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Warshaw Awards Celebrate 2003's Gaming Missteps

Posted by simoniker on from the worst-awards-ever dept.

Thanks to Shacknews for their feature revealing The Warshaw Awards for 2003, celebrating "some of the worst missteps of the year" in videogaming. The awards are named after Howard Scott Warshaw, creator of the famously poor E.T. for the Atari 2600, and victors include Namco for R: Racing Evolution, which "eschews virtually everything that Ridge Racer fans had come to expect", David Duchovny for "quite possibly the worst [voice acting] I've ever heard from a mainstream actor" in Ubisoft's XIII, and the IGN gaming website for their "obscene McDonald's advertising campaign."

4 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. Phantom Console? by Alphanos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know whether enough people knew about if for it to get an award, but a company has been claiming to be producing a new console called the "Phantom". Apparently their production facilities were investigated and found to be a very large, empty office with a single desk in it. Let the vapourware jokes begin:).

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  2. Poor Warshaw by thelenm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I feel bad for Howard Scott Warshaw every time I hear his name mentioned in connection with the E.T. Atari game. It wasn't really his fault it was so terrible... they told him they had to have it on the shelves in time for the Christmas shopping season, and gave him about a month and a half to work on it. At least, that's what he said in this interview. A way overhyped game for one of the most successful movies of all time, and they give one programmer six weeks to do it? Even in 1982 that was suicide, no matter how brilliant the one programmer might have been.

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    1. Re:Poor Warshaw by Bloomy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      He did one of those "know your video game history" commercials for G4. He said Yar's Revenge is one of the best games of all time and E.T. is the worst game of all time. So he probably has a sense of humor about it.

  3. Ridge Racer R, Nintendo by cgenman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He's also being too hard on Namco and Nintendo. Racing Evolution was no terrible game, it was just "different." In a series known for being identical to the way it flagshipped the PS1, it was time for a risk. They took the risk, they alienated some fans, and now they are in a much better position in the market. Would he have preferred another Ridge Racer 5? It was a failure, true, but a noble one.

    Likewise, saying Nintendo's head is buried in the sand ignores the fact that nintendo has testmarketed an online adapter, the Bulky Drive. Japan doesn't have very high broadband penetration. If the decision were based on Japan alone, there just isn't enough households for all of the extra work required in porting games to online multiplayer. The X-Box online is a no-brainier, and the PS2 has to keep up, but the 'Cube? Would Mario Party be better if 10% of the 10% of households with broadband decided to play online? Except to the extremely hardcore, not releasing an online adapter shouldn't count as a blunder. The whole N64 cartridge thing... That was a blunder. No Mario Kart Online yet? Don't be foolish.

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