Alex Ward flips out during MTV interview

Can everyone actually think through what's being said here, I'm not defending what he's said but your how can you say that everyone in Britain is an arrogant snob by looking at one person without being just as bad as Mr. Alex Ward?

Hell obviously I'm a arrogant snob thats just gotten back seeing the horses with the Queen just as much as everyone in America is a super obese junk food junkie with an IQ of 50 - neither of these statements are true so why are you assuming that everyone thinks that they are?

Also can we stop the EA hate when their just the publishers? Of course your free to hate EA published games but seriously do you really never want to play Spore or Crysis?

This is indeed stupid.

If hes gonna attack americans misuse of langauge, it should be the fact that you say 'I could care less"

Its I COULDN'T care less you fools. By using the former, you are saying precisely nothing.

I think I will start applying his use of the word "beat" in everyday conversation. I beat that book. I beat that breakfast. I beat his MTV interview in 2 minutes.

Plus his "original" idea of making an American a bad guy in his game is completely unoriginal. It's a very common and politically-correct cliche in movies and games to make the "bad guy" a mirror image of the "good guy."

Kritz:
Yet historically, Australia is has been one the first countries to back America, and one of the last countries to leave our side.

My expirence with the Australian people has always been good. I was in Derby on St. Patrick's Day, and people were literally partying in the streets. It was great.

Alex Ward is an idiot. I "rented" Black and it was boring enough that I didn't even try to beat it. Heck, I thought it was such a tired concept that I really didn't even "play" it.
Good job Alex, make a lousy game, make an ass out of yourself..
Let me introduce you to a new phrase:
Boycott
Example:
"I've decided to Boycott all of Alex Wards games because he's a pompous tool".

Have a nice day.

Gimmie a break.
Why should you give a toss about him? Like it's been said, the only people who don't hate Americans, are Americans...it's pretty standard these days, I'm surprised you're not used to it. :P

Most of that interview was clearly in jest...mainly the Pac-man and "Beat" parts. Though he did get wound up pretty badly, and I'm sure you would too if you'd worked on a game that long, only to be pounded in reviews for the particular thing that you were in charge of. Being in game development, I can definately sympathise with him...same shit's happened to me before.(given, I didn't have camera shoved in my face at the time)
That said, I does seem like he'd had a tad too much sugar and/or caffine in his system. :P

Oh, and the fact he's English gives him full rights to complain about you yanks butchering the English language.

"Ah, I love the smell of Xenophobia in the morning."
- 34. Markusdragon

Dead on I would say. :)

I'm Australian for those wondering.

Hmm... 1/2 of the people are just bitter because they get absolutely no sweet Burnout action on the Wii.

Yes, Alex Ward lead the Burnout team. Most commenters seem to be oversensitive f*ers who really need an excuse to coat responses with make-believe.

And Burnout is wayy FAR from a lousy game, even more in its *gasp* EA days. ROFL to the real idiots.

leads*.

19. Consult Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamato about story-telling in video games and how it brought them multiple venues of success for years. Zelda and Metal Gear mixes fun with storyline that keeps players coming back.

Whoa Whoa Whoa - Zelda has a story?? really? Let's see Princess gets kidnapped or whatever, kid (Link) goes on adventures rescues Princess.. rinse and repeat for the next 20yrs - yeah, epic storytelling

>>An arrogant British man grandstanding about
>>the stupidity of Americans?

A european calling Americans stupid? Hell, maybe we are. Maybe we should be like europeans and kick back, contribute nothing to the world from everything from science to defense, and let another country do all the thinking for us. (But if we go on strike, who's left to carry the load?)

It's kinda like owning a pet. Most people assume the owner is the intelligent one, but when you look at the pampered life that the lazy cat gets and how the cat contributes nothing to the household, can't it be said that the cat is actually smarter?

Oh well. Time for me to get back to work and add to my nation's GDP, you know, that measure of a nation's collective economic output that the self-proclaimed champions of intelligence in europe can't seem to master?

PACMAN??? PACMAN??? Cmon for real?? Is he serious? Does that mean that Donkey Kong had messages about Apes not liking little Italian men? Or Mario was a greedy coin robbing, mushroom hating, lunatic?
Yeah this guy is just another liberal minded hypocrite that has no idea of what is right and what is wrong. Doesnt know Up from down. And surely doesnt know the difference between Good and Evil. And seems like alot of you feel the same. :( very sad.

