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David Jaffe on the Artist's Way

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the his-way-or-the-highway dept.

On the Newsweek site, 'Artist's Way' columnist N'Gai Croal interviews David Jaffe about God of War, his upcoming PS3 title, and ... why he does what he does. From the article: "Q: Can the fans draft you back into the director's chair on God of War or Twisted Metal, the way they have with Hideo Kojima on the Metal Gear series? A: No. Unless they want to draft me by paying me a lot of money. But, no. I don't work that way. Right now, I'm comfortable enough that I can say something as arrogant as that. One day, I may have no choice. Phil [Harrison, president of Sony Worldwide Studios] is a really big believer in this service. It's not just a place to put shovelware. It's our version of HBO original programming. Not everything is suited to a 50-megabyte Blu-Ray disc. It doesn't mean those games don't deserve a platform. This is probably the first time since the arcade days that games of this type have had a viable home. So far, Sony seems really supportive of me staying in this space."

23 comments

  1. 640k should be enough... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not everything is suited to a 50-megabyte Blu-Ray disc.

    You mean, like those pesky games written after 1994? :)

  2. Artist? by AssCork · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Call me when it's Al Jaffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jaffee

    --
    The following replies are posted by unwashed nerds.
  3. Lost in translation? by AP2k · · Score: 2, Funny

    HOLY SHIT! Blu-Ray discs are only going to be 50 megabytes large?

    1. Re:Lost in translation? by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 1

      He's an artist. He inherently does not understand "magical computer make-go-worky stuff"...

      --
      I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
    2. Re:Lost in translation? by kinglink · · Score: 1

      Or perhaps he's the only one who understands it? Amazing!

    3. Re:Lost in translation? by CameronGary · · Score: 1

      Maybe he means it would only take up 50 MB out of a BluRay disc. The summary did mention shovelware ...

    4. Re:Lost in translation? by Das+Modell · · Score: 1

      Sony is going back to the old school.

    5. Re:Lost in translation? by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 1

      He said not everything is suited to 50mb blu-ray discs. I think he's right. More games are suited to the 25gb blu-ray discs.

      --
      God spoke to me.
  4. Not JUST a place to put shovelware... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At first I thought he said it WASN'T a place to put shovelware and then I was going to ask about Soduku and the lesser PS1 titles they were offering for launch. Then I re-read his quote and realized he actually said it wasn't JUST a place for shovelware, conceding that that's mostly what the Playstation Online Store (or POS) will contain.

  5. Only way I'll buy a PS3 by Hubbell · · Score: 1

    Is if Blu Ray format takes off, I can play Spyro and MGS1 for free/dirt cheap prices, and it by the will of allah drops to under $400 by the time I get out of the army in 2-4 years.

  6. ironic by Wizzerd911 · · Score: 0

    hmm, didn't happen to mention the "artists' way" in games is to charge waaaaaaay too much and waste time. In case U missed the earlier slashdot story, on average, 70% of any game's cost is for the skinning and backgrounds and other art and is the most drag-ass part of game development.

    --
    Is it just me or is it not going to upgrade to Vista in here?
    1. Re:ironic by abandonment · · Score: 1

      which is why the majority of the industry is going the 'outsourcing way' for the creation of said 'drag-ass' development. it's a LOT cheaper to purchase / contract assets for any game project than it is to hire artists and get them to do it in-house.

      especially content that is not specific to the gameplay - ie environments / props that type of thing that is just there to flesh out the gameworld.

      gameplay specific content will probably continue to be created by the in-house team, but this means that you can have an in-house team focused on creating kickass 'up-front' content while keeping costs low for the filler content that every game needs these days to create the scale of worlds that gamers have come to accept.

      --
      Gekido's Lair
  7. 50Gigs of content by CelticLo · · Score: 1

    I can't see games with 50 gigs of content being viable. Someone has to be paid for producing that content which obviously has to be pushed onto the consumer.

