Alex Kierkegaard is Furious

[fearsomepirate]

A random blogger rants about "non-games," how much he hates them, and how stupid gaming magazines are for even covering them:

http://insomnia.ac/commentary/non-games_are_for_retards/

He probably has a point about that study software from Square-Enix. But overall, he's just furious. He even called the Wii and DS "two of the worst-designed pieces of gaming hardware ever." That's arguably true about the Wii, but the DS?

 

[Scott_Arm]

Wow. Who shat in his cereal this morning? I won't buy Wii Fit, but I can understand the interest. I don't really have interest in reading about book keeping tutorials for the DS either, but somebody needs to give this guy a chill pill. He's right about discerning between games and non-games. There are too many gray areas. At the same time, he's asking for these publishers to stop covering things like Wii Fit and Nintendogs or whatever, but why should they? He says they're shit, but there's obviously a huge amount of interest in them. Maybe it's not his thing, but suck it up, cry baby. I wish the music I like got covered in mainstream press and got played on the radio, but it doesn't. People have different tastes. Wii and DS being poorly designed is arguable. They're very successful products. Definitely not top of the line technology, but they've given consumers something that's interested them. From a traditional standpoint, they are fairly crap, I guess, but I think that's kind of irrelevant because they've set out to do things a bit differently.

 

[Florin]

Emo emo emo /wrists

What a non-issue.

 

[blakjedi]

Who is he to define what is entertaining or interesting? The hardware has never mattered. Otherwise I would not have FOND memories of the ATari 2600, Amiga and Sega Genesis... Anything that is a challenging to understand and master can rightfully be called a game...

 

[archangelmorph]

Who is he to define what is entertaining or interesting? The hardware has never mattered. Otherwise I would not have FOND memories of the ATari 2600, Amiga and Sega Genesis... Anything that is a challenging to
understand and master can rightfully be called a game...

where in the blog post did he mention that "hardware mattered"..?

Any activity that provides no form of profit other than mental & emotional stimulation in the form of "fun" can be called a game..



(yep! that includes sex..)

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Actually, he's got a point.

'Real' games aren't being reviewed or getting their proper amount of attention because that time and space is being spent on software that has more sales, but arguably aren't 'games'.

I think it's clear that he needs an editor, though. Because his rant is essentially circular. He bashes Fanitsu for reviewing software he doesn't consider 'games' but then admits that the concept of 'games' are essentially too difficult to define.

He falls back on the SCOTUS definition of pornography 'You know it when you see it', essentially.

He has an interesting perspective that might have some validity, but his inability to quantify the very distinctions he is targeting makes the rant rather worthless.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Like that is any different than before. Before the non game thing we had magazines spend lots of time on the next crap EA game. Really, its nothing different than before it are just other games. At the end he asks why we dont hear anything about those awsome games coming from china or korea. Well, would we have if wii fit didnt exist? ofcourse not. Space would just be filled up with another big marketing title. The fact is that there never was alot of coverage on the not so big name/budget/marketing games.

 

[NERO]

That was a pretty informative rant that brings up two highly interesting questions:

(1) What is a game, more specifically a videogame?

(2) If the Nintendo platforms are ushering us into an era of "non-games" will it force the industry to take a technological step back in terms of the production of increasingly expensive real games.

I believe that Mr. Kierkegaard is distressed about the coverage of the current incarnation of the latter question and the potential future it could bring to him (and his company) if it happens in the negative.

 

[assen]

Respect to the guy for having the bravery to speak out what's on many minds.

AFAIK he has nothing to do with Insomniac, the developers of Ratchet and Clank - just the domain.

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Who is he to define what is entertaining or interesting? The hardware has never mattered. Otherwise I would not have FOND memories of the ATari 2600, Amiga and Sega Genesis... Anything that is a challenging to understand and master can rightfully be called a game...

And, here I thought the Atari 2600, Amiga, and Sega Genesis WERE top hardware for their time. Oh well...

That was a pretty informative rant that brings up two highly interesting questions:

(1) What is a game, more specifically a videogame?

(2) If the Nintendo platforms are ushering us into an era of "non-games" will it force the industry to take a technological step back in terms of the production of increasingly expensive real games.

I believe that Mr. Kierkegaard is distressed about the coverage of the current incarnation of the latter question and the potential future it could bring to him (and his company) if it happens in the negative.

Agreed. I've been very concerned about #2 and what it could translate into for society as a whole (if allowed to continue for an extremely long period of time). I mean...the gaming industry has been pushing technology to advance for a very long time now. I believe that has allowed complex hardware for many different areas of life to be available at reasonable prices due to the amount of people involved in high tech hardware.

I think that the slowing of technological advancement (which I believe #2 can ultimately lead to) will cause even higher prices for top end consumer and professional technology and slower advancements throughout most fields dealing with technology (including medical research).

Of course, that's just me looking into my crystal ball, but the first step along that path has already happened.

 

[NERO]

Respect to the guy for having the bravery to speak out what's on many minds.

AFAIK he has nothing to do with Insomniac, the developers of Ratchet and Clank - just the domain.

I do respect his opinion and did not know he wasn't a part of that Insomniac. Thanks.

 

[fearsomepirate]

He definitely does confuse "games I don't like" with "non-games." Some of these "non-games," like Brain Training, actually keep score, something that was a pretty important part of gaming for a long, long time.

I think he's wrong about the DS being one of the "worst-designed pieces of gaming hardware ever." It's a very well-designed handheld: It's durable, reasonably powerful, relatively inexpensive, and has a long battery life.

I also think that more developers will embrace "low" technology every generation. Not many of them can afford another 5x multiplier on development costs.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Is this just some random guy with a blog?

 

[fearsomepirate]

I think he might be...I found it linked as "Insomnia's Alex Kierkegaard," and the more I look, the more I think it is just some dude with a coincidentally named blog. I didn't page through the site because, hey "insomnia.ac, sure."

 

[Xalion]

Interestingly enough, I don't think this is the first time I've heard this exact same argument with different forms of media.

For example, has anyone ever ask an english lit major about most book review magazines or magazines like readers digest? Or a motorcycle enthusiast about reviews for mopeds? Movie enthusiasts will wax on for hours and hours about the relevance and quality of catalog titles compared to the blockbuster movies of today. News "blogs" vs. News outlets is another are you can find this argument.

I'm not pointing these out to say he doesn't make some points. I just don't think he understands what his points are. Most things that start out "niche" and move mainstream go through this same process. As products work to appeal to a larger crowd it is almost certain that the category will broaden to appeal to larger interest groups. This is both good and bad. It is good because in general it means more money coming into the product field. It can be bad for enthusiasts because money that used to be spent on the products they really like gets moved away.

At the end of the day though, I think this is what products have to do to survive. I don't think Wii fit is a game. I don't consider it any different than the old exercise videos that sold like hot cakes during the early 90s and late 80s. But it appeals to a very large demographic and so should be covered. In the end, I don't think that this move towards a larger market will hurt people who play games a lot. I think very quickly you will find that like most other categories that have gone this route, the extreme end drives marketing while the bulk of the profits are made in the larger demographic.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Thread closed as we don't waste our breath on random bloggers here!