Analysts: Board games are the next big thing
Gamasutra got a cadre of analysts together to look into crystal balls, read tea leaves, and guess what the next big breakout genre will be following the rhythm game's ascension with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The analysts' guess? The board game. Yes, the humble board game put on a TV (or in the case of Scene It?, being tweaked a bit) is what the group thought would be the next über genre.
Jesse Divnich of simExchange believes that Scene It?, which released last month, will be a "moderate success" and Ben Bajarian of Creative Strategies uses the term "social gaming" to describe this genre of titles. He says that families are still looking for a "board game" to play together, with the natural evolution being to do so on a console. It probably doesn't hurt their hypothesis that the board games we've seen translated to consoles so far (Scene It?, Carcassonne, Catan) have been very effective. With any luck, European games like Alhambra and Puerto Rico will become digital experiences to be enjoyed by those who missed out on them in America. Oh, and would someone get on Scotland Yard and Café International, please?
