休闲游戏在最近几年的人气飙升，促使原来被边缘化的电子游戏成为主流娱乐产业——Wii是最大功臣之一，而最近的智能手机和社交网站的崛起，则开始取代游戏机成为休闲游戏争相涌入的平台。

PopCap就是当今最受赞誉和影响力的休闲游戏公司之一，这家位于西雅图的公司旗下拥有多款名气响亮的畅销游戏，例如《宝石迷阵》、《Peggle》和《植物大战僵尸》等。

休闲游戏的普及率已经超乎人们想象，夸张一点来说，随便向人群抛出一枚石子，就有可能砸中一个《愤怒的小鸟》玩家。有些权威人士认为，Rovio和PopCap等成功的新兴游戏公司，有可能成长为规模堪比迪士尼的跨媒介大型企业。PopCap联合创始人John Vechey在最近的媒体访谈中对此提出了他的看法，以下是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：

Plants vs Zombies

去年是休闲游戏领域乐观发展的一年，《植物大战僵尸》在不同平台大获成功，而《愤怒的小鸟》和《糖果小怪物》也成了手机游戏的闪亮之星并虏获了无数玩家，这些成功的典型对PopCap来说都会有益无害吗？

没错，我们认为游戏领域与其他行业有所不同。我们几乎与所有竞争对手都成了朋友，不管是手机上的《愤怒的小鸟》，还是Facebook中的Zynga游戏，它们都在为这个行业引进大量玩家，所以我们也可以从中受益。

世界上多数人都有自己最爱的电影，但很少人会说“我根本就不喜欢看电影”。而从游戏领域来看，仍然有不少人会说，“我不是游戏玩家，我也不玩游戏”。我们这几年看到的成功游戏都发挥了增加玩家数量的作用，现在有许多人因为《愤怒的小鸟》才开始搜索游戏。这对我们来说也是件好事，对整个行业来说也是如此。总之这种好处人人有份！

对《愤怒的小鸟》有何看法？

对我来说，这款游戏就像高尔夫球一样困难而不是有趣，不过如果你发现自己上手了，就会觉得很有成就感。我会玩一些像《糖果小怪物》之类的游戏——甚至可以持续数小时，而且每个关卡的成就都是三颗星。《愤怒的小鸟》积分系统对我来说有点难以捉摸，我喜欢这款游戏，但觉得它的游戏机制如果不这么迟钝的话，效果应该还会更好，不过这也只是我的个人感觉。

有许多玩游戏的用户并不认为自己是游戏玩家，但过去一年休闲游戏玩家数量确实在急剧膨胀，是否认为这个市场正趋于饱和？

我认为这个市场的发展潜力无穷无尽。我无法预测它的发展速度有多快，自从2000年《宝石迷阵》问世以来，休闲游戏市场一直在飞速前进，后来有几年开始陷入低迷。但现在Facebook和智能手机打出的组合拳又开始让休闲游戏看到了巨大的发展空间。

PopCap的目标是：世上所有人心目中都有一个最喜爱的五款游戏名单，我们希望自己的一些作品也能够有幸进入这份名单。我们不在乎实现这个目标需要10年还是20年，总之我很清楚，PopCap还有很长的路要走。

我们是一家非常重视自身表现的公司，也相信市场和游戏平台并非静止不变的事物——万物都在发生变化，只是时快时慢有所不同而已。对我们来说，最重要的就是推出强大的游戏和游戏品牌。我们不需要每年推出50款C+或B-水平的低劣游戏，我们最应该做的是反复投资出色的游戏作品，同时不断尝试创造自己认为很棒的新游戏体验。就像皮卡斯公司，他们并不需要发行比竞争对手多十倍的电影内容，但他们确实很专注于制作好每一部电影。我们也是如此，甘愿放慢脚步制作好游戏，要知道龟兔赛跑的最终赢家正是乌龟。

peggle-deluxe-screenshot

因为《愤怒的小鸟》和《植物大战僵尸》的成功，有些业界人士认为Rovio和PopCap这种公司将来的规模会超过迪士尼，你的看法是什么？

我确实认为像Rovio、Zynga和PopCap这种类型的公司未来终会向迪士尼看齐。孩之宝推出的变形金刚，就足以证明娱乐内容也可以打造知名的玩具品牌。

我认为未来很有可能出现这种情况，我们会发现游戏只是这些公司运营的项目之一，用户还可以通过玩具、电影、电视或其他媒介形式与游戏品牌互动。

但迪士尼毕竟是一个娱乐巨头，我们现在也不宜过早妄言自己将超越迪士尼，但我确实认为，再过30多年，我们最终会比现在更有成为迪士尼的潜质。

同时我也认为，大型传媒公司现在缺乏与观众有效互动的产品体验，所以它们也已经开始向我们靠拢了。

游戏质量是一个关键因素。PopCap似乎是为数不多的可同时在休闲及硬核市场获益的游戏公司之一，你们的游戏几乎都属于可爱友好的风格，但游戏玩法的深度却也受到了硬核玩家的欢迎，你们是否有意采用了这种平衡策略？

