30 Quotes From GDC 06

Next Generation has a piece with 30 notable quotes from last week's GDC conference. From the article: "Mitch Lasky, Senior VP of mobile EA - 'There are too many bad games. The fact is, most games suck. It's the greatest danger to the future of this business. There's a real danger of an Atari 2600 episode here, given the oversupply of poor quality content, followed by consumers abandoning the platform.'"

Comments

People Unclear on the Concept

[SPrintF]

too many people see mobile phones primarily as communication devices

Phone == communication device. What part of this is unclear?

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[Qzukk]

What part of this is unclear?

The part that lets companies grab at your wallet every chance they get.

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

I think it's connotation is more "solely as communication devices". They kind of had a point, if it's a communication device, it's a commodity. A game platform gives them some method of differentiation, which really means a way of charging more cash for stuff.

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[SpottedKuh]

Phone == communication device. What part of this is unclear?

The problem is, all of these newfangled developers use Java. To them, phone instanceof CommunicationDevice. Damn that ExpensivePointlessGamingThing extends CommunicationDevice class!

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[zyte]

this is actully a huge problem with microsoft smartphones imo. This is the mindset of the people who make decisions. The mindset of needing to draw people away from communication on the phone and do something else. But ffs it's a phone! When I buy a phone I EXPECT the primary function of it to be communication. If more time is spent making it play cool games or run killer apps, then it is no longer a phone!

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[chrnb]

I'm so sick of seeing the GP/P's point posted almost mindlessly everytime there is the slightest talk about mobile phones doing something else than calls.

As I see it it's a simple segregation(sp?) of the market, and there will always be phones for people who only need the phone function.

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[Al Dimond]

I do not own a cellular phone. Every time I've talked on one I thought the sound quality was poor. Often when people call me with them I find the sound quality poor. I know a bit about the methods used to compress voice sounds for cell phones, and it's a cool concept that gets great compression ratios but it just isn't cutting it quality-wise at this point in my opinion. Furthermore, my friends with cell phones often have to worry about reliability issues (with either the phone or the service) or "running out of minutes".

I bet if cellular phone companies concentrated on making a truly great mobile voice communication device above all else they'd have done a good enough job for me to buy one by now. That said, I can't blame them for doing otherwise; they've got my whole generation as hooked on text messaging and funky ringtones as I am on Slashdot!

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[steveo777]

A game platform gives them some method of differentiation

Doesn't that make it a gimmick? I don't mind calling cameras, games, ringtones, and tv on phones gimmicks. I just want a phone that has a clear way of communicating all the phone information I need to me. I can take pictures with a camera, carry a Game Boy for games, and type notes into an old PDA.

But I can't don't have the cash or pocket/belt space for that, so I got me one of them fancy phones. I don't play games or take notes on it though. Just use the camera. SonyEricsson s710a. The real reason I wanted it is because it can tote a lot of infomration very easily. However, I only learned that it's Memory Stick Duo was not a 'Pro' and maxes out at 128MB cards. Still, that's a lot of camera photos and lot's of home-made ringers.

Re:People Unclear on the Concept

[shrubya]

Dear refugee from the 1980s:

1. perhaps you should try a mobile phone made in the current millennium.
2. perhaps you should stop clenching your butt about the sound quality of a freaking phone call.
3. perhaps you should stop watching so many stupid TV commercials and try any of the dozens of unlimited calling options from the various phone companies these days.

EA Quote

[eviloverlordx]

Neil Young
General manager
EA L.A.
"One new feature or fresh take can change everything."

This from Electronic Arts?

Re:EA Quote

[BondGamer]

Of course they said that. That is why they only add/change one thing per sequel!

Re:EA Quote

[HolyCrapSCOsux]

I think the next scentence is probably: "and change is to be avoided at all costs."

Re:EA Quote

[Ekhymosis]

I agree with parent. How can the EA guy say this with a straight face?! I'm sure someone must have laughed quite heartedly when this was said. And then promptly removed by security.

Re:EA Quote

[mwvdlee]

What else did you expect from EA; two new features or fresh takes?

Re:EA Quote

[steveo777]

Yeah, they change the year in the title.

Favorite bug quote...

[__aaclcg7560]

When I was working on Backyard Baseball (GameCube) for Atari, I got this comment from a programmer in one of the bug reports: "I don't know what the problem is, but whatever it was it's now fixed."

