Kotaku
Pirates of the Caribbean helmsman Gore Verbinski keynoted this year's DICE summit, doing his Hollywood best to inspire a packed crowd of game developers with grand visions of development utopia, all the while slamming financier Disney for limiting his involvement in Pirates of the Caribbean licensed games. The director of the Pirates trilogy told DICE attendees that "Gaming is no longer dismissible as a hobby" pointing to his own recent and "visceral" experiences with games like flOw, Bioshock, Second Life and Halo 3.
Verbinski attacked the current publisher-developer business model, affirming that "Games are not merchandise." He spoke of his own struggles with game development, saying "With the Pirates of the Caribbean games, the business model killed the potential for something really unique." He explained "I'm not hiding my disappointment, because I know the fanaticism could have driven that world. Five years ago, while adult audiences were dressing up in pirate garb to attend the cinema, I lobbied heavily for an MMOG for Pirates to no avail, because it wasn't in their business plan."
The director blamed publishers for "responding to data and basing creative decisions on existing formulas" and "reacting to a world that is already passing them by", using brown, me-too first person shooters as evidence that the medium could be in danger of becoming sterile, if not for auteur developers who would "make the suits shit themselves" with bold new concepts.
While Verbinski's opening speech was certainly inspiring, probably mostly to rank and file creators who were looking to move beyond the bald space marine stereotype, it would seem that the director of Hollywood fare like The Ring and Mousehunt has large aspirations for game developers.
He did, however, refreshingly point to individual contributors in video game and film development as key factors in realizing the artistic zenith. Game designers, like directors, he said have an obligation to test executives—"You must make execs uncomfortable, whether they know it or not, and believe me, the good ones do"—to make their work "diverge from the path."
While the director may have seemed slightly green in his vision of game development—by his own admission, he's only played a handful of games—his passion for moving the medium forward seemed genuine. He referenced last year's DICE speaker Alex Rigopulos and the team at Harmonix at one point, lauding them for having the gall to convince RedOctane to manufacture plastic guitars to meet the fantasy of standing in front of a mirror with a tennis racket to virtually rock out. "They naysayers completely missed the point," he said, praising the visionaries at Harmonix for convincing investors to make the Guitar Hero series a success.
We certainly appreciated Gore's unbridled enthusiasm. We hope that he'll return at a future date, having learned more about the medium from DICE attendees, from his own experiences and from the experiences of his children, with a better grasp of the realities of video game development. Perhaps he'll have even played some of the genre's best storytelling games and will be able to contribute more to the conversation.
Expect more details from Gore Verbinski's keynote speech and his follow-up Q&A with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal throughout the week.
Comments
I don't understand why DICE and all these events bring upon people who are almost clueless about game development into the picture.. I am sure, somewhere out there.. There is a credible director/actor/producer of some sort whom has excellent knowledge of the gaming industry and is well cultivated in the arts!
Someone, please stand up!
+1 for his big thinking though! Inspirational..
Pirates of the Caribbean.. the Disney web game helmsman did the DICE opening speech?
What's next?
George Broussard giving a speech about how to make sure your games are done and delivered on time?
Seems like a good keyonote. I hope Disney takes notice, I agree with most that was said.
Director of the movies...
At least he played Bioshock.
@HorseJacked: That's even worse!
Eh... until he shows his salt in the game world it is. Although, it seemed as though he tried to get in with the development...
The guy's heart is in the right place, so what if he's inexperienced? I approve of this man. Better him than some crusty old dev who's long since had his spirit crushed.
"Games are not merchandise."
Hear hear
It's this approach that makes me doubt any game based on a movie until I see the review.
@AndrewDB: Not the web game, Gore Verbinski directed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Sounds like the opening speech could've used a lot more Gore, and a lot less Verbinski.
"The director blamed publishers for "responding to data and basing creative decisions on existing formulas"
woah - stop right there. Did you hear yourself? Did you not get a blinding headache when you uttered this feeling? A Pirates 2 & 3 type headache.
""You must make execs uncomfortable, whether they know it or not, and believe me, the good ones do"-to make their work "diverge from the path.""
