Strategy guide

Last updated

Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. The line between strategy guides and video game walkthroughs is somewhat blurred, with the former often containing or being written around the latter. Strategy guides are often published in print, both in book form and also as articles within video game magazines. In cases of exceptionally popular game titles, guides may be sold through more mainstream publication channels, such as bookstores or even newsstands. Some publishers also sell E-Book versions on their websites.

Contents

Strategy guides marketed as "official" are written by game distributors themselves or licensed to a specialty publishing house; Prima Games and Piggyback Interactive specialise in writing official guides for various companies. There are also a number of publishers who make unlicensed, "unofficial" strategy guides, and many of today's mainstream publishers began by making such guides.

Typical contents

The contents of a strategy guide varies between game genres. Typically, the guides contain:

Publishing before game release

In order to be released at the same time as the game, commercial strategy guides are often based on a pre-release version of the game, rather than the final retail version; BradyGames' guide for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas included misplaced item locations and a slightly different map, which made some directions impossible to follow. BradyGames rectified such mistakes by offering free errata pages for download from their website.

Strategy guides are sometimes published before the game itself is published. This can be risky because there is always the chance that a game will end up not being released. For example, in January 2001, Prima published a guide ( ISBN   0-7615-3125-4) for the Dreamcast version of Half-Life , which was canceled late in development when Sega discontinued the console.

Online guides

Online strategy guides and FAQs are hosted at sites such as GameFAQs and IGN FAQs, though much of this content is user generated and not published by the company. A number of other sites contain strategy guides, and videos in a number of niche areas, such as Role Playing Games or First Person Shooters. These sites may attract a more limited set of viewers, but can include more depth of content. Video-sharing sites such as YouTube have given rise to video walkthroughs using programs such as Fraps, which allows players to more easily mirror the strategies being described. These videos are re-posted to a number of sites. [1]

Video game wikis are used as both strategy guides and documentation. Content is generated and edited completely by users. Wikis allow for information to updated if a developer introduced a new patch to the game. Wiki farms such as Fandom and Gamepedia host a large number of unofficial video game wikis while wikis can be integrated into the overall site such as IGN Wikis. While most wikis are considered unofficial and not supported by the developer, some developers may choose to do so for various reasons. These reasons may include resolving copyright issues and real world trading that may be found on unofficial wikis. For example, ArenaNet hosts an official wiki for Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 , citing that "it's often more complete and useful than the documentation that ArenaNet generates internally." [2] Information on the wiki is integrated into the game, allowing players to access information from in game. Although the wiki is hosted by ArenaNet, the site is run and moderated by the community and contributions are released under GNU Free Document License (GDFL) similar to sites such as Wikipedia.

Aside from the quality of the content, the community aspect of fan walkthroughs is significant. One perspective argues that walkthroughs are shared stories for gamers and game fans. In creating walkthroughs, gamers actively create meaning for the games. This is similar to activities of traditional media such as books, films and television (e.g., Fan Fiction). [3]

The increasing availability of free online FAQs and walkthroughs has taken away some of the demand for commercial strategy guides, although there is still a large market for them. Print guides often feature extensive picture-by-picture walkthroughs, maps, and game art, none of which is possible in the plain-text works hosted by prominent sites such as GameFAQs. Some newer sites allow strategy guides to be hosted in formats that allow pictures and videos, which further undercuts the advantages of print strategy guides.

Some publishers have tried combining their printed books with the Internet. In 2000, the Final Fantasy IX Official Strategy Guide was published by BradyGames, but much of the information was contained on Square's PlayOnline website. This seemed like a good way to promote PlayOnline, while creating a guide that would have updatable content, but it was widely panned. Players saw no need of buying a book if a significant part of the content was online; and there was no point paying for online content from one site, if it was available for free on another site. As a result, Square abandoned the online strategy guide concept and released traditional printed guides for future games. [4]

Source mistakes

Some companies make mistakes in the book about the game itself, such as stating that "Character A" has a relationship with "Character B", despite there being no relationship. In a strategy guide for Diddy Kong Racing they referred to characters with terms such as "The Dinosaur" and "The Octopus" instead of their names.

