940°

American McGee Not Impressed With Sony PS4 And Believes SimCity Gamers Need To Relax

Forbes - Game industry veteran American McGee has been involved in some of the biggest shooter franchises of all time. These days, as head of Spicy Horse Games, he has been focusing on original mobile games designed for cross-platform gameplay. He made the news recently by asking his Facebook fans if they’d be interested in a new Alice 3 game – something gamers answered with an overwhelming yes. He’ll be meeting with Electronic Arts, which owns the Alice IP, at GDC 2013 to see if there might even be the potential for a third Alice interactive adventure.

McGee, who lives in Shanghai and has seen firsthand why DRM is important to fight piracy, addresses the still-burning controversy with a candid response. He also explains why he’s more excited about the exploding mobile gaming category than Sony’s PlayStation 4 and talks about going to hell in his brand new game in this exclusive interview.

Snookies124064d ago

... I do enjoy the Alice games, but seriously... This guy seems to have things really backwards.

Knight_Crawler4064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

Lets me guess your opinion is based on the fact that he was not impressed with the PS4.

Maybe his expectations were higher than your and he was expecting allot more but thats not to say that he thinks the PS4 is bad, just that he had higher expectation from Sony who has a reputation of being the best when it comes to technological achievements.

Edit: " I was hoping for innovation in control input. Didn’t see anything meaningful, so “meh.” It’s nice that they’re moving towards what looks like more developer-friendly hardware and indie friendly distribution. Remains to be seen if the appearance matches reality. Overall, I think this generation of consoles will struggle painfully against the momentum of mobile/online games we’re seeing globally."

Where did he say that he was not impress by some of things from the PS4? He merely express that he was expecting certain things from next gen and was disappointed that he did not see them on the PS4.

Not everyone is comformasist and some people have bigger hopes and visions from technology than some - sure you might be happy with the PS4 but he is not and has his reasons.

zerocrossing4064d ago

I wasn't exactly bowled over by the PS4 myself but you'd have to be stupid (or completely biased) not to be impressed by certain aspects, IMO.

Also, what about telling people to "Relax" over Simcity? That whole fiasco is an appalling mess! Gamers deserve to be as angry about it as they feel necessary after spending their hard earned cash on an unplayable game.

Im honestly not sure why you feel the need to defend the guy but you should probably save doing it for when it's justifiable.

Snookies124064d ago

No, why are you assuming that's why I said that? I never mentioned the PS4. It's that he was in favor of restrictive DRMs and was more interested in mobile devices than consoles (not just PS4). That's why I think he's backwards.

NewMonday4064d ago

"he’s more excited about the exploding mobile gaming category"

tells you a lot about him, another over-hyped developer.

jony_dols4064d ago

If it was Gabe Newell or Ken Levine commenting on the PS4, then I'd take it seriously. But McGee is a failed console dev with a sub-standard portfolio & little relevance in the industry.

@Knight_Crawler: Trolling PS4 articles as per usual, huh? I wouldn't get my hopes up too much for the 720 hardware; if the more credible Durango leaks are to be believed, it is less powerful than Sony's console. So you're pretty much shooting yourself in the foot!

Hicken4064d ago

Comformasist? What?

No.

The guy is touting mobile games cuz that's what he's doing. It's not like he's speaking without bias; it's obvious that he is. And then he doesn't know any more about the PS4 than the rest of us here. Perhaps he's a little upset that Sony didn't come to him for advice?

morganfell4064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

I like the Alice games and think they are woefully underrated. I was playing the second one last week.

But do not mistake Synchronicity with true genius that perfoms over time and evolves.

The game industry is replete with persons who had one idea at the right place and time and the outcome was wonderful. But after that, well, little else.

TemplarDante4064d ago

Knight_Crawler
You have 80 disagrees and counting.
Maybe, you're wrong :)

Eddie201014064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

@Knight_Crawler

His comment was aimed at next generation consoles not just the PS4. Plus some people just have an agenda, much like many of the people commenting on this site.

Plus he spoke of a lot of things and the PS4 was a very small part of it, yet we get the tittle above just for hits.

KillrateOmega4064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

Nearly every time that I see you, you're stirring things up and trolling. Don't you have anything more productive to do, man?

"... I do enjoy the Alice games, but seriously... This guy seems to have things really backwards."

He never even mentioned the PS4 at all. Honestly, how did you even arrive at such a conclusion (or more appropriately, assumption)?

