First off, comment on Fish. He's a moron. I dont care what industry you are in. I do the same thing with music and movies. Im all for people having their opinions, but opinions should be backed up by fact or have some basis. Not only was his comment stupid, but it also wasnt factual.

It's the same argument over and over with the media and developers (yes, including Inafune) keep saying that Japanese games are stale. It's utter garbage. I can agree with Inafune saying that the way the developers in Japan go about game development is lagging (If they truly dont share information well and do things inefficiently) but games from Japan try WAY more new things than Western game developers do.

So far with games from Japan this gen Ive played a new take on the strategy genre, a new take on the puzzle genre, new takes on the RPG genre, as well as amazing versions of genre's that already exist.

For western games what can you say? The FPS was more popularized and hasnt been changed for years, the western RPG isnt really new, but they expanded what you can do, which is good in its own right, but Fallout hasnt really changed much since 3. Other than that, what else has the west put out besides FPS's and Western RPG's? Not much. While some of those games are good, there is a flood of garbage in the hemisphere. Same with Japanese games, just as many good as their are bad.

People really need to take off the shades and see things for what they are

I was glad to see this, as i share the view.
Whether or not Phil is an ass hole is irrelevant in my opinion, as he's not the sole person who created the game. I wouldn't want one dudes mouth to negate the hard work of the entire team.

On that same note, If i avoided art based on whether or not the I thought the creator was a douche bag, I wouldn't bother pursuing a career in art/gaming.

Unless i was guaranteed to work for Schaffer or Jaffe.
They both seem like champs.

I like Fez.
I play Fez.
I give money for Fez.
Developer grows.
Bigger budgets.
Maybe Fez 2?

Everything else is white noise.

The hardest pill to swallow seems to be that such direct criticism came from within the gaming community, let alone one of its developers. This same community can be vicious and unforgiving when slighted, but often offers unparalleled support when rallying. Fish has become polarizing, yet Fez is pretty damn cool. What's a gamer to do?

I also agree there is clearly more than one person involved, and sometimes a team member can have opinions at odds with others. If that's at such a level that disharmony ensues, rarely will a good game come out of it. But for all I know, in spite of it...

Good one, Jim.

@Smithyx

Nintendo does not, and never has, counted. Nintendo is in a whole nother universe here. When talking about Japanese games, we are talking about Japanese developers, not huge corporations/publishers like Nintendo that could sell you a piece of shit for $100 simply because it is a Nintendo branded piece of shit. It would be like saying the Star Wars prequels didn't suck because of that one cool scene in the third movie. We are taking everything as a whole.

And, if you DID want to include Nintendo, I could point out that they aren't doing well either. The 3DS is still far below expectations, the Wii has fallen off the map, none of their games are hitting with western audiences, and they have been in the red for the past two years.

Fez is one of the best games ever made in my opinion and anyone refusing to buy it because Fish shared a valid, if brash, opinion was probably not going to buy it anyway. I say fuck 'em - they can have their bland-ass shooters and throwaway iOS games.

scientifickly proovablee

When someone becomes an adult and their parents cease to have much influence over them, the only people that are going to correct a person's bad behaviour is society. If we as a society choose to reward (or not punish) bad behaviour, then that person will continue to think that they can behave badly. So even though the Fez boycott'ers may not know him or have been directly offended by Fish, as members of society it's our duty to spank individuals when we think they have behaved badly, for the greater health of society (even if they're 'just being rude'). That's why I think it's justified to not separate the art from the artist, especially if supporting the art is likely to encourage bad behaviour.

@DuckedUpOnQuack

THIS.
FUCKING THIS.

You are not supporting this man, you are not GIVING him anything. You are engaging in a transaction in which you exchange money for a product. You are supporting the GAME. If you had no clue about Fish and his infamy but someone put the game in your hand, you'd probably still love it and wouldn't care who made it. Same with Earthworm Jim, same with Shadow Complex. (I didn't even find out about that until much MUCH later. After I 100%'d the game.)

Try thinking about it this way. Say someone revived Hitler. So Zombie Hitler is shuffling around and he decides, "Instead of killin' Jews, I'm gonna make video games." He spends years on his game, releasing footage just like Fez. Everything you see looks amazing, art style, grafix, music, gameplay, everything looks fucking incredible. When it releases, every reviewer says the game is phenomenal, not a single fault in it. Everyone you've met who's played it says it's better than anything they've ever played, it's 100% received as the greatest game of all time. Am I gonna buy it? Yes. Because it's probably a really fucking amazing game, Zombie Hitler or not.

Now say Jesus descended from Heaven, it's undoubtedly him, miracles and all and said "Screw God's message or whatever, I'm going to make a video game." Years and years, it finally releases and it's shit. Unplayable. Deceptively mediocre, but not an ounce of genuine enjoyment in the entire 60 dollar 30 minutes of it. Yes, it's fucking Jesus but do you really want it?

Both of these people say the funding of their first game will directly effect their next one. You want good games, a good start is probably supporting GOOD GAMES. Not whatever douche-bag or saint is behind them.

I dont expect Fish to like AAA games in general. Fez's style is that of a traditional puzzle exploration game, similar to something like 'Boy and His Blob' on the NES. By excluding combat and upgrades entirely from the game, Fez is very different to most of the great Japanese & European AAA games this generation, which are action focused while possibly including puzzles here and there.

It takes lots of talent to make a good AAA game, because you not only need to continuously engage the players brain, you need to engage his reflexes too (the brilliance of placing the puzzle in the form of the enemy, & his attack patterns). I'm not sure Fish likes that idea, its kind of an opposite design philosophy to what they'v done with Fez.

Video games as art? Sorry, don't agree. Gaming as art has a long way to go. In fact this generation had put video games back a few steps in that regard. Store exclusive pre order DLC, gaming sites becoming nothing more than mouth pieces for the companies, these things have done massive damage in getting gaming respected in some type of way. Even indie games are nothing more than business decisions that have found a way through kick Started to pass the financial burden to the gamer. Gaming is a business and nothing more. Time to move on.

For fun, I looked up all those twitters Fish made. I found that the things he said, or more importantly *how* he said them, is really no different than how the folks around me say the same things about any other given thing.

Mmyep.

That being said, I think Fez is pretty darn cool and I'm glad I bought it.

In my case, it all depends on if the asshole artist's views and personality are reflected in his work. If the game itself is fun and inoffensive, then I can find enjoyment in it regardless of whether or not the person(s) who made it is an asshole.

That said, Fez has never really interested me, so either way, that's at least one asshole who won't be getting any of my money.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm tired of indie developers feeling themselves. Just because they make or are making a hit, doesn't mean they're instantly industry veterans or are entitled to such stupid opinions. People like Fish and Blow are perfect examples of pretentious douchebags that make some dumb "innovative art platformers" and think they've changed the face of the market and are kings of the industry. I'm sorry, but if you haven't had multiple successes over the years like Miyamoto, CliffyB, Kojima, Jaffe and etc. you're just going have to keep your mouth shut and stop making stupid generalizations like that. That's like having a sports commentator that has had little to no professional background at all.

regardless of what kind of a person fish is, i feel bad because, like you said, there were other people working on the game. mostly Renaud Bédard who poured his life into it (its his first major game) and he seems like a very decent, upbeat fellow.