The Big Picture: If the Oscars Were the VGAs

Aug 1, 2010
2,768
0
0
Bob, we need to have a talk.

I love you. I love your reviews. I love Big Picture videos. I love you articles.

But in this video, you looked a bit silly. Almost everything you said here, from the jokes to the facts to the comparisons stunk of a person who is fed up with certain mainstream things, he will not give the time of day to something that is a) Popular in the mainstream or b) At least 10 years old.

You did raise some good points in this video, but you are still starting to look like a bit of an "indie snob" for lack of a better term.

Just think about it for a bit, Bob.
 

Knight Templar

Moved on
Dec 29, 2007
3,848
0
0
Capitano Segnaposto said:
I like the fact they had a few more people who actually know what they are doing (Chuck, Felicia Day) however the entire thing was a wee bit... childish?
They didn't have Felicia Day on long enough for people to do anything but go "look, attractive girl!" though, so I doubt thoughts were along the "these people understand games" line.
Not that she isn't attractive, it's just if you fill something with people who know nothing, make use of the people who know something.
 

marioandsonic

New member
Nov 28, 2009
657
0
0
If the Oscars were the VGAs...The Transformers trilogy would be considered the greatest film series of the new millennium, would win a record number of awards, Michael Bay would win a Lifetime Achievement award, and I would die a little inside.
 

Bluecho

New member
Dec 30, 2010
171
0
0
Kinda wish there was a more professional awards show for games that wasn't on Spike TV. The only channel I would see that happening on would be G4...circa five years ago when I had any respect for G4. Seriously, what happened to you G4? You used to be cool.

It's been a few years since I stopped watching it (and TV in general; though I have started watching the Hub lately), but when I left G4 had one, maybe two shows that were actually about video games. Everything else was syndicated trash like COPS and Cheaters, and old nerd movies that admittedly were good but not what I signed up for.

People who still watch G4, has it gotten better? Or has it gotten even worse?
 

brainslurper

New member
Aug 18, 2009
940
0
0
Oh I am so sorry that you liked it better when video games shunned by the rest of the world as childs toys, and had no media representation whatsoever. I get not liking all the advertisements running during the awards ceremony, but think of it this way. The Dark Knight and Inception didn't win best picture at the oscars, but Skyrim beat out Gears of War 3, BattleField 3 and Modern Warfare 3 to take game of the year at the VGAs. And how dare you deem anyone other then Gabe Newell as the Leonardo Da Vinci of video games. /endrant.
 

Steve the Pocket

New member
Mar 30, 2009
1,649
0
0
So, are you going to do a followup "If the VGAs Were the Oscars"? Please? Fair is fair, and I know you can't resist taking a potshot at the Oscars.
 

Grygor

New member
Oct 26, 2010
326
0
0
Trishbot said:
Sorry, but I'm a game designer myself, and my entire studio 100% views Shigeru Miyamoto as a "game god" and the Da Vinci of gaming.

You know what's a timeless masterpiece, something revered for its perfect use of form and function, a finely-tuned artistic endeavor created on a canvas without equal? It is seen by millions and is recognized instantly, admired by both children and sage adults; it has transcended time and weathered changing interests to endure as an eternal testament to creativity. It has been seen in museums and been the focus of documentaries. It has inspired legions of followers and produced artisans aspiring to its merits. It has been imitated, but never surpassed. Every year, a new generation of people experience it for the first time and respect it for its beauty, influence, and skill.

I'm not talking about the Mona Lisa. I'm talking about SUPER MARIO BROS.

I'm quite upset you would diminish the accomplishments of Shigeru Miyamoto. Now, granted, I am not saying he is the ONLY creator we should respect, but just like Michelangelo, Frank Lloyd Wright, Monet, and Alphonse Mucha, Da Vinci rose above his peers to a level of cultural influence beyond all others.

I have great respect for Shinji Mikami, Will Wright, Sid Meier, Gabe Newell, Cliff Blizinski, John Romero, Suda51, Hideo Kojima, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Richard Garriott, Ed Boon, Michel Ancel, Jordan Mechner, and so many others... but none of them, not a single one, can boast a resume as robust, diverse, or as universally beloved as Shigeru Miyamoto's.

From the influence of the platformers Mario and Donkey Kong to the puzzle-adventure Zelda to the mythological Kid Icarus to the garden strategy of Pikmin to the space shooter Star Fox to the lightning fast racer F-Zero to the RPGs of Super Mario RPG and Golden Sun to social games such as Mario Party and Animal Crossing to sports games ranging from Mario Tennis to boxing-classic Punch-Out!!

And those were just the games. His influence on system features, ranging from motion controls to rumble to wireless controls to dual screens to system connectivity to even the ability to save progress in a game (and eliminate passwords) changed the entire face of the industry for everyone.

