Tara Reid And The Future Of Game Development

Thanks to GameSpy for its article covering Naughty Dog's president Jason Rubin discussing why gaming needs to do more for its talent. Rubin explained the strange title of his lecture by referencing to Sony's E3 2003 party: "After several calls, lots of hassle, waiting in a long line, and a trip through the metal detector, Rubin was able to get in. Meanwhile, Hollywood darling Tara Reid simply strolled into the party. This got Rubin thinking about how much money and attention publishers garnish celebrities with. By contrast, the business does a really poor job of promoting its own talent." He went on to note: "Very rarely do you see a developer's name on the box, and sometimes you don't even see the developer's logo", and urged a change of attitude: "Developers should look at publishers as people they hire to sell the game they made."

Comments

Re:I completely agree.. (stupid /. and linebreaks)

[moonbender]

Um, dude, if you want your linebreaks to show up without HTML code then just tell Slashdot you're not writing HTML formatted text. Use Plain Old Text instead. Note that HTML codes like hyperlinks and italics still work.

Re:I completely agree..

[dsyu]

Yep. I worked on a game which was being published by EA, but done at a third party development studio. EA specifically told us that our company logo would not be on the box, or shown at the title-screen of the game (this was part of the contract). The reasoning was that EA wants the consumer to think that the game comes solely from EA -- it's a branding thing. At least we did get credit (by name) in the end-game credits.

Personally, I think it's stupid, since it's often just a logo. But for a publisher like EA, its usually a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal, and smaller dev houses sometimes can't bargin these sort of details.

Generally speaking, only hard-core gamers are aware of the large number of smaller dev houses doing games. Developers aren't always in it for the glory though.

Re:I completely agree..

[Anonymous Coward]

EA specifically told us that our company logo would not be on the box, or shown at the title-screen of the game (this was part of the contract).

Heck, sometimes EA doesn't even bother with adding it to the contract and instead, weeks before being pressed, they hack out the developers logo and there's nothing the developer can do about it; because EA have more money than any developer, they CAN do whatever they want.

Re:Examples...

[Tackhead]

> Sid Meyer = a Good Sim.
> "Two Guys from Andromeda" = a Good Comedy in Space.
> John Carmack = a Great First Person Shooter.
> Richard Garriot = a Great RPG.

Sony Online Entertainment = Crap. :)

Let's go back in time 20 years.

Front cover:

"Axis Assassin: John Field."

Inside cover:

"Inside John Field.

Six years ago, Jon Field thought an integrated circuit was a social issue. Then, in seventh grade, his school hooked up a computer. John checked it out. He punched in a few simple games. He realized the computer assumed nothing, but was capable of anything. He wanted one.

John went home and punched in a few requests. His parents knew lessa bout computers than he did. But his Dad liked the idea, so he brought one home, in a bunch of little boxes. He handed John the instruction manual and a soldering iron and closed the door.

Six months later, at twelve years old, John Field emerged with a hand-built computer. And he was generating some pretty good adventure games with it. His parents bought him a state-of-the-art Altos. It had over 100K, and best of all, it came assembled. Next, there were two Apples and a Commodore.

Now, an IBM has been added. Everywhere you look in the Field home, you'll find monitors, modules and disks. Except in the parents' bedroom. Nothing there but John's Mom and Dad, listening through the door and wondering what they unleashed."

Back Cover:

"About Our Company: We're an association of electronic artists who share a common goal. We want to fulfill the potential of personal computing. That's a tall order. But with enough imagination and enthusiasm we think there's a good chance for success. Our products, like this game, are evidence of our intent. If you'd like to get involved, please write us at: Electronic Arts, 2755 Campus Drive, San Mateo, CA 94403."

-- Actual packaging for Axis Assassin, 1983, as published by Electronic Arts.

Similar packaging and developer recognition came with every other EA game of the era.

My, how the mighty have fallen. "EA:Brandslap 2004 : What, you mean actual developers work on this stuff?!?"