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David Jaffe Stops Being Nice, Gets Real

Posted by Zonk on from the a-little-dab-will-do-ya dept.

This past weekend, an inebriated David Jaffe (designer for the hit God of War title) said some very blunt things to GT.tv. Among his statements in the heavily edited piece are comments about his work on God of War 3, his failed PSP game, and his place in the pantheon of game designers. From the horse's mouth: "I think I'm a b-level game designer, I KNOW THAT ... When these guys come up and shove a microphone in my face and say 'whaddya think?' maybe I have a healthy enough ego to give you an opinion cos you asked for it, but I don't think I'm the sh**! I don't think our fighting system's as good as Devil May Cry! I think I'm just doing the best I can and I'm grateful people like the sh** our team's pr--"

35 comments

  1. Good for him by pdbaby · · Score: 1

    Good for him. Although he was insanely drunk. And the sony guy was being a bit of a git.
    God of war's a fun game

    --
    Global symbol "$deity" requires explicit package name at line 2. - If only $scripture started "use strict;"
    1. Re:Good for him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i saw this linked on http://www.gameboar.com/ on friday. good to see the marketing guy take the abuse he obviously deserves.

    2. Re:Good for him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And the sony guy was being a bit of a git."

      What? No way, really? Not Sony Marketing! Seriously, come on, they're so polite and well spoken.

  2. Devil May Cry by Fozzyuw · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I don't think our fighting system's as good as Devil May Cry!

    Hmm... I bought the DMC 5th anni. edition (4 disc set). I played though #1, part of #2 and #3. I personally found God of War much more enjoyable as far as combat goes. It was a bit more repetitive, but it felt more fluid. Or maybe that's due to the crappy camera angles of DMC #1 that frustrated me to no end? =) I think someone's just being modest. hehe

    Cheers,
    Fozzy

    --
    "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
    1. Re:Devil May Cry by rkanodia · · Score: 1

      I was going to cut and paste, but I figured I'd just link to my old post instead. Enjoy.

  3. Drunk dialing by eln · · Score: 1

    Man, this guy needs to just stick to drunk dialing his ex-girlfriends like everyone else does when they get plastered. My personal policy is to stay far away from any place that might have journalists in it when drinking. But then, of course, there is the Achilles heel of many the drunken nerd: email and message boards.

    1. Re:Drunk dialing by werewolf1031 · · Score: 1
      I dunno, I actually like the guy more after having watched that. Aside from being entertaining to watch, I dig that in spite of his cockiness he still considers himself a B-list developer, even after a hit like God of War.

      Cocky Game Dev to Slimey Marketing Guy: "Oh My God, go f--k yourself in the grotto! Cuz no one else is gonna f--k ya there! Go go go!"

      I know it's against the unspoken rules of Slashdot - in addition to not talking about the unspoken rules of Slashdot - to never RTFA, but everyone who's even casually into games will get a kick outa that video.

      Offtopic:
      But then, of course, there is the Achilles heel of many the drunken nerd: email and message boards.
      Thank God, now I know I'm not the only one.
  4. Nice to see some honest discourse by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 5, Funny
    I actually welcome this new method of interviewing. In Vino Veritas. Favourite part:

    Sony Markedroid:
    "We're going to continue the story of God of War across multiple platforms culminating in a classic battle-rama on the Playstation 3."

    Jaffe:
    "I don't know what you just said."

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    1. Re:Nice to see some honest discourse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beat me to the punch. :(

      ~MeanderingMind

  5. Jaffe 2 - Marketing 0 by MeanderingMind · · Score: 2, Funny

    My favorite parts were when he completely shot down the marketing drone standing next to him.

    Marketer: "Blah blah blah marketing jargon blah blah blah battlerama blah blah"*
    Jaffe: "What the #@%*& did you just say? I don't understand what you just said!"*

    Priceless.

    *Quotes paraphrased and not exact.

    --
    Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
  6. drunk? getting real? wtf!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks more he was simply being himself without being held back or silenced by suits.
    So yeah, maybe he was real in this video.
    But drunk? usually drunk people can't express themselves very well.

