Peter Moore, Wants your money, asshole

[The Internets]

I'm new here, but I've never been shy about my distain for the commercialization and in most cases, utter abomination the RPG genre has become. As evidence, I enter into the record one of the most insanely idiotic interviews ever subjected to public scrutiny.

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200601/N06.0106.1235.53927.htm

Let me quote, first about some future xBox 360 titles:
GI: Do you think all of those titles are going to hit in 2006?

Moore: Uh, no. No, it would be stupid if they all did. Even if they were capable of doing all that you’d re-merchandise them. In other words, you sit down and you look at this title could be ready, but it’s going to cannibalize or jump right on top of this title. And so as a result we’re going to invest two more months in development or in some instances you finish the title. You have it ready but you hold it for a month till it’s ready to go.

--Mind you he's talking about third part games. Bethesda fans are you listening?


At some points he just doesn't make sense:
GI: Last night one of your biggest announcements concerned an external HD-DVD drive. How are you going to connect this to your 360?

"Moore: It’s actually several ways we’re working on right now. I’m not going to give you any details, but we built this box with a view to - and J Allard being the guy that really has done the thinking - to the flexibility of where life will be in 2007, 2008, 2009. We call it future proofing. So the ways that you can connect - there are a number of different ways - I don’t want to get into it right now. The most obvious sat right in the front there.

GI: The USB?

Moore: USB. You could absolutely do it. But we may or may not choose that route."

WTF?

But this, by far, is my favorite:
"I was making a presentation to Hollywood about 2 or 3 months ago and started giving a full demo of this before we launched this thing. People were blown away. These are the chairmen of Universal Studios and what have you. And I made the same comment from last night that we can deliver more 18-34 year-old males than CSI or The Office. And both they, 20th Century Fox, Epic Records are now seeing it as a very deliberate way, and you guys benefit because you get to see cool stuff for free at your choice. Or you don’t if you don’t want to. It’s very cool."


Ohhh! Who wants to be a unit of consumption?? ME ME ME!!!

Maybe you give a fuck, maybe you don't. But to me, this interview speaks volumes of why RPG's are in such a shit hole of a state right now.

 

[bryce777]

"You have it ready but you hold it for a month till it’s ready to go.

--Mind you he's talking about third part games. Bethesda fans are you listening? "

This is not anythign bad. Just like movies you don't want to have somethign relesed at the exac same time as something similar.



as for conenctions, they just want upgradability, obviously.

 

[The Internets]

""Moore: It’s actually several ways we’re working on right now. I’m not going to give you any details, but we built this box with a view to - and J Allard being the guy that really has done the thinking -"

makes sense?


That's not the point though. My point is the more like Hollywood the gaming industry becomes, the less innovation, more repetition, and less exciting the industry will be. Video games have become popular precisely because they offered an experience hollywood didn't. But when I read about some head honcho referring to us gamers as 'deliverables', well, I get worried.

I doubt that the makers of Planescape or Fallout refereed to their fans as such, and it showed.

I'm not capitalism ignorant, I am just concerned.

 

[bryce777]

I think it's too late for concern. I can't remember the last RPG really worth a shit. BGII??? Well, TOEE was great if you don't mind wading through a sea of bugs....

Actually now I am getting more rpglike fun from nonrpgs like silent storm and especially space rangers 2 than I can get from any of the supposed RPGs coming out. not there there are many to choose from, anyhow.

 

[OverrideB1]

And this comes a surprise to anyone because?

This attitude has been inevitable ever since computer games lost their geeky image and the suits discovered that there was real money to be made from them.

Likewise, it should come as no surprise that Microsoft see gamers in terms of monetary units to be exploited - after all, that has always been their avowed intention: to make as much money for the corporation as is humanly possible.

Scheduling games for issue in fallow months has long been an industry standard - just as it has been for decades with the movie industry. Why release yor blockbuster movie/game at the same time as another studio are releasing theirs when, instead, you delay it until there are blockbusters that aren't going to have the same impact as yours. The only time this rule goes into abeyance is during the high commercial seasons (Xmas/spring break. summer vacation) where you want to exploit all those people who're doing nothing else that might distract them from filling your pockets with cash.

 

[The Internets]

It a surprise to see how brazen they are about it. After all, this interview is in Game Informer, not the Wall Street Journal.

 

[Trash]

It's the fucking way of the world. This shit applies to almost every industry and how we the people/consumers are treated. If you can apply anger and disbelief to games, you really ought to have a look at how the big corporations managed to fuck up many other media. Shut up and consume you fucking drone.

 

[bryce777]

Also, this is xbox shit anyway.

Consoles have pretty much always been for kids and morons. You don't need an ounce of thought for any console game I have ever seen. Oblivion is fucking complicated for a console game.

 

[Drain]

It's the fucking way of the world. This shit applies to almost every industry and how we the people/consumers are treated.

