Joystiq

Levine: Game industry 'star-struck' by Hollywood

James Ransom-Wiley — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

You wouldn't blame Ken Levine for having a chip on his shoulder when it comes to Hollywood. After all, as Develop recounts, the respected game designer "failed spectacularly" in his first career as a scriptwriter. So, when Levine was offered an opportunity to make a game with, in his words, "a very talented film director," it's not much of a stretch to imagine he experienced more than a little satisfaction in turning down the offer.

"My feeling is why?" Levine questioned. "Why would any game designer want to do that?"

Aside from any personal justice he might have enjoyed, Levine answers his own question with another: "Why would I want a film director to help me make a game, any more than they would want me to help out with their films?" And he takes it further: "I think there's a sense in the entertainment fields that video games are seen as the junior varsity," he said. "There's this feeling of 'oh one day you can come up to our league.'"

"In our industry there's too many people star-struck of the movie world, jumping into deals with some big movie director just because they're big film directors." No, Levine isn't taunting del Toro, he's just reflecting on the obvious clash between how great games have been made (hint: rather anonymously) and the looming cult of celebrity eager to pervade the game industry.

But hey, Ken, at least they asked you to work with a movie director -- just about anything passes as a star these days. Who would you rather (make your game with): Bristol Palin or The Situation?

Levine: Game industry 'star-struck' by Hollywood originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Recently laid-off devs rant about being recently laid off

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST

I think we can all agree that, aside from being hit by a speeding train or dropping a hot meal you've been cooking for hours, being fired from your job is like, the worst thing that can happen to you. As such, we expected the speakers on last week's GDC rant panel, titled "Fired and Fired-up: Jobless Developer's Rant," to be especially inflammatory. We were not disappointed.

Just past the jump, we've highlighted three of our favorite presentations from the panel. Some of them get awfully, explicitly blue, so if you happen to find yourself reading this video game news site while at work, you might want to think twice about going beyond the break. (You should also get back to work, you lazy so-and-so!)

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Recently laid-off devs rant about being recently laid off originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you love JRPG's, why not sign a petition?

Nick Doerr — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:00:00 EST

Filed under: Polls and Surveys, Rants, Community

We don't normally fall into the "sign this petition" realm of things. However, many of the staff at PS3 Fanboy have felt the reason they bought a PS3, aside from their blind love for the console by itself, has been ignored. This reason is what made the PS One and PS2 so successful (believe it or not): the JRPG. Only a few have been announced, even fewer coming stateside. While we probably won't see the likes of Agarest Senki or Tears to Tiara here, we'll see Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles before the end of the year -- however, these all are SRPG's.

Over at the PS3Forums, a petition has started and is getting swirled around to many different places, with its final destination being Sony itself. The petition is to get an answer about Sony's stance on the JRPG this generation -- are announcements coming? Will we see White Knight Story, Star Ocean 4, the oft-rumored Shin Megami Tensei PS3 title at all this year? If you love JRPG's, sign their petition. It only takes a few seconds and who knows -- it might actually get us a pretty detailed answer. Especially now that Sony is more eager to secure exclusives from third party developers.

If you love JRPG's, why not sign a petition? originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another side to Chris Hecker's duct tape rant

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

Filed under: Culture, GDC, Casual

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.

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Japanese hardware sales, Feb. 19 - Feb. 25: Angry ranting edition

Jason Wishnov — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:00:00 EST

You know, you know what? We've had it up to here with some of the things we have to deal with everyday, and dammit, we think it's time we let people know. This crap has to stop.

Where to start? Let's talk about the freaking CPUs they stick us with here at the Fanboy offices. Intel Core 2 Duo's: pathetic. We mean, what the hell? It's like two normal Intel processors duct-taped together. Look, we need insane processing power to make these blog posts funny and interesting, you know? These conditions are unworkable.

And let's not even mention roller coasters. Mechanical and electrical engineers just aren't taking these things seriously enough; they need to start using the medium for proper artistic expression. We need to tell a story full of meaning and character depth during these rides, or people are going to feel unfulfilled and pissed off, like us. And we're really pissed right now.

Finally, to Maxis, developers of the best-selling PC game of all-time and the future title Spore, expected to perhaps exceed that mark set by the exemplary Sims some years back: make a game that doesn't suck ass, okay?

Ugh, these numbers? Where is the emotion? Where is the meaning? Life is so meaningless ....

- DS Lite: 111,814 24,314 (17.86%)
- PSP: 66,156 34,054 (33.96%)
- Wii: 57,972 20,534 (26.16%)
- PS3: 44,000 24,685 (127.80%)
- PS2: 15,364 310 (2.06%)
- Xbox 360: 3,379 804 (19.22%)
- Game Boy Micro: 805 102 (11.25%)
- GBA SP: 738 297 (28.70%)
- Gamecube: 303 20 (6.19%)
- DS Phat: 112 20 (15.15%)
- GBA: 25 34 (57.63%)

[Source: Media Create]

Japanese hardware sales, Feb. 19 - Feb. 25: Angry ranting edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Japanese hardware sales, Feb. 19 - Feb. 25: Angry ranting edition

Jason Wishnov — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Features

Japanese hardware sales, Feb. 19 - Feb. 25: Angry ranting edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spore developer rants on Wii

Eric Caoili — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:25:00 EST

Filed under: News

Chris Hecker didn't pull any punches at GDC's "Game Publisher's Rant" session. The Maxis developer began his "Fear of a Wii Planet" diatribe by declaring, "The Wii is a piece of sh*t."

He went on to describe the console as being vastly underpowered, citing low graphical standards and an inability to process complicated AI. According to Hecker's exaggerations, "The way you manufacture a Wii is you take two GameCubes and duct tape." As if that wasn't already enough to break a fanboy's heart, he called on Nintendo to "make a console that doesn't suck ass."

His complaints weren't limited to hardware gripes -- he also criticized Nintendo for not pushing games as an art form. Maybe he hasn't seen Electroplankton or the bit Generations games?

Hecker's rants from previous years were just as brutally harsh on Sony and Microsoft, but we're sure that will do little to tame the wrath of offended gamers. Bringing Spore to the DS might have earned him enough good will to make it out of the session unharmed, but he might want to avoid walking around GDC alone at night until this cools down.

Spore developer rants on Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our Lumines Live! micro-rant

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:35:00 EST

Filed under: Xbox Live, Fan stuff, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace

We know, it seems like all the news is about Lumines lately. It'll subside, we promise. Until then, however, we have to put in our two cents on a hot topic. No doubt you've read some of the reports about Lumines Live! and it's evil downloadable content. Either that, or you've discovered it yourself after clearing one round of Vs. CPU mode. We all knew that there was an "Advance" pack coming, but if you were under the impression that the "Advance" pack would make your game complete, you're wrong. Three times wrong. We think it's time for a rant.

Continue reading Our Lumines Live! micro-rant

Our Lumines Live! micro-rant originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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