I was going to ask him to step through the code to find out exactly what the problem was to be absolutely sure that it was fixed, but I didn't want to risk breaking anything else because of that. Bad enough they waited until the last build to remove the animation of one of the kids flipping off the pitcher when striking out and remove all the background phallic imagery. It was a children's game, btw.

Re:Favorite bug quote...

[rholliday]

Wow. My little sisters play the Backyard series on PC. Is that stuff really removed, or can I expect to find some easter eggs? ;)

Re:Favorite bug quote...

[__aaclcg7560]

All the obscene "easter eggs" were removed from Backyard Baseball (GameCube). There weren't any for Backyard Football (GameCube) and Backyard Hockey (GBA). I made sure of that on all the titles that I worked on in the Backyard series. I can't speak for the PC versions since all of my projects as a lead tester at Atari were consoles.

Re:Favorite bug quote...

[rholliday]

I am simultaneously relieved and disappointed. :)

Re:Favorite bug quote...

[mrobin604]

I think I've actually said something like that myself in response to a bug report.

In my case, it was shorthand for "I don't know what code was causing the problem described, but I do not see the described behavior in the current build."

Communication issues between QA and Dev teams can be amazingly huge, doubly so when the dev is an external studio. Oftentimes I'd get bugs back from the publishers QA department and wonder if they were really testing our game, because they would use completely different terms to describe everything than we would internally. Add to that the fact that publisher QA can be 2-4 builds behind what the devs are using, and things can get confusing really fast... it isn't surprising that a bug would be sent back as "I don't know but it's fixed", because we may have fixed it in the build after the one we sent to QA, and the programmer who receives the bug report later may have never even seen it, and may not be able to reproduce it (since it no longer exists).

Let me be the first to say

[SpottedKuh]

Jason Ford
General manager for games and entertainment
Sprint Nextel
"We reject about 30 games a month because so many of them are offering the same gameplay over and over again. Lots of these games just aren't fun, offering wretched controls. Many of them are mediocre at best."

Wow. If this is at all indicative of the behaviours of other publishers, then let me be the first to say...

...that I'm not sure if I would laugh or cry if I got to play the games that they rejected!

Re:Let me be the first to say

[angrymilkman]

There should be a site called www.gamesgraveyard.com or something for all the games that didn't make it to the publisher (as far as there is a demo level)

Re:Let me be the first to say

[Anonymous Coward]

The carriers say this over and over again.
But yet they routinely reject games that are __NOT__ the 'same old thing'.

What I mean is that if your game doesn't have a brand, and usually one that is
based on a console game, then, at this point, you have little chance of getting it
accepted by a carrier (not publisher -- mobile games are generally self-published,
and the word 'publisher' does not mean the same thing as in the console world).

This is a great advantage to mobile-retarded EA, who had to overpay for JAMDAT to
even get CLUE as to HOW to produce a mobile game.

But to the consumer and the developers, it is simply holding things back.

Carriers GET A CLUE. EA is NOT spending money promoting mobile games. They
are promoting themselves -- and they will never make portable games. That's not
what they do. Open things up. Open market == more money for everyone. Stop trying
to be so self-destructively greedy.

To me the big comment was about casual gamers

[WillAffleckUW]

that casual gamers are the real market/universe, and that hardcore gamers are only a small subset of that.

That, to me, is the lesson of Nintendogs.

When the gaming industry wakes up to that one is when games explode into life.

The funniest of them all, is perhaps...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mitch Lasky
Senior VP of mobile
EA
"There are too many bad games. The fact is, most games suck. It's the greatest danger to the future of this business. There's a real danger of an Atari 2600 episode here, given the oversupply of poor quality content, followed by consumers abandoning the platform."

And this is coming from a guy that works for EA???

Re:The funniest of them all, is perhaps...

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"And this is coming from a guy that works for EA???"

Dupe!!! Quick, we need a few other people to verify this is a dupe!

Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

One new feature is about all you get in their yearly sports title rehashes.

Who defines a "bad" game?

[Jim Robinson Jr.]

as a *very* casual gamer, and one getting dangerously close to 40, I actually appreciate games that are (1) simplistic, (2) easy on the eyes, (3) I can figure out how to play in 30 seconds or less, and (4) don't require I make a professional investment of time to enjoy.

As for the Atari 2600, I've still got most of my cartridges; and if I had a functional console I'd still be playing them!

Does this mean I'm out of touch? Maybe... but I'm willing to be there are millions of us "out of touch" people who would love a quick game of astroids.

Re:Who defines a "bad" game?

[Threni]

> As for the Atari 2600, I've still got most of my cartridges; and if I had a
> functional console I'd still be playing them!

