Grasping for the Wind

This is Genius Book Marketing

According to the Guardian, Charlie Hidgson, author of the "Young Bond" books for young adults, has created a computer game that ties into his books. Kids are not just encouraged, but are forced to read his books in order to play the game. Says Hidgson in his defense of this idea ""Kids can get as engrossed in a football magazine as they can in a history book or novel. We shouldn't be dismissive of other forms of literature - I used to read tons of comic books when I was a kid."

Good point, and genius marketing.

After all, if the old Wheel of Time video game had integrated better with the books, building on knowledge gleaned from reading them rather than being a separate story, they would have been much better. What if the popular Lord of the Rings games from Electronic Arts had not just let you play through the story, but had in fact used facts that could only be gotten from reading the books to help you solve puzzles in that world?

I always liked the old school Nintendo games that required you to read the "spoken" words of the characters. Early Final Fantasy, King's Quest, Legaia, and Wild Arms all required this. I was reading, and doing all the thinking about intent and tone, etc that goes along with it. Today's video games don't require reading much becasue the technology has progressed far enough to allow voices. You have to turn on closed captioning to read the words of the characters.

But beyond it having a positive effect, it also is genius marketing. Book sellers and publishers have been bemoaning for years the loss of readers to video games and their kin. Well, Hidgson looks to be taking the best of both worlds and combining them. This way, he gets kids to buy his books (with a character lots of boys are interested in, and some older men). This guy should make money hand over fist.

The game, called Shadow War, is available for free online play at www.youngbond.com until October 8,"when Higson will take part in a live event during which players will be able to influence the end of the game."

And I say, more power to him. I like both mediums, so a combination thereof, I am all for!

Posted by: John on August 26, 2008 9:33 AM |
Categories: Business | Fantasy/Scifi News | Literature and Language | Video Games