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New Yorker taken to task for Cliff Bleszinksi profile
Congratulations to The Escapist's Tom Endo, who graces the top of the letters section in the 11/24 issue of The New Yorker. Endo has the following comments about the New Yorker's profile of Gears of War developer Cliff Bleszinski.
As a video-game journalist, I was disappointed that Tom Bissell chose to profile Cliff Bleszinski, a developer whose product represents the videogame industry of a decade ago. The games Bleszinski makes are essentially the same as those developed by the creators of Doom in the early nineties, and the gaudy aesthetic is hardly artistic. Gears of War is a polished game, but it also stands out as being largely derivative and banal in an industry currently brimming with creativity -- like those developers at companies such as Rockstar North, Valve, and Blizzard Entertainment who are driving the industry forward.Hear, hear, Mr. Endo. It's nice to see The New Yorker covering videogames, but their Gears piece is just embarrassing for the artsy reverence it extends the videogame equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Gears of War 2 is certainly a good game, but The New Yorker needs to look a little deeper. Videogaming can finally bear up under this sort of scrutiny, and they write up a game whose main claim to fame is sticking a chainsaw onto an assault rifle?
Tom Endo
New York City
By psu13 at 9:33 AM ON 12/12/08
Seems to me that Rockstar, Blizzard and Valve have all spent the last ten years making their best games over and over again with an extra bit of spit and polish. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it seems odd to put those particular companies up as paragons of innovation.
Especially Rockstar, which as far as I can tell has spent the last decade making little more than adolescent power fantasies on a DVD.
By n0wak at 5:14 PM ON 12/12/08
You're totally wrong.
GTA:Liberty City and Vice City stories were on UMD, not DVD.
By tomwaitsjr at 3:53 PM ON 12/13/08
Maybe people should stop writing about dictatorships, as they are largely derivative. . .
It was an entertainging well written article. It was also about a man more so then a game. I'm sorry you couldn't figure that out.
By dingus at 12:40 AM ON 12/14/08
Jesus love never failed me yet.
By ItchyBallsack at 2:04 AM ON 12/24/08
Wow, Tom Chick. There have been few instances in my life where I have read an opinion and have no f'ing idea what the hell the author was trying to say, and you seem to have mastered that ability. I can't tell whether you're for or against cliff, or the author who wrote about him, or what your f'ing point is. I'm guessing this fidgit site is going to suck royally. I'll stick with GameSpy and others who know how to cover gaming.
By Felix at 6:12 PM ON 02/06/09
@PSU13 - While they've been making games of the same name within the same intellectual property, the innovation within each title is not only groundbreaking, but usually the bar to which other games are held. They have continually improved their "best games" to a point where we can look forward to one of their game sequels and rejoice, rather than speculate on it's quality.
@ItchyBallsack, if your level of comprehension is that low then you should definitely stick with Gamespy.
Felix:
@PSU13 - While they've been making games of the same name within the same intellectual property, the innovation wit...More »