The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences runs a weekly feature where they ask popular game developers 10 questions about the industry. This week the Academy’s featured developer was famed PaRappa the Rapper and UmJammer Lammy creator Masaya Matsuura.
The interview is a quick read, but contains a few interesting quotes from Matsuura. When asked what game development problem he wished he could instantly solve? Matsuura responded with, “Reducing the volume of games that involve hurting people with knives and guns.” The musician also briefly talked about how he’s started working on a game for cell phones, and his concern over the increased landfill that will result when people start throwing away their Guitar Hero controllers. Music game aficionados and fans of the old PaRappa games can read the whole interview here.
I have to agree with the bit about Guitar Hero controllers. I feel like I already have half a dozen at home and Activision/Harmonix keeps suckering me into buying a new one every year. How many guitars do you have? Maybe we should start a guitar recycling program.
I agree with him. Although I wouldn't want to see a surplus of music games, we get those enough. I would rather see lesser made genres like RPG's, horror games, and others.
Most developers choose to go the FPS, TPS (Third Person Shooter) route because it is the most common, and in some cases, easier. Let's hope that the lesser made genres get some love in the future.
I agree with xplay
or at least more games with an instresting art style. (think patapon and the like)
Let's not forget that there's also the most money in games that people buy often and that provide extra stuff people are willing to pay for, i.e. Call of Duty and FPSs in general, which are a lot easier to plan than successful MMOs.
I agree, not on the basis of excessive violence (though such is the case), but more for the fact that games are becoming an indistinguishable mass. Too many games use guns as a lean when developers find it too hard to come up with their own ideas.
Does the Gravity Gun count as a "Gun"? Does the Portal Gun count as a "Gun"? If you think about it, both of those "guns" are used to hurt things (Robots and Zombies count as "things")
In my mind, hand to hand combat is much more interesting than gunplay. But, you know: punch, kick, it's all in the mind.
Based on our culture-of violence I mean-guns are never going away. As long as man has been able to kill and twitter we've wanted violence to appeal to that side of our vicious nature. That being said, I don't think those types of games should go away. Its not psychopathic till you take it to the next level and do it in real life. If people aren't mature (or if they live in Australia, apparently) then mature games shouldn't reach their tiny hands.
I don't want guns and knives to vanish from games. I just want them to be utilized for strategic gameplay that goes beyond "get really powerful and kill everything you see". Hence my love for the Assassin's Creed series (15 days!).
"As long as man has been able to kill and twitter we've wanted violence to appeal to that side of our vicious nature."
Are you blaming Twitter for violence? Or am I missing something here?
Yeah, I agree with him for the most part.
I would really like to see some single player RPG games. I know MMO's are so popular right now, they can get really repetitive and annoying. The best people on MMO's are necessarily the best but normally just the ones that put the most hours into the game.
And I wish fewer games were like PaRappa.
I like shoot em ups. They make for a fun game and a good stress reliever. If you are influenced badly by it, guess what. Dont play. They dont need to make less, although i am glad that they are pushing more music and family games.
We have three guitar controllers that just don't get much use anymore. If the small amount of metal and ICs are removed, couldn't they be thrown into a home recycle bin along with the rest of the plastics? I took my old game consoles to a cell phone/PC recycler; maybe that's the answer. The issue deserves some research.
Regarding the reduction in volume of games that "involve hurting people with knives and guns," I have played my fair share of PC adventure/puzzle/sims games, and they just don't hold my interest. There is just something so satisfying in killing off hordes of *insert your favorite game's enemy here* after a stressful day at work, where you aren't allowed to kill things that irritate you.
Landfills with nothing but guitar controllers. It's funny because it could be true
but i wish less wii games where shovelware and lucas arts to start making good star wars games beyond force unleashed this generation, but thaats never going to happen. THERE WAS AROUUND 9 AMAZING STAR WARS GAMES LAST GEN! and now we have one 15 hour gow style game with small expansion packs.
have you seen the wii?
yeah.
exactly.
I don't have any fake guitars. Instead I have a very real Fender Stratocaster and a Line 6 amp-eternally set to the Insane channel for optimal performance and max distortion.
I miss PaRappa!