I think you guys are reading a little to deep into this...
Video games as a story, or making/telling a story through a video game doesn't often work very well, but that doesn't mean you can't tell a story well within a video game, and that appears to be what he is trying to do here.

Who here wants to play the it's a wonderful life game? Or watch the tetris movie?

I fail to see how gamers can so vehemently disagree with a game designers outlook of wanting to make a good video game a good game first and foremost.

I don't know. I think the Mass Effect series has been telling a great story over the course of its two games, while still making it all about player choice. At the end of the day, games like that are still focused on telling a story, and your choices are limited to whichever destinations the developers decide to let you take the story. Basically a choose your own adventure novel, except, you know, video games. I think it's a perfect mix of storytelling and player interaction, a perfect structure. If more games leaned in that direction I'd be inclined to outright disagree with Sakurai... but they don't. That doesn't mean I agree with him either. In fact, if there's one thing I hate it's debating the strengths of one form of art over another. Who's to say, really? It's arrogant. Hell, sometimes even a simple painting can tell a better story than hundreds of movies I know.

There are too many variables. For example, a well-written game story will seamlessly integrate narrative and gameplay. I'll spend so much time playing as the characters that I'll care about what happens to them during a non-interactive story bit. The bonus here, and unlike books or movies, the story didn't need to spend a million hours forcing me to like or hate a character; that happens through the gameplay.

That's just ONE strength of video games when it comes to weaving a stories in them. There are so many more.

@The Silent Protagonist

To be fair, Other M is more of a example why you shouldn't have a character designer *write* a story. Other M probably would have worked if they also brought the director of Monster on board.

Seriiously, how the hell do the concept art of the characters have more life and depth then all the hard work Team Ninja had to put through?

Think of it this way: if you come up with an awesome story, do you rush to your computer and make a game? Or if you come up with a great game design idea, is your first thought " I'm going to make this the best movie ever."?

This doesn't mean your game idea doesn't/can't have a great story. It doesn't mean your movie story can't be a great game, if its story would work in such a format. However, the two shouldn't be seen as interchangeable when it comes to content delivery, as they are fundamentally different types of entertainment mediums.

@cast - it never would have worked. Writing definition into Samus is stealing over two decades of agency from the fans no matter how professional the writing is.

@The Cast

Well, that's pretty much how jrpgs started. To tell a large story that rivaled those found in books and movies, developers had to find a way to get around the limitations of the hardware. Limit the gameplay to tell a story became the cornerstone idea for the jrpg, and look at it now. It caught on. And if a developer is going to be making a jrpg, they better make sure the story is good, or if they can't have a good story they'd better trick the player into having a good time by having them micromanage as much shit as possible during battle, a la Final Fantasy 13. Oh, I kid.

I also fail to see how it is lazy to make a game with great gameplay (for the sake of argument here; I can't judge KI as it hasn't been released yet...) just because the story wasn't good. (Which, again, no one here can actually judge...)

So there is "a ton of talking" but it's not being used in cutscenes or for storytelling purposes? Are Pitt & Co going to faffing about between missions? Gossiping under the salon hair dryers perhaps?

@SeymourDuncan
I agree completely. Most of the games with shitty stories come from Japan (IMO, and not to say those games can't be enjoyed). That said, there are tons of games that kick film's ass in the narrative/storytelling department just as you listed in your post. I think these "kill-the-story" game directors simply don't know what's out there. :(

@goggle
They talk during the missions, like in Star Fox.
@vol
I personally see it the other way around...

You know what else isn't good at storytelling, my penis.

heresy

heresy!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't that true though? At least these days, publishers are more concerned with "killing" Call of Duty than letting the devs do their own thing, including having a decent story.

Used to be we could go to someone like Bioware and get a decent story. Look what EA did with that.

Eh. I got mad love for all types of games; even the ones that try to tell me stories.

Fun is fun, and I enjoy having it in many different ways.

And even better than movies.... BOOKS!

I play a wide varity of games both for story and for challenge (enslaved with its spot on voice acting and facial expressions is my fave film like game)

That said many games dont need story and are worse for it if theres no way to turn it off. eg Touhou shmups with their cutscenes.

Yeah, I don't think there's been a top-down, side-scrolling or on-rails shooter where I really thought, "Man, I need to sit and watch this cutscene."

I don't mind cutscenes, but there are games where its just better to either leave things to the imagination or if you can't to that, drop some optional lore in the game and get the hell out of the player's way.

Worked for Metroid Prime, it helps round out Elder Scrolls, it adds intrigue and mood to the otherwise dippy stories of Resident Evil.

I don't mind cinematic games, Metal Gear is one of the most cinematic games out there. Anyone that thinks Mass Effect is good, though, really needs to go back and play KOTOR and DA;O - those games where better when the hero was less talky. Your party members had more personality and charm.

Mass Effect would be better if Shepard shut his/her trap.

Well it depends. If your game doesn't have a good story, then I commend you for admitting it and implementing any story related aspects in as loose a way possible, but games can tell stories that are just as compelling, witty and poignant as certain films. Just because we don't have a no country for old men gaming equivalent yet, doesn't mean that developers shouldn't keep striving for that standard.

I disagree.

Videogames have the capacity and capabilities of telling stories much better than any film possibly could. The only problem is how many developers are forgetting that. Especially with the capabilities of today's technology, that instead being put to use like this, is being primed more for multiplayer.

There never has been a better time to put videogame technology to use in bringing us a stellar story. The advantage of videogames is simple. It engrosses us. Depending how you views videogames, you can become emotionally invested in them in a way a film never can.