There are plenty of other great creators out there who make phenomenal and original games that I love dearly... but only ONE man has so thoroughly and pervasively released so many timeless, beloved classics with such a wide range of diversity and with such a widespread, deeply felt influence on the entire landscape of game development.

And I'm proud to be in the industry he helped pave the way for.
When people like you praise Miyamoto to the high heavens and give him credit for games he had nothing to do with as if he is responsible for practically everything good Nintendo has done, you insult other developers, make yourself look like a slavering fanboy, and diminish Miyamoto's reputation far more than anything I have said.

For example, Miyamoto is not responsible for Kid Icarus - that came from Gunpei Yokoi's team.
He did not give us Golden Sun - that was the folks at Camelot Software Planning, who also made Mario Tennis and the Mario Golf games.
Animal Crossing was produced by Miyamoto's protege Takashi Tezuka, not Miyamoto himself.
He did not make Punch-Out!! - that was Genyo Takeda's baby. Takeda was also responsible for designing the battery back-up system that was added to the US and European versions of The Legend of Zelda (the Japanese original was a Famicom Disk System game - it saved directly onto the game disk).

If you consider Miyamoto a "game god" you are buying into a mythology, not a person, and you are putting the man on a pedestal far higher than the one he deserves. Taking (extremely mild) criticism of Miyamoto personally merely shows how disproportionate you admiration and love for the man is.
 

Darth Rahu

Critic of the Sith
Nov 20, 2009
615
0
0
If the Oscars were the VGAs, Green Lantern would win best Superhero movie because the bright colors of Thor and the straight-faced unironic approach of Captain America would be considered "Gay."

If the Oscars were the VGAs, The remake of The Thing would be considered the best horror movie of the year because of all of the icky icky blood and gore... and nothing else.

If the Oscars were the VGAs, The Twilight movies would be inducted into the hall of fame on the sole merit that they were popular and made money.

If the Oscars were the VGAs, the original cast from Mystery Science Theater 3000 would be brought on stage for an award in cinematic comedy, then immediately get rushed off stage so the creators of the last two titles in the Scary Movie franchise to reveal the trailer for their next film, "The Real Expendable Killer Steel Elite" which is a hilarious spoof full of pop culture references full of non-actors that makes fun of Real Steel, Killer Elite, and The Expendables. The Trailer by the way is just a picture some guy with his butt exposed shooting a grenade launcher at a robot through various filters with camera shake while a loud fart sound effect echoes through it.

If the Oscars were the VGAs, the Mortal Kombat movie reboot will be considered the first great video game movie because it was gutted entirely of any and all trappings of its source material except for the basic basic setting of a fighting tournament, and as such the Director will be given an Oscar.

If the Oscars were the VGAs, all of the horror movie remakes done by Platinum Dunes will be considered naturally superior to the originals simply because they are now modernized and therefore ready to be resold, and will be given honorable mentions.

If the Oscars were the VGAs, the indie movie, Troll Hunter will given a ten second spot as best indie movie, then get shoved off stage for a montage of clips of Michael Bay's next Transformers Movie, now with offensive Mexican robot cars that turn into pick-up trucks.

Alright, that's all I got. Also, for the Record, Miyamoto may be a bit exaggerated by fans, but his contribution to gaming as we know it really is pretty effing big. Of course the naysayers do have a point, what with Japanese game development being one of tightly comprised committee, but to say the guy just had his name added to the title after all the "real" work was done is just stupid. Miyamoto deserved more ceremony than what he got, and he should be as respected as Gabe Newell, Warren Spector, and Tim Schafer in the very absolute least. Great episode, Bob, keep them up.
 

Endocrom

New member
Apr 6, 2009
1,242
0
0
Am I the only one that noticed that Bob used an image of Jay Sherman from the episode he crossed over onto The Simpsons instead of his standard "The Critic" image?

That's, um... a thing.

Anyway, I know they are just reusing part of a plot from the cartoon but I am still excited for MIB 3

"Crazy right, two grown men talking to the wall, wall talking back, it's a mess. Hey, don't even worry about it." [FLASH]
 

Trishbot

New member
May 10, 2011
1,318
0
0
Grygor said:
When people like you praise Miyamoto to the high heavens and give him credit for games he had nothing to do with as if he is responsible for practically everything good Nintendo has done, you insult other developers, make yourself look like a slavering fanboy, and diminish Miyamoto's reputation far more than anything I have said.

For example, Miyamoto is not responsible for Kid Icarus - that came from Gunpei Yokoi's team.
He did not give us Golden Sun - that was the folks at Camelot Software Planning, who also made Mario Tennis and the Mario Golf games.
Animal Crossing was produced by Miyamoto's protege Takashi Tezuka, not Miyamoto himself.
He did not make Punch-Out!! - that was Genyo Takeda's baby. Takeda was also responsible for designing the battery back-up system that was added to the US and European versions of The Legend of Zelda (the Japanese original was a Famicom Disk System game - it saved directly onto the game disk).

