Here's a conversation on IM between myself and Adam Orth, designer at Sony who worked with me on TM:Black, Calling All Cars. He also worked on some of the Medal of Honor games over at EALA. Enjoy!
And Halo fans...my flame suit is on, so do your worst! Just read the whole fucking thing :)
David
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AIM IM with adamorth.
11:47 AM
Adam: give me a fucking break:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/tease/the-teaser-for-the-halo-3-teaser-299105.php?autoplay=true
Jaffe: It's a decent add I think. I just don't get HALO. I don't think the story is all that special, don't think the world or characters matter much. I don't know if I am simply not 'getting it' and it really is all that...or Microsoft has simply purchased rabid fan reactions for what is a great game but nothing more.
Adam: that ad is insulting
"belive"?
come on
Jaffe: Am I missing something?
What's insulting about it?
Adam: well, for 1, i think it's disrespectcful to actual veterans of real wars
and 2, they really expect people to become that invested in the halo story?
i guess i just really dislike halo and that ad aint helping
Jaffe: well that's what I mean about buying the hype. I don't dislike Halo at all and really liked parts of Halo 2 alot...I am in minority who felt single player halo 2 was better than halo 1 single player. I mean, I hear people talk about the flood and shit and I'm like: what? Who gives a shit.
Adam: halo = meh
Jaffe: As for disrespect, come on...like Medal of Honor has not been doing he same for a long time. They talk about how important the games are and they are so earnest about it but come on, they are shooters. If they really cared about doing it right, they would give the MOH teams 3 years schedules and make Bioshock meets MOH...in terms of story and character and production value. And they would make THAT the game Spielberg was directing for them.
Adam: respectfully, i'll totally dosagree with you there. MOH games take alot of care to not be disrespectful it's one of the things they do right
JaFFE: While I LOVED MOH:Underground (top 10 games of all time for me) and dug the first one on PS2, emotionally, the most moved I ever was by MOH was with the music and seeing it played likve over a montage of soldiers at Video Games Live.
Adam: well, i guess i have a different insight than you do having sat with veterans and taklked about their experience and how it relates to the games...
Jaffe: It's not an issue of disrespect to the troops. It's an issue of them riding on the sentimentality of people when they talk about how much they care and understand the sacrifice of the soldiers and then put out a sub par shooter that has nothing to do in the play mechanics or design with the sacrifice the soldiers went thru. It's all window dressing that shows either the team doesn't understand how to apply the history 'under the hood' and apply it to the play itself OR it shows that EA does not care about the message at all, and it's all a way to market the game./
ADAM: i agree that most of the finished products veer off from the original intent. it's big problem at EA for MOH
JAFFE: They can cram all the sappy music and interviews with vets on the disc they want...but the game, the product they are actually selling, does not make me feel any closer to the vets sacrifice than any other shooter.
Hey- can I post this discussion on my blog if I don't put your name>?
ADAM: you can post my name...
JAFFE: sweet- sadly it will rile up halo fans...hope they see that I DO LIKE HALO! I just don't get the religious fervor and feel much of the fervor has been purchased by Microsoft. But they'll still hate me
ADAM: fuck halo
JAFFE: well they don't have your name! You can say that! Anyway- ok, gotta go! See ya! And please, for the love of God: LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!!!
ADAM: actaully, i stand by what i said, you can print my name, just leave out "fuck halo"
JAFFE: shit really? Ok.
ADAM: ok, print it
fuck it
JAFFE: cool, you got it.
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So there you go...well hey, I thought it was fun!
David