  8. Frak him by JFMulder · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm tired of hearing about this guy. Seriously. His claim to fame is one game that is incredibly violent and has some of the most inane jump puzzles these days. I have to admit the fighting is decent, but for me it doesn't even touch Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox. I can't wait for the PS3 owners to get their hands on Ninja Gaiden Sigma and play a good hack-and-slash game.

    Why is everybody quoting this guy? He made ONE good game and now he's some sort of expert??? I've stop reading articles about him the day I realized he was just being arrogant. Marc Rein of Epic is also falling in that category, tough he at least has severals hits (even though they're all called Unreal) and regardless of the controversy around some of his statements, he does make a valid point every now and then.

    As for Jaffe, he mostly trash talks the competition and thinks he's some sort of god. I'm reading more about his guy than Miyamoto or Sakaguchi. What the ...?

    1. Re:Frak him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mark Rein is Epic's Business Manager/PR guy, he's not that involved in actually making the games. Cliff Blezinski (CliffyB) is the actual head designer.

      You're right, Jaffe should quiet down some. There are hundreds of people in the games industry who've done stuff as good or better than him.

    2. Re:Frak him by StocDred · · Score: 1
      Why is everybody quoting this guy? He made ONE good game and now he's some sort of expert???

      Bingo. Sony is marketing this choad as some kind of gaming rockstar, because they don't have anybody of any real stature. They don't have a Miyamoto; they don't have a Cliffy B; they don't even have a Major Nelson. The closest they came was with the guy who first did Crash Bandicoot years back... or maybe the artist behind PaRappa... but since no "real gamer" is going to respect a dude who did a mascot game, they needed to manufacture someone more hardcore, more "mature." Sony must have trolled around their dev offices for a new gaming god to anoint and Jaffe was the first asshat to apply.

    3. Re:Frak him by JFMulder · · Score: 1

      Couldn't they have picked Hideo Kojima in that case? I mean, he is a respectable developer and I'm sure he has a lot of insightful comments on the industry. Or they could have picked Hironobu Sakaguchi when he was making games for Square-Enix.

      I can't wait to see Jaffe's first game for the PS3 online store. We'll see then and he is *that* good.

    4. Re:Frak him by imitier · · Score: 1

      While God of War is his recent high profile game, for some of us, Jaffe is noteworthy for having created the Twisted Metal series, of which TM2 was one of the best games for the PS1, and Twisted Metal Black was one of the first great games for the PS2.

      But since he seems to have turned his back on the series, yeah -- frak him.

    5. Re:Frak him by Knos · · Score: 1

      But they do have Fumito Ueda.

      --
      . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .
      may u!sh 2 sm!le at dz!z bad nn.!m!tat!ion
    6. Re:Frak him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well Sakaguchi is developing two Xbox360-exclusive titles now, and Kojima works for a 3rd party dev who has released MGS titles for Xbox, GCN and Windows.

      Jaffe works for Sony. Bill Rich is definitely ruled out after his E3 '06 demo showcasing actual historical battles against a giant crab gained instant meme status.

  9. David Jaffa? by WilliamSChips · · Score: 1

    I knew the Goa'uld had fled to earth, but I thought the Jaffa were working on making their own government!

    --
    Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  10. ShovelWare: Mega Microgames! by tepples · · Score: 1
    The summary did mention shovelware ...

    Is ShovelWare supposed to be Sony's counterpart to WarioWare?

  11. Artist's Way to Psychosis by theCurse · · Score: 1

    Jaffe seems to be slipping farther and farther away from sanity. I think the accolades he received from God of War have gone to his head. I'll always respect him for giving me the (good games in) the Twisted Metal series, but it is time the public stopped listening to him. His peers already did (which is why he went from developing God of War 2 to a string of abandonware PSP title).

    The game he's currently developing looks rather unspired. He's going back to his car combat roots, but as Rogue Trip and Critical Depth testified, that success is not so easy to duplicate.