LOL, Kotaku

[FortNinety]

Pointing fingers at the big K is perhaps not in my best interest, especially these days, nor is it a sign of cool or anything like that, but anyway...

http://kotaku.com/5420910/the-meaning-of-super-mario-clouds

... Not the article itself (Stephen once again is a fine, fine writer, and they're god damn lucky to have him), but the first comment...

"based on work of hacked Nintendo games"

Yeah, the original game designers are the artists here, this guy's just a ROM hacker. Oh, and I Shot Andy Warhol, a modded Hogan's Alley? Yeah, not art, it's a ROM hack. And I just seen his "F1 Racer" on YouTube. I wouldn't call it a work of art either.

I'm all for the "games = artform" team and all but when you strip down the team and just make some of the graphics that you didn't even do, scroll on a plain screen, and call it your own? Er.. I'll pass. Hell I just seen one of his "proper" arts, and it just looks like he clicked and dragged once with the Gradient tool in Photosho.... Hardly imaginative and evocative imagery I must say.

... It's a silly thing to get worked up about, and truth be told, I'm not pissed or anything. Just find it hilarious. Though as it's been pointed out, Cory does himself no favors with...

I mean, we think everyone played Nintendo, but really, hardly anybody played Nintendo.

Full disclosure: I generally cringe when reading artist statements, even when its by someone whose work I generally admire (I'm also a fan of Cory's work, for the most part).

[dmauro]

Everybody played Nintendo.

Everyone has different descriptions of art; why do they get all upset about it? Why do people troll on the internet? These are things we don't want to know the answer to.

[Chairman Meow]

Semi-related, when the hell did Tim Rogers start writing for Kotaku?

I saw a book-long, rambling post the other day and was all "What the hell, did Tim Rogers write this or something?" and then saw that it was in fact written by him.

[isfet]

he started that a few months ago.  maybe last spring?  not too sure.  anyway, i find it kind of funny, in a way; his Kotaku articles almost seem longer than anything he's done before and i can't help but suspect that this is on purpose re: Kotaku readers.

[FortNinety]

There was a point where I was pitching ideas for articles and special features on a semi-regular basis, but the head honcho kept shooting them down. The last time this happened, I was particularly befuddled since it seemed like a total no-brainer, yet I was essentially told that it wouldn't appeal to anyone.

Less than a minute after hearing this, I noticed two new posts: one that was entirely comprised of pictures of the EIC's kids from that previous weekend at Disneyland or something and a Tim Rogers piece that was 65,000 words long, mostly about how he couldn't smoke on a Japanese train platform because recent changed in law.

That's basically when I simply said fuck it and have not bothered my contacts/friends over there about possible work ever since. But yeah... Kotaku! Also Joe, I think it's been proven that you can pretty much put anything over there and thousands upon thousands will read it, regardless of length or quality. Hence why I wanted to be apart of the ship in the first place.

[isfet]

the idea of the piece, jumping in games and how the player learns in SMB, is not a bad idea, but dessgeega already kind of covered that in two paragraphs a few months ago.

[FortNinety]

Exploring such recently visited territory is totally fine. After-all, it's always nice to hear a particular person's two cents and all that jazz. But that length... not that I can talk, since I bore everyone to tear over at my blog, but then again, it is a blog at the end of the day.

But so is Kotaku, despite being a news outlet. Hence the whole chicken and the egg yet again.

[FortNinety]

Again, silly to bring this up, but my friend is the teacher behind these comics...

http://kotaku.com/5422044/how-six-graders-see-video-games-like-metal-gear-and-blazing-angels

... Again, a bunch of "adults" goofing on 6th graders is fairly pathetic and doesn't deserve any attention, but I just noticed how extra snarky the comments have become today.

[FortNinety]

This is somewhat less about Kotaku readers in general, since I guess its difficult to expect a bunch of 14 year olds to be sympathetic to the horrors of the adult work force. But still...

http://kotaku.com/5448788/rumor-rockstar-responds-to-allegations-of-poor-work-conditions

[dhex]

that didn't seem very unsympathetic on the whole. actually, i'm a bit more unsympathetic than most of those posters.

[FortNinety]

My sharing why? I mean, I perhaps hate Rockstar more than anyone around here, but shit employee treatment is shit employee treatment.

[dhex]

to be sure, the continual contracting deadlines of game production, especially on the high end, as well as the industry-wide tradition of "crunch time" is an unpleasant reality. allegations of pay/vacation cuts and the like aside for a moment, most of the fixation is on long hours and a ruthless corporate environment.

well, duh?

none of these things are unknown in many industries. this does not make them a good thing - someone's project manager needs a talking to/beating if your whole production schedule is nothing but crunches - but it's how things go during a product rollout. this is true in most work environments, and even in the nonprofit world. crunch time? it's called "special events" or, well, nearly anything else i'm involved with.

now, it's possible that the true depth of depravity has not been fully revealed, or that i am misinformed. sudden pay and vacation cuts sound like a clear-cut violation of contract (as opposed to across the board reductions in salary, etc), and shouldn't be taken lightly, if true. but the bulk of the complaint is about traits well known in the industry and especially well known to anyone jockeying for a position at a larger company. this does not make them pleasant, but it doesn't necessarily warrant sympathy.

[FortNinety]

And here's Rockstar's response... sorta...

http://kotaku.com/5449453/rockstar-has-some-fun-with-eye-of-sauron-comparison-still-wont-comment

[FortNinety]

http://kotaku.com/5451043/deathsmiles-smiles-on-north-america/gallery/

While there isn't a ton of nonsense, there's still random statements like...

I can see myself playing this game on PSP or DS but not on my HDTV.

[dhex]

why do japanese shmups bother with region protections? they're such a niche genre that anyone who would care in other countries would buy copies on or near launch; thus funding a translation in 6 to 9 months if a title is popular enough.