我们只是在游戏开发过程中多下功夫，我们首先是为自己开发游戏，然后剔除那些自认为不好玩的游戏。只要发现哪款游戏很值得一玩，我们就会想方设法增强它的可玩性，以方便更多玩家体验游戏，假如我们无法达到理想的效果，最后也会取消这个项目。

PopCap的每一个成员骨子里其实都是硬核玩家，如果我们发现游戏很好玩，我们就知道它会吸引硬核玩家，而当你增加游戏可玩性，使其不再局限于硬核玩家时，你就扩大了游戏的影响范围。我们花了大量时间制作自己喜欢，同时又能吸引更多用户的游戏。

你们的产品在掌上游戏设备中取得了不少成就，索尼PSP2（NGP）即将上市，有些人认为这个平台上的游戏体验缺乏那种“上手即玩”的吸引力，你怎么看？

（笑）我认为掌机游戏及其设备都面临一个共同挑战：手机平台。我外出旅行时不会随身携带DS设备，因为它只适合我专心坐在同一个地方体验专门运行于DS的游戏。

PSP2也存在同样的问题，现在人人都习惯随身携带智能手机，玩家确实想获得更好的硬件设备和更具沉浸感的游戏体验，但如果是在外出途中，我并不需要如此沉浸地投入游戏世界中，这也正是这类掌机设备所面临的难题。

你的意思是说这些掌机设备已经落伍了，因为它们无法提供像智能手机这么方便的功能（例如结合电话、照相机、游戏机、音乐播放器等多种用途于一体）？

我认为这些传统设备如果想在竞争中幸存下来，就得与时俱进，突破目前的局限性。至于它们是否会采取这种行动，或者是否有必要如此，或者它们的未来面貌又将如何这类问题，我倒真是不知道。但可以肯定的是，它们无法回避这个挑战。

提到游戏平台的进化，这让我想起刚登台的iPad 2……

我们确实很推崇iPad，因为它所提供的游戏体验真是太棒了。我们希望更多用户选择iPad，这样我们就可以更有针对性地开发iPad游戏——就如我们针对Xbox 360开发多人模式游戏一样，

但iPad 2还有更多潜力值得挖掘，例如LAN游戏。假如你在iPad上玩多人模式游戏，就可以轻松拿着iPad坐在沙发上玩个够。

PopCap过去主要针对PC和苹果触屏设备开发游戏，但最近你们也涉足Xbox 360和任天堂DS平台，针对这些掌机设备移植游戏的最大挑战是什么？

我认为最大挑战要分为两个方面来说。首先，你得研究这些掌机设备用户所欢迎的游戏模式。例如我们将《植物大战僵尸》移植到Xbox 360的时候，几乎有一半的开发时间是用于设计它的多人玩法模式，我们希望它可以提供“沙发玩游戏”的最佳体验，因为我们清楚这就是Xbox 360用户所需要的体验。

其次，我们花了大量时间调整掌机界面的控制系统，iPhone或PC游戏的成功点与Xbox 360、任天堂DS游戏是截然不同的概念。所以这对我们来说真是一个创意大挑战，我们在这两个地方投入了不少心血。

你们已经进军掌机游戏平台，未来是否会推出专门运行于其中一个平台的游戏？

我们不会推出仅限运行一个平台的游戏，无论我们创建的是什么游戏，我们都会致力于将它推向多个平台。我们认为这一点对PopCap的发展战略来说极为重要，对我们的用户也会有很大影响。

我们会不会针对掌机平台专门开发一款游戏？PopCap在不同的发展阶段也都讨论过这个问题，甚至还创建了一些掌机游戏的原型。我认为在今后五年内，我们至少会开始创建一款掌机游戏。

我们对这个设想并没有明确的支持或反对标准，问题的关键在于我们是否能够产生一个极佳的掌机游戏创意。我们对PC、手机或其他任何平台的项目也都会以这个前提为核心。

你刚才提到针对Xbox 360和DS调整游戏控制界面充满不少挑战，而且这个过程与针对PC和智能手机调整内容非常不同。但掌机设备的界面也在发生变化，比如现在的Kinect和PS Move……

