The game industry has certainly produced its fair share of idiotic comments. One of my favorites came from none other than Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. The head of the Japanese game giant recently said the lack of significant internal storage (512 MB) in the Wii only affected a small group of people. I am sure hardcore gamers, who are expected to support the Virtual Console and newly-launched WiiWare service, loved hearing that. I don’t know if Iwata actually believed what he said, or if he was simply glossing over a monumental mistake made during the Wii’s conception. I suspect, since Iwata is not stupid (I hope not), that it was probably the latter.

However, do not despair Iwata. You have company. Phil Harrison. Yup, he once again said something so stupid, you’ve got to wonder how he kept his job at Sony… um I mean Atari. Check it out, after the jump!

Phil Harrison, who recently left Sony to become the Directeur General Delegue (your guess is as good as mine) at Infogrames, recently shared his thoughts on the direction of the videogame industry. In an article posted on gamesindustry.biz, Harrison said the industry will start seeing a shift away from single-player games.

I just don’t think consumers want to be playing games that don’t have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content. The industry is changing, and the role we play as creators and publishers has to reflect those changes.

Harrison’s position should come as no surprise. He was one of the biggest proponents of Home during his last few years at Sony. Some speculated that he left the company because he felt some of the higher-ups were slow to acknowledge the growing importance of the casual gaming audience.

Let me start off by saying that I don’t disagree with everything he said. The excitement surrounding the release of LittleBigPlanet and the popularity of online multiplayer games, such as Call of Duty 4 and Warhawk, prove that community-based games are becoming more popular. However, I do not agree that single-player games are going to become an endangered species.

Bioshock, a single-player FPS, won numerous game of the year awards in 2007. Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Ratchet and Clank Future, Heavenly Sword and Super Mario Galaxy have all sold over a million copies (according to vgchartz.com). I know that two people can play Mario Galaxy at the same time, but it is primarily a single-player experience. Earlier this year, Devil May Cry 4 surpassed two million units sold (combination of PS3 and 360 sales). The point is, single-player titles remain popular with the core gaming crowd.

In my opinion, the most memorable gaming experiences come from solo adventures. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Okami, Psychonauts and God of War, all single-player titles, remain some of my favorite games of all time. It was the combination of excellent gameplay and superior storytelling that made these experiences so great. Few community-based games have delivered this combo effectively. Thus, the experience is fun in the moment, but far less memorable than story-driven titles. Sure, I loved playing Warhawk online. In fact, I devoted more than 250 hours of my life to the game. However, many years from now, I will remember my adventures as Nathan Drake far more fondly than the metals I earned taking down Chernovan scum.

A quick look at future software releases reveals that my favorite titles are primarily single-player games. The list includes Sucker Punch’s Infamous, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Tim Schafer’s Brutal Legend and God of War III. Just a side note, God of War II, Kratos’ final romp on the PS2, was heavily considered for numerous game of the year honors last year. This in spite of the fact that the current-generation console war was in full swing.

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