Games journalist and guide writer Alan Emrich has severely criticized recent strategy guides for:

The faults, he says, are mainly caused by the game publishers' and guide publishers' haste to get their products on to the market; [5] "[previously] strategy guides were published after a game was released so that they could be accurate, even to the point of including information changes from late game 'patch' releases. The Master of Orion official strategy guide that Tom Hughes and I wrote is just that kind of book." [6]

Lists

Best-selling guide books

TitleAuthor(s)YearSalesGame(s)Ref
Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania Studio BentStuff 19992,200,000 Final Fantasy VIII [7]
Mastering Pac-Man Ken Uston 19811,700,000 Pac-Man [8]
Final Fantasy VII Kaitai Shinsho Studio BentStuff 19971,700,000 Final Fantasy VII [7]
Super Mario Bros: The Complete Strategy Guide Tokuma Shoten, Naoto Yamamoto19851,300,000 Super Mario Bros. [9] [10]
Myst: The Official Strategy GuideRusel DeMaria, Rick Barba19931,200,000 Myst [11]
Final Fantasy X Scenario Ultimania Studio BentStuff 20011,000,000 Final Fantasy X [7]
How to Master the Video Games Tom Hirschfeld1981650,000 Arcade games [12]
Tomb Raider III strategy guideUn­known1999350,000 Tomb Raider III [13]

Best-selling guide series

SeriesSalesRevenueGamesRef
Ultimania 12,000,000Un­known Square Enix games [14]
Pokémon strategy books Un­known$142,000,000 Pokémon series [15]
Metal Gear Solid strategy guides3,000,000Un­known Metal Gear Solid series [16]
Pac-Man guide books1,700,000+Un­known Pac-Man [8]
Grand Theft Auto guide books1,600,000Un­known Grand Theft Auto series [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video game industry</span> Economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sales of video games

The video game industry is the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the development, marketing, distribution, monetization and consumer feedback of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of the Game</span> Website

Museum of the Game, which includes the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV), is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for players".

GameSpot is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition to the information produced by GameSpot staff, the site also allows users to write their own reviews, blogs, and post on the site's forums. It has been owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GameSpy</span> American video game company

GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameSpy brand to other video game publishers through a newly established company, GameSpy Industries, which also incorporated his Planet Network of video game news and information websites, and GameSpy.com.

<i>GamePro</i> American video game magazine

GamePro was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video game consoles, personal computers and mobile devices. GamePro Media properties included GamePro magazine and their website. The company was also a part subsidiary of the privately held International Data Group (IDG), a media, events and research technology group. The magazine and its parent publication printing the magazine went defunct in 2011, but is outlasted by Gamepro.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Uston</span>

Ken Uston was an American blackjack player, strategist and author, credited with popularizing the concept of team play at blackjack. During the early to mid-1970s he gained widespread notoriety for perfecting techniques to do team card counting in numerous casinos worldwide, earning millions of dollars from the casinos, with some bets as high as $12,000 on a single hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retrogaming</span> Cultural activity with old video games

Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the playing and collection of obsolete personal computers, consoles, and video games. Usually, retrogaming is based upon systems that are outmoded or discontinued, although ported retrogaming allows games to be played on modern hardware via ports or compilations. It is typically for nostalgia, preservation, or authenticity. A new game could be retro styled, such as an RPG with turn-based combat and pixel art in isometric camera perspective.

A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessions, and require less learned skill. They do not expect familiarity with a standard set of mechanics, controls, and tropes.

Video game culture or gaming culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video game hobbyists. As video games have exponentially increased in sophistication, accessibility and popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture, particularly among adolescents and young adult males. Video game culture has also evolved with Internet culture and the increasing popularity of mobile games, which has led to an increase in the female demographic that play video games.

Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games was published in May 1982. The book, published by Signet in New York, was a brief strategy guide for many console games in existence at the time. The book was divided into chapters by console type or manufacturer, and each chapter had an article on each game title available for that console. The book was published in paperback, with 676 pages and illustrated throughout with black and white line drawings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GameFAQs</span> Video game website

GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. Allen "SBAllen" Tyner was lead Admin for twenty years until stepping down on October 18, 2023. The site is currently run by Community Manager "DToast" and Contributor Lead "ZoopSoul".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prima Games</span>

Prima Games is a publishing company of video game strategy guides in the United States. Formerly, Prima was an imprint of Dorling Kindersley, a division of Penguin Random House, and produced print strategy guides, featuring in-depth walkthroughs for completing games and other information, such as character sheets and move charts. Prima was acquired by Asteri Holdings in March 2019, which will transition the business to provide strategy guides in online form only, alongside other gaming news.

Alan Emrich is best known as a writer about and designer of video games, who coined the term "4X", contributed to the design of Master of Orion and Master of Orion 3, and wrote strategy guides for video games. Before the rise of video games, Emrich wrote about and designed board games and organized conventions about them. He currently runs a small game publishing company and lectures in game design and project management. In 2001 Emrich received the Blomgren / Hamilton Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement from ConsimWorld.COM.