Hey Alex, I'm American, and I didn't "beat" your game.

Because it sucked.

Cheers, you spiky-haired metro prick.

@ Kritz

I absolutely LOVE Fawlty Towers!

In regards to your comments about the media propogating unfounded hate, I can completely understand. It's happening over here as well, but aimed at obvious targets. People get a constant barrage of false information and why the government is fighting them for our "protection". I think that given the chance to meet a lot of Americans, people wouldn't hate them, but instead turn their hate to a government that really isn't following the people's wishes. If our elected officials were really trying to protect our God-given rights of "life, liberty and the persuit of happiness", more Americans and Foreigners would be happy with the government.

Hey guys,

As the person who actually interviewed Alex and was on the receiving end of his "rant", I'm really surprised by how angry most of you are about it.

His tongue was clearly in cheek for almost the entire five minutes.

He was talking about political meaning in games because I asked him about Doug Lowenstein's call earlier in the day at DICE for more commercially viable games that tackle politically relevant issues.

And as for the whole "beat" thing, sure he went off on a bender there. But my girlfriend often chides me for talking about how I can't wait to "catch up" and finish all my games. "Can't you just enjoy them?" she asks me. So Alex was actually being quite perceptive in zeroing in on my somewhat adversarial relationship with the games I play.

Sorry MTV has the copyright restrictions that are blocking non-Americans from watching this. I suspect many outside our country would be less perturbed by his comments.

It's like racist remarks, the racists may think they're hilarious, but that doesn't mean they're good things to say. #36 says it's a joke, do you enjoy people making fun of you for how you look? For your race, physical features, or anything you're self conscious about? Their friends may enjoy the remarks but that doesn't make them jokes. And the comment on saying that it's a cynical kind of humour, cynics tend to think that everybody in the world is corrupt and/or terrible, he seems to think that only America is terrible.

Holy shit! Black had a story? I was too busy skipping the cutscenes I guess.....
And I had no idea Pacman was so deep..I have to replay it and really let the story seep in...

Thanks Alex!

When exactly does he "flip out"? He gets excited and goes on too long about the beating a game thing, but I agree that it's a very American and competitive way of speaking. He is also kidding about the Pac Man thing. The guy didn't say George Washington was a syphilitic child molester, stop waving your flags.

Sorry But Burn Out a million will not even be rented in my flag waving house. He also called Americans fat. And for someone to post they they were the interviewer saying it was "tongue and cheek" is not an excuse in a public forum. Here is a lesson for any game maker don't bash the people that by your games.

'And as for the whole "beat" thing, sure he went off on a bender there.'

I'm a New Zealander, and I say I beat a game like Ninja Gaiden Black or Half-Life 2 when I defeat the final boss/level and get to the end of the story. It's a perfectly acceptable term and Americans aren't the only people who use it. No I don't say I beat a movie or an album, but then, there is no contest or challenge or skill involved in listening to music or watching a film.

Alex Ward has revealed himself to be a wanker of the highest order, and I'll never buy a game (new) that he has any part in. No one who played Black was even slightly impressed by the disposable, cliche-riddled story this whiny prick bolted on to it, and he just can't handle that.

Dare I say that Pac-Man is NOT social commentary on the problem of obesity in the United States?

On Pac-Man: he was joking around

On "beating a game": he may have been trying to be funny but came off like he was being a prick to the interviewer

On Black's awesome story: Which generic FPS was Black again? Oh the one with the bad guy who's from the same place as the good guy? Wow. That's original and politically relevent.

Piss off ya wanka.

Oh please with all this from some random dude ranting. England and America are very similar people, with cultures that feed off of each other, namely our senses of humor. People get so pissed at the most meaningless crap. The real separation isn't if you're English or American, its if you're an a**hole or not.

I don't get this guy. What else would you say? You could say you "finished" the game, but what's the difference? People say they "beat" a game because the game is a challenge/competition... like beating another team in a sport. You don't say you beat a movie because watching a movie isn't a competition.

I actually agree with him. Games *should* be interactive experiences that go beyond head-shotting the final boss and calling it a day. Kudos to him for saying that there are challenges with creating meaningful statements and narratives in games, not only on the development side, but on the consumer side.