The people are treated exactly as they deserve to be treated.

 

[Section8]

It a surprise to see how brazen they are about it. After all, this interview is in Game Informer, not the Wall Street Journal.

Interesting article, so cheers for the link. I think they're being so brazen about it because they know that we, as the consumer, are pretty much used to being treated as fucking sheep. There's evidence enough here that aside from your own thoughts, the article has hardly stirred much anger. My response is more of a sombre "what power do we have to change that attitude?"

And really, there's very little we can do, aside from voting with our wallets as our way of saying "we don't like your attitude," but it's just not a significant mandate.

So that leaves stirring the masses to realisation and response, which requires the same methods and approaches as the corporate machine, but with altruism as motivation. And unfortunately, altruism doesn't pay any bills, so you're looking at a long and costly campaign with no return.

I'm sure there are other, less costly ways to evoke a human response to a dehumanising process, but none of them seem effective. Posting on a messageboard for instance. How do you get around "pfft. We already knew that" or "they're a company, and they have to make money, so we forgive any actions contrary to our own beliefs"?

 

[Levski 1912]

It a surprise to see how brazen they are about it. After all, this interview is in Game Informer, not the Wall Street Journal.

Interesting article, so cheers for the link. I think they're being so brazen about it because they know that we, as the consumer, are pretty much used to being treated as fucking sheep. There's evidence enough here that aside from your own thoughts, the article has hardly stirred much anger. My response is more of a sombre "what power do we have to change that attitude?"

And really, there's very little we can do, aside from voting with our wallets as our way of saying "we don't like your attitude," but it's just not a significant mandate.

So that leaves stirring the masses to realisation and response, which requires the same methods and approaches as the corporate machine, but with altruism as motivation. And unfortunately, altruism doesn't pay any bills, so you're looking at a long and costly campaign with no return.

I'm sure there are other, less costly ways to evoke a human response to a dehumanising process, but none of them seem effective. Posting on a messageboard for instance. How do you get around "pfft. We already knew that" or "they're a company, and they have to make money, so we forgive any actions contrary to our own beliefs"?

Not only that, but the informed section of the population is minuscule. Most people, when faced with this issue, will give the standard "I don't give a shit" response and go on with their lives.

 

[Zomg]

Let me quote, first about some future xBox 360 titles:
GI: Do you think all of those titles are going to hit in 2006?

Moore: Uh, no. No, it would be stupid if they all did. Even if they were capable of doing all that you’d re-merchandise them. In other words, you sit down and you look at this title could be ready, but it’s going to cannibalize or jump right on top of this title. And so as a result we’re going to invest two more months in development or in some instances you finish the title. You have it ready but you hold it for a month till it’s ready to go.

What loathesome control of an industry. I like how business hides behind "The free market" and then makes any market it can bash over the head as un-free and managed as possible.

 

[Section8]

Not only that, but the informed section of the population is minuscule. Most people, when faced with this issue, will give the standard "I don't give a shit" response and go on with their lives.

That's why I say...

that leaves stirring the masses to realisation and response, which requires the same methods and approaches as the corporate machine, but with altruism as motivation.

...because in all honesty, people don't give a shit about most things the mass media provides.

If you said to somebody a few years back "What do you think about kids singing karaoke on TV?" they'd probably give that "I don't give a shit" response. But, once you "force" it upon those too apathetic to just turn off their fucking television, and inculcate them into believing it's a worthwhile exercise, then suddenly popular opinion becomes "Kids singing karaoke on TV is fucking great!"

By and large, the apathetic masses are not apathetic because they're uncaring, they're apathetic because they're unthinking, and so they will accept and adopt opinions that are externally brought upon them. That's why marketing/advertising exists.

Now, even though it's a poor substitute for actual education, it would be possible to "inflict" an opinion that commercialism is bad for society, and people would willingly adopt it as their own. But as I alluded to earlier, there's a clear monetary cost and no return with "counter-advertising," and so in our capitalist society, it's not something anybody is likely to pursue. After all, who cares about the good of the people when money can be made?

 

[Rat Keeng]

Well, to be honest, most people I know are the kind of drones that get fucked by these guys. I mean, they're good people and all, but you can put on a CD for them to listen to, that, at the time, they wont like one bit, but then a month later when that petulant blonde bitch presents it on MTV, watch them run out and buy the CD and pretend they liked it all along. It's a sad, pitiful process to watch, but there's little you can do about it.

f you said to somebody a few years back "What do you think about The European Union?" they'd probably give that "I don't give a shit" response. But, once you "force" it upon those too apathetic to just turn off their fucking television, and inculcate them into believing it's a worthwhile exercise, then suddenly popular opinion becomes "The European Union is fucking great!"

Fixed. Funny how this applies to so many things in life

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Arcanum was held for 3 months until the other language versions were done. I don't see it as a big issue because either way, we still got the game and it was still flawed in areas.