Oooh, look at me, I read the Economist!
(ahem)
This article about German board games got me thinking: Are German video games generally more rules-based, as opposed to narrative-based, than games from other countries? Are they more purely games, as opposed to interactive entertainment?
Germany is to board-games what Belgium is to chocolate. It specialises in “Eurogames”, which emphasise strategy over showiness, downplay luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than martial themes and strive to keep all the players at the table until the game’s end.
I checked out a list of German video game developers on Wikipedia (research!)
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Blue Byte Software develops video game versions of the Settlers of Cataan board game, pictured above
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Crytek made Farcry and Crysis, not exactly heady strategy
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Factor 5 makes cartoony flight sims like Rogue Squadron and Lair
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Piranha Bites made Gothic, an RPG
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Shin'en Media made Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends - Harvest Time Hop and Fly. BAAAHAHAHA!
Germans are the keenest European [style] players, followed by the French and Dutch. Britons prefer games based on television characters; Italians don’t stay at home, says Mr Hüntelmann. In America, where classics like Monopoly dominate, Eurogames still have an avidly geeky following. Unlike Monopoly they demand thought; unlike electronic games, they encourage social interaction, says Paul Unger, a software developer who plays in New Jersey and Connecticut. That can also be a weakness: sometimes they seem too much like work.
Verdict: none. Seems like German game developers, like the rest of the world, are interested in where the money is, and involved strategy games just don't move units. Still, it looks like there are a handful of Teutonic developers keeping the flame alive.
Related Links:
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