Ben-DutkaIndustry legend Tim Schafer is known for making unique, charming, and wonderfully appealing titles. …considering his style, wouldn't he be a perfect fit in the world of downloadable digital games?
In talking to Eurogamer , Schafer hinted that his next project might not be a "big monstrosity" like last year's Brutal Legend ; instead, he's "very interested" in the idea of a downloadable experience. When asked about the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, he replied:
"Those could be a way of getting creative ideas out there without risking $30 million on them. When you risk $30 million on something, publishers want to mitigate their risk. If anything is in your game that might alienate a single customer, they have to take it out. That's something that's really hard to work with."
Then, Schafer said the games his team were currently working on could be categorized as "new and different" but if any of them turn out to be PSN/XBLA games, they won't "look cheap." He says that because they already have the Brutal Legend engine, they can just tweak and alter it for a smaller game. "We can have all the shaders, effects and tech we built for a bigger game in a smaller game," he said.
Based on what we've seen on the PSN already – Flower , echochrome , Wipeout HD , Shatter , Joe Danger , etc. – the service is definitely a haven for originality, and someone like Schafer could really prosper. His games never have had mass market appeal but because they had bigger budgets, they kinda all needed that. This way, they still won't have the aforementioned appeal but they also won't require it, either, and he can really flex his considerable creative muscle.
Considering that I am not a fan of digital, I would rather see him (and everyone) stay on the physical media.
I want to see Brutal Legend 2.
Cool, I think Tim Schafer could do some very unique games on the PSN,
And if his PSN games do well, I want to see all those games put together on 1 Bluray disc too.
BTW,
Good for Tim Schafer, as he isn't mincing any of his words against anti-vision's boss, kotex here…..
Activision's Bobby Kotick is a 'Total Pr*ck,' says Tim Schafer
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/activisions-bobby-kotick-is-a-total-prick-says-tim-schafer/
There are definitely some gems on the PSN. The two Monkey Island remakes for example. If he uses the BL engine for some decent PSN games I might just be interested.
If he's being held back in his full productions I'd much rather see what he can do when not held back. Holding back is always the wrong way to go.
Release the Schafer!
Seems like he's just always one card short of a deck and if he could find that, then he would have a massive hit.
That said PSN games > Live games.
I'm really not too familiar with this guy, but I think with games like Brutal Legend, he spent money on things that were not needed. The music licensed for the game was a good move, but he could have done without the well known actors for character voices.
Shafer calls Bobby Kotick "A total prick"
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/schafer-calls-bobby-kotick-a-total-prick
HAHAHAHAHA
World,
Either you're fashionably late, or there's a very loooooooong echo here.
(see my 2nd post above)
LOL
Last edited by BikerSaint on 7/14/2010 7:25:06 PM
Somehow I missed that, but it at least bears repeating. I've been super out of it lately. I blame the heat.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 7/14/2010 7:37:00 PM
World, no problemo, at least great minds think alike.
The heat & high humidity's sucked here in Jersey for well over the last two-three weeks now.
And the tiny thimble full of ant-piss these so-called weather guys called thunderstorm & showers, hasn't done a damned thing to help either.
@BikerSaint,
Tell me about it. I live in Jersey and work in NYC and the humidity has been brutal. Humidity in NYC is really bad because all the pollution just sticks to your skin.
Where my wife comes from in Texas the heat gets up to 120, but there is no humidity. I'd take that any day over the stickiness.
the only problem with releasing games online is you have so many restrictions.
sure it costs less so publishers may let you get away with some controversial material, retail games would not.
but, theres only so much you can do in your game, you could not make a 20+ hour RPG the download file would be huge!
so theres the size restrictions, than theres also the customers.
allot of people i know dont have their ps3s hooked up to the net, they just buy a game every month or so and play it offline.
im the same, i very rarely buy PSN games because of 3 reasons.
1 i dont have the download usage to waste.
2 if they suck, i just wasted my money where retail games i can take them back.
3 you can buy retail games used, or trade in a game towards another.
thats one cool idea id love to see sony add to the PSN.
say i dont like fat princess and want to delete it off my profile and use that credit towards joe danger or something.
that would encourage more people to try more PSN games, because theres this mentality out there that online games are not as good as retail ones.
well, joe danger proves that wrong!