    1. Re:drunk? getting real? wtf!? by cheese-cube · · Score: 1
      From the video, 4:46:
      ...I'm drunk as shit right now...
    2. Re:drunk? getting real? wtf!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      drunk people may not express themselves very clearly, but theyre sure as hell more honest.

  7. Friends don't let friends drink and Youtube. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    As far as inebriated Youtube stars go, he wasn't as funny as Kramer from Seinfeld crushing his career via racist tirade, but funnier than all those teenagers failing at skateboard stunts. Give it a 4/5.

    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  8. Drunk? So what by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Was he drunk? So what. For being drunk he was pretty damn lucid, truthful and fair in his comments. If he was drunk, he speaks better than I do when I'm sober. And good for him for telling the PR rep to fuck off. Otherwise everything out of his mouth would have had to be pro Sony.

  9. Excellent comments on Jaffe's blog by Swanktastic · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's some pretty hilarious comments on Jaffe's blog that talk about the interview before it went mainstream. There's also some classic 'nerd at the Playboy mansion' type of commentary along with him posing with bunnies:

    "So I get drunk and Jeff 'let's fuck with Jaffe's career' Resse- who is a MARKETING guy- brings me in front of the gametrailers.com cameras and we just go at it, tossing insults, doing a totally drunk interview, screaming at the camera (I think at one point I told EGM to fuck off for calling me THE KING OF BULLSHIT in this month's Q-MAN!)...it was total fun and I'm sure I've just made like 100 more people on the message boards hate me because of it. Ah well :) Watch for it....I hope they do some editing! Be nice, Gametrailers!"

  10. It's painful... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...to see someone who's obviously drunk being quoted like that.

    Anyone who would publish that kind of interview has obviously never been to college, a bar, a party, a wedding, a funeral, or anything else where there's alcohol involved, and ended up saying something they wished they hadn't. That's not something you hold over someone's head publicly.

    No, really. I've done that so many times that it really does hurt to see that done, because I know exactly how that feels (regardless of how he might brush it off, it's very, very embarassing).

    1. Re:It's painful... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      He has to deal with the consequences of his actions. If you can't hold your shit together while drunk, don't get drunk. If you do, and you lose your shit, then you have only yourself to blame. Period. When you talk to journalists, they tend to quote you, much in the same way that when your ass is pulled over by the cops, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. I don't know why people expect other people to be nice to them when they're drunk...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:It's painful... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's one way of looking at it, yes. The fact that people are always assholes does not, however, mean that's how it HAS to be, nor does it mean that's how it SHOULD be.

      You seem to lack empathy and sympathy for people whose decisions you don't agree with. That's sad, and it makes you part of the problem. You may feel that taking advantage of someone in an impaired state is fine -- heck, they got that way, it's their own fault -- but your logic is crap. If your friend got drunk and wanted to drive home, by your argument, you'd help him to his car. A decent person would call a taxi... but drunk people don't deserve your consideration.

      Grow up. You're not the only person who matters; your opinions don't (and shouldn't) dictate the way people act, nor would a decent person use them to justify this kind of thing (it's called tact, and I realize it's out of style, but damn).

    3. Re:It's painful... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "by your logic" arguments are so weak. yeah, clearly he would support drunk driving. you got him. nice work columbo.

    4. Re:It's painful... by TheLink · · Score: 1

      Seems like a lot of people still liked the drunk version of him.

      In contrast: how many people like sober Sony marketdroids?

      --
    5. Re:It's painful... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If your friend got drunk and wanted to drive home, by your argument, you'd help him to his car.

      By my argument? My argument says that people should have to deal with the consequences of his actions, not that other people should have to. I have in fact personally stopped someone from driving (along with assistance from another friend) to the point where he hit our other friend in the chin with his cellphone and drew blood (this was a while ago, the cellphone would just blow up now) and almost hit me with a bottle. After I helped him figure out which way the battery goes in his phone, he used it to call the cops to report us for "holding him against his will". So clearly you do not know what the fuck you are talking about and should fuck off immediately.

