Industry Lunacy

[ShadowBrain]

For all the games they produce and represent, the heads of the videogame industry have said and do say some phenomenally stupid things. Be they overblown salespitches, grossly innacurate statements, or just plain bizarre ramblings, there's always something to shake our heads at. So, basically, what do you think are some of the top dumb things that have come out of the mouths of videogame up-and-ups? Post a direct quote if you want, or just paraphrase.

"Well, I think a lot of people who bought the Wii are not necessarily the types of people who are interested in playing that kind of game. And a lot of the people who would want to play it [due to chronic shortages of the console] can't find a Wii! But mostly, I think it's that there are fewer and fewer people who are interested in playing a big role-playing game like Zelda."

--Shiguru Miyamoto, responding to low Japanese sales of Twilight Princess

Yeah. ...You know what? Just... just... yeah. Okay, yeah......

[MEGAߥTE]

But sales indicate that this is true... in Japan.

[Suffix]

Yeah, Miyamoto wasn't joking. 90% of what Kaz Hirai says, however, is madness.

"Our decision to include the Blu-ray player ... in all of our PlayStation 3s was the right decision. Look at the massive amounts of data that's required to provide a truly immersive gaming experience in true HD. If you only have a DVD ROM drive, which can only go up to about 9GB or so, you're going to end up with a game that's going to have two or possibly even three discs..."

Can anyone tell me how many PS3 games take up at least half of a Blu-ray disk's capacity?

[MaxVance]

None, because PS3 has no games. </troll>

[MEGAߥTE]

That reasoning is also pretty valid.  Even if a PS3 game took up only half of a Blu-ray disc, that's still over 2.5 DVDs.  There are concerns of content getting cut on Xbox 360 games, and these problems will only increase as the years go by and developers get more ambitious.

If you want ridiculous quotes, try Ken Kutaragi.

[MaxVance]

Are you sure developers will get more ambitious in the future? It seems like they just keep making the same types of games out of fear of failure.

[Suffix]

More importantly, video games will probably not take up that much space unless they way they are made inefficiently, or are in development for ages. Actually, I can't quite think of how video games would take up that much space, exactly. Any other thoughts on the subject?

[Glorb]

Yeah, Miyamoto wasn't joking. 90% of what Kaz Hirai says, however, is madness.

Truer words were never spoken. Before he left/got kicked out, I remember him saying something about PlayStations 4, 5 and 6. Wow.

[MEGAߥTE]

Truer words were never spoken. Before he left/got kicked out, I remember him saying something about PlayStations 4, 5 and 6. Wow.

Like I said, that's Ken Kutaragi, not Kaz Hirai.

More importantly, video games will probably not take up that much space unless they way they are made inefficiently, or are in development for ages. Actually, I can't quite think of how video games would take up that much space, exactly. Any other thoughts on the subject?

Developers will always find ways to use the space.  Often inefficiently, yes.  I'm not saying that's good or bad, but it's true.  Square often put games on 4 CDs (well over 2GB) when the generation before only used <7MB.  The more space to use, the more detailed the environments can be (remember, we're not talking Wii games here).

Are you sure developers will get more ambitious in the future? It seems like they just keep making the same types of games out of fear of failure.

Ambitious in regards to size of content, not necessarily creativity.

[Glorb]

Like I said, that's Ken Kutaragi, not Kaz Hirai.

Oh, right. Gotta pay attention.

[ShadowBrain]

But sales indicate that this is true... in Japan.

Yeah, I know that's true, but I think that Japan is slowly losing its aura as the country by which the official quality and popularity of all games is judged. Their society is structured so that they really do only have time to play whatever the newest iteration of sudoku is on the DS, and, intentionally or not, I think Nintendo is slowly fostering that kind of lifestyle in the US.

[MaxVance]

You mean Nintendo is trying to shift our attitudes from "work to live" to "live to work"? Bah.

(If you want to see how life really is in Japan, "former" Fungi Forums member Watoad is currently in Japan as an intern for a photography company. His blog can be found here.)

[Vidgmchtr]

Odd, Max, that blog of his hasn't been updated in a few months.

Maybe he was too busy with his work there to make a new entry. But how? Japan is a land where all workers play video games all day.

[ShadowBrain]

You mean Nintendo is trying to shift our attitudes from "work to live" to "live to work"? Bah.

What I mean is that... well... take movies, for example; most people have busy lives these days, but do the studios make forty-minute movies about a boy and his dog? Do record labels do one-minute showtunes? When you dumb-down games to make them more accesible to the average joe, they lose what makes them videogames.

I mean, here's a point I've been trying to get off my chest for some time: "Casual gamers" already have their systems of choice, and that's the "Games" section on Windows, cellphone solitaire, and whatever is on iPods these days. The point is, most of those Bejeweled and Brick Breaker and Pac-Man-type games didn't bother me until they started showing up on consoles in lieu of AAA titles. Do you consider Wordjong a videogame in the same way that you might consider Super Mario 64 a videogame? Didn't think so.
I guess what I'm really saying here is that so-called casual gamers just play what's already on the multi-purpose gadgets they already own--no one mildly interested in videogames (which the aforementioned "casual" titles only are in the literal sense) is going to pay $250 for a machine that solely plays games. In fact, the motion control has actually scared off a few of my relatives--seems complicated from the outside looking in, right? Heck, my mom's hooked on this touch-screen electronic sudoku handheld she got for Christmas, but I doubt she'd touch it if I got her a DS with the same thing in "game" form! Wasting genuine gamers' time with flash-in-the-pan quickie games on the Wii/DS is an insult to the intelligence of casuals and gamers alike.

I'm having a really hard time conveying exactly what I mean here, so bear with me.

[BP]

A lot of my family is anti-gaming so I don't really care if my games are attractive to them. But my dad played Wii Bowling with me once and enjoyed it.

What is a "casual gamer?" Whenever I try to visualize one I picture a loser who tries to look like a gamer but thinks Link's name is Zelda or asks, "When do I run out of fireballs?" But now that I'm thinking, are they supposed to be the kinds of people who only play other people's games at parties? But those are the kinds of people who don't buy consoles of their own--Super Smash Bros. should take care of the parties. EVERYONE. Knows how to play Super Smash Bros. My cousin's to-be-born baby knows how to play Super Smash Bros. But I'm all for Wii Play-like games when people get bored of being mercilessly crushed beneath your Smashing feet.

Anyway... Things don't really seem too different to me. Galaxy was every bit as "hardcore" as Super Mario 64. Twilight Princess retains Ocarina of Time's power as well.