Selling Memories

This may not surprise anyone, but I thought it was interesting to see the video comparison of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2’s “filter options” on Joystiq.  It’s fascinating to me how many gaming features today play to gamers’ own nostalgia rather than being value-added in and of themselves: there are few other entertainment industries where fan service plays such a critical part of a game’s marketing efforts. 

This seems to hold true whether in the form of easter eggs, sequels, remakes, “de-makes”, or simply the inclusion of older games in the form of newer ones.  Even to the extent that older games are packaged with a new one (e.g., in Shenmue), the value is much more in the fact that people get to re-live their old gaming experiences than in the innate desire of people to play the old games per se. 

I bring this up not because it’s new exactly but because I think it’s become institutionalized to some extent, moving from being a nice option to being almost mandatory in all sorts of newer games.  Thoughts?