GamesRadar+ is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites Total Film, SFX, Edge and Computer and Video Games were merged into GamesRadar, with the resulting, expanded website being renamed GamesRadar+ in November that year.

SarcasticGamer.com was an independent video gaming blog and community site that was relaunched as a podcast. As part of the GamerCast Network, a community of independent podcasters, the website focused on parodying the latest events happening in the gaming industry. Although the website was best known for its satirical news articles and parodies, it also featured reviews, news, opinions and rants. All articles, however, stayed true to the "sarcastic" ethos of the site. Sarcastic Gamer was relaunched as a podcast-only website in December 2012 before closing its site in 2015.

Warcraft Wiki is a wiki about the Warcraft fictional universe. It covers all of the Warcraft games, including the MMORPG World of Warcraft. It is both a specialized wiki built around the Warcraft universe and a collaborative space for players to develop and publish strategies for Warcraft games. It was officially announced on 25 October 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Let's Play</span> Playthrough of a video game with commentary

A Let's Play (LP) is a video documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strategy guide by focusing on an individual's subjective experience with the game, often with humorous, irreverent, or critical commentary from the player, rather than being an objective source of information on how to progress through the game. While Let's Plays and live streaming of game playthroughs are related, Let's Plays tend to be curated experiences that include editing and narration, and can be scripted, while streaming is often an unedited experience performed on the fly.

Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publications and blogs have grown.

Video game monetization is a type of process that a video game publisher can use to generate revenue from a video game product. The methods of monetization may vary between games, especially when they come from different genres or platforms, but they all serve the same purpose to return money to the game developers, copyright owners, and other stakeholders. As the monetization methods continue to diversify, they also affect the game design in a way that sometimes leads to criticism.

A video game walkthrough is a guide aimed towards improving a player's skill within a particular video game and often designed to assist players in completing either an entire video game or specific elements. Walkthroughs may alternatively be set up as a playthrough, where players record themselves playing through a game and upload or live-stream it to the internet. Walkthroughs may be considered guides on helping to enhance the experience of players, to assist towards unlocking game achievements or simply as a means to socialise with like-minded individuals as a distraction from everyday life.

References

  1. ↑ "Example of YouTube Video Re-posts". Archived from the original on 2016-01-09.
  2. ↑ "About Guild Wars Wiki".
  3. ↑ Consalvo, Mia (2003). "Zelda 64 and Video Game Fans: A Walkthrough of Games, Intertextuality, and Narrative". Television & New Media . 4 (3): 321. doi:10.1177/1527476403253993. S2CID   145162771.
  4. ↑ "Square's Innovative Strategy Guide Strategy". Archived from the original on June 17, 2006.
  5. ↑ "Decline of Guides". Archived from the original on 2008-07-26. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  6. ↑ Emrich, Alan (2001). "Master of Orion: The History of a Game Series — One Man's Telling of a Cosmic Tale". Master of Orion III - The Official Web Site. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "会社沿革" [Company History]. Studio BentStuff (in Japanese). 15 June 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  8. 1 2 Uston, Ken (Fall 1983). "Arcade Games: Mastering Pac-Man Plus and Super Pac-Man". Creative Computing: Video & Arcade Games . Vol. 1, no. 2. p. 32.
  9. ↑ Gifford, Kevin (May 4, 2011). "More on Tokuma's Mario Guide". Magweasel. Archived from the original on 2014-03-06. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Yamamoto, Naoto (2011-04-23). "【1985】 スーパーマリオ狂騒曲 - ふぁみこん「雑誌」昔話" [(1985) Super Mario Bros. Famicom "Magazine" Old Story]. Hatena (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2011-04-26. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  11. ↑ DeMaria, Rusel (7 December 2018). High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (3rd ed.). CRC Press. p. 16. ISBN   978-0-429-77139-2.
  12. ↑ "Learn The Code Book And Beat Video Games". Ludington Daily News . March 1, 1982. p. 25.
  13. ↑ "DataStream" (PDF). Edge . No. 79 (December 1999). 24 November 1999. p. 132.
  14. ↑ "会社情報" [Company Information]. Studio BentStuff (in Japanese). 15 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-12. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  15. ↑ "Nakagawa Report ~ Toward a Sustainable and Competitive Industrial Structure ~ (Summary)" (PDF). Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RETI) (in Japanese). Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). May 2004. p. 10. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  16. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana; Kit, Borys (9 February 2007). "'Metal Gear Solid' film being forged at Columbia". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  17. ↑ Johnson, Steven (22 May 2005). "Viva virtuality". The Guardian . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.