Theres a lot to be said about the Keynote speech that David Cage made. But I feel like we’ve said it all before. Basically, when Michael writes the things David said, everybody yells at him and insists what we want to do is game-dev heresy. Maybe they will listen to someone who is making a multi-million dollar project for Sony instead? ha!
8 thoughts on “The Quantic Dream Lecture”
Comments are closed.
Indeed, reading those lines on the screen reminds me of so many things written in the RTA Manifesto.
Auriea, it’s the scale. See Cage’s presentation: a hi-tech display of what so many have been debating as one of the first true examples of “Uncanny Valley” in videogames; superb facial expressions; adult characters in adults situations such as crime investigation, fighting, sensual dancing in nightclubs; in short the videogame parallel of the favorite TV shows and movies now made interactive exclusively for the most promising games platform in the market. And it’s not just the mainstream gamers who’re interested. It’s everyone. Everyone wants to see how far he’s went with this game. I know I do.
Then look at Michael. Wearing his best suit with a black and red striped shirt stuffed below his coat, leaning against a microscopic stand located in the indie (I mean nerd) section, proudly displaying pictures of weird goth girls printed in posters that were glued to the humble wooden table. He’s preaching about game innovation as well; but in the eyes of the passing crowd attending the tradeshow he’s just a maniac street preacher: and Cage… well, now he’s the bloody Pope.
I love you guys.
The trouble I have with Michael’s statements is never what he’s saying, it’s how he often (unintentionally, I’m sure) attaches personal insults to them. It’s one thing to say that you don’t want to make or play certain kinds of games, it’s quite another to imply that everyone who does want to make or play those kinds of games has something wrong with them that needs to be explained and analyzed.
Or sometimes the insult isn’t implied, but just stated outright: “Which reminds me of the pathetic display that is grown-ups pretending to play music to the antique tunes of the Beatles on plastic toy guitars. Instead of learning an actual instrument and experiencing the pure joy of interpretation, we can now happily be reduced to sacks of skin and bones that can pretend to be a star with no need to learn any useful skill whatsoever.”
This is not the statement of an opinion (“I’d rather play on real musical instruments then play Rock Band.”), it’s just flat-out insulting people. You want to know why people don’t listen to Michael like they listen to David Cage? This here is why. This closed-minded and arrogant attitude, where anyone who doesn’t like the same things Michael likes is a defective person. People don’t listen to people who insult them.
Mory, do you really think this is just about liking things and disliking things? Is this really all that is left to care about in the world? To like something justifies its existence? It’s a sad state of affairs. And bloody scary as well!
Let’s hope you’re right and people do listen to what Mr Cage has to say. But you know what the frightening part of it all is: they won’t. They wont unless lots of people “like” his game, i.e. pay money for it. If he’s not commercially successful, whatever he said will be ignored. I’m sorry but I call that sad.
I guess I don’t “like” it when somebody who makes sense gets ignored. And I guess I don’t “like” the people doing the ignoring. And feel free to not “like” me for that reason.
I do appreciate the advice you’re giving, Mory. And you’re probably right. I’ve just never been much concerned with actually being heard. I rather like the image of “maniac street preacher” that dieubussy paints of me. Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I shouldn’t be such a misanthrope. I’ll try to work on that, I promise!
and don’t get me wrong. i thought what mr. cage was saying was perfect. i was happy SOMEONE would say it out loud. and i do hope the larger industry can take it to heart.
but
i wouldn’t want to be in that guy’s 100 person studio. not on your life. and i am not certain that what he will ultimately make will really be all that different in the end.
and i think mr. cage offended many in the audience too. he was not very subtle in his condemnation of video games being juvenile toys rather than an artistic expression of something meaningful. mostly i just thought it was fun to see a huge keynote speech with someone saying similar things as we’ve said since 2006. very interesting talk. i don’t envy the guy at all. i wish him luck.
his speech was very much trying to prepare the world for what he is making. so we shall see.
I know Cage from Omikron, while most know of him because of Indigo Prophecies. I read several interviews at the time and Omikron was a game which he created mostly by himself and in which he took several roles during the process of creation. And it was a very impressive game no doubt about that. I bought it the first week it went into the market.
I never realized that Cage was always cut out to be where he is today, using the best technology available in his field and spending the largest budgets for a great production. If Heavy Rain turns out to be the serious game he’s been presenting for long, there’s integrity to his claims and he will be one among few who actually can put videogame production money to good use. I’m optimistic. Even Fahrenheit had an epic start.
But because of the concept, technology, large team, development time, budget, advertising, hype and public interest (in this exact order) this is a product that’s depending too much on sales and for that reason even a man with ideas and creative spirit such as Cage must dance to the investor’s tune. And the genuine creativity ToT games possess, like the pure scent emanating from freshly picked flowers, does not require large sums of money to take form: in fact, from a artistic point of view, its worth exceeds the very concept of monetary rates.
>adult characters in adults situations such as crime investigation, fighting, sensual dancing in nightclubs
Woo-hoo, actions and places never before seen in a video game!