DS Daily: Realism and the DS audience

Do you think there's no place for realistic games on the DS? It seems that some people do; when we spoke with Rob Hawkey, Game Director at Deep Fried Entertainment, in regard to MLB 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars, he seemed to think that realism is a recipe for failure when it comes to the handheld's audience. But, really, when has it been tried? For every Brothers in Arms or FIFA Soccer 08, we've got ten games like Elite Beat Agents, Phoenix Wright, and every Mario-themed game ever. This isn't to say we prefer one style over another -- it just means we have more of the latter to choose from, so we choose 'em.

Maybe we're over-generalizing. Here's what he said: "When you look at the most successful titles on the DS they tend to be titles that have experimented with new ways of engaging the user, rather than titles that rely solely on the strength of a license or established form of gameplay." And that's largely true, but it doesn't mean we wouldn't also appreciate games that strive for a realistic approach while utilizing the unique strengths of the DS. We appreciate that Deep Fried is trying to give us something unique rather than a port with Fantasy All-Stars; we'd rather see more emaciated, warped ballplayers and fewer half-assed Madden games, frankly. But it would also be interesting to see people not equating "unique" and "experimental" with "bright" and "cartoony."

But maybe it's just us.