The industry is expanding in every direction. There’s enough room for everybody. And yeah, Michael Bay is the representative, but he’s representing Digital Domain. If you know anything about visual effects, Digital Domain is the fucking shit! They made the Halo 3 teaser, by the way. haha. It doesn’t worry me that they’re getting involved in the industry because they’re known for some quality work. I doubt they’d end up tarnishing their name with this expansion.

It’s good to have competition and if they can give EA a run for their money with some big-budget licensed action games, more power to them! When I think of the kinds of games they’d make, I think of Criterion. Known for their Burnout and Black IPs, taking great physics and killer effects and basing solid games around the incredible visuals.

Sure Miyamoto has helped define so much of the industry, but his word isn’t law. Nintendo is a bit bullshit when it comes to giving people what they want and they’ve paid for that in the past. Making us wait for online play for so long, claiming that people weren’t ready for online play, or something like that. The execution so far has been excellent on DS, at least. But where are the Wii online games?

Anyone’s free to develop, but by just getting a game out there, whether you mean to or not, you’re going to have an effect on the industry and medium overall. If Bay is successful, influence will tug in his direction, if not, he’ll be ignored. He’s already been successful in film and had an effect on it.

Unfortunately, his success in film came from hack work and only more hack work can spawn from it. No, I don’t have the right to stop him from making games, but I do have the right to dislike it. There’s a remote possibility he’ll surprise me, but for now I’ll just hope he gets ignored. The last thing I need is a world filled with more “God of War” games. . . . I can only imagine what kind of bullshit we’ll see in “Pearl Harbor: The Video Game.”

Then again, people seem to love horrible storylines, shitty aesthetics and uninspired gameplay, so I guess I’m the exception. Still doesn’t mean I have to happy about it.

Whether or not Nintendo has made mistakes, they have stuck to their principles and those are principles I can respect. The biggest problem with games is that everyone’s chasing after that dollar so much, they’re too scared or too stupid take a chance on a good idea. There isn’t enough confidence. But Nintendo has the confidence keep pushing things at a pace they set themselves long ago. Miyamoto may not be King Experimental or a genius artist, but he definitely ain’t no sellout.
-Chris Rock

You’re ignoring that it’s Digital Domain that’s behind the games. Not Michael Bay, although he is a chairman now. He has issued some quotes so people will pay attention.

Digital Domain is one of the leading visual effects studios. And now they’re going to be making games. That’s big news! I don’t know, maybe you haven’t heard of them before?

It’s great to downplay games like God of War or Madden but these are the games that “real people” play. They don’t sell 2 million copies with each iteration for nothing. God of War isn’t a game that kept me interested after a few levels but what it does right is that it’s fun. And Michael Bay movies are fun! Bad Boys was one of my favorite movies growing up. I don’t need to watch it every day but I like to see shit get blown up every once in a while.

And I mentioned 2 games by Criterion that have the same Michael Bay style. And they are excellent games! I’m a liar since I’ve never played them extensively, but I’m going off of a general consensus. I believe It’s a bit ridiculous to be so sure of what games they’re going to be producing when the studios aren’t even formed yet.

Remember that these are fucking video games. The point is to get away from reality. Have some fun every once in a while.

Lots of people played God of War and liked it. Lots of people also downloaded porn and liked that. If all a game is worth is how many people can masterbate to it, I’d rather not make any “good” game. I’m not here just to please, especially not by using the cheapest methods possible. I’d rather produce some honest work as an expression of who I am and my ideas, and I like the same from others. Those are games to get something out of.

If you want a fun game and God of War fits, play it, but I’m looking for more than fun. If all I want is fun, I have a basketball, I don’t need all these bits and pixels. Enjoy shit getting blown up, I do it too, but there’s more too films and games than that. Micheal Bay doesn’t seem to understand that, and his success can discourage others from taking more progressive routes. (I don’t consider Madden to be like God of War so it’s been excluded)

Criterion [i]is[/i] similar to Micheal Bay. They take hackneyed old techniques and toss them all into a big vat, put a title on it and call it a game. There’s more focus on flare than meat. Well, that’s not what I’m interested in.

I’m not sure of what Digital Domain will produce at all, I simply stated that I didn’t like the idea of it, then explained my reasoning for that. As I said, it’s possible they’ll surprise me, but surprises are rare. You don’t see a team of crappy baseball players get together and say “They might have a chance at the penant!!” So let’s not pretend the future is a complete mystery. Not to compare Digital Domain to a team of crappy baseball players, they’re a good company, good at effects. I can’t think of a game that I thought had crappy play, but made up for it with effects. Unless Digital Domain has some hidden game design talent, they ain’t got nothin for development except a lot of pretty colors.

Who says the point of games is to get away from reality? Who says there is a point?

You’re forgetting that no one has an obligation to like anything. No one has to appreciate the games I love and I don’t have to love anything else. But there will always be a view of the big picture and in the big picture a game doesn’t just come out and stand on its own. When a “pop” game is a hit, it changes the atmosphere. It becomes that much less likely that developers will veer away from the mainstream. Those I respect the most will continue on their own, like Miyamoto, but others will be effected. If I’m not interested in pop games, it only makes sense that I wouldn’t be too happy about that.

The industry is a democratic one. Should I be happy when the issues I’m concerned with are ignored or worsened?