      The simple fact is that you are responsible for your own actions. No one else can be responsible for you. It's great when your friends take care of you. It's just as great when a complete stranger takes care of you. In fact I lost this particular friendship by stopping the guy from driving drunk but I still think it was the right thing to do. He was actually more of just an acquaintance anyway, and frankly I would have let him drive drunk if there were no one else on the road because it's just not worth it to have the cops called on me for trying to save lives. But there are other people on the road and it would be horribly irresponsible of me to let him drive, not to mention the people holding the party he was trying to leave could be held liable as well - sure, you're responsible for your own actions, but in this fucked up country, other people can be held responsible as well.

      But ultimately, only you can take care of you because only you are always with you. If you are not trustworthy enough to take care of yourself, you should either just kill yourself up front and get out of everyone else's way, or check yourself into some kind of managed care facility for the same reason. The world is not your nanny. Don't try to make me responsible for everyone else; I have enough trouble worrying about myself.

      It seems like this guy needs to learn a valuable lesson about not talking to people when he's drunk; if he can't learn that one, he needs to learn to stay away from the booze. Being nice and not airing it wouldn't help him and it wouldn't help anyone else, so I don't know why you even think that's doing the guy a favor in the first place. But ultimately it's not the journalist's responsibility to prevent the world from hearing this guy say things he doesn't want to say; in fact it's their job to report the news, and he generated some.

      Grow up. You're not the only person who matters; your opinions don't (and shouldn't) dictate the way people act, nor would a decent person use them to justify this kind of thing (it's called tact, and I realize it's out of style, but damn).

      Tact? The only breach of tact I see here is that if you want further interviews from someone, you shouldn't embarrass them. Well, I do see another breach of tact - you don't get drunk off your ass and then give interviews. That's a pretty serious breach of tact.

      I don't know why you seem to think that alcohol is a valid excuse for being a dipshit, but as someone whose father is an alcoholic I disagree in the strongest possible way. As a result of his alcoholism I was neglected pretty much completely by him until I was a teenager, and when he wasn't ignoring me he was saying emotionally abusive things, smoking with me in the car even though I have asthma and it would make me cough reliably, et cetera. It was the alcohol that made him that way. Is that acceptable? Is that an acceptable thing to do to someone? Should he be coddled and made to feel like it was okay because of the booze? Fuck no. In fact I eventually stopped talking to him entirely and told my mother not to give him my phone number until he was off the bottle. Now he is off the bo

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:It's painful... by HeavenlyBankAcct · · Score: 1

      Valid points, but I'd say your entire argument is essentially negated by the fact that this interview has driven Jaffe's stock up in the public eye far more than any marketing campaign could have. You say "he needs to learn to be responsible for actions" -- it seems to me like he's doing just fine in that regard. I know that I, for one, have a new measure of respect for Mr. Jaffe after discovering first-hand that he's not another one of these slick salesman types (ahem... Romero). He seems human. I like that. I know I'm not alone.

    7. Re:It's painful... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      No, actually, I do too. I don't think that marketing will be very happy with him for telling the marketdroid to go fuck himself in the grotto, though of course that just made me an instant fan (personally I thought twisted metal 3 was kind of a piece of shit, it's too hard to see what's going on because the camera is a dirty whore. and that's the only TM game I ever played.) And I haven't played any other game he's worked on. He just got himself immense cred.

      Anyway my points DO stand, even if some of my conclusions are unfounded. And ultimately it will be some time before we really know the impact of this interview. I mean, this is the game industry, I wouldn't be surprised to see people fall over themselves to pick sides on this one, and we'll see interview questions about this interview in other people's interviews. "What's your opinion of... blah blah blah."

      Anyway, all I'm REALLY saying is that people are responsible for their own actions. I did also say (and post a comment to the effect that) after seeing the video that I like the guy a lot MORE. In fact before I had no idea who he is, now he seems like, well, like many of the people I know. Except perhaps a more talented developer :) (and yes, I do know a few people successfully making money in the industry.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:It's painful... by HeavenlyBankAcct · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Anyway my points DO stand, even if some of my conclusions are unfounded. And ultimately it will be some time before we really know the impact of this interview. I mean, this is the game industry, I wouldn't be surprised to see people fall over themselves to pick sides on this one, and we'll see interview questions about this interview in other people's interviews. "What's your opinion of... blah blah blah."

