Ben-DutkaIt's hard to argue his point.
There's a new Wolfenstein on the way; it's called The New Order and it has been confirmed as a cross-generation title scheduled to launch later this year; Q4 2013, to be exact.
It was also recently announced that the new effort won't boast a multiplayer component , and developer MachineGames says they take their responsibility very seriously. After all, Wolfenstein is a big part of video game lore.
But not everyone thinks we need to see another installment in the classic franchise. Epic Mickey designer Warren Spector has placed a controversial post on his Facebook page , which calls out the new game for being generic…among other things:
"Did the world really need another Wolfenstein game? Did we need a generically dark, monochromatic, FPS, kill-the-Nazi-giant-robot game? Uh. No. The world did not. I am so tired of stuff like this. Oh, and could we all just agree we'll never use the generic gravelly-whisper trailer voice guy ever again? And one more thing: Please stop using Jimi Hendrix to promote your adolescent male power fantasies."
Well, is he wrong? Not really. Developers should have the right to produce any game they wish – it's called artistic freedom – but at the same time, we have been seeing too much of this lately. Spector has attacked the "ultraviolence" of video games in the past, and we've responded . Our question is, what qualifies as "ultraviolence" and furthermore, why do we get the sense that you want to keep gaming in the past, where everything made was for children…?
The latter probably isn't the case; he likely just doesn't want all that unnecessary violence. Still, you have to make something a lot better than Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two to gain everyone's respect these days.
Related Game(s): Wolfenstein: The New Order
The world didn't need a second (Not so) Epic Mickey either. The free market will decide.
lol yah, I was pretty much thinking the same thing. Come on Spector, leave Epic Mickey and do something more along the lines of Deus Ex in ambition.
While I still like me some violent video games I can agree that the world did and does not need another Wolfenstein game. The first remake was horrible. Game devs using resources wisely I guess. :/
That's precisely WHY the world needs it.
I guess you must have like the abysmal remake that came out a few years back. To each their own.
You've forgotten how to read my friend. The implication of my comment is that we need a better game than that one.
that just proved it, aliens HAVE been abducting people during their sleep and removing their brain!
sigh, im scared.
I think he is wrong. The trailer isn't enough to judge the game by, it may come out generic and monochromatic but it's too early to know that it will.
The world does need a competent Wolfenstein update and what matters is the execution. If the game can bring something new to the violent FPS genre in the creative vein of say Bioshock then what will he say?
And Jimi Hendrix is perfect for an alternate universe of the 60's where the Nazis have won the war and gone onto world domination.
Furthermore, the lack of giant robot games lately has been sad. Looking forward to the Pacific Rim movie.
I do agree that SPector is being a little hasty in summing up the worth of Wolfenstein. But from what has been shown it's hard for me to get too excited for it.
Besides Wolfenstien was a nice birth for FPS… but that's about the most that could be said for it. No one is asking for a new Asteroids or Pong time and again because of how historically significant they are to gaming. Perhaps Wolfenstien is better left dead because every FPS game today does represent a fragment of what WOlfenstien started.
EDIT: …unless killing Nazi baddies is necessary to get your fix then of course it's needed =p
Last edited by Temjin001 on 5/8/2013 12:26:30 PM
btw, ditto on the Giant Robots games. Heck, I'd LOVE a proper sequel to War of the Monsters. Really, it could be great, even for multiplayer. Imagine being in a big open city competing with like a dozen other giant monsters to destroy crap. It'd be a awesome. (I'm serious I want this game)
My take is that you can never exhaust the creative power to make something relevant and exiting again provided you have the right minds behind it. At its core Bioshock Infinite is a damsel in a tower story, but look what it DID with it!
I do agree with that.
I think Spector's remarks has more to do with the category of content the game is offering. The whole guns and killing thing has been part of his anti-design policy over the past few years and I suspect Wolfenstein's trailer just so happened to strike his nerves where they're at their rawest.
Seeing that Wolfenstein is single player driven there may be hope for it afterall.
Coming from the epic Mickey guy of course it makes sense, and I agree with him in theory that we don't need piles and piles of lifeless colorless violent FPS but I don't think Wolfenstein is the place to single out an attack. I would direct it somewhere more popular that has zero chance of innovation.
We need Mech Warrior return to glory.
Or Starsiege.
Both epic PC mech games.
Buuuuut how can anyone say we don't need this. Every now and then, someone comes along and tells the story of a pre-established character or franchise, but tells it in a completely different way to it was previously, half the time they nail it and make it 10x better, other times they don't.
Look at the comic universe for example, how many times do things get retconned or just changed completely. Plus all the movies that are remakes of previous movies, I'm pretty sure the latest Batman movies did 100x better than the ones before it did.
I recall Warren Spector one day saying that the world didn't need games like "Lolipop Chainsaw" to be made. So, I'm taking this as his opinion and nothing more because I found Lolipop Chainsaw a bit subversive and not just "teenage boy" material as he would call it.
Hmm… And how old are you, if you don't mind me asking? 🙂
Chainsaw was awesome.
19? hahaha
Honestly, saying the world didn't need a certain game, is stupid.
you can say the exact same thing about ANY game.
Do we NEED another GTA? no.
Do we NEED another Infasmous? no.
Do we NEED another Gran Turismo? no.
We don't NEED any of these games. The only thing we need, is next gen titles and new IPs.
Hell, the world doesn't even NEED consoles.
Stupid people shouldn't make stupid pointless comments.
I'm just sick of shooters altogether. Bioshock Infinite is the 1 exception, the ONLY FPS I've bought this year.
Anyways, once I see a gameplay trailer for Wolfenstein, THEN I'll pass judgement.
As for violence in video games, I just hope that Beyond Two Souls does incredibly well, both critically and financially. I want more developers to follow in David Cage's footsteps and create games that appeal to the more mature 18+ crowd of gamers looking for something more than just blowing the head off an enemy with a shotgun or assault rifle.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to get bored of video games in general. There's very few that break the mould these days and grab my attention. I doubt Wolfenstein will be one of them, but here's hoping they mix it up a bit and create something truly special. Something with emotion and consequences, where taking another human life is a soul-crushing experience, not just another notch on the scoreboard.
hes got a point, but hes hurling it onto the wrong game.
just because its another game where the franchise is based on WW2 with nazis and mechs, does not mean its going to be a stereotypical WW2 nazi hating game!
im willing to bet my left nut this wont be half as stereotypical and generic as all the mindless military shooters out there!
go hurl your stereotypical BS on a franchise that actually deserves it!
As much as the world doesn't need another Wolfenstein it also doesn't need Warren Spector, the man hasn't been relevant in over a decade at this point. Maybe he should start a company with Nolan Bushnell and call it Irrelevant _____. Blank space is for whatever failed venture Bushnell has convinced more sucker investors to get on board with next.
New Wolfenstein > Epic Mickey