Old McGroin4064d ago

@ Eddie20101

"His comment was aimed at next generation consoles not just the PS4."

He was asked a direct question about the PS4 and he answered it:

"What are your thoughts on what Sony has shown with PS4?

I was hoping for innovation in control input. Didn’t see anything meaningful, so “meh.” It’s nice that they’re moving towards what looks like more developer-friendly hardware and indie friendly distribution. Remains to be seen if the appearance matches reality."

MysticStrummer4064d ago

"Lets me guess your opinion is based on the fact that he was not impressed with the PS4."

The same could be said about you, actually. The guy is focusing on mobile games, therefore he wants mobile gaming to continue doing well, therefore he'll downplay next gen consoles. His complaint about PS4 is that it offers little innovation in regards to control input. Of course he fails to expand on that in any way, so it's a pretty meaningless statement. Sony relied heavily on developer opinion while designing the PS4, so evidently many devs don't agree with him. Judging by industry reaction to the PS4 reveal, McGee is in the minority. Lastly, he says very little about PS4 at all, yet the headline implies differently. Another N4G special delivery.

Eddie201014064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

@old McGroin

One question in the article, and he ended his statement speaking of consoles in general.

Don't just quote the part you like, quote the whole statement.

"I was hoping for innovation in control input. Didn’t see anything meaningful, so “meh.” It’s nice that they’re moving towards what looks like more developer-friendly hardware and indie friendly distribution. Remains to be seen if the appearance matches reality. Overall, I think this generation of consoles will struggle painfully against the momentum of mobile/online games we’re seeing globally."

It was a very small reply to the question that ended with next gen consoles in general not doing well according to him.

This small statement was the one they decided to name the article by just to get hits.

Maybe flash cards would help you understand better?

What innovation in mobile games makes him excited ? The Touch screen(not that great), acceloerometer, having a a front camera, consoles have them. I don't see any innovation in control on mobile devices. All that has been around for quite a while.

Like I said, he has an agenda.

andrewsqual4064d ago

Wow you would think that E3 has happened and the PS4 is out in a month the way you are doubting Sony.

NateCole4064d ago

"Maybe his expectations were higher than your and he was expecting allot more but thats not to say that he thinks the PS4 is bad, just that he had higher expectation from Sony who has a reputation of being the best when it comes to technological achievements"

lol! Like Sony did with the PS3?. Sony tried but they got burned by devs mostly PC devs because of it.

Cell is junk, Blu Ray is overkill. It cost too much blah blah blah.

Now that Sony have listened and made the PS4 more to their liking and will cost less they still are not happy.

BTW. He has got it backwards because console gaming is not going anywhere.

Gaming1014064d ago

Wow, really? There isn't a single serious developer who wasn't impressed by the enormous specs the PS4 delivers, and priced at likely around $500 it's an unbelievable bargain. The reason it won't have top of the line specs is because gamers cried the last time a console cost a measly $100 more than it historically cost on launch. If cost is that important to childish gamers, Sony cannot help but be backed into a corner with what specs it can deliver. You're lucky they bumped the GPU CPU combined RAM to 8GB rather than 4, I wouldn't expect something astronomical out of a $500 unit.

Dee_914064d ago

Lmao I didnt even read the article and I just guessed that he was gonna be into the mobile gaming market.Those nuts seem to always think alike.

Dagobert4064d ago

TL;DR.

Try posting less crap bro. Just a friendly tip, that's all.

TheSaint4064d ago

What's a 'comformasist'?

Old McGroin4063d ago

@ Eddie20101

Maybe flash cards would help me understand? Ah, I see you've already been reported as Offensive, someone got there before me.

Like I said, he was asked a DIRECT question about the PS4, just because you don't like his DIRECT answer to the question asked about the PS4 it doesn't give you the right to go around insulting people. Deal with it.

Omni-Tool4063d ago (Edited 4063d ago )

"innovation in control input" - I think he means touchscreen capabilities. With that said, he's an idiot. The PSVita will be the touchscreen for the PS3 with remote play as an added feature. There is a touchpad on the controller as well. What "innovation" is he looking for, augmented reality? The world isn't ready for AR to be just for a console. AR is best as eyewear with a mobile device and not for games but for information gathering and receiving.

Edit: I just realized that Knight_Crawler only has one bubble and he can't reply. I knew we were all trolls at heart.

TomOfAllTrades4063d ago

Wow you have a-lot of dislikes, perhaps you should think before you comment?

