MTV hosts game designers roundtable
MTV News' Stephen Totilo somehow managed the Herculean task of getting four major game designers -- Harvey Smith (aka Witchboy; Deus Ex), Will Wright (The Sims), David Jaffe (God of War), and Cliff Bleszinski (aka CliffyB; Gears of War) -- to sit down and talk to each other ... during the week of E3.
The roundtable took place at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight amidst the backdrop of their currently running I AM 8-BIT art show. Though it begins with more input from host Gideon Yago, it quickly evolves into a conversation between the four designers, running the gaming gamut from design to violence in games to the art question, all with a healthy sprinkling of (the outspoken) David Jaffe's trademark pottymouth.
While MTV only ran an edited version, MTV's online-only Overdrive channel is hosting the whole shebang. It's unfortunate that MTV decided this didn't deserve to be aired on television even though they've managed to make room for another half-dozen airings of the Gears of War promotional special. But seriously, if MTV's doing this, what does G4 do nowadays?
[Warning: Ever attuned to the pulse of the younger generation, MTV had the foresight to recognize that nobody under the age of 34 uses Mac OS and, accordingly, they've made their Overdrive site only compatible with Internet Explorer running on Windows.]



















(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Funny, but the real reason is Mtv feels they must "protect" their video WMV DRM.
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p.s. Cliffy B. still rocks :D. I'd love to go for your job, bud, but the education to do it is just so damn expensive...
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"Ladies and Gentlemen, behold! I present you my most refined french friend: DAVID JAFFE!!!"
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I did appreciate CliffyB and Smith's comments about violence and death in videogames. I also liked the dynamic videogame world that Wright discussed, whereby it changes depending on the players immersion level. Either way, we know we will be seeing some exciting games coming out of these guys here in the near future.
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However, I'm impressed the MTV did that. Though, I'm sure the worst parts were selected for cable; thankfully, I haven't owned a TV in many, many years.
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That said, I think you're completely off base saying that Deus Ex and the Unreal series were not some of the best games ever. The original Deus Ex had one of the best stories ever at that time, and a wonderfully open ended play structure that truly allowed you to either kill everyone or kill no one and still "win".
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One nice thing about the overdrive player was that it actually let you size the video to a reasonable size.
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I HEART JOYSTIQ!!
Thank you joystiq for pointing this out to me, normally I wouldn't touch anything associated with MTV but this was seriously worth it.
You cannot know how refreshing it was to hear these icons talk about their craft, instead of selling their game to a crowd of gawking onlookers. I seriously hung on every word these men said, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they all respected each other's work and held each other in high regard---None of them had a huge balloon head ego that I would have assumed. (and if they did have an ego they checked it at the door which is still cool)
Best post on any blog anywere ever.
KUDOS!
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Anyone who has watched this video and realizes the quality of the discussion, I ask you to point me to other game develop roundtables that you have seen. There have to be a handful more out there on the internet somewhere. FIND THEM!! I need more!
Props to joystiq for shedding light on the shadow that is MTV.
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I'm a little disappointed with the continued focus on "profanity". I love joystiq (probably more than most), but I'm sick of this bizarre infatuation you guys seem to have with the "dirty" words (despite the fact that I see numerous posters here daily using said words, rarely reprimanded). I understand that many people who are not of adult age read your site, but linguistic cleansing is their parent(s)'(s) responsibility, not yours.
What does it matter if Jaffe says "fuck" 5 times in 10 seconds as filler. I know dozens of teens and twentysomethings who say "like" just as much, if not more, and even though they sound even more ridiculous, no one (except maybe English teachers and the elderly) scolds them for it. George Carlin did a brilliant bit on this-something like 25 years ago (it could be less, or more).
Besides that, I LOVE Joysiq. It's pretty much the only place I go for video game news. I'm not bitching, but I just can't understand this one aspect of your collective writings in general. Please, the original gaming generation is of legal drinking age now ( and we all know that booze is much more dangerous than Mr. Carlin's "7 words you can't say on TV/radio." Let's evolve, shall we?
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Cheers,
Adam
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In other words, we're obligated to warn people about content that's not safe for work or that could get someone into trouble at work. That's why we're always careful to note such content.
You seem to think we do it because we've got an internal problem of some sort. Our problem actually lies in a readership that tends to do most of their Joystiq reading during the workday. We cater to these folks because we think that there's no more important task for the American worker than staying current on video game news.
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I didn't really think it was an internal problem. I was just venting-when I continue my education, Linguistics will be my major (yeah, I'm one of those). No worries on my end.
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Preach on, vc. I'm with you 100%. 1 word should not hold more presence in people's minds than something like the "I have a dream" speech.
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They play music videos of course.
Only for a couple of hours in the middle of the night though.
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