If you consider Miyamoto a "game god" you are buying into a mythology, not a person, and you are putting the man on a pedestal far higher than the one he deserves. Taking (extremely mild) criticism of Miyamoto personally merely shows how disproportionate you admiration and love for the man is.
What the hell is your problem? First off, I'm a fanGIRL (get the gender right, buddy!)

And secondly, I wrote VERY CLEARLY that there are plenty of other people, even at Nintendo, who have made some phenomenal games! Gunpei Yokoi, for example, creator of the Gameboy, creator of Metroid, and many others.

Speaking of which, Miyamoto worked on Kid Icarus ALONGSIDE Gunpei Yokoi, so you're mistaken there. I admit I was wrong on a few (I got Golden Sun and Animal Crossing totally wrong... though the creator of Animal Crossing went on record saying the NES Zelda game was his inspiration for the game), but I'm totally right on all the others. He's worked on Punch-Out!!, he's worked on Mario Golf, and he oversaw and approved the addition of battery back-up in the NES Zelda games.

Why do you insist Miyamoto hasn't been involved, to some degree, in some of the most influential games ever made?

In fact, here... Let's set the damn record straight. I looked up the list of games Shigeru Miyamoto has had a hand in, and I walked away MORE impressed than ever.

Here is the List of Miyamoto's games that he has on his resume where he has served either in the roles of Director, Producer, or Designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_games_created_by_Shigeru_Miyamoto

Are THOSE enough "facts" for you to state that he's one of the greatest game designers of all time, someone the rest of us in the industry aspire to be even half as influential or successful as? If not, by all means, don't let some logic get in the way of your opinion.

Or would you rather try and be "hip" and "cool" and throw out another auteur game creator with a few cult games like Suda51 or American McGee?

I mean, even Hideo Kojima and Will Wright "consider Miyamoto to be the greatest video game designer of all time."

Face the facts; nobody has a resume that good in gaming. Not Takashi Tezuka, not Gunpei Yokoi, not Genyo Takeda, not Kevin Levine, not John Romero, not Sid Meier, not Richard Garriott, Not Peter Molyneux, not Yoshio Sakamoto, not Hironobu Sakaguchi, not anybody else on God's good earth.

He's a creator of the highest caliber, who has put the passion of gaming before the bottom dollar. Despite his tenure and success, he refuses to accept a higher salary than the majority of his development team and he is noted for his humility in an industry dominated by greed and egos. Even if his games sucked (they don't) or his influence wasn't deep-felt (and it is), his attitude alone towards gaming, gamers, and the potential of this medium is inspirational and, in many ways, backwards from the Activisions and EAs of this world.

Read more of his profile on GiantBomb if you want more validity.
http://www.giantbomb.com/shigeru-miyamoto/72-614/

Either way, I apologize for two mistakes, but the overwhelming influence he's had on the industry, by the examples I've shown, the statements on his behalf, and the admitted inspiration developers state on their modern games, is simply irrefutable.
 

Unesh52

New member
May 27, 2010
1,375
0
0
I might have gotten a lot more out of this had I watched either of these award shows. Or ever watched award shows. Or followed cinema. Or trends in popular gaming as opposed to classic and old school gaming.

[small]And yes I was amused by the inclusion of Pinkie Pie for effect. And that's all I have to say about that.[/small]
 

NerfedFalcon

Level i Flare!
Mar 23, 2011
7,065
779
118
Gender
Male
Mailman said:
Why is Pinkie Pie creeping into everything I like? She's like the freaking Slender Man. At the rate, the next time I play Skyrim she's going to thow me a surprise party in Breezehome.
And if I had Skyrim and knew how to mod, I would probably send you an anonymous e-mail that does just that now that you've said it. Ah, well, such is life...

OT: ...I dunno about this one. I'm not going to disown you over one bad episode, but really, this one just left me feeling totally neutral. The topic wasn't the best one to begin with, and your jokes, honestly, weren't really that funny. ...Still, it's the end of the year; holiday special next week?
 

Ruwrak

New member
Sep 15, 2009
845
0
0
I watched the VGA's after watching The Big Picture. And.... well I can't say I am impressed.
Normally I don't watch it either but really.. I just don't believe some guests when they say they are 'into games'.

And really? Does Charly Sheen have to be everywhere? How unrelated it might be?
Really?

Thankfully only gamers watch this event so we're not beeing made a fool, except in front of our own. THe world will think no less. Not that it matters what the world thinks anyway.
 

