While I was grocery shopping yesterday I walked by the magazine rack and picked up a copy of Playstation Magazine. It had some news on inFamous 2 and some reviews that I thought I'd check out, but I stopped at the first page to read what the Editor in Chief, Gary Steinman, had to say. What I read I agreed with wholeheartedly and thought I'd share with people here.

Much has been made about Cole's make-overs. But, according to the team at Sucker Punch, it's much ado about nothing. The gameplay - they were quick to assure us in our recent visit to their secret lair - hasn't been altered. And the essence of Cole is intact; he's just been adjusted, thanks to the incessant clattering of the inFamous fanbase.

This whipsaw-like reaction can be seen two ways. The positive spin? Sucker Punch listens. They care about their audience, enough so that when they drew back the curtain on Cole 2.0, they suggested his new look was partly due to fan reaction (or make that non-reaction) to their game's non-descript hero.

...

Which brings me to the not-so-positive spin. First, to be clear, this isn't just a Sucker Punch problem; it's a challenge afflicting the entire games industry. In short: we've trained ourselves to think our opinion matters in each and every situation. We stamp our feet and insist everything go our way - or else.

That makes me nervous, because we risk robbing ourselves of something I love about games: being drawn into a new world. I want to be surprised. I want to be moved. I want to care. But that often requires the hand of the creator to be dominant and for the vision to be as pure as possible.

For the record, I liked Cole 2.0. But having played some of inFamous 2, I also like Cole 1.5. This might be a case where the changes truly don't affect the overall experience - the game is spectacular so far. But it's something we should all be aware of when we demand a game comany do exactly what we want.

Gary Steinman

Thoughts? Steinman hit the nail on the head in my opinion. Too often do I hear about fans wanting this and wanting that, all these petitions for games, in the end it could hurt the end product, something I think we'd all like to avoid.