Diverge from the path of nasty rehashed blockbusters, he says.
@AndrewDB:
Why's that? Considering the budget, expectations and sheer pressure from 'the suits' for the POTC sequels I think Verbinski is a credible film director.
Of course, games are not merchandise. Thats like calling 300 the movie "merchandise of the 300 comic".
He's speaking in broad terms from an outsider looking in to the game industry and he pointed out what are the main flaws that keep games from being fresh and creative, rather than promotional sidebars.
And you're all roasting him, even though he's right.
That's a fairly good speech. Hopefully Hollywood will start seeing games as less like merchandise and a proper medium to compliment the movies.
Enter The Matrix was almost there. Despite it's flaws it was integral to the matrix mythology. We need more games like that and less of the shovelware crap that comes out with every big budget release.
@phinehas: If you're going to steal a quote from Ask a Ninja, at least get it right.
@WatershipDown: Amen
I think giving the game to Eurocom to develop was the biggest mistake made...
A bit of Trivia for you... Gore Verbinksi was in a band called The Daredevils with Brett Gurewitz after he left Bad Religion, and John Freese, who's been with The Vandals and Perfect Circle... he's a good guy. I was surprised to see him kicking off DICE though...
Show me the money!!!!
@WatershipDown:
I agree, and besides most of us here don't really know much of the nuts and bolts of game design, sure we have a general idea but in truth his opinions as an outsider are as valid as ours, besides any director who is capable of telling that the game of his movie is shit (ie telling the truth) I can back up, besides I agree with most of his points.
In the end what actually needs to be done is to find a way to make cool original games sustainable or less risky to back up. The sad thing is games like Zak and Wiki beign awesome do not sell as well as they should because there is a lack of marketing and well on the players side its kinda of hard to back up a game which we do not know about, especially one which you can have no opinion of gameplay-wise, since its so original.
Although this may sound silly (and to a point I kinda hate myself for saying this) what we need is some kinde of american idol for videogames where gamers can participate with demos or prototypes, that would at least secure the publishers that the game will sell, and give an oportunity to the "looser" games to be known and perhaps get taken by other publishers. Dunno just an idea that came to mind.
His movies need more Gore and less Verbinski...
@Northernsky:
If he was in a band with Brett Guerwitz that automatically makes him 'awesome' in my eyes. I never knew that info, thanks for the heads up!
Anyone who doesn't know who Bad Religion are I strongly urge you to purchase ( or download ) the albums 'Suffer', 'Generator' and 'No Control' right now.
@Mr. SiThNiNjA: If you guys are going to use the quote at least get it right.
"It needs more gore and less verbinski, which I believe is Russian for crappy dialogue."
-Ask a Ninja
@Cwolf267: if you wanna get nit picky about it is " bad dialogue " not " crappy dialogue " ;D
I totally agree with the guy.
The problem with a lot of franchise owners is that they tend to treat games as little more than merchandise rather than standalone products.
It'd be nice if the industry approached games the same way Marc Ecko did with Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. Instead of treating it like merchandise for his Ecko brand, he made it into a full fledged game that could stand alone without the backing of his brand.
amazing, no body has ever said what he's said... cor it's like he's a visionary who has seen the future!
god, how derivative, yes we all know the situation with publishers etc but let me tell you - things are changing in some areas
large publishers with internal dev teams are doing this stuff already, the devs have way more creative freedom - look at criterion/EA...
complaining about this stuff was the fashion back in 2004. look at gamecock, they've been going for a good few years, and are coming up with some interesting titles.
frankly i agree with the early posters, why can't a large symposium like this employ someone who's in touch with games?!
@phinehas: Best review of a crappy movie ever.
@Cwolf267: Oh, and if you're going to constantly correct people like a cockhead, at least know what you're talking about:
"And I'll tell you this much, it could have used a lot more Gore, and a lot less Verbinski. Which I think is Russian for bad dialogue."
[www.askaninja.com]
2:47 in
@Cwolf267: Ask a ninja?
I liked his ideas.
I didn't see any evidence in that article of any cluelessness on his part. Will someone point it out to me?
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