是的，我们也在关注体感技术。但问题是出色的Wii、Move和Kinect游戏一开始就是针对体感控制系统而设计的，我们还没有发现哪款移植游戏属于这种控制系统上的成功范例。假中我们有一款自认为很适合移植到其他平台的游戏，我们会首先考虑它在这些界面上是否也能提供不打折扣的游戏体验。如果把《宝石迷阵》移植到Kinect系统中，游戏还是原来的样子，但玩家得通过自己的手势来控制游戏，这并不能形成理想的Kinect游戏体验。

我们不是手机公司，不是掌机公司，也不是电脑公司，我们只是游戏公司，这就是我们的基因。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

PopCap chief: ‘We’re the tortoise’John Vechey on whether the maker of Plants vs Zombies will become as big as Disney and how the iPad 2 changes gaming

The growth in popularity of casual gaming in recent years has catapulted video games from fringe to mainstream entertainment. The Wii has been immensely influential in this regard, but recently smartphones and social media have started replacing consoles as the “go-to” platforms for casual gaming.

One of the best and most influential developers behind casual-core video games is PopCap. The Seattle-based company’s catalogue features some of the most critically acclaimed and biggest-selling titles of all time – Bejewelled, Peggle and Plants vs Zombies among them.

With casual gaming becoming more and more popular – throw a rock into a crowd and you’ll hit someone playing Angry Birds – some pundits have begun speculating that companies such as Rovio and PopCap may some day be as big as Disney. We thought it we’d find out from PopCap’s chief executive John Vechey what he thought of that assessment, as well as his opinion on several other topics.

Last year was a fantastic year for casual games and casual gaming – with the success of Plants vs Zombies on various platforms, Angry Birds and Cut the Rope – especially on mobile platforms. It’s really captured the imagination of millions. Has all this competition been good for PopCap?

I think so. I mean, we don’t really think of gaming as some industry. We’re friends with nearly every single every game company in our competitive environment. When you look at Angry Birds on mobile phones and Zynga’s games on Facebook, they’re really great for us because people are playing more games because of them.

Look at it this way; the majority of people in the world will argue about movies and have favourite movies, but very few of them will say, “I don’t like movies at all”. In gaming right now there are still more people or as many people who say, “I’m not a gamer and I don’t play games” as there are people who play games. Any game that has the success we’ve seen from some titles in the last year, increases the number of people who play games. There are people discovering gaming for the first time, because of Angry Birds. And that is good for us! And it’s good for the industry! (Laughs) It’s all good!

What did you think of Angry Birds?

Angry Birds to me is like golf in that it’s more frustrating than fun. However, it’s incredibly rewarding when things go your way in it. I can play something like Cut the Rope – and I did for hours – and get three stars on every level. With Angry Birds, the scoring is a bit to arbitrary for my tastes. I like it, but I feel it would be a better game if it wasn’t so opaque – but that’s me.

There are a lot of people who play games who don’t consider themselves gamers, but the audience for casual games has grown in leaps and bounds in the last year. Do you think the market is becoming saturated?

I think the sky’s the limit. I can’t predict how fast it’s going to grow; when started in 2,000 with Bejeweled there was a big acceleration in casual gaming. Then it settled down a bit over the next few years. Now with Facebook and smartphones being a great one-two punch, it’s picked up again and you’re seeing huge growth again.

PopCap’s goal is this; everyone in the world has a top five games list and we want a couple of our titles on everyone’s top five list. Whether that takes us 10 to 50 years to accomplish this, we don’t care. I know we have so much further to go.

We’re a very inwardly focused company. We believe markets and platforms aren’t static – everything changes, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. For us, it’s about focusing on great games and great game franchises. We don’t need to release 50 games per year that are C+ or B- quality releases. What we need to do is keep reinvesting in the great games we have and continue to experiment with games that we think would make amazing experiences. We’re like Pixar; they don’t feel the need to make 10 times as many movies as their competitors, but they do feel the need to keep making every movie great. We’re okay being the tortoise. The tortoise eventually wins the race.

Do the backyard shuffle … PopCap’s Plants vs Zombies There are some pundits who – because of the success of Angry Birds and PvZ – are saying that companies such as Rovio and PopCap will become bigger than Disney. What’s your take on that?

I definitely think that companies such as Rovio and Zynga and PopCap are going to end up looking like companies such as Disney. You look at what Hasbro’s done with Transformers and how that revitalised the brand in the toy business.

I think that what’s going to happen is, at some point we’re going to see that gaming is just one aspect of what we do. How else can our customers want to interact with what we do? Whether that’s toys or movies or TV or some other medium, it’s another way that customers gain appreciation for it.

Look, Disney’s a giant company and I think it would be foolhardy to say, “hey, we’re gonna be bigger than Disney”, but I think that in 30 or so years, we’re going to look a lot more like Disney than we do right now.

I think the fact that the big media companies don’t have great interactive experiences for their audiences nailed yet, will mean that eventually, they’re going to start to look more like us.

