Slashdot Mirror
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.'"
What part of this is unclear?
The part that lets companies grab at your wallet every chance they get.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
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.
Jason Ford
...that I'm not sure if I would laugh or cry if I got to play the games that they rejected!
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 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.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Of course they said that. That is why they only add/change one thing per sequel!
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.
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
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!
"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
http://skeptobot.blogspot.com/ - A site for the Renaissance man and woman
Wait, isn't XNA and the Xbox development kit super expensive? Thus cutting out the "two guys moonlighting" entirely?
- chrish