Dennis Dyack says nay to the enthusiast press, again

Dyack is a traitor to nintendo fans!

Fanboyism aside, He must have grabbed that analogy from Nintendo who too rearely shows anything until their close release dates. But maybe it's a good idea for him? Too Human PS1 and the 360 version look like Night and Day, so who needs to see how much more the game will keep changing before its release?

*who too rarely show...

nice Fight Club reference. :)

Wait, so "legitimate mediums" like film and music are never reported on until the work is completed? Has this guy so much as picked up a magazine even once in his life?

@jeff

I think he means you don't get to watch an unfinished movie, who's FX and sound are not yet done, then go to AINT IT COOL NEWS and read, "THE SPECIAL EFFECTS SUCK!"

People in the movie industry give movies a pass until the movie is done. Not so in the Video Game industry.

Check out his pose. Similar to the pic of Kojima on his desktop monitor. Pretentious.

#6 - I'd like to introduce you to an age old tradition around here. It's called Photoshop. Photoshop is a program available for your PC or Mac which can then be utilized to manipulate an image to your liking.

Think of it like when you were in school and you used finger paint to smear a mustache over George Washington.

Then think about that concept next time before joining the rodeo of negative posts that fill up our comment sections. Thanks!

I agree --- games should be sat on until they're in beta, otherwise they get fouled by a thousand voices suggesting change. Then again, that's a perfect world -- it won't happen.

I like how it is. I don't judge the product fully until it is finished and enjoy the little teasers and the discussions about them. Most of the time it is fanboys of other systems that cry "gfx sux" and the such.

Let's just say that I am sometimes disappointed with media like EGM giving games like Enter the Matrix or Robotech: Battlecry cover stories (which make the games sound awesome) and the games themselves end up mediocre or downright crappy. But this is the media's choice as much as it is the developer's choice to grant the interview. So [keeping the context hypothetical] if EGM's coverage on Too Human didn't please Dyack who's fault is that?

Now if he was somehow obligated by Microsoft to have a Too Human video, however crappy, presented at E3 2006, he should say so. Otherwise it's pretty much his company's decision to show something or not depending on how comfortable he is with his project.

To be honest, all of Dyack's paragraphs of dialogue seem to be laying out his excuse plan as to why his game[trilogy?], after 10 years in development, still doesn't look ready for release. It seems more like if his game gets average or bad ratings, it's because he asked for it and 'wants critics to toughen up'.

Quote from Dyack on an interview with GamesIndustry.biz:
"I hate previews and interviews where a writer says how they see a game maker as a 'God'. That they feel intimidated by someone who makes these great games. They should be intimidating him, they should be his critic. Every time a writer refers to a developer as a 'game God' I vomit internally."

Personally I took that as an jab at Mr. Miyamoto and others of his stature. People say he or his project teams doesn't get criticized?

--Despite the presence of Super Mario Sunshine and Pac-Man VS. at E3 2003, it was this point during the GC's lifetime that people thought Nintendo had lost it.

--The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker people hated the game at on first sight because it didn't look like the Spaceworld demo from 2001. Nevermind if there was gameplay inconsistencies, Nintendo 'tarnished the franchise' by making it 'teh kiddy'.

--Metroid Prime was criticized heavilly for the speculatory issue that if it was 1st-person, how in the world could it contain the feel that resonated with the originals?

--Despite the role of this game was a fanservice for people who didn't like Wind Waker, Twilight Princess gets dissed for being too much like Ocarina (whereas Wind Waker wasn't Ocarina enough). Zelda fans are quite possibly the most fickle videogame fanbase I've ever seen.

If there was something that I REALLY wanted to do, so much that it would take me 10 years to keep revising and re-starting, after that much time I wouldn't want to take crap from anybody. I shouldn't have to either.

I don't know why Dyack is asking for tougher criticism when he should be trusting his own direction after so much time.

But for God's sake don't let a group like EGM run a cover story including details about something as definite as its 'innovative control scheme' if the interaction part of the game isn't finalized and people shouldn't make any judgements by playing a demo.

Lets face it, his game is going to suck. He got pissed because some media said it was going to suck. Big deal, he should just pay off the review sites like all the other major game makers do.

Too Human is a generic shooter that I think in the end will be hurt even more by the public attitude of Dyack.

I see this all of a case of biting the hand that feeds you. You and your company decided to show off a version of a game at a trade show to build anticipation for it. It didn't work out. People didn't like it and it was surprising to you.

Fine. Deal. Don't pull this whole "Boo Hoo the media is sure mean and they aren't even judging the game as it will be," crap. The media allows you to build interest in your game which can really help sales. Like others said nobody you had to let people see it before its done. If you wanted a assured positive reaction you could have gotten one of those game journalists who are for say and had a privet screening and just told them what to say.

