The bottom line is you don't put 15,000 hours into something that you're not sure will be accepted. You submit a design brief, do a proof of concept level and hope for the best.
The extra 14,900 hours aren't going to do anything to increase your chances.
I really don't feel sorry for the guy, because it's not a whole lot different from deciding you're going to work for IBM as a software engineer, devoting 5 years of your life to learning how to code, then applying to the job and not getting hired... and then blaming IBM for all that time and effort you put in. Sorry, dude, sometimes things just don't work out. Accept it, and maybe plan a little better next time so you don't waste so much of your life.
I think this is absolute CRAP. Nintendo has a clear cut set of guidelines as to what criteria are needed for an SDK. Bob meets those requirements, sell him the damn SDK. The guy has put his heart and sole into this thing and he deserves a chance, let the public decide if they like the game or not with their purchasing power.
@PugDaddyD:So you know that he met the requirements for the SDK over the head of NOA? Really? Tell me, how highly placed are you within Nintendo's chain of command?
Reggie Fils-Aime is giving idiotic answers. Shameful answers. He should be ashamed because he sounds like a dick.
Robert Pelloni, however, has mental problems and created a game that isn't actually any good or fun. He did a stupid thing to try to get attention and only proved that his mental problems make him inadequate to be a real game developer.
All in all, both parties are stupid and shouldn't be talking about video games.
I can't believe this. They turn down, from what I've seen, a compelling and interesting game, and yet they let all this garbage be on both of their systems? What kind of crack are they smoking? It's especially confusing when you think that if they did have this game, they would only have to pay ONE person, and not a whole programming staff, which means that they will make more per unit sold.
@DeadlyWhispers:What you've seen? Did you play it? I've seen better crap tossed together in MUGEN. It was a Mary-Sue filled dreckfest, but none of that matters, because hurrrr, damn that evil Nintendo for not bowing to the whims of a manchild.
@Ted:And thus, he did pretty much what Reggie said.
Fuck you Nintendo. You approve horrible games from companies like Majesco and Namco Bandai and when somebody is actually trying their hardest to make a splash in the gaming world, on your platform, you close the door in his face before he even starts walking into the room.
If he was trying to make a 'splash' why didn't he jump though all of the hoops needed? Why didn't he release something other then a game with sprites and other stuff ripped from other titles? More so why didn't he release on the other systems, THEN come to Nintendo?
And finally, why did he throw a huge fit and not only shoot himself in the foot with Nintendo, but with any publisher worth his salt? Stop crying about Nintendo telling him no, cry how Bob couldn't be professional enough to do what he needed to do.
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.: Well, technically he already had a game made. It's not like Pixel originally developed it for Wii. Cave Story proved popular so it led to other deals.
Bob's mistake is wanting to just release his game on the Nintendo platform. Bob needs to grow up and realize there's other avenues. Refusing to change is just setting ones self up for failure.
Bob is going about it wrong. He just needs to sell his code to an "already licensed" developer. He can backdoor his game into production. HE might even get a job somewhere if he just calms down and stars communicating with everybody out there.
This is good publicity though. It may work out for him in the end.
I felt bad for Bob at first, then he just threw a big fucking tanty and I kinda lost all empathy for him. Yeah, they won't give you a dev kit and that sucks, but you know what? Life isn't fair. You'd better learn to deal with the shitty times in better ways than locking yourself in your room and posting things I'd expect to find smeared in feces on a wall.
@Mister Jack: For a Facebook-Free Kotaku: If he only submitted his work to the dudes that released Spy Games: Elevator Mission, he'd have his stupid Wii release. Think, Bob, think.
I never felt bad for the guy, the whole thing just seemed silly. Especially when he showed his like 8 minute long game play video which simply consisted of your character walking around really fast.
@Mister Jack: For a Facebook-Free Kotaku: Didn't you watch the most recent video? It was all some huge-ass complicated viral marketing scheme. He was re-enacting part of the story from the game he made.
