Narrative is important

Julian of 'Gamers with Jobs' writes here an article on narrative devices in video games. He has a point; creators should be looking to expand rather than dwell on systems developed for games from 20 years ago. Narrative and character development are absolutely key issues in most immersive style video games and depriving the player of involvment in their inception is an alientating move; one that is more of an act of dumbening down than an invitation to explore.