Faithful Crispy readers will remember that Jones and I asked Wanted producer Nick Torchia what game laid deep inside his soul waiting to be set free. His answer was a yet-to-be made hair salon game for the DS. MTV Multiplayer has a story up where Stephen Totilo talks to ex-Rare designer Martin Hollis about his new WiiWare game, Bonsai Barber, which lets players cut shrubbery off cartoony plant people. Two things struck me when re-visiting our first Dining with Developers:
1. When he was elaborating on his idea, Nick Torchia says, "No one has ever done a hairstyling simulation." Similarly, Hollis observes that hair-styling games are "just a complete blindspot for the whole development community." Or did he mean to say "bald spot?"
2. Both these guys have high-profile shooters on their resumes: Wanted for Torchia and the 1997 N64 classic GoldenEye for Hollis. Maybe after building games based on taking life, you just want to beautify it? Should we expect a nail salon game from Cliff Bleszinski next?
Only more games in the same vein will show if there's a budding sub-genre here. But, I've got a feeling that Shaving Mama may not be far off...