The quality of their games is factor. PopCap seems to be one of those developers who seem to straddle the casual and core markets. Your games are visually very cute and friendly, but the depth of play is guaranteed to bring in the core crowd too. Is it a tricky balancing act?

We get that just by the nature of the development process. We make games first and foremost for ourselves and we cancel titles that we aren’t having fun with. Once we’ve started having fun with a title, we try to make that experience as accessible to as many people as possible, and once again, if we can’t do that we cancel it.

By nature, everyone at PopCap is a hardcore gamer. If we find it fun, we’ve got the core audience. Once you make that experience accessible to people outside that core audience, you increase your game’s reach. We spend a lot of time making what we enjoy appeal to as many people as possible.

Your titles have had a lot of success on portable devices. The Sony PSP2 (NGP) is on the horizon, and it’s come under fire from some quarters who say that the experiences available on it don’t lend themselves to the easy “pick-up-and-play” appeal that audiences want on portable gaming devices. What’s your take on that?

(Laughs) I think the thing with portable gaming – and portable gaming devices – is they all have the same problem; the mobile phone. I don’t carry my DS with me anymore when I go travelling. It just sits there until there’s a game I absolutely have to play on it, which isn’t available on any other platform.

The PSP2 will have the same problem. People always have their smartphones with them. Yeah, you’re always going to get better hardware and more immersive expereinces, but when I’m on the road, I’m looking for a less immersive experience. That’s really what all those devices are up against.

Peggle … 2D time-wasters will never go out of fashion So would you say these portable devices are on their way out, because they don’t offer all of the conveniences of a smartphone – such as a phone, a camera, a gaming device, a music player and so forth?

I think that if they want to survive, in my mind, they’ll have to evolve into something that’s way beyond what they are now. Whether or not they do that, or what they need to do, or what they’ll even look like, I’ll be honest, I don’t know. But it’s very definitely a challenge they face.

Speaking of evolving platforms, the iPad 2 just got released …

We’re really rooting for the iPad, just because so many great experiences can be made. We need more users on it for us to develop more specific content for it – the way we did with multiplayers on the Xbox 360 – but there are all sorts of things the iPad 2 can do, such as LAN gaming. Usually that involves a big headache of setting up machines, feeling really nerdy and wondering why women talk to you at all. With the iPad, if you have a multiplayer game, you can just bring your iPad round, sit on the couch and have a blast.

In the past, PopCap mainly made games for PCs and Apple’s touchscreen platforms, but recently you made the jump to Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS. What were the main challenges in porting your games to these consoles?

I think the big challenge there breaks into two parts. First, you have to look at the modes that are expected by the audiences of those consoles. For example, when we ported Plants vs Zombies to the Xbox 360, we probably spent well over half the development time on designing its multiplayer mode. We wanted to make it a really great, “on the couch” type of experience because we knew that that’s what people expect and want from an Xbox 360 game.

Second, we spent a lot of time adapting our control systems to the console interface. What makes a great iPhone game or a PC game is different to what makes a great Xbox 360 game – and in turn, what makes a great Nintendo DS game. So, really the creative challenge that we embrace and take very seriously, focuses a lot on those two areas.

Now that you’ve made the jump on to these platforms, will we see PopCap make a title exclusively for one of those consoles?
We will never release a game that’s exclusive to any platform. Whatever gaming experiences we create and continue to create, we’re all about the multi-platform aspect of gaming. We feel it’s very important to our strategy and very important to our customers.

Will we ever start a title off on a console? Well, it’s something that we’ve talked about at various stages. We’ve even done some prototypes of some games on a console. I can see us at least starting on a console in the next five years, certainly.

We don’t have a hard and fast rule for or against the idea; it’s all about whether or not we’ve got a great idea for a console game. And the same goes for PC, or mobile phones, or any other platform we’re currently on.

You talked about the challenges of adapating to the Xbox 360 and DS control interface – being, as they are, very different from PCs and smartphones. But the interfaces of consoles are changing again, with the introduction of Kinect and the PS Move …

Yeah, we’re looking at them. The problem we have with those interfaces is… well, the great Wii and Move and Kinect games you see are designed from scratch to be great Wii and Move and Kinect games. We have yet to see a game that’s a port or an adaptation on those control systems that’s a great game too. To the extent that one of our games would be a good adaptation, then, yeah, we could think about porting it. But the question, once again, would focus on whether the game would be a great experience with those interfaces. For example, Bejeweled on Kinect would just be Bejeweled exactly how it is, but you’d control it by moving your hands, which wouldn’t exactly be a great Kinect experience.

We’re not a mobile company or a console company or a PC company. We’re a games company – that’s our DNA.（source:guardian）