+ Show (18) more repliesLast reply 4063d ago
zerocrossing4064d ago

It just seems like he said that to go against the grain... either that or he is really out of touch with the general gamer.

LostDjinn4064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

"I was hoping for innovation in control input. Didn’t see anything meaningful, so “meh.” It’s nice that they’re moving towards what looks like more developer-friendly hardware and indie friendly distribution. Remains to be seen if the appearance matches reality." - Does this mean he doesn't know anymore than the average Joe that watched the announcement? It seems to imply it.

"Overall, I think this generation of consoles will struggle painfully against the momentum of mobile/online games we’re seeing globally." - Oh that's right. He makes mobile games.

Do the above statements make his opinion worthless? No.

Is it obvious he's promoting his medium (mobile casual games)? Absolutely.

He makes a living with casual games for a casual market. If you put these things in perspective it's usually easy to catch the reasons behind the statements.

MikeMyers4064d ago

Fro the article;
"Overall, I think this generation of consoles will struggle painfully against the momentum of mobile/online games we’re seeing globally."

Biased view since he is involved in mobile gaming right now. Yes he has experience in both fields but I think the two will continue to co-exist.

"People need to relax a little and stop turning everything into World War III – Gamers vs. The Man. There are no winners in that scenario."

That I agree with but that's the nature of the beast on the internet. Not everything works like it's supposed to. Learn from those mistakes, just don't keep making them. We seen all the headaches from Diablo III so fans do have a right to be upset with SimCity. They have to figure it out, how do you curb piracy while not hurting the real consumer?

"At present it just looks like another distribution channel with not much to differentiate from other outlets (aside from sheer horsepower)."

I hope he's wrong but he may be right. We will probably see the same gameplay, the same ip's all being upgraded. I want to see more innovation. Seems like the innovation now is multiple screens but I don't want gimmicks and I imagine most of those games will be gimmicks. Some may indeed work very well but chances are not many.

ILive4064d ago

You say "innovation." What innovations are you speaking of? What do people mean by this? I am not trying to be an asshole, but if you were to make a game, how would you innovate it, moving away from traditional play. People forget that potiental gamers are born everyday. All genres will always be fresh. Seriously, what do you want them to do to "innovate," while being grounded in reality? Maybe I am lacking in imagination here.

MikeMyers4064d ago

I guess I want to see more fresh ideas. This generation has been so crowded with shooters and sequels. I don't want the extra horsepower to just re-skin the same games.

I'm interested in what the new PS4 controller will provide. All this Share stuff could be interesting but I'd like to see more than just being able to take snapshots and videos that we can upload to Facebook.

Anon19744064d ago

I'll never understand why I should care about this guy. He worked on shooters when shooters were new 20 years ago and since then has released underwhelming, mediocre title after underwhelming, medicore title. You want to be relevant? How about you let your products do the talking.

jimbobwahey4064d ago

Surprise surprise, another anti-Sony article from Forbes.

It's getting to the point now where there's obviously a very clear agenda behind this.

HaVoK3084064d ago

His name is American, but he has surrounded himself with communism for the past decade. What do you expect?

Aaroncls74064d ago

Opinions, fellas.

No need to tear the guy a new one just because he does not agree with most of us.

grimmweisse4064d ago

It's the Internet, people will tear people apartment regardless of the opinion.

kickerz4064d ago

Yeah I totally disagree with his comment about people are gonna choose either a powerful tablet or phone or console. Everyone has a phone, its a necessity, and I doubt phones/tablets will ever be a better gaming platform then a console.. iPhone/tablet games are fun when maybe at work for 5 mins but that's really it.I get bored of apps real quick.Soon as I get home it's console/pc for me. Way more fun/enjoyable. And I guess this would be the same for most gamers I think.

kenshiro1004064d ago

Hey look, its Knight Crawler on the attack yet again!

SilentNegotiator4064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

I might care if McGee had made any impressive games recently.

MASTER_RAIDEN4064d ago

I think they had something good going with the first alice game. suddenly EA took over and madness returns was yet another unreal engine 3 clone. Everything looked (and kind of played) like every other UE3 game ive played. definitely more disappointed by the 2nd one personally. Im only a few achievements away from a plat though, so maybe ill revisit someday.

either way, i think its safe to say that american Mcgee has no place to talk. the mans made TWO total games which carried somewhat positive reception at best. How about you sit down with the tech and really sink your teeth into what you have in front of you before you comment?

showtimefolks4064d ago

I don't have to be impressed but I am excited abut the possibilities. It's not just about graphics it's about games and taking them to next level. Imagine all gams having no load times or walk into any building you see

We still don't know a lot so lets wait till E3. I believe Sony will blow the roof off the E3 this year.

