Another side to Chris Hecker's duct tape rant

Ross Miller — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:05:00 EST

If you've followed the Game Developers Conference at all, you probably heard about Maxis programmer Chris Hecker comments that the Wii is nothing more than two GameCubes duct tape together (though, to be fair, that's a 0.5 upgrade from comments that the Wii is "GameCube 1.5"). We're willing to wager that "Product X is just two Product Ys duct tape together" is on track to becoming a popular phrase in gaming circles.

Kim Pallister of Microsoft Casual Games has risen to Hecker's defense, which ultimately led to an apology we feel was somewhat coerced by his overlords at EA and Maxis. The major point in Hecker's argument is that having an innovative control system "should not give them a 'get out of jail free card' on the fact that they have delivered an underpowered machine," according to Pallister's interpretation. And by underpowered, Hecker is referring to computations and not the graphics system, which puts his rant in line with what he said last year that the PS3 and Xbox 360 also underperform in terms of computational power while focusing on a graphics-heavy system.

We're not going to take sides on his point that Nintendo needs to "recognize and push games as a serious art form," though the statement does make for a great discussion. We will say all three companies have pushed for more involvement with independent developers. (Microsoft has Castle Crashers and Roboblitz, Sony has flOw and LittleBigPlanet and Nintendo has Line Rider and possibly Telltale's Sam & Max.)

Don't forget about the heap of praise that the IGDA community gave Hecker just last year after winning the Community Contribution Award. Though, to be fair, that award is just two IGF awards duct taped together.

Another side to Chris Hecker's duct tape rant originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wii is two duct taped Gamecubes and other publisher rants

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 11:25:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, GDC, Business

The developers rant is typically a highlight of the Game Developers Conference. This year, to mix things up a bit, there was a heapin' serving of publishers rant. Eric Zimmerman emceed the event and this is what the publisher had to say:

Alex St.John (CEO and co-founder of Wild Tangent): The former Microsoft employee went all out against Vista. Speaking about how most games ended up being broken. Essentially it all came down to that Vista's security is so tight that it views "everything as dangerous." St. John said that Vista moves everything around to the point where he says, "It's the only self-breaching security system I've seen in my life."

Richard Hilleman (Electronic Arts): This is where the theme for the rest of the rant came about. Leadership, leadership, LEADERSHIP! Although offending some people who believed that alpha males do not help, it was an issue across the board that a stable and competent leadership is lacking in the industry. Hilleman said that people in the industry want to think vision is more important, or reaching for that shining light on the beacon hill. But he says that the people he is seeing and teaching are not capable of providing the leadership for the million dollar projects that come their way. They can't lead beyond groups of three. Once again, the overall theme was leadership, leadership, LEADERSHIP!

Continue reading Wii is two duct taped Gamecubes and other publisher rants

Wii is two duct taped Gamecubes and other publisher rants originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments