Jaffe: Calling All Cars Was 'A Mistake'

Speaking at a panel on the emerging casual gaming market today, God of War and Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe called his company's 2007 PlayStation Network game Calling All Cars "a mistake." Jaffe made the remark at the DICE Summit, an annual gathering of industry professionals in Las Vegas.

Jaffe had been asked whether he considered the genre-bending downloadable action game a hardcore or casual experience. "I'd call it a mistake," he replied.

[danfry]

Damn straight...

[Dragun619]

For those that may misunderstand the title.

Jaffe had been asked whether he considered the genre-bending downloadable action game a hardcore or casual experience. "I'd call it a mistake," he replied.

The veteran developer went on to explain that the title's pricing, gameplay, art style and platform choice were often at odds with one another. Some parts party game, others hardcore competition, Calling All Cars may have tried to do too many different things all at once, on a platform that was still undefined.

"It didn't know what it really wanted to be," he said.

Well, I hope you learned something out that experience, Jaffe and that your next game (hopefully, Twisted Metal PS3) will not fall apart from it.

[WildArmed]

lol take a word and make it a headline.
Hence making the game a mistake.
GJ

[mugoldeneagle03]

It was still pretty damn fun to play, especially with friends. Lots of people forget at the time the CAC launched the PS3 had yet to take off and was still in that transitioning phase post-launch with minimal games. For the price, it was completely worth it.

It's a shame they shut the servers down. If they would've given it the same treatment Flow got recently where it was free for a day, I guarantee it would've seen a huge numbers jump. But oh well.

Just another thing I love about Jaffe, willing to switch it up and try something new, for better or worse.

[sinncross]

Calling All Cars could have gotten more interest if they just tried to do some more things with it:

1) Include it in PS3 bundles
2) Includes it on the special offer list every once and a while.
3) Released some small free DLC containing a new map and game mode.
4) Added trophies

Interest could have grown for the game because its not that bad.

[psgamer]

I agree.

[life doomer]

This is really old news.

[nogolis]

His next game is not, I REPEAT: NOT TWISTED METAL!!!!!!!

It is an action/adventure/rpg game in style of Zelda and or Alundra. I've seen pics of the damn thing. It isn't TWISTED METAL!!!!!!

[Cyrax_87]

Weren't you also saying MGS4 was getting like 60 trophies? What happened to that?

[LordMarius]

sure whatever you say...

cookie?

[theEnemy]

does the Sun will set later, and rise tomorrow.

[TOO PAWNED]

But when it turns out to be Twisted Metal, you will say how you were just pulling a joke and we took it all too seriously....go seek help dude.

[grantps3]

i personaly liked calling all cars. its a blast to play 4 player off line

[mastiffchild]

Calling.. was a fantastic little game and Jaffe's being too hard on it, way too had. It just came too soon in PSN's development. Arriving NOW and with a few aesthetic alterations it could be a huge hit. Thing is people just looked at it and imagined it ws this casual toy racer and it just wasn't. There was way more depth to the gameplay, a lot of whixch only became apparent with consistent and prolonged play time-it's very adversarial game with more subtlety than many gave itcredit for.

Like all hs games the idea behind it was great but, this time, the gods weren't on his side or the stars weren't aligned or he just made a couple of mistakes. Hell even releasing it kin the same form a YEAR later would have seen it sell much better and gather a lot more players-the thing it lacked most was enough gamers to make a strong community as many attracted by what they thought was a more casual title weren't the kind who'd invest the time in it to uncover it's best stuff.

IMO, if you didn't like CaC you probably didn't play it enough and certainly not against the right people.Or, perhaps I just liked it because it was one of the very few games I'm actually not particularly rubbish at!I'm also pretty sh1t hot at GOW so maybe I should play more of his games!Then again, I'm a UK gamer, and I have never seen a copy of Twisted Metal-not of any of the games so I never tried the series at all amnd don't know ANYONE here who did! Seriously, I looked for the first one back in the day but my local stores never got a copy in and I had no internet buying capabilities at that time either-and they didn't have it in Manchester when I looked either! Maybe, because by his own admission it was a VERY US flavoured game it ddn't appeal to the UK/EU but also it ,might be we never had a chance as it didn't seem, to me at least, to ever be marketed, pushed or stocked over here-not even that very first PS1 game.

