Great Minds...

I wanted to write about my opinion about some developers much later, but something gave me an incentive to write about it right now.
I had a chance to read an interview with Kojima in recent Edge. It seems that poor Kojima-san is not really pleased with his latest creation – Metal Gear Solid 4. Of course he wasn’t talking about gameplay or the plot. With these he keeps his I-made-this-game-all-by-myself-with-my-bare-hands and I’m-the-best-game-developer-ever-bow-to-me posture. What he doesn’t like is the graphics and it’s Cell that limits his god-like abilities (probably Kutaragi did that on purpose). Kojima is not happy with the level sizes and motion-blending. He also states that, and I quote: “We're using the Cell engine to its limit”. Maybe the translation from Japanese was not so good and what he actually said was: “I don’t think it’s possible to lick your own elbow”. How the hell does he know that they used Cell’s full potential if they barely made one game that uses it? They measured it with a ruler? Maybe they asked?
Seriously, my love to the MGS series is proportional to my dislike to Hideo Kojima.
I don’t know, maybe this happens when everyone keeps telling you that you’re a genius and a visionary and you actually believe it to be true. I don’t think that a man who’s making the same game for 20 years (ok, he made Policenauts and Z.O.E, but how many people actually know that?) has the right to say he reached a limit of anything unless he’s talking about MGS.
Let me also add that that is the man who supposedly makes games for the fans but has no compunction about making them pay twice for the same game, releasing it for the second time with questionable “additional” content that should be included in the original game and claims that it’s the “only, true experience”.

Not that I’m defending Sony. They are about to receive their own dose of bashing through the head with a shovel. Maybe not Sony in whole (even though they sure deserve it), since I’m not writing about companies (even though I could… and probably will). The person that deserves a rebuke is none other that the father of Playstation himself – Ken Kutaragi.
To shut up any fanboys that might come my way I will tell you that the Playstation platforms are my favorite among all gaming devices (Dreamcast would be not far behind), but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m really pissed off at Kutaragi about what he did with Playstation 3. I started to worry when first ideas about Cell were released to the internet. Kutaragi’s vision was a processor that would share computing power over the World Wide Web with other Cells. Kutaragi wanted to do something revolutionary, but he obviously forgot about the end consumer. Did he wonder what will happen if games would require more power than a single Cell could provide, but the user wouldn’t have internet connection? I doubt it. Later he conceived this “ingenious” idea about making the PS3 more like a PC – with the ability to upgrade its core components. Not Cell of course - Cell would be so powerful that it would last till the end of the world, and it would probably help Jesus count sinners during the final judgment. And I bet it would still cost 600 bucks on the day of the release. Could you imagine that? That would be worse than having your liver removed with a wooden spoon. That would be a complete contradiction to the whole console put-in-and-play concept. Fortunately those ideas didn’t make it to the final PS3 design, but we got a console that was initially too expensive and, due to its construction and lack of proper tools, is hard to develop for. Why? Because Sony gave Kutaragi a free hand when designing PS3 and they paid a hefty price. To complete the picture I will bring up two statements that our Ken made regarding the price of the PS3. First he said that Playstation3 is not at all expensive, because if you look at it in a broader sense you’re not getting a gaming machine, but a multimedia center. So what? It could have a shaver and a microwave oven build into, 600 is still too much for a, like it or not Ken, gaming console. His second statement is even better. Believe it or not, but Kutaragi actually said that he’s not worried about the low PS3 sales, because if they sell less, they lose less [money]. I will leave that without comment.

Next we have people like Gabe Newell and Devid Jaffy.
The first is best known for being the co-founder of Valve and making the Half-Life games. He is also known for having a total disregard for Playstation 3 and calling it a “complete disaster”. I guess a guy who worked for Microsoft couldn’t really say anything else. This is also the guy who didn’t want to do the PS3 conversion of Orange Box, because he basically thinks it wasn’t worth the effort. Is it really the only reason? Or maybe it’s too much to muster the PS3 for someone who needs a decade to make two games? Seriously, as good as Half-Life games are they could have been made in a much shorter time span by pretty much anyone. And don’t even get me started on the Episodes. Sorry dude, I guess your Source engine isn’t really THAT flexible.
Last but not least we have Jaffe – one of the creators of the God of War franchise. For this guy only a short note. Just because you swear in public and don’t have respect for anyone doesn’t mean you’re open and sincere. It means you’re rude and don’t have manners. Say “sorry” to your mother, I’m sure she wanted better.

If you’re starting to wonder why the hell I am bitching about those guys so much let me “paint” you a picture. Imagine that the next generation of consoles is developed by men like Kutaragi, the games are created by ego-maniacs like Kojima for as long as Newell would create Half-Life 3, and then after you’re allowed to actually buy them you are bad mouthed by Jaffe. Unlikely?
Those people are not only regarded as role models and respected among both the developers and the gaming community, but also looked upon by other game creators when they make their own games. You see, people with that kind of influence tend to create trends, and trends tend to become standards. We bitch about companies like Electronic Arts that they destroy our once perfect gaming world by creating mainstream games for people with and IQ of a carrot, but at least they make games for gamers, not for themselves and right now I would hesitate to point a finger at the one who is the biggest threat to the industry.
Of course the four above are not the only people that shape the gaming reality. On the other side of the creativity river we have people that, as Seth in From Dusk Till Dawn said, are in my cool book. They are not bragging about their work, even though they deserve more praise for their achievement that anyone else. To name two – Shinji Mikami and Shigeru Miyamoto.
The first one is the person who shaped the whole genre of survival horror. Yes, I know that Alone in the Dark was created before Resident Evil, but it was the latter game that set standards for all that came after it, and it was thanks to Mikami that today we have Dead Raising and Silent Hill. Mikami is a man that not only is humble, but also honorable in what he’s doing. After the release of Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube the Capcom stock holders pressed Mikami-san to develop a PS2 version of the game. He didn’t submit however and said that he would leave Capcom and would not take part in the development of RE5 (Actually, he said that he would “cut his head off if RE4 would be made for PS2”). After Capcom’s decision about making a RE4 port against the creator’s will Mikami resigned.
The second person that I truly admire is Shigeru Miyamoto the creator of Donkey Kong, Zelda and most notably Mario. If it wasn’t for Miyamoto-san video games today would probably be completely different. Over the years he created the most playable and innovative titles. He created the first truly 3D platformer – Super Mario 64 and pretty much defined the action-RPG genre. He makes the best games he can, often scratching the whole project and starting from the very beginning (Mario 128 anyone?). Miyamoto makes games with passion for all generations of players and even in with all the successes and awards remains the same adorable man. Ok, he had a few “unfortunate” events but when you pair it what Kutaragi say they really aren’t that big a deal.

Dear game developers. You are prospering in a treacherous market. Keep in mind that real gamers won’t give a damn about how hard the game is to make, what drives you when you’re creating your digital offspring, they don’t care what kind financial problems you need to struggle with and what technical limitations hinder your work. All they care about is if the game is good enough to let them forget about the sad, painful reality they live in. And if the game is good enough then maybe, just maybe they will buy the collectors edition and thank you for making a wonderful experience with fan art and fan fiction. Hope that it happens, because that should be your biggest reward (along with millions of dollars from sold copies).

A side note.
I have two more men to mention in this article, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk. Those guys graduated from medical school in 1992, but were drawn to the computer game industry. For the first few years of their medical practice they put all their saving into their dream company – Biowere. This is what I call devotion. To this day they create the highest quality games. Titles like Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate or Mass Effect speak for themselves.