Gore Verbinski

[LavCat]

I read on FiringSquad that Gore Verbinski is working on a new genre of computer game. He is reported to have said he has never played a game where he felt "tremendous loss." Apparently he has not played Diablo.

[Sheep]

Is tremendous loss a draw for gamers?
"Man, I could sure go for a crushing sense of despair and regret."

[Occhidiangela]

I read on FiringSquad that Gore Verbinski is working on a new genre of computer game. He is reported to have said he has never played a game where he felt "tremendous loss." Apparently he has not played Diablo.

He never got scroll hack PK's in Diablo II HC.:P

Occhi

[[wcip]Angel]

Didn't he play Final Fantasy VII?



...

*reminisces*


...

*sobs uncontrollably*

[Taem]

Is tremendous loss a draw for gamers?

The possibility of it is, you can be sure of that! Those that play Hardcore play it because they "love" it! I will not play a MMORPG unless there is a Hardcore feature in it, and those are few and far between, i.e. Diablo 2, Sacred. The thrill of dueling in Hardcore or playing against the elements is unprecedented; I honestly don't understand why you even have Hit Points in softcore when you can never really die. Is "that" fun for you guys who play softcore? I don't know, the mentality seems to extend beyond just the softcore/hardcore mentality for me. I can't understand single-player games in general; I just can't get into them. I'm playing someone else's idea of fun with a story that is almost always sub-par at best. I hear a lot from people who like softcore that they play video games to enjoy the game and get into the story. Okay, this I can understand, but their concept of relaxation is obviously not the same as mine.

[Rhydderch Hael]

I read on FiringSquad that Gore Verbinski is working on a new genre of computer game. He is reported to have said he has never played a game where he felt "tremendous loss." Apparently he has not played Diablo.

Reminds of the time Steven Spielburg said video games fail as a storytelling device because their stories lack depth. The man who made Jurassic Park II for the primary purpose of showcasing a T-Rex rampage through San Diego derides the medium for its use of spectacle... :mellow:

[roguebanshee]

I honestly don't understand why you even have Hit Points in softcore when you can never really die.

The opposite point of view:

How is it fun to lose a character you enjoy spending your spare time with?

[Assur]

The opposite point of view:

How is it fun to lose a character you enjoy spending your spare time with?

Oooh, the good old HC vs. SC debate is back:shuriken:

To clear one thing up, I don' t enjoy losing a character. I feel crushed, in the literal sense. I look at the screen, the dancing monsters and I can almost hear them gloat! Then I mentaly kick myself for playing the game, try to analyse what went wrong and give up D2 for a few days.

After a few days I come back, check what gear I've got muled, have a look the discussions going on at the AB and fire up a new Char. He'll be Ladder-HC, of course, like always.

I'm with MEAT , in SC I die, I revive, so what. In HC I lose something, so I try to play the best I can, fiddle around with the gear of my Merc, dream of elite items and highend runewords and then go out to risk it all over again.

[NiteFox]

Y'know, the last time I felt a crushing loss in a videogame...

Okay, I admit it, it was that damn cube. That goddamned cube. It was obvious what was going to happen, even if you didn't read the Achievement descriptions beforehand, but I still spent a good ten minutes in that corridor looking for a way to get through the gate without doing the inevitable. Bitch.

Obviously, Mr. Vebrinski never played the original Homeworld either. Best. Loss of life. In a videogame. Ever. Brilliantly executed, and I thought it was absolutely beautiful how they used the same music as they did in the opening scene, turning it from a message of hope and security to something of sorrow and loss. It still chills me every time I play through that mission. Aeris' death sucked, really did suck, in the face of a full planetary genocide that left little over 600,000 survivors out of billions, and even less than that if you weren't quick or prepared.

You barely saw a single human face throughout the entire game, but that did absolutely nothing to diminish the empathy you felt for them.

And the end of Fallout still has a place in my heart. Poor Vault Dweller:(

[Hammerskjold]

I read on FiringSquad that Gore Verbinski is working on a new genre of computer game. He is reported to have said he has never played a game where he felt "tremendous loss." Apparently he has not played Diablo.

You mean this?

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticl...?searchid=19919

That follows to:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-verb...ack=2&cset=true

And let's throw this in for good measure.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_in...tory=17281


I like Mr. Verbinski's work in 'The Ring' remake. I also enjoy his first Pirate movie immensely. I certainly look forward to seeing what kind of game he will create.

Having said that, I do think some of the points he mentions is a bit stale by now. The whole 'never played a game where there was a feeling of tremendous loss or emotional response' is to me, is too much like judging a whole field of literature by just cherry picking one or two books. (Even if he did mention the excellent Bioshock.)

But since he mentioned this in the Gamasutra article.

Verbinski concluded with one more impassioned plea to the game industry to fight stagnation by refusing to play it safe. "The collision between gaming, film, internet and animation has just occurred and things are still mutating... this is the time for madness, for brilliance."

I quite agree with him, but not quite on the same wavelength. I think the next leap I want to see is the equivalent of desktop publishing for gaming. That is, you don't necessarily need the huge backing of a publisher to create a game, because they're the only ones rich enough to finance it.

I'd like to see a re-invention of the one person or a small team being able to create a game. In a lot of ways, things like this are already happening, a la 'Everyday Shooter'.

I don't forecast every single person that is given a hypothetical 'game creation tools in a box' will necessarily create a masterpiece, anymore than anyone given a canvas and paint will create a Mona Lisa.

But I for one don't see any real merit in a huge requirement like mining the minerals for pigments and distilling various liquids for the paint, collecting hairs and assembling it into a brush, and growing the cotton for the canvas just to be able to paint a picture. (edited add: I know it's an imperfect analogy, since even the simplest video game by it's nature is still comparatively more complex than a painting.)

Then again, maybe I'm hoping for the impossible since the video games at the moment, is still tied to it's technical side like an umbillical cord. That to me, is a bigger hurdle than 'video games not having emotional response etc'. A hurdle which at least to me, has already been cleared by some games mentioned by various replies here. It's just that some people choose to either conveniently move the goalpost so to speak, or haven't played it and only basing their experience on games that are not representative of their genre or times.

To sum up my ramblings. Mr. Verbinski did have some interesting and IMO valid things to say in general, sprinkled with a few dead horse unfortunately. But I think I will be more interested if \ when his game comes out.

edited addition: It might be just me, but I for one can't wait for mainstream articles about video games to shed the ole' "oh my, hasn't video games come a long way since the days of Pong and bleep boop sounds and simple graphics etc etc" routine.

Granted video games as a form of expression is not as old and mature as say, film. But I don't imagine I would be reading an article that discusses contemporary film that starts with something like, "Oh my, hasn't cinema come a long way from the days of the kinetiscope, 16 frames per second, no color, and only a live piano accompaniment for audio."