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Nicholas Lovell
Home   >   Analysis and Opinion   >   Opinion   >   Minimum specifications on a Facebook game? Are NOVA mad?

Minimum specifications on a Facebook game? Are NOVA mad?

By on May 13, 2011

I’ve just installed a first person shooter on Facebook. It’s called N.O.V.A. Elite and it puts me off from playing it before it even starts.(And which idiot has a game that can only be searched for by spelling the game name with.its.full.stops.between.every.letter?)

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Firstly, it’s got loud music pumping out as you as soon as you launch (due warning: don’t try to play this game in an office or environment where playing games is frowned on). Then you have to dive through an sub menu of an options screen hoping to turn the blasted thing off. Don’t the developers realise quite how much of Facebook gaming takes place in an office?

But then, underneath the normal Facebook iframe, the developers have put these gems:

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Minimum system requirements on a Facebook game?

Surely Facebook is about open accessibility. It’s about not having to worry about compatibility and memory and all the dull stuff like that. Not like PC gaming.

Not according to Gameloft, who are the developer behind it. For them, the race is on to turn Facebook into the nightmare of system specs and minimum requirements that turn so many people off PC gaming.

Boo to them. Double boo.

About Nicholas Lovell

Nicholas is the founder of Gamesbrief, a blog dedicated to the business of games. It aims to be informative, authoritative and above all helpful to developers grappling with business strategy. He is the author of a growing list of books about making money in the games industry and other digital media, including How to Publish a Game and Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games, and Penguin-published title The Curve: thecurveonline.com