Why not just play them on your PC?

http://stella.sourceforge.net/

Re:Who defines a "bad" game?

[Jim Robinson Jr.]

Maybe I'm too nostalgic, but although I have tried some of them on my PC (eg. astroids, space invaders, etc.) it's just not the same. The Atari 2600 was an experience as much as a game.

Besides... my favorites are not available anywhere: Superman and Indiana Jones!

My watch also tells time

[Anonymous Coward]

its a calendar, calculator, usb drive, night light, toaster oven and kitchen sink.. and it can even tell time!

risk

[angrymilkman]

Satoru Iwata -President Nintendo
"We do not run from risk. We run to risk. We move beyond current boundaries."
What he's actually saying: Risk 2000 is being developed for the revolution! Finally bring a good boardgame to the console!

Re:risk

[Corbu Mulak]

I know you're joking, but oh man would that be awsome.

Darwinia

[cgenman]

"We didn't take money from publishers because we didn't want publishers to fuck up our game."

- One of the creators of Darwinia, accepting the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Solution to your problem..

[Hyperhaplo]

Right here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000645DD/ 103-2487623-3561400

Of course, this only has 10 games on it.. but I'd expect in the future (when these games come out of copyright.. or whatever is holding them back) to see a 100 or more. I'd love to finish Pitfall2!

Re:Solution to your problem..

[twistedsymphony]

If you pick up the slightly more expensive "Atari Flashback 2" console you can actually modify it to accept the old cartridges. It looks like a pretty easy job even for someone with no soldering experience.

Re:Solution to your problem..

[Hyperhaplo]

Yep, looks good... if you have the materials, time and skill. Unfortunately I don't.. for a few reasons (starting with the hardware :) ). Right now I'm standing back to see if any new consoles will support older consoles (NES,SNES,ATARI) directly. I know it's been said many times here before.. but I'm hanging out to see what Sony and (especially) Nintendo will do. I'm willing to wait another year to see what happens. As much as I love MAME on the PC.. there's nothing like playing these games on the PC in your spare time (if you have any).

We do not run from risk

[NiceGuyVan]

Says the same people who ran from CD, online multiplayer, voice chat, (and eventually caved), HDTV, fully voiced games as standard, etc etc. Nintendo does indeed run from risk

Re:We do not run from risk

[cgenman]

To be fair, Nintendo had the first online console, the the first handheld portable game system, the first re-writable optical drive in a console. They had the first (and only) all-red dual-eye parallax game console, the first battery backed-up cartridge, the first scrolling arcade game. They had the first shoulder buttons, the first analog stick (on a major system), the first rumble pack, the first diamond configuration buttons. They had the first analog buttons that click when you hold them all the way down. They had the second handheld to system link feature, the first utterly gratuitous plate-spinning robot, the first sewing machine attachment. They had some of the the first portable single-title LCD games. They had the first 3rd person / 1st person hybrid shooter, the first action floor mat, the first touch-screen portable gaming system. The first (by a few days) portable gaming system with built-in wifi.

All of the things that you list as Nintendo shying away from are actually things which everyone else in the industry considered the safe bet. When everyone was going to CD, Nintendo took a risk and stuck with the access times of cartridges. 10 years ago when everyone said that online console gaming was now, Nintendo correctly said that the time was not yet right.

With Pokemon, Virtua Boy, Nintendogs, Kirby, Brain Games, Bulky Drive, etc, it is hard to fault their originality. Nintendo routinely does really bafflingly odd things.

Re:We do not run from risk

[Anonymous Coward]

None of those things are actually risky. In virtually every case, Nintendo made the right decision (for them), because typically the technology / timing / society / whatever wasn't right, and often not following what everyone else was doing was a greater risk.

Example - the N64. No CDs. Why? Nintendo didn't consider it to be worth it. Look back at all the previous consoles that had CD capability (SegaCD, NeoGeo CD, Jaguar, 3DO, and so on), and you'll see that they all tanked. They had all kinds of technical problems, such as general unreliability and very long load times, in addition to the fact that none of the games were any good, and there was hardly anything worth filling all that space up with - you end up with something like 8MB of game, and 640MB of crap (CD audio, FMVs, pre-rendered backgrounds, or whatever). The PS1 came out and, shockingly enough, repeated the same pattern. The games were tiny (smaller than most N64 games, even), and generally filled the CD with videos, and CD audio, which very rarely added anything to the game. It wasn't until years later that games actually started using that capacity well enough to make it worthwhile - about a year before the Dreamcast came out.