Starts the conference on time, Sony is famous for staring late but their last announcement conference was in time

Jack tretton on stage, let m welcome everyone to our conference thanks for being here, we are not here to talk about sale numbers or any iter stuff we gonna show you what matters most and that's games and our 1st game has been in development for a while and it will launch day one on PS4

last Guardian on stage demo. Release date announced
Jack back on stage and here is SIG with Santa Monica showing a new IP
Here is MO demo for Killzome
Here is on stage demo for Infamous
We are happy to announce GTA5 and bioshock will come out on PS4
Show 2-4 new IP's
David Jaffe on stage shows of new IP
Gabr on stage talks about Left for dead franchise but wait he isn't here to announce that, here is on stage DEMO for HALF LIFE 3
We are rebooting a old IP in a getaway
Before we go here is one more game and we have bought the IP from Sega Shenmue. 1-2 will be in HD collection, 3rd in development

Jack back on stage welcomes KAZ and PS4 will retail for $349 and $399

Jack asks us if we had enough but than lights go out and here comes RockStar on stage showing live demo of Ageny

jack comes back thanks us for being here but lights go out again no here comes Kingdom Hearts 3

Right after before show end we want to leave you with this and shows FF13 Aversus on PS3 and PS4

Thank you for being here PS4 will launch on September 19th

KAZ back on stage and asks Jack isn't he forgetting something and lights go out and on Huge Screen PS3 will retail for $149 from today and will come with god of war collection

Thank you

RealtorMDandDC4063d ago

He seems to be pushing his agenda....which it looks to be mobile and online games.

Kran4063d ago

Well he is American McGee. Most of his games are quite backwards xD

4063d ago
+ Show (13) more repliesLast reply 4063d ago
jagiii4064d ago

Interesting take on SimCity and DRM from a PC guy.

aliengmr4064d ago

What "take"? All he said was basically "can't we all just get along". Then started plugging his own projects.

Claiming that China is leading in the battle against piracy is a pretty bold claim, and he doesn't even back it up.

clintagious6504064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

American McGee?? Who the hell is this idiot? He must sucked as a game dev cause this is the 1st ive heard of him lol.

xPhearR3dx4064d ago

You must have entered the gaming world this gen. Kids these days should do their research before spouting such silly comments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

majiebeast4064d ago (Edited 4064d ago )

No gamer is gonna skip consoles/pc for mobile games.

neoandrew4064d ago

Depends on the gamer, there are people that just don't like to play on pc/console in a AAA titles.

Casual gamers just play mobile games, they are simple, entertaining and fun.

No one should underestimate that.

KwietStorm_BLM4064d ago

And that's why many of "us" don't consider casual gamers to be "gamers." They're looked at as every day people who enjoy a little game here and there, and it doesn't matter where they get it. Casual and mobile games appeal to them because they're cheap, easy to pick up, and don't really require and other requisites. Most of them probably wouldn't consider themselves gamers in the same sense most of us do.

Godchild10204064d ago

I enjoyed Alice Madness returns. I would love to see a third one and maybe a port to the Vita with Cross Save.

DatNJDom814064d ago

*Enters Jaime Lannister* whoops.......

arronax-14064d ago

Like this?
youtube.com/watch?v=D-rwAEANT gI

InMyOpinion4064d ago

American McGee is overrated. European and Pan-Asian McGee are much better imo.

Show all comments (158)
90°

EA to Spend Billions Boosting Share Prices After Mass Layoffs

EA has announced it will engage in a shareholder-pleasing share buyback program just a couple of months after mass layoffs at the studio.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
XiNatsuDragnel1d 1h ago

I'm hoping for a game crash atp

Yi-Long1d ago

Well, anything to make those shareholders happy, I guess. They're all that matters in this industry nowadays.

badboyz0922h ago(Edited 22h ago)

EA stocks haven't been profitable in over 5yrs. They better hope Take-two don't get the FIFA license lol.

150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos14d ago (Edited 14d ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers14d ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos14d ago (Edited 14d ago )

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken14d ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g14d ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing14d ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H914d ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola14d ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66914d ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle14d ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

Show all comments (14)
130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg15d ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos15d ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola14d ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

Show all comments (8)