On the State of the Gaming Industry

Warren Spector, the man behind the game Deus Ex let Stomped in on what he thinks is going on around the gaming industry at the end of Y2K in a fairly short but very interesting interview. He covers subjects such as console gaming, the state of current RPG’s compared to in the past, the success of Deus Ex and what’s to come. Here’s a teaser:

Stomped: What were your favorite games that were released in 2000 and why?

Spector: Virtua Tennis for the Dreamcast has worn my thumb to a nub! Other than that, I didn’t do much serious gaming — mostly play-a-few-hours, get-disappointed, stop-playing stuff. I played a lot of games for an hour or two or three but there really wasn’t much of anything that inspired forty-hours-of-my-life devotion. Given that we’re working on Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 here, I realize I’m setting myself up for a fall, but 2000 sure seemed like a year of been-there-done-that sequels and games-that-slipped-into-next-year. I do look forward to more Samba De Amigo, Jet Set Radio and Mario Tennis — games that intrigued me enough to warrant more playtime. And I’m definitely going to give Alice a try over the holidays…