@DukeOfPwn: Was that the one where he put up posters or vandalized a Nintendo building or something like that? I doubt he had all that planned from the beginning. I see it as his way of trying to save face after making an ass of himself.
while yes, i agree with you that the story sounds like that dude almost stalked Nintendo, i also have to say Nintendo doesn´t make it easy enough at all for indies, the competition is much more open to indies.
To become a Wiiware developer you for example are not allowed to work from your home office, you have to have a seperate registered office space somewhere else to where they then deliver the stuff.
@tomsamson:It's because they don't want a higher chance of having the dev kits stolen, which would greatly aid in piracy. Offices tend to be a tad harder to break into, if they are proper offices compared to coverted strip mall storefronts.
@Vidikron: During this whole Bob's Game mess, some gaming site was able to track down the requirements to gain a Dev kit.
One of the big ones that cost the guy was his ability to estabilsh a secure working environment when he showed he was willing to post confidential contact information for Nintendo employees on his page.
@OW-Holmes: I agree to a certain extent.The last thing anyone in the industry wants is a repeat of 1983. However, I think licensing shouldn't be so strict as to only allow studios to enter the marketplace.
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.: Piracy for the DS has been trivial for *YEARS*. You don't need a devkit for piracy, you can go into the next shop and by a R4 flash card or whatever and download all games right from the net.
Wow, I never thought Reggie would ever take the time to address a clearly insane, inept man child wanna be programmer with strong attention whore urges. And what do you know, it's as people thought, Bob didn't past muster.
The Tetris story is pretty funny, because Nintendo had to outwit and directly deal with the KGB in order to get the rights to that game and they KGB wasn't very friendly to say the least.
@Winterbringer: Yeah, I think you've got to give the man some credit where it's due. I can sympathize with Pelloni to a certain extent, he put a lot of time into creating the game which shows he truly believed in it so I think Foxstar: is jumping the gun on this by saying the man was "cleary insane and inept"
Frankly, If I had put 15,000 hours into making a game in the hopes that a developer known for their welcoming attitude towards indie development would pick it up only to be ignored then ultimately turned down, I'd probably have a nervous breakdown too.
I say Pelloni should look to Valve or even Microsoft to see if there's any hope for releasing the game. The publicity this story has gotten alone would warrent a few sales.
Robert Pelloni's story (at least, what he claims), is that this has all been a viral ploy. Basically, he was acting out the events of "bob's game" by becoming "bob." Therefore, without even realizing it, we were playing "bob's game" in real life.
Sure, that Pelloni guy surely had some issues but that doesn't detract from the fact that his game did look better than 95% of all third party developed for Nintendo consoles released in the past 5 years and I would probably have bought a DSi for it. And now I won't...
I think his problem was that his publicity was always focused on him and not the gameplay. He names the game after himself and he's the final boss. His "trailer" still focuses on his effort and ends with him taking a bow. The amount of time he put into the game is impressive, but he isn't willing to take the back seat and let his creation speak for itself. There is no indication that anyone besides him has even played the game.
I do feel for the guy, but there are thousands of people that have spent the bulk of the last 5 years working on games and how many of them have a game named after them sitting on a shelf in Gamestop? None. Even if his game is quality, Nintendo (a.k.a. the guys that print money) aren't going to take a chance on an egomaniac. There's no reason for him to give up, but he has to decide for himself whether he wants a viable commercial game, or he wants accolades and full reign.
I came to this late. I put it off. I saw the headline in my RSS drop-down menu and thought "do I need that kind of angst in my life today? No." Slid the cursor somewhere else.
I've skimmed comments and decided that even in the suitably jaded state in which I allowed myself to read this update, you can always become more so.
The vast majority of you are, well, kind of jerks.
You don't understand, do you, the kind of physical and mental sapping that goes on behind the scenes of even a "mediocre" TWO years of a project like that, do you. I sure don't. Not firsthand. But I've seen people become gaunt and feverish over something they let themselves believe in, and when that collapses, you should give a damn. If you're worthwhile individuals, you should give a damn for at least as long as it takes you to be distracted by the lint clogging up your navel.
