The highlight for many at GDC each year is the developer's rant, in which various game makers get to take the stage and go off on whatever's bothering them.
This year saw the return of Chris Hecker on such a platform, who aside from being the man behind Spy Party, is also considered to be the man who helped to popularize it in the first place.
So what did he have to say this time? Actually, he said absolutely nothing. Instead, as Gamasutra notes, he basically let the entire game industry do the taking for him.
Or, to be more precise, Heckler simply played the following video, which is entitled Fair Use. It's brings together Glen Schofield's DICE 2013 appearance, the Killzone: Shadow Fall demo on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Bungie's Destiny reveal trailer, and the PlayStation 4 press conference:
Much can be taken from the video. Such as the nauseating use of marketing buzzwords from the game makers themselves, or the bizarre fetishizing of meaningless details that somehow translates to exemplarily gameplay.
But how about everything basically looking like the same old, same old? Though the very end, in which the words "completely new" are repeated, ad nausea, pretty much says all that needs to be said.
By the way, kudos to Hecker for including the absolutely ridiculous Infamous: Second Son segment of the PS4 presser in almost its entirely. Nate Fox’s soliloquy illustrates perfectly how technology and big budgets seem to have blinded the sensibilities of game makers these days.
Though it could be argued that many of the complains and concerns are hardly new. Which is true to an extent. But at the same time, given all the alternatives that can be found, all the different avenues for alternative games, does this increase the chance for something new and fresh with the upcoming generation of gaming, or will things be actually worse? Time will only tell.
