The Escapist Presents: Live Chat with Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw

StarStruckStrumpets

New member
Jan 17, 2009
5,491
0
0
Oh how I larfed.
Especially when he mentioned paying for an MMO.
I feel the same as him in that respect.

The whole interview was pretty good, though as others have said, it did seem quite dry in terms of it's social nature, but Yahtzee clearly isn't a people person. As NewClassic said, the questions came from IRC, and to back up his point, I would like you to cast your mind back to one of the questions in the interview:

"Worst Game Ever?"

Can you not see why now things may have been a little unsettling when the majority of the questions had to be rephrased to make a decent topic?

Anyway Escapist, thank you for supplying this. I enjoyed all of it.
 

Tharticus

New member
Dec 10, 2008
485
0
0
This interview with Mr. Croshaw is decent. However I feel that Mr. Croshaw is nervous.

It was nice having him arrive in Philly.
 

Sparrow

New member
Feb 22, 2009
6,848
0
0
And the secret of the well done quick time event is lost. Forever.

Something we're just not meant to know.
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
Spyre2000 said:
LOL! EPIC FAIL. She tries to make up a game name to be generic in her question but their actual is a game called "Z".

So I wonder if he'll review Z now :).
Actually, when referring to something generic, I usually use "X", as in the mathematical variable, but given that we were at "GameX", that seemed inappropriate, so I went with Z instead.
 

Murlin

I came here to laugh at you
Jul 15, 2009
535
0
0
Sparrow said:
And the secret of the well done quick time event is lost. Forever.

Something we're just not meant to know.
The perfect quicktime event shall be the greatest creation in video game history, for it will unite people who love as well as people who hate quicktime vents under one banner and bring peace to the world of games (And maybe it'll cure cancer to :D)
 

Uncompetative

New member
Jul 2, 2008
1,746
0
0
About 25 minutes in he's asked whether he would rather play a game that had a:

- strong story/characterisation and meh gameplay
- deep gameplay and meh story/characterisation

He kind of wriggled out of giving an answer.

- yes, he liked some games that had really strong stories, but meh gameplay (cites examples)
- yes, he liked some games that had really deep gameplay and meh story/characterisation (cites more examples)

then he sits on the fence and says that there are some games that have both, e.g. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.



I suppose it is nice he isn't unduly biased - neither a diehard narratologist, or a ludologist, but an aspirational "holist" ideally seeking both.

However, I was hoping he'd say that deep gameplay was of paramount importance, to give value for money through repeat replayability and make the observation that stories force linearity onto the space of possibilities generated by a dynamical interactive game world and players soon notice that their choices are artificially limited and their movements are spatially directed along a kind of "corridor" of sequenced contexts that trigger events in a narrative order, rather than an open world in which stuff happens partly as a result of their actions, but also irrespective of their involvement (i.e. other NPCs are pursuing their own goals behind the scenes, affecting the game world even if you are not around to witness their interactions with each other).

Frankly, I'd be happy to give up on Story, Character, Celebrity Voice actors, Orchestral Music, Photorealistic HD Graphics, and the enormous number of Artists, Animators and Level Designers these AAA projects require (e.g. Assassin's Creed had 300 staff, mainly doing "the look"), if it meant that the developers spent more time balancing and polishing "the feel": Gameplay, Controls, AI, Physics.

Yet, I doubt this will happen given that magazines sell on the basis of preview screenshots and web-sites like IGN do well from what often turn out to be pre-rendered non-interactive trailers that are "representative of in-game graphics". These publishers will even use footage that is fake when their game is finished and they are promoting it in TV adverts. It is a pity gaming isn't just discussed on the radio.

Anyway. I didn't mean to sound so negative, I liked the interview.
 

Uncompetative

New member
Jul 2, 2008
1,746
0
0
Susan Arendt said:
Spyre2000 said:
LOL! EPIC FAIL. She tries to make up a game name to be generic in her question but their actual is a game called "Z".

So I wonder if he'll review Z now :).
Actually, when referring to something generic, I usually use "X", as in the mathematical variable, but given that we were at "GameX", that seemed inappropriate, so I went with Z instead.
Funny thing, there's a game called Z:

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(video_game)

There's probably one for every letter of the alphabet though, much like programming languages... I'm just too lazy to look.

Personally, I think you did a good job of the interview and the sound quality was perfect compared to The Guild interview.

I don't mind not knowing Yahtzee's secret solution to implementing QTEs well.

;-)
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
Ok, having watched a bit of this now, I'm stunned by how quiet the ambient noise in the video was compared to the actual show floor. We basically had to shout at each other to be heard at all - glad to see it wasn't quite so overpowering in the video.
 

GrinningManiac

New member
Jun 11, 2009
4,090
0
0
I like how She's trying to be funny next to Yahtzee! The Charlie Brooker of the Gaming world!

Intresting
 

macatombe

New member
Mar 8, 2009
80
0
0
Uncompetative said:
Susan Arendt said:
Spyre2000 said:
LOL! EPIC FAIL. She tries to make up a game name to be generic in her question but their actual is a game called "Z".

So I wonder if he'll review Z now :).
Actually, when referring to something generic, I usually use "X", as in the mathematical variable, but given that we were at "GameX", that seemed inappropriate, so I went with Z instead.
Funny thing, there's a game called Z:

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(video_game)

There's probably one for every letter of the alphabet though, much like programming languages... I'm just too lazy to look.

;-)
Oh god I think I've played that game before
 

Neosage

Elite Member
Nov 8, 2008
1,747
0
41
God, if his bar becomes a reality as soon as I turn 18 I'll be down there.
 

mr Awsome

New member
Jul 27, 2009
50
0
0
WOOT everybody likes Luigi better than mario. Im just happy they asked him about that haha
 

A Weary Exile

New member
Aug 24, 2009
3,784
0
0
Am I really the only one who liked Bioshock's endings?

OP: That bar would be cool but considering that I never intend to ingest a single ounce of alcohol in my life I'd just go for the games, I'm not ashamed of my nerdiness! :p
 

Naheal

New member
Sep 6, 2009
3,375
0
0
I'm surprised that he didn't recommend Silent Hill 2 as a major scary game to look at.
 

SantoUno

New member
Aug 13, 2009
2,583
0
0
Pretty awesome interview, and wow 8 million autographs, wonder how Yahtzee felt, I mean If I loved around there I would have rushed there too.