After all, you are responsible for the actions of the protagonist, should the game offer a story that branches out or changes with your actions in-game, a la Dragon Age.

Even if the story is mediocre, if you've got the gameplay nailed, it'd be far more enjoyable than watching a film. After all, story is usually the only thing that holds a film up.

It took me 60 hours to finish my character in New Vegas. 60 hours of character development and 60 hours of awesomeness. Hell, in F3 my character I am working on is level 4, has barely done anything or even scratched the surface of the world and I'm two hours in. Movies are done at that point. Movies have to axe a lot of content to be able to push it into a small timeframe. Not games.

Hmm, he should play games like Baten Kaitos or Mass Effect. So much more story than any movie starring Bruce Willis or Sylvester Stallone...

Sigh, not this shit again... Movies ARE better at telling stories than games, but the advantage gaming has is that you can experience and mould stories in ways that films can never emulate. When will we just grow the fuck up and accept that games and films aren't the same things and that both have their seperate ways of doing things...

Two Words: Skippable Cutscenes.

That is all.

I'd have to disagree. IMO, the worst way a game can tell its story is in cutscenes (which basically ARE movies) and text (which is basically like a book). So videogames do have the potential of being as good at telling their stories as movies - and can even better thanks to them being interactive (this helps greatly with immersion).
That said, there are a lot of games with shitty stories - I'm looking at you, retro games - but they COULD definitely be better than movies.

I cried for a week when Aerith (not aeris you bakas who can't into katakana) dies. Games are the future of narrative.

If you think games belong up there with movies as far as pure storytelling goes, you need to go sit down and seriously think about what you're saying.

If he's talking about the old Metal Gear Solid style of storytelling where half the cutscene unnecessary or uninteresting, then yes, it's old and outdated. I've been told some pretty damn good stories in videogames through inference or direct control over a cutscene, and when a game lets the player discover or create in some way, you can take ownership and the story becomes incredibly engrossing and important. If you think videogames can't have better stories than Hollywood, then you're stuck in a very old way of thinking.

Most movies suck ass. Most games i play do not. The stories and characters in movies are really no better.

"Mass Effect would be better if Shepard shut his/her trap."

I don't this this is true, however movies are better than games at telling stories in a particular fashion. Unfortunately the vast majority of games don't bother leveraging the advantages of the medium and simply intersperse their mediocre or worse movie as cutscenes.

I can think of way more movies, both modern and classic, that have far more coherent and unique stories than video games. While there certainly are exceptions (with more and more every year), I've always been more engaged plot-wise in film. While I do agree that videogames have more potential to tell stories than some other mediums, that amount of games that reach that potential is sorely lacking, in my opinion.

I will admit that it is easier to make a tight narrative in 1.5 - 2.5 hours than say 8-15.

Fuck Sakurai. Same dude who "doesn't play the kind of games that he makes."

A videogame can have a terrific story, and so can a comic book. A great deal of both have a story much better written and told than most movies.

But I don't think the best stories in video game history come from games that desperately try to imitate movies like Metal Gear, Uncharted or Heavy Rain. That's why we are always comparing them to movies and that's why people are getting so worked up on this thread. If a game tries to be like a movie putting that much effort on cutscenes and stuff, its limitations are going to show up fast I think.

But on the other hand, silent games with lots of text end up doing a much better job. There you have Hotel Dusk, Mother 3 and Ghost Trick to name a few. Those do have better stories than most movies. Not those ones who try to be interactive cinema.

But then again, if someone doesn't wan't to give everything a rich and deep story that doesn't mean it's automatically crap. A Deadpool/Lobo comic or a purely action based game are as good for me as anything with a deep story or plot. I enjoy both.

Mass Effect's just a bunch of chatterbollocks, isn't it?

I like games that tell stories, especially when they do it in such a unique game-y way as in say a Goichi Suda or a Shu Takumi game.

But that's not gaming's real strength. Like Holmes says, games can get you attached to a character and involve you in a world, and that's not really the same as storytelling (ie Fallout 3 or Zelda where storytelling is tertiary to that and gameplay). I also don't think you should underestimate the artistic merit of that either.

For pure storytelling, I tend to agree. Movies are better.

Nothing really against him, but Sakurai's proven, very much so last year, how out of touch he is, and how out of touch Nintendo is with him, any way.

Now he's showing how out of touch with games and how they can tell stories, which makes me wonder if he's out of touch, or is just limited in his imagination... I mean, I hate to point out that, while imaginative at its base, all he's really designed is mostly repetitive (no matter how amazingly great they play) Kirby games and Smash Bros games. He's not really a wellspring on the storytelling front -even if one of his creations has managed to spawn a whole cartoon series.

Seriously though, you don't need million hour cutscenes, or cutscenes at all, to tell a story with your game. You don't even need voices. But you can get a story that rivals a movie experience from a game. It may not be easy to do, but its not impossible.

You don't make a game to tell a story: you make a game to give people a game to play. If a part of that GAME is a good story, then that's one thing. But to use a video game for the sole purpose of telling a story is far to limiting: eithet you end up with a poorly told story within a poorly made game due to a lack of coherent focus or a crappy game with a good story due to too much focus on the story part.
And if the game half is going to suck anyway, then your resources would have been better spent making it a MOVIE.

Main reason why I didn't like Uncharted of FFXIII too much cut scenes lets freedom and gameplay. The story felt lame.

Story is almost universally a crutch for shit gameplay. Sakurai made Kirby and Melee. Don't question his philosophy.