What he misses is that meaningful narrative and action doesn't happen in a cut-scene- it's the gameplay that can offer the narrative experience. That's why GTA succeeds as an important critique of American media, and perhaps Black failed (didn't play it).

Oh, and for all of you who are taking him to task about over-analyzing Pac-Man, he was JOKING. Watch it again real slow, and see if you can parse humor slightly more subtle than putting your wang into a pie.

Hey Solta- that's like, your opinion, man.

#70

Heh... yeah, no propaganda or politically corrupt on your side of the ocean. Gimme a break. Nothing like basing your opinion of a people on their elected officials. I never realized political campaigning in the UK was done only by the truly righteous. The faster you learn about American and UK similarities the faster you'll drop your shameless bigotry.

Meh.

He comes across as not terribly funny, true, but not worth this wrath.

For one, he knocks the US. Fine. It was less hypocritical than the Top Gear guys down south (if only because we could do the same in Manchester.)

But aside from not being terribly funny, and poking some fun at a rivalry, so what? Yes, he sounds like an idiot about beating the game, forgetting that games used to be thought of as challenges to beat back in the day, puzzles set up by the creator.


So he isn't funny and is maybe a bit of an idiot. And Black sucked. But so what? It's still not worth the venom here. It's worth poking fun at back, not getting angry over.



And for as much as Black sucked the Burnout series is great.

Alex. . . Just so you know, "Black" was no "Deus Ex", not by a longshot.

As for "beat" versus "completed", that was just a matter of British language snobbery. We could go on and on about how we Americans don't go around talking about how "smashing" things are ("I saw the show. It was smashing!" "That woman is simply smashing!") and gripe about how British rhyming slang is the stupidest thing on the planet, but we don't.

I could complain that Brits being offended by the words "shag" and "bloody" is absolutely SILLY to Americans, but I won't.

I could wax poetic about the fact that most common Brits seem to have a real problem pronouncing the word "with" and stick a "v" or "f" in there where there is none ("Wif", "Wivout", "Wiffin" instead of "With", "Without", and "Within"-- As in "I was wif him, and then he went to the show wivout me, and I felt I should look wiffin to see how I really felt about vis relationship."

It's called DIALECT, wanker! We all have our regional speech habits, colloquialisms, local expressions and pronunciations. Jeez. Put a Yooper and a Cajun in the same room with a South African, and nobody will understand anybody else!

But, just because American English is rooted in UK English does not mean that UK English is the de facto way to pronounce something. American has evolved into a whole new- but similar- language.

So if we say we "beat" your game, you should just smile and say "Smashing! Bloody good job!" because some of the silly shit that comes out of your mouth sounds just as absurd to us as "beat" does to you.

I could write a book on this. Maybe I will.

Wow, I haven't seen such a collection of hate in one spot on Joystiq in a long time. There is some serious hate speak here about America and it really makes me think twice about my appreciation for other countries and cultures. What a collection of human scum this thread has brought together and I'm ashamed to be on the same planet as some of you bigots! Oh and screw Alex Ward, you sure hate americans all the way until you want us to buy your games.

To comment number 49...

ITS CALLED SARCASM.

www.gamepoetssociety.com

Alex Ward said stupid arrogant stereotypical things about American culture. In response to his words most of the posts on here contain stupid arrogant stereotypical things about American and British culture, and a lot of it is way more xenophobic than anything he said.
Oh and i'm English and i have never, ever used the word smashing in a sentence in my life ;)

You know what the propaganda is? That your country makes you who you are. You've all been duped by your governments, because we're all just regular people - don't adopt opinions about things that don't concern you. Most hate is just revealing of the fact you don't know sh*t about sh*t. Most people are very similar when you get past politics and little cultural differences - so stop the idiocy and be reasonable. Then again, people love to hate, because its really easy. Really surprising on a site where people around the world gather for the same purpose of bullsh*ting about video games. Video games!! Or then again maybe you're all 13 and love to whine at eachother.

btw im from new york. can I get some love from england over here? Maybe set an example for these cretins.

Look. The only thing you need to know about Black is shite explodes. Who cares about the rest.

