Wired has a great piece up on how video game developers have dealt with in-game death over the years. From the power-up mushroom in Mario to the Regenerative Shields in Halo, developers have been tackling creative ways for players to ‘die’ or ‘fail’ for years.

I am of the camp that would like to see less ‘fail-states’ in gaming, because let’s be honest, nobody likes to put  45+ min into a game only to have to start over because of not clicking the potion button fast enough. The game over screen shouldn’t even be considered in this day and age, there are more inspired ways of handling the situation. After all, fail-states are relics of the coin-op era where more deaths equaled more money.
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Hopefully the writing is better than this crummy cover design

When Nintendo released the Wii home console in November 2006, it changed the face of global gaming forever. Sony and Microsoft, whom many expected to dominate the market, were caught unawares by the launch of Nintendo’s revolutionary product. But rarely has the story been told of this elusive, low-profile family company. How did this struggling company, faced with an existential crisis both in leadership and product in the last decade, manage such a dramatic comeback?

Daniel Sloan uncovers its tale in the newly published, “Playing to Wiin: Nintendo and the Video Game Industry’s Greatest Comeback.” In this book, he details the key succession issue for Nintendo, the development of the DS and Wii mega-hit consoles and the creation of remarkable new gaming software – all these factors combined to expand the gaming population and propel Nintendo to the industry’s peak.

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