      I've spent a good deal of my professional life operating within the game industry, and I can almost certainly say that this will, if anything, do great things for Jaffe's career and undoubtedly will not hurt him.

      Gaming has been looking for its "rock heroes" for a long time. Game designers have never been glamorous in the traditional sense, but publishers have been trying to cultivate this meme for a long, long time. Hell, why else bother to stage game events at the Playboy Mansion? Why the hell else would a second-rate Fabio lookalike be plastered all over the cover of magazines instead of the games he's developed? The industry in general is desperately tired of being perceived as a bunch of top-buttoned mouth-breathers lurking on the edges of social accepability, and has been looking for their "ambassador of cool" pretty much since its inception. If anything, I would expect to see SONY start trying to capitalize on Jaffe's new rebellious "TOTALLY RAW AND REAL" image long before I'd expect to see any sort of corporate backlash.

      To draw a parallel, the band Rage Against the Machine made a fortune writing lyrics with an anti-capitalist perspective, but were marketed part and parcel by Sony's record division. It's not in Sony's best interest to support their "message", per say, but it is beneficial to them to cultivate an artist with that sort of "counter-culture" appeal because it smooths out their rough corporate edges in the eyes of the populace. Sure, it's conjecture, but if you ask me, all signs point to the fact that Sony would love nothing more to have David Jaffe be their own personal "renegade." I didn't exactly see that marketing fellow put the kibosh on any of the tirades in that video.

    9. Re:It's painful... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Marketing won't be happy but they're taking the responsibility for talking complete and utter shit, right?

      I still don't see why it's OK to exploit drunks for TV, or for any other reason, which you apparently think they deserve for getting drunk.

  11. Awesome by Thraxen · · Score: 1

    Jaffe has been a hero of mine in the gaming world ever since he helped create the Twisted Metal series.

  12. Chairs will fly.... by cttforsale · · Score: 1

    Keep the F**KING devs in the basement!

  13. He's earned respect. by kinglink · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's one thing to go to a Playboy mansion and act respectable, it's another thing to give a interview that is laced with swears, and at the end admit you're drunk. And then telling Sony Marketting representive to go get fucked.

    The second one is the guy I respect, a guy who's a gamer who makes games for gamers. Game designers should realize your in the game industry, it's supposed to be fun as well as work, and from the look of it that's Jaffe's motto as well. Best video I've seen all year.

    1. Re:He's earned respect. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It's one thing to go to a Playboy mansion and act respectable
      What if the act someone going to the Playboy mansion instantly negates any respect you may have had for them? It's hard to find anything associated with the world's crappiest, most overrated soft core empire "respectable."
    2. Re:He's earned respect. by mqduck · · Score: 1
      It's hard to find anything associated with the world's crappiest, most overrated soft core empire "respectable."


      Me, I couldn't really care less about the Playboy Mansion. But like it or not, a great many people find Playboy sophisticated and respectable. Ever hear of "I read it for the articles"?
      --
      Property is theft.
  14. Twisted Metal by bateleur · · Score: 1

    Absolutely. For Twisted Metal World Tour alone David Jaffe will always make my game developers A-list.

  15. Finally watched the interview by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Best interview ever. I think someone should start a TV station with nothing but drunken interviews. I'd watch.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  16. Here's a little secret by LKM · · Score: 1
    Ever hear of "I read it for the articles"?

    Uhm... I'll let you in on a little secret. When people say "I read it for the articles" they're being ironic. It's supposed to be a joke, kind of like a running gag.

  17. Another classic interview by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Several years back a casino owner ran for Mayor of Las Vegas. One night a camera crew catches up with him as he is leaving a club. They try an impromptu interview, but the candidate is too smashed. The reporter kinda gives up and just asks, "Are you high?" or some such question. Then the smashed candidate for mayor attacks the reporter.

    I remember watching the footage about 30 minutes later on the late evening news. It's one of the best political interviews I've ever witnessed.