Takahashi Loses It: Declares Games Industry A Bunch Of Consumerists
I’ve had a chuckle lately reading a rather amusing article regarding the recent press/developer talk with Keita Takahashi – and boy is he losing his grip on reality! Taking place at last weeks Games Developer Conference, Takahashi seems to feel his efforts with Katamari Damacy were aimed at placing a knife in the ribs of the consumerist society.
Apparently Katamari is “a game about the consumption society”, ironic considering the ill-priced and ‘on-the-disc’ DLC found in the sequel he didn’t work on. Its position thematically also presented him with a problem – playing it made him sad, he claims.
“I wanted to make more objects. If there are few objects, I feel lonely. If there are more objects, they will make things more colourful. But when they’re rolled up, they’re gone. I felt empty,” he said.
“I feel the same way about the disposable society. I think I successfully expressed my cynical stance towards the consumption society by making Katamari – but still I felt empty when the objects were gone.”
He also states that he “wasn’t happy” with the standard formula his title relied on – specifically, the structure of moving to bigger and bigger levels and adding more things to do! “This seemed like it was just a formula, and I felt somehow betrayed.”
Thr possible lessening of his grip on reality has led many to question Takahashi’s sanity and sobriety, but not to worry, he says! “Sometimes [people] might think that I’m so crazy, but I’m very normal. I don’t use drugs at all, I don’t drink at all. Please don’t worry about me, I’m OK!” he said.
Pull the other one Takahashi, if your games didn’t sell then you wouldn’t have the chance to make more. Accept consumption my friend, its what connects you to your customers.
Source: Eurogamer
Takahashi is like the Andy Kaufman of the gaming industry. He only says that shit because to him it’s a practical joke. He puts down the gaming industry, the industry gives him more press, he sells more games. If anyone important (aka: executives) actually believed what he said, he wouldn’t make more games, he wouldn’t be invited to talk at conferences, and he would instead be following his weird dreams of inventing playground equipment.
Then again one glance at Noby Noby Boy and it seems like he is actually inventing playground equipment… so I guess I take that last part back. Good for you Takahashi; follow those damn dreams!
Of course the gaming industry is all about mass consumption; this is nothing new. How he thinks he…”successfully expressed my cynical stance towards the consumption society by making Katamari”…is beyond me. The vast majority of people saw the game as quirky or cute. And I’m sure plenty just didn’t “get” it. It seemed to be marketed as another one of those zany Japanese games that are just soo different than western games. I really enjoy Katamari and thought it was a fun game that provides a different experience than the majority of games. But not once during the countless hours I’ve spent playing the various versions of the game did I ever stop to ponder the developers anti-materialistic stance. If he hates the modern consumerist society soo much, than why is he such a big part of it? Why doesn’t he make games for free and give them away? Video games are just about the biggest consumer market there is, bigger than music and movies. And the one big thing about being the type of gamers that most of us are , is that we buy alot of games. Most of them at release. We may be on the fringes in other areas of society, but when it comes to games we are right there in the front of the line neck deep in the stuff. Being a gamer requires consumption. And not just money, but the energy it takes to power the pc/console and most of all we consume vast amounts of time. Even when we are not actually playing we spend time reading about games, discussing games, etc…. If Takahashis really wants to take a cynical stance towards consumerism then he should walk away from it completly. Until he does he will remain just another half-baked hypocrite that earns a comfortable living of the thing he claims to hate.
If Katamari and NobyNobyBoy are results of his thinking while sober, I’d love to see what kind of crazy shit he would come up with if he did do drugs.