Granted, it allowed developers to use licensed soundtracks. The CD audio capability was hardly ever used for original scores, typically because developers didn't have the resources, and it was quicker and easier to use the system's audio hardware. It also allowed voiceovers, which were utter crap.

About the only developers who really had problems with the N64 were Square, because they were set on using FMVs to make up for the fact that the consoles of the time were too crap to handle what they wanted to do.

It's only recently (middle-era PS2 games, most GC and Xbox games) that developers have generally stopped using FMVs and the like as a crutch, and have started actually using the space afforded by DVDs for game content. In the same time, the technology has progressed to the point where drive mechanisms are extremely reliable (except for early PS2 drives), and access times are good enough to be able to completely avoid loading times (see any first-party Gamecube game as an example).

Same deal with online multiplayer - they didn't jump on the bandwagon when everyone else did. Despite being popular with geeks, virtually nobody else cares about online multiplayer, and didn't even have access to it until fairly recently. And voice chat - notice the shit that Nintendo caught for PictoChat from dumbass parents who wanted Nintendo to raise their kids for them. And HDTV - even in the US, most of the population doesn't have them or care about them. Outside the US, HDTVs are extremely rare. It won't be for another 4 years or so that HDTV will actually be worth it, especially considering that it raises hardware requirements by a factor of 6, without actually offering any graphical improvement.

Re:We do not run from risk

[chrnb]

Don't forget Wario Ware http://www.warioware.biz/

Re:We do not run from risk

[yanos]

Following a trend is not perticularly risky. Came you name many companies that set their vision straight and follow it despite of the rest of the industry? Not only that, you can take alot of risk and loose everything, but they are actualy very succesful with their ideas. It was said here very often that Nintendo is racking up huge pile of money with its handheld division, something I don't find hard to believe if you add the numbers.

Re:We do not run from risk

[Mac Degger]

And even more bafflingly, and more importantly, they're the only one to sell their hardware at a profit. They're the only one with an actual business model which is making them rich.

Sure, the gamecube just about tied with the xbox in terms of worldwide, product lifetime sales. But Nintendo also sells gameboy's (advance/micro/DS) by the absolute containershipload. And unlike Sony and MS, who are selling their stuff at a loss, Nintendo makes money on each system sold. Plus they make money on the games, which is the only place Sony and MS see any return.

Face it: Nintendo have won the console wars, and with the Revolution being either the secondary console, and often even the primary console of gamers around the world (and the only one to do anything new/interesting), they're set for the current next-gen too.

Re:We do not run from risk

[Megane]

the first analog stick (on a major system)

I think the Atari 5200 could be considered a "major system" of its day, even if you don't want to count the Vectrex.

And all that before Nintendo even thought of creating a home video game console. There were video games before 1986, you know.

Kids these days. And keep off my BGCOLOR="#00FF00"!

Re:We do not run from risk

[Anonymous Coward]

"the first sewing machine attachment" You learn something new each day.

Re:We do not run from risk

[C0rinthian]

The Atari Joystick was not analog. It was basically a D-Pad with a stick over it. The paddle was analog, but it was only 2 directions.

Re:We do not run from risk

[b1t r0t]

Ummmmmm, Atari made more than one system, you know. Oh, I guess you didn't know. Then STFU.

Re:We do not run from risk

[cgenman]

I didn't include the 5200 because A: it was a qualitatively different stick for different reasons, B: the 5200 was a failure in the market, and the non-recentering joystick was a part of that, and C: it was convienient.

A few of the things on the list are on the edge, as you'll find a few early system that use re-writable mag-op media, for example. But none of them were successful, and none of them were using it in the same way or at the same time.

Re:We do not run from risk

[kingsmedley]

Nintendo had the first online console

Online in what sense? If you are referring simply to telecommunications capability, then the first would actually be the Intellivision (via the PlayCable device), followed closely by the Atari 2600 (the Gameline modem). If you are referring to Internet access, then the first would be the Dreamcast. Either way, Nintendo was not first.

the first analog stick (on a major system)

Well, being the first to get somebody else's idea to sell big is still not innovation, and they should not be credited for it. As for your response to another poster regarding the success of the 5200; it is clear that the Atari 5200 held at least as much market share for it's generation (5200 vs ColecoVision) as the Nintendo 64 did against the Playstation, so the claim of "major system" becomes a dubious one at best.

They had some of the first portable single-title LCD games.

Almost being first is NOT innovation, nor much of a risk.