Oh well, it's only upsetting as I'm thinking I might have been OK at it and for me that's so rare(enthusiastic but crap is the best description of my normal gaming skill level)I have to search out every possibility to not show myself up entirely! IDK if Silogon is being told or shown the truth about his next game NOT being a PS3 TM but I'd also be very interested in what he IS saying it might be even if Jaffe looked really annoyed when I saw him on one of the game shows where the host was making him squirm making out it WAS TM last year. Why be so coy about saying it ISN'T TM if it isn't as surely he's just going to upset anyone who's waiting, expectantly for the new Twisted, isn't he?

So, no, I don't get the way he won't rule Twisted Metal out of the question if the game isn't that. It's hardly revealing WHAT the game's likely to BE just by telling us one thing that it WON'T be, is it?It would also stop any old TMfans being strung along and getting pi55ed off at the last second. It's just a little sad, to me. Interesting to see what he's come up with and I reckon it'll be pretty good as he seems dead confident but the way he made out the stores weren't important(or AS important) and spoke about the online meta game suggests it's still more likely to be TM than an RPG anyway.

[bpac123456789]

Every time i see you you've written nothing short of an essay. A very long winded essay at that. You should condense your points once in a while. perhaps its just bothering me now because its so late, but this isn't a blog lol.

[Walrus]

all artists make them. I can feel for him.

[Figboy]

and it was perfect for when it released.

no, it didn't "define" the Playstation 3, but what it was was a fun downloadable title that showed the potential of the types of network games possible on the PSN.

i think people are being too hard on Calling All Cars in the same way that people were too hard on just about EVERY PS3 exclusive title released in 2007, from Motorstorm, to Ninja Gaiden Sigma, to Heavenly Sword, to Folklore, to Ratchet, to Warhawk, to Uncharted, the first year of PS3 games were put under such a harsh microscope that it was nearly impossible for anyone to appreciate what they did right.

as far as a year one lineup goes, the PS3 had a damn quality first year showing. way better than the PS2's 1st year lineup. even the 360's first year lineup was bland until Gears of War showed up at the end of it's first year.

[TheTwelve]

...stop trashing your own work. Lots of people enjoyed it.

12

[chase167]

was fun

[Droid Smasha]

Its good when a developer can admit he created a flop.

I'm looking your way WKC, MAG, Heavy Rain

[simplyRealistic18]

if only they could address Two Human...BOT! (emphasis on the bot part)

[chrisulloa]

Too Human & Section 8 are both terrible games, but at least our hopes weren't exaggerated and we didn't have our dreams crashing down with bad reviews. Lair, WKC, MAG, Haze, Heavy Rain, Heavenly Sword, and EyePet were all overhyped, but you guys still defended them.

[robotnik]

So I guess according to your logic Xbox games don't get overhyped? Most of them are bad, not worth no mention games that didn't contribute anything to the growth of the industry.
Bots are just in love with their beloved flopboxes. This can be dangerous you know...

I don't see where they did overhype any of those games you say, you are clearly trolling.

[Mr_Luke]

Title a bit misleading, but about CAC the real mistakes were:
1) Lack of support, in general
2) Lack of DLC
3) Lack of unlockable (only skins for the cars.... no maps, no new modes, nothing)
4) Lack of online modes (they could add something different, just 1 extra mode was perfect)
5) no trophies (would be an extra feature that helps the "replayability" of the game)
6) Last and a bit less important, i'd add 1-2 extra power ups ;P

Btw i liked the game, got it on day1, played a lot the online part with friends and my gf, had lot of fun. And what happened then? They closed the servers...