Tell Us What You Really Think
I love it when people are caught in candid moments. Moments in which they say what they really think, only to have their boss yell at them later and tell them to pull their head in.This has already happened at the GDC (Games Developers Conference), but I thought it has been the most quotable quotable so far. Chris Hecker (a designer with Maxis) said that the Wii is a "piece of sh*t". That it was just two gamecubes sandwiched together. No offence Chris, but you didn't have to be Einstein to work that out, just have a look at some of the ingame footage from a cross platform game and compare it to the 360 or PS3.
He went on to say that he wasn't sure whether Nintendo gives a sh*t about games as an art form. That's true. Nintendo cares about Nintendo as an art form. If you haven't worked this out by now then you must be living on another planet. But, Nintendo do what they want. They have always done what they wanted. They have a massive core marketplace in Japan, which is enough to keep them going. They cater for this market through their proprietary characters first and foremost.
The funny thing is that Maxis are responsible for The Sims. A game designed to run on the worst PC possible. They are not responsible for making cutting edge games.
The funniest thing was the turn around which came the next day when EA laid the smack down on him and told him not to be so naughty. Sometimes the truth hurts, but I really don't think Nintendo would have been overly concerned with his comments. It is the highest selling console in the US on a week-to-week basis. They must be doing something right.
posted by thecynicalgamer @ 5:09 pm
4 Comments:
At 9:11 pm,
Anonymous said…
I thought it was pretty funny too. I have been visiting a Nintendo forum recently, since I picked up the Wii and the Fanboy's comments are sometimes very funny to read. They gave it to Hecker. I 'm not sure what was funnier, the fanboys reaction or the suck arse apology he gave.
At 12:37 pm,
thecynicalgamer said…
Ultimately opinions matter, not that they should cause apparently they are like aresholes, everyone has one. Obviously some people's opinions count more than others and because he is with a game developer his arsehole was given more weight than say, mine or yours.
I love the concept behind the Wii, but I wouldn't be buying the console for the 3rd party games which are released across all platforms. I would be buying it for the exclusive titles and the sports games. I have my own retail shop and when someone asks me what console they should buy I tell them that they should make their decision based on the exclusive titles for that console.
Obviously, the thing which this highlights is the fact that your employer becomes your voice. They pay you a pissy sum and then their opinion becomes yours. To me it seems, that we live in a fragile society in which people cannot accept criticism and their voice is not their own.
At 2:09 pm,
Anonymous said…
I hope and think that opinions do still count for something and are allowed to be muttered. I think the biggest problem is the way that this arseclown did it. Instead of saying that in his opinion or he thinks that the Wii is a piece od shit, he stated it as a factual piece of information, simply stating, "The Wii is a piece of shit". If he said, the improvements in graphics of Nintendo's next gen console is shit, I don't think anyone would have complained. It is well and truly known that the graphics on the Wii are shit compared to the other two consoles. The ingenuity and creativity from the Nintendo boffins is where they see the next generation to be, and I think that is a very brave move. They seem to have hit the right mark. The console is selling as quick as they can stock it. The price point is something the casual gamer has been crying out for. To get a brand new machine at $400 is a lot cheaper then any new console has been ever. Especially when you look at what $400 is worth today when compared to past generations. Also, the games are coming out cheaper. They are releasing new games at around the $80 to $90 mark instead of the other two consoles releasing new games at $100 to $120.
Opinions are like arseholes, but some people think their arsehole should be exactly the same as everyone elses. Everyone's arsehole is different.
At 5:50 pm,
thecynicalgamer said…
lol
Threepsie, I think you've spent too much time looking at people's arseholes. rofl
I agree with you. The Wii will bring a lot more people to the next gen consoles because of the price and Nintendo are willing to push the boundaries of what a console can do in relation to peripherals as opposed to sheer power. And they do this time and time again (consider their Virtual Reality handheld console - I still want one). Whereas, Micrsoft and Sony push the same old.
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