RESPONSE TO NEWSWEEK FLAP

Hey guys...just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in!

Here's context:

Ok, so this hits on Joystiq today:

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/david-jaffe-compares-xbox-live-to-ashlee-simpson/

It's basically a summary from an article I did with N'gai, the longtime tech reporter (and all around nice guy) from Newsweek. I really appreciate they failed to put a link to the actual article on their site. At least I think they did, I may have missed it.

Either way:

...here's the ACTUAL article, not an out of context rehash of it:http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=243757

And here is my response to the whole thing, if you care about such things:


Wow...I just can't win. But that's cool. I can appreciate how I may have come off as an ass, especially in this somewhat out of context verson of what I actually said to N'gai (and what N'gai actually printed)....for what it's worth (and you can see proof of this by clicking the link to the newsweek site), the gist of it was:

I think BIG epic games (besides mentioning GOW, I also mentioned FALL OF MAN, GT, and one other one) are LIKE Operas (story; music; spectacle; special fx;etc) COMPARED to these smaller games for XBOX LIVE and SONY PS3...to me, the smaller games are LIKE pop songs. And then I explained that there are great pop songs and there are shit pop songs. The great pop songs are from bands like THE BEATLES and ROLLING STONES and the shit ones tend to come from folks like Ashlee Simpson. I then made a CORRECT comparison saying XBOX LIVE ARCADE (which- by the way- I said I LOVED) was more like an oldies station. And it is...I pay my cash/year for the service, I deserve the right to have an opinion. And my opinion is that the VAST majority of games on the service are OLDIES, classics from the arcade days long gone by. Doesn't make them bad but they ARE OLDIES. And I was explaining how Sony downloadable games are putting the focus on NEW games AND older games.

I DID kinda take a jab at some of the newer games on XBLA and say they are like ASHLEE SIMPSON. That was just me mouthing off and cracking a joke and not realizing how shitty and petty it sounded until I saw it in print. I dig castle crashers (and I've played it as we had an early version in the office); I LOVE UNO; and GEO WARS is one of the best games of last year. So yeah, sorry to those folks on those teams who took offense. But my oldie comment still stands as so many of the games we get on Wednesdays tend to be old games. Hard to say that is not true.

And no, I don't think my games are as good as the Beatles, I don't think GOD OF WAR is perfect (I said that in the N'gai interview), and I don't think I'm the shit. I am just a guy doing the best work he can who has enough of a self-esteem to feel that my opinion is worth expressing when asked for it.


So there you go. Hope that helps some of you rational folks get a sense of where I'm coming from. If not, I guess we will never see eye to eye. Please continue to hate me. At least we gave it a shot.

For you irrational folks who are just a bunch of asses, I invite you to go down to the nearest corner and fuck yourself.

Peace!

David