I'm not defending his tantrum. I've had them, we've all had them, but there's no need to smear it all over the interwebs. The Link/Gannon reference, that's childish, sure. But again: people believe dumb things, superstitions, philosophies, religions even, if it thinks it will further them in their efforts, on the rare occasion some creative/exploratory/whatever urge seizes them and refuses to let go. Even when they fail. Especially when they fail. And don't forget he'd been locked in a room for 30 days. It was his doing, and maybe for less than brilliant reasons, sure, but psychologically speaking that's not going to leave you in tip-top shape, so surprise at the venom and melodrama in his rant is misplaced. What did you expect?
But it's sad. Even if he fucked up, even if he failed, even if the memory of this will plague him the rest of his life...at least he tried. He believed. That's more than you ever did.
Seriously? Your post has more sap than Vermont during syrup season.
The guy gave it his best, yes. Nintendo didn't take him up on his game. Yes, he went through all the steps, but even so Nintendo rejected him. Big deal. He isn't the first, last, or best to have (what he thinks is) a good idea rejected by [insert nameless corporation here].
He's a whiny childish crybaby who didn't get what he wanted. And he responded by one again being a whiny childish crybaby. And performing a publicity stunt.
His fifteen minutes are up. And not a moment too soon.
@2NinjasTapedTogether: Nobody said he deserves to have what he wanted. But the rest of you ought to at least respect that he tried. Rather than fling fifth-grade metaphors at people who do.
That he was childish doesn't matter. How many people who really put effort into something they do are likable, decent human beings? But regardless of his character flaws, he did something you all didn't--I didn't--and your knee-jerk rain of hate on him is sad, to me.
04/05/09
The extra 14,900 hours aren't going to do anything to increase your chances.
I really don't feel sorry for the guy, because it's not a whole lot different from deciding you're going to work for IBM as a software engineer, devoting 5 years of your life to learning how to code, then applying to the job and not getting hired... and then blaming IBM for all that time and effort you put in. Sorry, dude, sometimes things just don't work out. Accept it, and maybe plan a little better next time so you don't waste so much of your life.
04/04/09
So a guy can't get a fair shake without, what? Previous experience in the game industry? A CS degree and some kind of BS certification?
Why Reggie essentially said was, "We don't judge games based only on their intrinsic merit."
As someone who wants to be a writer but has no "credentials" in writing, this pisses me off. If it's good, who gives a fuck about anything else?
04/05/09
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Robert Pelloni, however, has mental problems and created a game that isn't actually any good or fun. He did a stupid thing to try to get attention and only proved that his mental problems make him inadequate to be a real game developer.
All in all, both parties are stupid and shouldn't be talking about video games.
They're perfect for the industry! :D
04/04/09
04/04/09
@Ted:And thus, he did pretty much what Reggie said.
04/04/09
Way to go.
Can't wait to play "Imagine:Bonerz".
04/04/09
If he was trying to make a 'splash' why didn't he jump though all of the hoops needed? Why didn't he release something other then a game with sprites and other stuff ripped from other titles? More so why didn't he release on the other systems, THEN come to Nintendo?
And finally, why did he throw a huge fit and not only shoot himself in the foot with Nintendo, but with any publisher worth his salt? Stop crying about Nintendo telling him no, cry how Bob couldn't be professional enough to do what he needed to do.
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Crappy commercial developers on the other hand... ;)
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This is good publicity though. It may work out for him in the end.
04/04/09
Do you remember when it "ended" by him ransacking his "chamber"?
04/04/09
04/04/09
I never felt bad for the guy, the whole thing just seemed silly. Especially when he showed his like 8 minute long game play video which simply consisted of your character walking around really fast.
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To become a Wiiware developer you for example are not allowed to work from your home office, you have to have a seperate registered office space somewhere else to where they then deliver the stuff.
That is a big showstopper for many indies.
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04/04/09
I'd buy that except you can basically pirate anything in the Wii right now. It's most easily hacked console this generation.
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One of the big ones that cost the guy was his ability to estabilsh a secure working environment when he showed he was willing to post confidential contact information for Nintendo employees on his page.