I just beat Black. It sucked.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
beat /bit/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[beet] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, beat, beat·en or beat, beat·ing, noun, adjective
–verb (used with object)
1. to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly.
2. to dash against: rain beating the trees.
3. to flutter, flap, or rotate in or against: beating the air with its wings.
4. to sound, as on a drum: beating a steady rhythm; to beat a tattoo.
5. to stir vigorously: Beat the egg whites well.
6. to break, forge, or make by blows: to beat their swords into plowshares.
7. to produce (an attitude, idea, habit, etc.) by repeated efforts: I'll beat some sense into him.
8. to make (a path) by repeated treading.
9. to strike (a person or animal) repeatedly and injuriously: Some of the hoodlums beat their victims viciously before robbing them.
10. Music. to mark (time) by strokes, as with the hand or a metronome.
11. Hunting. to scour (the forest, grass, or brush), and sometimes make noise, in order to rouse game.
12. to overcome in a contest; defeat.
13. to win over in a race: We beat the English challenger to Bermuda.
14. to be superior to: Making reservations beats waiting in line.
15. to be incomprehensible to; baffle: It beats me how he got the job.
16. to defeat or frustrate (a person), as a problem to be solved: It beats me how to get her to understand.
17. to mitigate or offset the effects of: beating the hot weather; trying to beat the sudden decrease in land values.
18. Slang. to swindle; cheat (often fol. by out): He beat him out of hundreds of dollars on that deal.
19. to escape or avoid (blame or punishment).
20. Textiles. to strike (the loose pick) into its proper place in the woven cloth by beating the loosely deposited filling yarn with the reed.
–verb (used without object)
21. to strike repeated blows; pound.
22. to throb or pulsate: His heart began to beat faster.
23. to dash; strike (usually fol. by against or on): rain beating against the windows.
24. to resound under blows, as a drum.
25. to achieve victory in a contest; win: Which team do you think will beat?
26. to play, as on a drum.
27. to scour cover for game.
28. Physics. to make a beat or beats.
29. (of a cooking ingredient) to foam or stiffen as a result of beating or whipping: This cream won't beat.
30. Nautical. to tack to windward by sailing close-hauled.
–noun
31. a stroke or blow.
32. the sound made by one or more such blows: the beat of drums.
33. a throb or pulsation: a pulse of 60 beats per minute.
34. the ticking sound made by a clock or watch escapement.
35. one's assigned or regular path or habitual round: a policeman's beat.
36. Music.
a. the audible, visual, or mental marking of the metrical divisions of music.
b. a stroke of the hand, baton, etc., marking the time division or an accent for music during performance.
37. Theater. a momentary time unit imagined by an actor in timing actions: Wait four beats and then pick up the phone.
38. Prosody. the accent stress, or ictus, in a foot or rhythmical unit of poetry.
39. Physics. a pulsation caused by the coincidence of the amplitudes of two oscillations of unequal frequencies, having a frequency equal to the difference between the frequencies of the two oscillations.
40. Journalism.
a. the reporting of a piece of news in advance, esp. before it is reported by a rival or rivals. Compare exclusive (def. 13), scoop (def. 8).
b. Also called newsbeat, run. the particular news source or activity that a reporter is responsible for covering.
41. a subdivision of a county, as in Mississippi.

I find it incredibly ironic that the posts here tend to prove the very point he was making. It's fairly clear that most of the people here only heard what they wanted to.

* Firstly, most of the interview was clearly tongue in cheek.

* The mini-rant on PAC-MAN was –clearly- a joke. He even said, “Apologies to Mike Myers for stealing all of his Jokes,” afterwards. If that isn’t enough to indicate that it was a joke then you have issues. I sincerely pity the posters who wrote, “Was he kidding?!?!?” when he quite clearly was.

* It appears that the ‘theme’ here is to mock his comments without actually giving a reason. Most people find it easier to point and laugh rather then address his actual comments.
That, more then anything in the interview, would prove the myth of American mental incompetence.

* I am sure that he is aware of the 'other' meanings of the world beat - but he (and I) would contest the appropriateness of the word regardless of the definition.

* Joking, mocking and other such reactions to America (good-intentioned or otherwise) are rarely a sign of international jealousy. To suggest such only serves to prove American arrogance in the eyes of the world.
It may shock you to know that I would avoid living in (or even visiting) America if I could help it. The list of preferred countries include Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Britain and Ireland – any of which would be infinitely preferable to the USA.
I would still rather live in the US then in France, but that’s not saying a lot.

