demand

all games to support 16:9 60hz mode

all games to have subtitles for deaf people

all games to have language option in Japanese, English, French and Spanish

no region coding

no mass market hype ****e

Konami to make Winning Eleven 7 for Gamecube with all leagues / cup and championship manager management engine and must support online gaming

Cheap broadband access

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo agree to an standard for next generation console with it own body, controllers and colours and same hardware.

More quality games like Soul Calibur 2, Viewiful Joe, etc

Return to 2D shoot them up from left to right on a proper widescreen TV

Cheap Plasma TV for every gamers

Cheap games no more than 20 pounds for any games.

Make budget games illegal ie Platnium hits, classcs.

Better PR and information from companies ie KONAMI - No news on Winning Eleven 7 for Gamecube at all. All they need to tell us it is not coming or it is coming in December 2003 or whatever.

[Migu]

I'd create a "Camera Fund", to which everyone in the games industry would have to contribute: it would be an interfirm R&D project, who'd create the code for a flawless working camera for 3rd person games. Of course, I'd also charge some derisory high price for using the code, while forbidding the use of an own camera system (if it's flawed). The reason for this would be to stimulate other types of games.

There would also be some extra tax on making or buying games featuring guns in it. That money would go to a charity fund that's used to promote peace in the world. This way, the industry would counter the public opinion that gaming makes aggressive etc. "We're buying those games for peace!" How nice an argument is that? And it might stop every company from feeling obligated to produce its own 3rd person shoot'em-up.

Thinking of it now, there should also be some obligation to invest a certain amount of profit from a hit game (i.e. a game selling more than x copies) into experimental software.

So, in short, I'd be the visible hand that makes the market mechanism work, transferring money from where it's not needed to where it's needed, creating an optimal balance... methinks I play too many games

[Grey Area]

Agree with Ady in that new consoles from companies should be brought out at least 5 years from the last. Also, i'd like to see a synchronisation in the releases of the machines from all competing companies with a standard bit rating, eg "2007 - Sony/Microsoft/Nintega release 256bit consoles on such a such date". Would make it more of a competition...