Coleco football and Dig Dug still rule, but...

First off, I am not a gamer. In fact I stay clear of most video games probably for the same reason Robert Downey, Jr., avoids heroin. We know it’s fun, and it will completely consume our lives and ruin our careers.
That said, we marketers have to stay current on gaming if for no other reason that it continues to occupy an enormous and growing chunk of consumer’s eyeball time. Another reason I waned from my latent gaming habit is that while graphics, levels and experience kept getting better and better, the basic narratives of most games began to bore me. The major platforms and producers seemed to have stalled on a few basic game conceits: the first-person shooter, civilization building (Sims) and sports.
It looks like that may be changing. A burgeoning Indie gaming industry has begun to make an impact in the gaming oligopoly. You may have heard of the first Indie game blockbuster, “Flower,” where you control a single petal in the breeze in the hope of building a new eco-system. Reviewers call it meditative and “Zen-like.” Not exactly words usually associated with PlayStation games. Another game still in trial called “In the Pit” really captured my attention. The game runs with no graphics; players navigate the game and combat monsters using only sound cues. Dig it: a video game without video!
That’s the kind of counter-intuitive creativity that we can take gaming to the next level. Any new games push your buttons?