Feature: 'Event Wrap-Up: Comic-Con International 2005'

Today's main Gamasutra feature is Frank Cifaldi's wrap-up of the 2005 Comic-Con International, held at the San Diego Conference Center from July 14th to 17th. Comic-Con is by far the largest worldwide event for the comic book industry, but in recent years, with comic characters licensed into other media and vice versa, it's increasingly relevant for the video game industry. Cifaldi focuses on the game-related panels and show floor exhibitors, and in this extract, finds God Of War's David Jaffe discussing the popularity of the game industry: "Jaffe, like many designers, seems intent on bringing real emotional impact to games. “We have to trick people in Wal-Mart into buying something that looks like another first-person shooter Vietnam game. But when we start secretly tugging at their heartstrings with games like this, they'll take notice,” he said, insinuating that the only way to bring real character and emotion into the games industry, as it stands now, is to sneak those aspects in to popular franchises and genres. Then, he insists, we can start creating the games we all want to see. “Are we going to be the next comics industry, or film industry?” he asked, at the conclusion of the panel. “Are we cutting off a huge part of the market by not appealing to audiences outside of the norm – say, kids – or will we one day appeal to the whole world, as film does?”" You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).