If you haven’t kept up with the latest post-GDC tempest (and really, why would you?), it starts and ends with game critic Heather Chaplin giving a rant during the rant roundtable at GDC. Summary here. I didn’t attend this one, and I don’t really regret missing it. Short version: We developers are all stunted adolescents who can’t produce mature work.
I know it’s a rant. I know that journalists have to go for the soundbite and attention. And still… was this really going to elevate the discourse? How often do emasculating ad hominem attacks lead to maturity or depth?
Jaffe may be a man-boy adolescent when it comes to his taste in games, but his response yesterday stands up pretty well to me. Entertainment can be just entertainment. And it’s okay for game developers to have no more ambition than that, to be a video game Michael Bay or (hopefully) Chris Nolan.
For what it’s worth, I like Smartbomb. Read that, it’s better than anyone’s volleys in this escapade.