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@Prinny1God:He acted like a huge raving tit. Did you think 'speaking his mind' in the manner that he did would have no flashbacks?
@grumbel:He could have brought someone on or even asked in various developer fourms HOW to do it. That's nobody's fault but his own, not Nintendo's.
04/04/09
The Tetris story is pretty funny, because Nintendo had to outwit and directly deal with the KGB in order to get the rights to that game and they KGB wasn't very friendly to say the least.
04/04/09
Bob's Game. This Summer, one man... will stand up... to an empire.
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Frankly, If I had put 15,000 hours into making a game in the hopes that a developer known for their welcoming attitude towards indie development would pick it up only to be ignored then ultimately turned down, I'd probably have a nervous breakdown too.
I say Pelloni should look to Valve or even Microsoft to see if there's any hope for releasing the game. The publicity this story has gotten alone would warrent a few sales.
04/04/09
Robert isn't crazy, but "bob" is.
Robert Pelloni's story (at least, what he claims), is that this has all been a viral ploy. Basically, he was acting out the events of "bob's game" by becoming "bob." Therefore, without even realizing it, we were playing "bob's game" in real life.
04/04/09
04/04/09
Sure, that Pelloni guy surely had some issues but that doesn't detract from the fact that his game did look better than 95% of all third party developed for Nintendo consoles released in the past 5 years and I would probably have bought a DSi for it. And now I won't...
04/05/09
01/13/09
I do feel for the guy, but there are thousands of people that have spent the bulk of the last 5 years working on games and how many of them have a game named after them sitting on a shelf in Gamestop? None. Even if his game is quality, Nintendo (a.k.a. the guys that print money) aren't going to take a chance on an egomaniac. There's no reason for him to give up, but he has to decide for himself whether he wants a viable commercial game, or he wants accolades and full reign.
01/11/09
I've skimmed comments and decided that even in the suitably jaded state in which I allowed myself to read this update, you can always become more so.
The vast majority of you are, well, kind of jerks.
You don't understand, do you, the kind of physical and mental sapping that goes on behind the scenes of even a "mediocre" TWO years of a project like that, do you. I sure don't. Not firsthand. But I've seen people become gaunt and feverish over something they let themselves believe in, and when that collapses, you should give a damn. If you're worthwhile individuals, you should give a damn for at least as long as it takes you to be distracted by the lint clogging up your navel.
I'm not defending his tantrum. I've had them, we've all had them, but there's no need to smear it all over the interwebs. The Link/Gannon reference, that's childish, sure. But again: people believe dumb things, superstitions, philosophies, religions even, if it thinks it will further them in their efforts, on the rare occasion some creative/exploratory/whatever urge seizes them and refuses to let go. Even when they fail. Especially when they fail. And don't forget he'd been locked in a room for 30 days. It was his doing, and maybe for less than brilliant reasons, sure, but psychologically speaking that's not going to leave you in tip-top shape, so surprise at the venom and melodrama in his rant is misplaced. What did you expect?
Clearly, for him to have given up from the gitco, from what I gather from your comments. And that's sad. Not surprising, because you'd have to be as naive as this guy--beautiful, at times, naiveté, but look how much it hurts when it's rubbed away--to believe in any lasting decency on the internet or anywhere.
But it's sad. Even if he fucked up, even if he failed, even if the memory of this will plague him the rest of his life...at least he tried. He believed. That's more than you ever did.
01/11/09
Seriously? Your post has more sap than Vermont during syrup season.
The guy gave it his best, yes. Nintendo didn't take him up on his game. Yes, he went through all the steps, but even so Nintendo rejected him. Big deal. He isn't the first, last, or best to have (what he thinks is) a good idea rejected by [insert nameless corporation here].
He's a whiny childish crybaby who didn't get what he wanted. And he responded by one again being a whiny childish crybaby. And performing a publicity stunt.
His fifteen minutes are up. And not a moment too soon.
01/11/09
That he was childish doesn't matter. How many people who really put effort into something they do are likable, decent human beings? But regardless of his character flaws, he did something you all didn't--I didn't--and your knee-jerk rain of hate on him is sad, to me.