Historical details aside, I do agree with the spirit of your post. Time and time again, Nintendo has been willing to take the road less traveled, to risk deviating from the rest of the industry, for the sake of what they believed was best for their company.

In my opinion, here are just a few of Nintendo's biggest risks, some of which did indeed blow up in their face:

• Launching the NES in the North American market after every domestic console manufacturer had essentially imploded.
  
  
• Launching the Gameboy when the dedicated handheld market had been reduced to crowd of lame, widely cloned twitch games.
  
  
• Introducing the Virtual Boy, which went against almost every preconceived notion we had about how games were played. (Many see this as a failure, but I believe thh lessons learned here went a long way to making the gimmicks of the DS pay off.)
  
  
• Putting off the move to optical media with the N64.
  
  
• Putting off the move to online gameplay with the Gamecube (especially since the hardware was there).
  
  
• The bizarre combination of hardware that is the DS: two screens, touch screen, wi-fi, and even a microphone. Admit it, most of us are still surprised just how well this has done!
  

Product Placement in games quote:

[Lave]

John Epstein Double Fusion - "TV advertising is increasingly viewed with concern because of commercial skipping and lack of engagement. Games are the most powerful advertising medium that exists today." TFA links to an article within which he says:

"Don't tell me you'd stop playing Grand Theft Auto if you saw a Gap ad instead of some generic fake brand."

Yes I would. GTA has satirical adverts. They criticise the media, the insulting way they treat the public, and make an good social comment which improve the game no end. This is what sets it apart from EA rip offs.

We've enjoyed a medium near enough free from advertising. And it is our duty to preserve this. If I pay £40 (and next gen £50) to buy a game, I buy the freedom from ads. You can put them in, but then you must make the game free. There is no middle ground. An XBOX 360 game full of ads won't cost less than some fantasy game that doesn't have them. If you think it will, I am sorry but you are fooling yourself. All it does is succeed in making genres that are not "advertising friendly" less financially viable.

Just because american TV lost the battle to product placement (as the UK might, if the EU stops product placement being illegal), that doesn't mean it's ok for games to lose too. Because this is what this is - Product Placement.

And most importantly, I think it's fair to say most people who play games on slashdot want games to be seen as art. Want them to be acknowledged as a new , creative and meaningful media. And how can that happen if the people making the game have no fucking respect for their own creations.

To quote the late, great, Bill Hicks:

"Here's the deal, folks. You do a commercial - you're off the artistic roll call, forever. End of story. Okay? You're another whore at the captialist gang bang and if you do a commercial, there's a price on your head. Everything you say is suspect and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink." - Bill Hicks

unclear on the concept

[chrish]

Chris Satchell
General manager of the Game Developer Group
Microsoft
"Developers need a better way to make games and manage the production process. XNA Studio enables all developers - from major development studios to the two guys moonlighting on a dream project in their garage or dorm room - to create games in new, more efficient ways."

Wait, isn't XNA and the Xbox development kit super expensive? Thus cutting out the "two guys moonlighting" entirely?

Re:unclear on the concept

[stonecypher]

Wait, isn't XNA and the Xbox development kit super expensive? Thus cutting out the "two guys moonlighting" entirely? ... no. It's less than a thousand dollars for the Live Arcade XNA platform, and if they like your plan, they'll give it to you for free. The expensive part is making a glass master and burning fifty thousand discs, putting them in boxes and paying for WalMart shelf space.

Thanks to XBox Live Arcade, the XBox 360 is now the cheapest platform to target. I'm a Nintendo developer, so this both angers and scares me. (Then again, the GBA kit is also now free, if Nintendo believes you're competant, so whatever.)

Innovate?

[Phantasmo]

Phil Harrison
President
SCE Worldwide Studios
"Our job is lead and innovate. We've done it faster and at higher price points."

The Playstation 2 is a great machine, with a great library of games. But when you get right down to it, it's a Playstation 1 with more RAM, more muscle and more storage. And the Playstation 1 was an SNES with more RAM, more muscle and more storage.

And the Playstation 3 is... well you get the idea.

Just because they're in first place doesn't mean they're leading. $10 says the PS3 gets an updated controller with gyro sensors within two years of its release.

I dont know if this counts but...

[brain007]

What about the guy who worked on Darwinia (I think) who said the reason they slaved so hard on it without taking any money from publishers is because they didnt want publishers fucking up their game. I think that was the best line at the whole thing even though it was in the IGF Awards. I think that applause could have continued all night long.