But if I am going to counter on something. People do get to see movies before they are done. There are screenings to help figure out how the movie tests. Figure out scenes to be cut and maybe if you want to go back and add for a character who tested really well.

Meh. He gets burnt on one crappy demo and so he decides that the whole system must be wrong. I'm getting a little tired of this guy.

Anyone else reminded of this story from The Onion?
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31702

"Furthermore, said games should not be promoted until they are completed."

Replace the word "games" with the word "consoles", and we will be very close to that "perfect world" he envisions.

~HotShotX

This guy is getting exactly what he deserver, if his game had gotten the bombastic positive reception he wanted he wouldn't be acting like he was king of games now. Instead it was destroyed by the same press he felt was going to boost his presentation forward.

I do agree Gaming press have to be less whorish, yet on the flip side, it is totally up to the developers of software to change things. See the fact is this is the master claiming to be the victim right now. Software developers choose what magazines see and when they see it. EGM has to cater to Dyack the problem is he didn't expect them to actually give an opinion and thus he is feigning the helpless victim routine.

He made the mistake of showing his flawed vision to soon, lets hope he learns from it. To error Is To human some times EHH!

Why must the comparison of video games always be drawn towards music and movies?

Why must people insist on comparing the video game meduim to anything?

It is its own beast, it should be dealt with as its own beast.

dyack should be happy games journalism is the way it is. video game magazines and blogs get to hype his game and give it all sorts of coverage it never would have gotten had video games been handled the same way as movies.

the fact of the matter is dyack needs the games press to promote his games for him basically. he showed his game off to generate hype and what he thought would be positive press and it turned out to not be that way. like some people said earlier, if it had all went the way he wanted it to he wouldn't be here now bitching about how bad the press is.

You people are just afraid of change. Dyack is totally right, the current system is broken. For a more current example look at Mass Effect. The game isn't even released and people are already proclaiming "downgrade!@!#@!@!!!1ioneee11one1!!!"

Some companies are already doing it, i.e. Rockstar. GTA 4 is coming out in a few months and all we've seen is a vague trailer and one magazine doing some coverage. This is what Dyack is talking about. ANd he's putting his money where his mouth is for his Sega project which has by all accounts been in development for at least a year, yet we don't even know the NAME of it yet. For Too Human, it's way too late, which is why they did the IGN coverage. Ironic that so many sites are covering this interview (in a negative light) but when the incredible Too Human coverage was out on IGN a couple weeks ago, everyone was quiet. That's another problem with game journalism, which Joystiq is also guilty of.

---
"This guy is getting exactly what he deserver, if his game had gotten the bombastic positive reception he wanted he wouldn't be acting like he was king of games now. Instead it was destroyed by the same press he felt was going to boost his presentation forward."
---

Umm, it DID get a bombastic positive reception during IGN's coverage recently, or are you too focused on news from a full year ago (E3 06)?

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"Why must the comparison of video games always be drawn towards music and movies?

Why must people insist on comparing the video game meduim to anything?

It is its own beast, it should be dealt with as its own beast."
---

Again, afraid of change. Games are an entertainment form like any other, if we all want them to be held up to the same standard and respect as film, we need to treat them that way. With game budgets skyrocketing to movie-like budgets, it's only inevitable. When a publisher spends 50 million dollars marketing a game, the game has to be ready in time. Would you rather have the game definitely 100% finished when this happens, or would you rather have the developer have to sacrifice features and rush it out. This is what happens time and time again.

Again, if you people want an example just look at GTA4. That is the type of thing Denis is talking about. With the game coming out in October, all we've seen is a little trailer with no actual gameplay footage. The only magazine to see it got to see VERY limited portions of it (by their own description). When we do see the GTA4 blowout, it will be a month or two before launch and you can be assured the game will essentially be done.

Dyack is telling it like it is, and what "it is" is always unpopular. I am glad he is sticking to his guns though.

I've written several post about this over on the http://www.thexboxdomain.net that go along these lines.http://thexboxdomain.net/2007/03/13/denis-dyack-says-too-human-will-change-the-gaming-industry/.
http://thexboxdomain.net/2007/04/18/too-human-comes-out-of-the-closet/

It's funny that on Joystiq that it gets a diccussion going now, versus before it only stired up now more than 5 comments.

Can someone help me with comment #18? What the hell does "downgrade!!11!!1" mean? Sorry, my L33T skilz aren't that good, fortunately.

I think Dyack has the power to do what he wants. Many games don't show much of their hand until the product is finished. Sony usually shows fake footage. The E3 06' Too Human footage was a joke, sure. But the game looks to be shaping up very nicely now. I am actually quite excited for it. Action RPG's from accomplished developers, yes please.

This doofus better pull off game of the year with Too Human, or he's going to look REALLY stupid.