Great piece over at gamesindustry.biz that's very insightful into how Playground Games developers basically tested, tweaked and polished the nuts off the first 10 minutes of the game to make sure that it left an impression that made that player want to keep on playing. Which makes perfect sense as it's no good telling people really that it gets better if you've already lost them. Also the idea of giving a taste of what's to come could tempt the player to persevere more than starting them at the very bottom would do.
Not sure how I feel about it all though, as sure I want to get the feeling that I will enjoy the game at the start but I don't want to be given an easy time of it either as I like a challenge. :hmmm:
[via "]GamesIndustry.biz]