* It’s not clever to imply that the rest of the world is guilty of sitting by while madmen run amuck. It wasn’t long ago that America stayed sitting on it’s big fat ass while Nazi-Germany cut a swath of destruction across anyone in their path – compared to that the ‘terrorists’ aren’t posing a particularly huge threat right now.

Tel Prydain- Are you ignorant, bigoted, and stupid enough to think that you just took the high road there?

I'm just asking, I mean, because it sounded like you actually meant the things you said. You know, when you weren't contradicting yourself with your inept comments and less-than-stellar logic. And I see someone has access to a thesaurus- Charming!

Tel, here is a ball. Perhaps you'd like to bounce it.

I don't beat books, but then again, I don't choose my difficulty level for them either.

No one beat the game because it was crap, sorry that the game bombed, get over it and stop picking on your audience.

This from a man who's country refers to "making out" as "Snogged?"

Its called slang and every country has it. And what is wrong with "beating" a game? Don't 99% of games have a final boss to "complete"?

Anyways, is everyone forgetting the PacMan comment? Pacman was a commentary on obesity? Sorry, you lose all credibility in my eyes after that comment.

Maybe he's just pissed, because he's EA's bitch.

@58

Europe contributes nothing to the world? Maybe it's arrogant opinions like yours which make foreign people despise your country. You are tarnishing your own nation. You are adding to the negative stereotype that people view your country with. Remember without Europe there would be no USA, know your roots.

Please please please do not reply with the stereotypical "What are you going to do about it we rule the world" line because it looks like you along with most of us in the western world is being attacked for current and past greed. Maybe part of the reason behind your high GDP is because American laws are tough on foreign companies for investing in American companies. Sounds a bit to protective for what is ment to be a capitalist free market.

@K-dog
I didn't notice anyone typing in that style on this thread. So I guess you are the only one then. Thats ironic. p.s.This is not a personal attack and every region has its own styles and slang. English isn't exactly the same in all of Europe. Wildly different slang exists from region to region.

To all the nationalists on here your country isn't better than any other mans. All of your countries feature consumer cultures and cocky ignorance. The American Government and fiscal systems are particularly bad yes. The education system is terrible. Homophobia and xenophobia abound. Religous hypocrisy are a part of our culture. Are you trying to tell me your country doesn't suffer from any of these problems?

The man is an idiot payed by EA. Burnout 3 was great but he hasn't made anything since that i've given a second look.

I "beat it" in 20 minutes...last night!

Killer 7 was about US-Japan relations, but Suda 51 didn't get all bent out of shape when people didn't get it.

"C'mon, guys - EVERYONE outside the United States hates American these days! And there's extremely good reason."

Yes. Because you're ignorant.

"The world" would be up shit creek if America suddenly vanished. Have fun imagining it would be a utopia, though - just pray it never happens, because the rest of you would be screwed. If you disagree, you haven't actually thought about it much or done the necessary research to answer the question with an informed response.

Is this how insular and stupid people outside the United States have become? Ouch. I'd rather live in some toothless hick backwoods town than some ignorant, stuck-up, clueless second-rate America like Canada or the United Kingdom.

I am outraged by Alex Ward's face. His nasal hair was visible in the interview and to my mind it resembles a Hitler-style moustache - which obviously means he's a Nazi sympathiser - and not in an ironic, Monty Python-way, either! String him up, I say!

P.S. I am Belgian.

I wonder if the Chicago Bulls could complete the LA Lakers?

@94

"Is this how insular and stupid people outside the United States have become?"

Well done from your entire post you have also proved how insular you are. I assume even further that the rest of your country is too even if you are a vocal minority.

""The world" would be up shit creek if America suddenly vanished."

Meh. America would be up shit creek if Saudi Arabia suddenly vanished. I have to admit the Saudis have a surprising amount of money invested in the States for them being foreign nationals. If that disappeared your economy along with the rest of the worlds would implode. Amazing stuff huh? There's a lot of countries that if they were to disappear would upset the world.

I find it hilarious that one guys opinion has turned everyone into a bunch of raging xenophobes. Blind allegiance to your country is just so stupid. Swear allegiance to your friends and family, to humanity as a whole not a geographical entity that is run by self serving politicians. Voice individuality but keep mindful other peoples opinions. Just because someone else is a twat doesn't mean you have to be one too. It seems we all lack a little bit of patience and discipline.

Ape shall not kill ape.

But ape shall destroy Jumpman!!!