Ex-Shiny head talks about the future of electronic entertainment; extols the virtues of free-to-play.

　　At development house Shiny, David Perry was responsible for creating some of the most iconic characters in gaming. Earthworm Jim was a giant of the 16-bit era, and his success allowed the creative freedom for a dark leather-clad superhero in MDK. Now a consultant within the industry, Perry took to the Leipzig Developers' Conference to talk about his vision of the future, as well as his recent activity in Asia.

　　Perry opened the session by saying that under-the-TV games console will become obsolete, thanks to the increasing speed of broadband and the rise of remote play. He envisages a time when incredibly expensive machines will be hired out from afar, and like an arcade machine, you'll pay a small premium to play them for alloted times. "Our industry is going to move form a retail industry to a service industry," Perry said.

　　Perry then moved back to traditional consoles and produced a controvertial quote."By selling the PlayStation 3 at a loss, Sony has lost more than they made during the entire five year peak of the PS2. This will force them to make the PS3 last longer."He expects that the next Sony machine after the PS3 will have a longer life span because of this very reason.

　　Perry also praised game critics for their job in predicting best-selling titles. He produced a chart to show how top-rated games are also the top sellers by and large, saying, "90%-plus [scoring] games sell 20 times more then mediocre titles. Reviewers are doing a really good job. If you're a developer in your office fighting to get another three months [of development time], then show them this chart."

　　But the main point of the lecture was the rise of the Eastern market, both in terms of its potential and threat to the industry as it stands. He talked about the importance of "free-to-play" games that are released without cost to the public, but which make money back through advertising and optional in-game upgrades. "MMOs have to be free to play for Asia," he said. "I see a lot of Western publishers creating MMOs with boxed products and subscriptions. These will not work in markets like China and Korea." He warned about the dangers of ignoring such a market, especially if China produces the next Shigeru Miyamoto or Hideo Kojima and their games are available for free.

　　It wasn't all bad news for the West though, and Perry ended his session by complementing Microsoft on its efforts to coax more people into the games industry. "I just want to say thanks to Microsoft for XNA. Well done."

　　By guy_cocker