Yossarian1507

New member
Jan 20, 2010
681
0
0
"I'm Bob, and that's the Big Picture."

Nope, not really. It was an angry, one sided rant, filled with lame jokes, not a big picture. And you're not even right about a few things (most notably about War Shooters winning the 'best picture' awards, and about Green Lantern having a shot. You know damn well dude, that those kind of games suck, even for an average video game user).

Big thumbs down for you for this episode, Bob. I know you can do better than this (like with Transformers 2. That was a hilarious rant).
 

Cain_Zeros

New member
Nov 13, 2009
1,494
0
0
DVS BSTrD said:
If the Oscars were the VGAs...
Avatar would have won best picture
If the Oscars were the VGAs, The Last Airbender would've gotten a nomination.

Or do the VGAs at least pretend to have standards?
 

JoeThree

New member
May 8, 2010
191
0
0
Waaah! Gaming is diverse and I only like diversity when it involves black people and women, not people with differences than me beyond the surface! Waaaah!

PS: Felicia Day will never touch your penis, no matter how white a knight you are.
 

Grygor

New member
Oct 26, 2010
326
0
0
Trishbot said:
Speaking of which, Miyamoto worked on Kid Icarus ALONGSIDE Gunpei Yokoi, so you're mistaken there.
To quote Wikipedia, citation needed. The only evidence for that claim comes from Wikipedia and Nintedo wiki entries with his name in the title, all of which trace back to a listing of the game's credits on Gamefaqs of all places. The wiki entries for Kid Icarus mention nothing about his involvement, a quick google search turns up nothing that isn't about Kid Icarus: Uprising, the credits listed at Mobygames don't list him, and most damningly of all, he's not even listed in the in-game credits.

He's worked on Punch-Out!!
Wii game only.

he's worked on Mario Golf
Credited for "Original Characters by" and "supervisor" - not a major role, but I'll give you that one.

and he oversaw and approved the addition of battery back-up in the NES Zelda games.
Prove it. Again, the Japanese version was an FDS game - save data was written directly to the game disk. The battery back-up was only added to the North American and European releases - as the FDS had not been (and would not be) released in those territories - which came out a year-and-a-half after the Japanese release.

Here is the List of Miyamoto's games that he has on his resume where he has served either in the roles of Director, Producer, or Designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_games_created_by_Shigeru_Miyamoto
You're citing a wikipedia page that lists credits that are unsourced or dubiously sourced - you're going to need to do better than that. Seriously; that page credits him as a producer on Killer Instinct - unsourced, naturally - even though that game was made by Rare and his name is nowhere to be found in the game's credits.

Are THOSE enough "facts" for you to state that he's one of the greatest game designers of all time, someone the rest of us in the industry aspire to be even half as influential or successful as? If not, by all means, don't let some logic get in the way of your opinion.
I find it strangely telling that you felt the need to put "facts" in scare quotes.

Or would you rather try and be "hip" and "cool" and throw out another auteur game creator with a few cult games like Suda51 or American McGee?
That doesn't even deserve a response, beyond pointing out the implied insult directed at me, Suda51, American McGee, segments of the "games as art" crowd, small cult games, and people who like small cult games.

I mean, even Hideo Kojima and Will Wright "consider Miyamoto to be the greatest video game designer of all time."
Appealing to authority? On a purely subjective matter? You have got to be kidding me. Also interesting that you bring up Kojima, who was inspired to make games in the first place by Yuji Horii's Portopia Serial Murder Case (as well as SMB), and who's games are clearly more influenced by Portopia than by anything Miyamoto has made.

And why do I get the impression you're only citing them because they agree with you? Do you truly hold Wright and Kojima in high enough regard that you'd consider their opinion on this even if it didn't agree with yours?

Face the facts; nobody has a resume that good in gaming.
There's more to being an important game designer than the length and quality of your resume. Sometimes a single game can be more significant than an entire life's work, and sometimes a developer's writings can inspire far more budding developers and move the medium forward more than any game they make.

not Gunpei Yokoi,
A man responsible for a game who's genre now bears it's name, and who is practically the father of handheld gaming?

not Richard Garriott,
Creator of arguably the single most influential CRPG franchise in history?

He's a creator of the highest caliber, who has put the passion of gaming before the bottom dollar. Despite his tenure and success, he refuses to accept a higher salary than the majority of his development team and he is noted for his humility in an industry dominated by greed and egos.
I never said he wasn't important or great - I said he's not a god; when he dies, he is not going to ascend into the heavens to become the patron deity of gaming. He may be part of the Pantheon, but he is not the One True God. As for humility, that's debatable.

I'm deeply sorry if you can't accept that some people might not agree that Shigeru Miyamoto is the greatest game designer to have ever lived and is head-and-shoulders above all of his peers, but frankly, that's your problem, not mine.