It seems like just yesterday Maxis programmer Chris Hecker mentioned the words "Wii" and "piece of shit" in the same sentence. He also said the system was nothing more than two GameCubes duct-taped together. The internets took those words, spread them like a delicious marmalade, and soon everyone was digesting it. The EA bosses got wind of the situation and decided they didn't much care for the Anti-Nintendo-flavored jam, so they had a chat with Chris.Hecker has made a formal statement retracting his remarks, saying they were all made in fun but went a little over the top. He also uttered statements like, "When I'm on stage, I'm me -- I'm not representing EA or Maxis"; and, "I do not think the Wii is a piece of shit." Even though Nintendo-brand Teleprompters weren't sighted, he continued to praise the company for their efforts in innovation and controller interface technology.
Sounds like EA showed up at Hecker's front door with an offer he couldn't refuse.
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Slander towards Nintendo is a serious offense. Truth or not, only say positive things on Nintendo or face the wrath of the Mario community.
I just "cannot" believe that he let the cat out the bag and shot holes in Nintendo's cash cow console. "Fuck the 1st Amendment", says EA! Nintendo is above the Constitution.
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It's not like he was going to get arrested or something for it, so your little wannabe clever consitution remark is moot.
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He has no credibility.
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What a tool bag.
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Having said that, if this was the makers of Area 51: Black Site, I could understand the outrage. If this was EA Canada, I could understand the outrage. If this was Ubisoft, I could understand the outrage. But this is Ben Heckler. He's creating a very complex game where majority of the CPU power does NOT equate to graphics. He has the ability to bring this point forward because his game reflects that point precisely.
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You guys are morons. This guy obviously does not like the wii, but was FORCED to rectract his statement. Hes not weak for changing his mind, as him sure if you went up to him personally, he would still hate the wii.
Most likely his supiriors said if he does not retract his statement, he will be fired. Use your brains. If you had a career (not a job like you have at mcdonalds), you would do what they told you to keep your position as well.
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Since when is honesty a bad thing?
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I say keep him around until he finishes Spore, then let him pull a Lorne Lanning.
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I think you'll like No More Heroes from Suda 51 because he promises to make it more violent than Manhunt 2 and claims to make use of the Wiimote in a non-gesture type of way. But who knows we'll have to wait and see. I can't wait for MP3 provided it sets the standards for First Person Adventures and First Person Shooters for the Wii. Wii must wait and see.
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He has developed for all the consoles. It most likely pissed him off to develop a game on the Wii after developing on the hardcore sytems.
Going from developing a game for 360 (has very few limits in power) to developing for a Wii (has alot of restrictions). It would piss me off too. It would feel like a couple steps backwards.
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In a country where they use loopholes in the system to phase out the constitution is bullshit.
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Also, how did EA make a bad move in doing this? It's probably not smart for a high-profile developer working for you to trash-talk the most popular console on the market today. It makes sense to have him retract those comments.
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So you think that the situation would have been any different if he had said this in an interview, or on his blog (assuming he has one...)
Not so much, it wasn't about were he said it but more so HOW. He's not just representing the company he works for when he's at a conference.
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Wow, you must be pretty advanced to be able to render a verdict on a system by playing the pack-in game for 15 minutes. Can you also give movie reviews by just seeing the trailer? I'd bet you could with that level of brain function.
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Either way, when someone says somethign harsh or terrible, and then has to retract that statement (forced or not) its still funny.
At least, thats what I was laughing about. We all know he didn't all of a sudden start liking the Wii over night.
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If he WASN'T representing EA, then he had every right in the world to say it.
Right or wrong, something like this isn't covered under the whistle blower protection laws.
It seems to me he got reprimanded not for saying what he said, but HOW he said it. He could have been a little more diplomatic, to say the least.
...of course, coming from yours truly, that might be the pot calling the kettle black, but that's beside the point.
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He's nothing more than two mid level programmers duct-taped together.
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Fuck you EA and all your micro-transaction bullshit! Won't be buying anymore EA titles until they retract their anti-Sony diatribes!
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Personally, I agree with this the his main point that more power doesn't just mean prettier graphics. But he went overboard when he called the Wii a piece of shit. He could have made his point without doing that and he might not have had to retract his statements.
But we all know he still believes what he said, EA just pressured him into publicly retracting them because they stand to make big profits from the Wii. Like it or not, EA did what they had to do as a business.
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What the hell does that have to do with the relationship between a company and it employee?
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Priceless, just priceless
All is forgiven Mr Hecker, what you did to those Nintendo haters more then made up for your comments.
Bravo!!! Now lets get some Wii games happening!!
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Your comments make no sense. How does it make anyone look like a fool?
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This guy is extremely lucky as if I were to say such condescending comments about one of our partners in public I would be fired the next day. He knew his superiors wouldn't like what he was saying, so he should stick by his opinion and live with the consequences.
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"I played one game on the wii for 15 minutes, and it sucked, therefor every game on the wii sucks..."
guess what...
I met a guy once named Steve. He was a total douchebag. Guess what my conclusion is.
Yeah, you're a douchebag.
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How can he make comments like that when maxisd games are some of the most buggiest and most ineffeciently programmed games out there, Yes I have all there games to date so I am talking from experience.
There AI programming stinks.
Also Nitnendo is one of the most artistic companies out there. Just look at wind waker and phantom hourglass.
The only true thing he stated was that the wii was udnerpowered BUT only compaired to the competition.
Most of what he stated was a compelte lie and everybody here knows it .
A maxis developer whos company makes very badly programmed games has no right to criticize other companies.
(I cant even get The Sims 2 to properly install on any of the 10 computers I tried to install it on)
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You must be joking. Okami, ShadowotC, Ico, Gears are art.
Wind waker didn't have shit.
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Personally I hate my Wii, its been gathering dust for over a month, Im pretty frustrated with the fact this silly little console has ZERO "real" games. I didnt like Zelda so dont even try to mention it, although it is funny Zelda is the only real game on the Wii and its technically a GC game...
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If this fuck wasn't too busy trying to slander Nintendo, he'd probably realise that if the devs weren't so SHATTERINGLY LAZY, they could actually WORK and come up better compression techniques/algorithms for GFX and more efficient sub routines for AI that would not only benefit Nintendo's underdog of a system, but ALSO the PS360 boxes because they could use all the freed up horsepower and resources to make games even better. Everyone wins with more efficient coding. Stop being lazy in defence of your dev bretheren and actually DO some work. fuck.
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