Rockstar Games' Vice President of creativity and Grand Theft Auto writer Dan Houser has very vocally attacked the "casual gaming" craze currently gripping the games industry. He didn't feel the need to be particularly eloquent about it, either.
"F*** all this stuff about casual gaming," ranted the man who co-wrote GTA IV. "I think people still want games that are groundbreaking. The Wii is doing something totally different, which is fantastic. We're hopefully going to prove that there's also a very big audience for people who want entertainment in another form, who think of games as being a narrative device that can challenge movies."
Houser also attacked videogames with fantasy themes such as "orcs and elves, or monsters, or space." Houser believes Rockstar's themes are superior, as his company's games are "about something we could actually relate to. Or aspire to." Now, I love Grand Theft Auto, don't get me wrong -- but I can't say I particularly aspire to be an Eastern European human smuggler, drug runner and murderer. Nor do I wish to be an escaped mental patient on a killing spree, or a table tennis player. I can't say Rockstar makes games with life goals that echo my own.
Houser also spoke up about GTA IV's violence by saying; "If you don't like any violent content in your entertainment, then I apologize because I do. And I've unfortunately been exposed to it my entire life. If we equally got rid of a lot of books that talk about violence, okay."
I think the casual gaming buzz term is stupid, but to tar fantasy games with the same brush isn't very fair. Nor is it correct to hold Rockstar Games up as a bastion of thematic creativity. There is a lot of inventiveness in GTA, but it still plays many of the same notes it did almost a decade ago, and there's not a lot else Rockstar has done to push gaming forward as an art form.
Contest:
11:01 AM on 05.05.2008
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I don't give them props for either of those feats, as well.
Also, I like this guy.
1. They're cheap to make.
2. They're simple to play.
3. They're effective for those who want a game to play that doesn't engulf hours of their time.
4. Anyone can have access to it without spending money on systems or high-end PCs.
5. Mass appeal, age of 4 to age of 94 can play.
More people play Bejeweled than GTA. More people know of Peggle than Mass Effect. How many of us know of Solitaire only from playing it on the computer?
Almost what, a decade ago? I'm not taking anything away from Rockstar, but you can't deny that all its GTA games, including GTA IV, are mostly reworkings of the one idea. I *love* GTA, but I am not going to pretend that its latest chapter is hugely innovative of the series. It's just a whole bunch more of what we've known -- and I love that. I just think it's a bit rich to claim to be a thematic trailblazer.
"OR by crafting some of the most cinematic and engrossing (and contemporary) tales to date."
All a matter of taste. I think it's a really well-crafted story, but again, nothing I'd hold up as the epitome of storytelling in games.
I like GTA a lot, I consider myself quite the fan. But a lot of it is no more fresh and exciting than the casual games that Houser attacks.
i had fun with my wii the first month ...
Personally though, i support their stance on 'casual gaming' but think their rant on games with fantasy themes are a bit much, considering that many of the greats in gaming belong to that genre. Notable examples include the Zelda and Final Fantasy fanchises..
He never said "fuck casual games". He's not dissing the Wii. He's just pointing out how stupid the buzz word is.
So many developers think:
casual games = easy money.
But he's saying fuck all that sh**. People still want thought put into their games.
I'm all for GTA and whatnot, but yeah, gamers are a diverse group. We like what we like, and we don't need some egotistical douche-bag to tell us what he thinks that is, no matter how great a contribution his games have made to the industry.
Seriously, when will people stop putting these fuckers on pedestals?
I still only buy the games that I want to buy... nothing changed no matter how much I play. Of course I do try to stay away from the 100+ hour RPGs and MMOs.
I think the casual gamer buzz word is being used in the wrong context. It should be directed at people like me that still enjoy playing just dont have the shit load of time to invest like they use to, and not directed at someone who only picks up a controller when friends come over.
debate if you disagree
I wonder if they know half the people who buy or play GTA games are casual gamers.
Is rockstar paying you or what?
They get attention by pushing buttons and score points with their "can't have fun if I'm not shooting hookers" hardcore fanbase that hates the Wii and casual games, for some unknown reason. Win-win. :)
I do hope you're not talking to me.
Jack is gonna jump on that statement like i jump up and down on the skulls of prostitutes every day.
huh?
fuck that
Yeah fuck them! I want to be an elf too!
Forgetting the casual gaming comments, but I'm pissed he thinks his "real" world environment is sooooo much better than fantasy world. I play video games to be in worlds I could never go to in real life.
That statement makes him sound like a dick.
I lawled at the part about the violence. I don't like GTA, but I dig what it tries to do and the like.
I think the man has all the right to rip on everyone else but himself. He's earned that right. The aspiration factor I think he's talking about the innate loyalty, the quest for acceptance and the right to know why.
And if anybody says Scrapland, I will stab your face through the monitor.
FUCK CASUAL GAMES!!
You stupid or something? "Nobody buys GTA anymore." *snorts* You, sir, are a dumbshit.
Oh, and to everyone hating on Rockstar, READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE DUMBSHITS!! And you hate on Jack Thompson for talking shit about stuff he doesn't care enough to find out about. *shakes head in deep disgust* You make me fucking sick, you fucking hypocrites.
And as for you, why are you here if you're not a hardcore gamer? That goes for anyone that reads this. I play GTA IV and enjoy it very much, thank you. I didn't say you had to like it, but don't you ever come here and say hardcore gaming is shit. Ever. You, my friend, have an enemy.
Fucking jerk-offs.
I wonder if they know half the people who buy or play GTA games are casual gamers."
How much truth in all that! xD
[sarcasm]Stop talking crap and go make your next GROUNDBREAKING game, GTAV.[/sarcasm]
Shut the fuck up and do the job we pay you to do, assholes.
I don't think I have to define the way that I game in order to read and enjoy a gaming website. I like reading destructoid. I don't have to call myself HARDCORE or casual in order be a gamer. I play games. All kinds of games. I'll play halflife2, follow that with some harvest moon, then pop in ikaruga, play some metroid corruption, then go hit tempest and blackwidow in the cabinet. I've been playing games since the Atari. I'll keep playing games.
Also, I never said that "hardcore gaming" (whatever that is) is shit. I said that GTA IV is shit. It's my opinion. It shouldn't even matter to you.
The fact that I thought one game was boring doesn't define me as a person.
In fact, I do a lot more than play games, and none of what i do defines me as a person. I go to plays, but I'm not a HARDCORE PLAY WATCHER DRINK MOUNTAIN DEW. I like to go to the art museum, but I'm not HARDCORE ART AFICIANATO METAL MUSIC MOUNTAIN DEW. I enjoy sculpting bonsai, cooking and watching classic horror films. I have a dog and I enjoy lifting weights. I'm just a dude. Some games I like. Some I don't.
If you want to be an enemy of me because I don't like a game, I guess that is ok. But I'd rather be friends and set our differences aside. How about you like the games you like and i like the games i like, and we don't have to battle on the lip of a volcano over my opinion?