• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Too Human / Dennis Dyack article in the Toronto Star

Dez

Member
GAF's favourite developer/philosopher talks about Too Human.. nothing we haven't heard before:


""Video games aren't viewed, by and large, as an art form and we want to push it to where it is," he said. "We think we're in the middle of a paradigm shift right now. I truly believe gaming is really going to change culture, and we're trying to respond to that."


The Monster Within
 

dirtmonkey37

flinging feces ---->
HOLY SHIT!!! 80 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!???????!?!?

damn, this game better sell!!! everyone buy it when it comes out!!!! :lol
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
"We are really going to push this paradigm shift in gaming by introducing a science fiction themed game where you blow shit up. It'll be fantastic."
 
I'm hoping to see more of this at E3. They're describing it as a very huge production from MS, I'm really curious. If they'll be able to put in it the same genius I saw in Eternal Darkness, it's a sure buy.
 

fenners

Member
The article doesn't say Too Human is costing $80 million (in Canadian, remember). That's a quote from a GameSpy editor.
 
Looks like there was a recent media event in SK's headquarters. I guess all info is embargoed until EGM's first preview.
 

Pakkidis

Member
Dyack's vision was larger that that. To him, Too Human is not just a trio of games. It's a revolution.


Is it just me, or is this guy trying waaaaaay too hard to please people. He seems so focused on so many other things that its almost like he's going to forget to make the game fun. Somebody should just tell the guy that if you make great games, the rest is history.
 

border

Member
Is Microsoft really committed for 3 games? Even if the first one bombs, they'll have to make another two? I imagine 80 million might be the budget for all 3, but to gamble that on just one game from SK would be stupid even for Microsoft.

Considering the speed at which Silicon Knights produces games, the trilogy probably won't even be complete until the end of the Xbox 720's lifespan. =P

"It's man versus machine — everybody gets that," Dyack says. "But if you dig, it goes deep — what makes us human? What defines the human soul?"

"I'm a big fan of Aristotle's Poetics," Dyack says of the philosopher's text. "No one has written a Poetics for the video-game industry yet, and we need one."


I hate when people give this blowhard a soapbox.
 

Azih

Member
Dyack is a total doofus.

But I think MS learned from the whole Doublefine thing and have MS employees sitting in SK offices making sure things are getting done.
 

Boogie

Member
fenners said:
The article doesn't say Too Human is costing $80 million (in Canadian, remember). That's a quote from a GameSpy editor.

That would still be in the area of at least $60 million US. Our dollar doesn't suck anymore :p
 
He's been stealing too much rhetoric from Nintendo (paradigm shifts and revolutions), and I'm sure his "what makes us human" line is on the back of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" / "Blade Runner".

I like Dyack and SK though. I loved ED. So I'm looking forward to what they do.
 

dirtmonkey37

flinging feces ---->
Azih said:
Dyack is a total doofus.

But I think MS learned from the whole Doublefine thing and have MS employees sitting in SK offices making sure things are getting done.

What do you mean by the "doublefine thing"

Double fine (tim schafer) and THE EXCELLENT GAME PSYCHONAUTS was dropped by MS after Ed Fries left.
 

puck1337

Member
Murray Whyte sure could have used a fact checker for that article. I mean, the Toronto Star reader isn't going to know Kojima from Kawasaki, but dude, have some pride in your work!
 

Ark-AMN

Banned
poor Denis is totally unloved on this board.

I heard that he may be at the GDC just attending the show. Maybe I'll run into him there.
 

puck1337

Member
Ulairi said:
If (when?) the first game bombs there will not be a trilogy. MS isn't that dumb.
In that case, MS might not release the rest of the trilogy, but someone would unless it was Daikatana-style poison. The series has a lot of hardcore support built up behind it, and even if the first game bombed, there would probably be enough of a fanbase to justify some kind of release for later installments.
 

Striek

Member
Appealing to the 'non-gamers'? Hmmm, really makes me interested to learn what Too Human actually 'is'. Sounds like just an action game with a deep story/emotional attachment and I don't see that doing much for 'non-gamers'.

Oh and the GameSpy member was talking about next-gen games in general...but I only see those figures becoming applicable to the CG heavy titles (like FF). With 'epic' titles like Gears of War being done on just $10M....doesn't seem plausible otherwise.
 

neptunes

Member
The way they are describing the game, you'd think it's part of the ark of the covenant or something.

It almost makes me want to not buy it. :p
 

master15

Member
Wow Dyack certainly brings out the haters from the woodworks. Even though I somewhat enjoyed Eternal Darkness (Although flawed) and was disappointed by Twin Snakes, I've always had time for Dennis.

He seems to be a very positive upbeat person about the gaming industry and has some brave ideas, and certainly ambitious ideas and I really think through working with Nintendo and Konami he would have learnt a great deal of valuable lessons which will benefit Too Human. I certainly agree with his view of more story orientated games with deep, interesting narrative. Eternal Darkness was one of the few games that my Dad actually stopped, sat down and watched my play thanks to the amazing voice-acting and cinemas. I really hope the game takes off and the planned triology is completed, any Shenmue fans will understand there is nothing more frustrating than a story based game never reaching a conclusion *grumble, grumble*
 

Borys

Banned
I thought the GAF consensus was that Dennis Duck was cool when he made games for Nintendo, now that he betrayed it and went to MS camp he is no longer cool.

Basically that's what you get from reading between the lines in all Silicon Knights threads.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
dirtmonkey37 said:
why can't I make threads?

why cant i ban you?


Borys said:
I thought the GAF consensus was that Dennis Duck was cool when he made games for Nintendo, now that he betrayed it and went to MS camp he is no longer cool.

Basically that's what you get from reading between the lines in all Silicon Knights threads.


or if you're a sonybot, he was not cool ever


huahua
 

bluemax

Banned
I just get a horrible Daikatana feeling about this game every time I hear it mentioned now. It sounded intriguing back on the PS1, then promising on GCN but now? I just can't imagine it living up to so many years of expectations and hype. I hope for Dyack's sake it does but it's been so long I'm skeptical.
 

Spike

Member
You would think that the author of the article would get his facts straight:

Which, of course, is the goal for Too Human. In his years producing games for Nintendo, Dyack worked alongside that company's legendary founders, Miyamoto-san and Kojima-san.

Kojima, a Nintendo founder? :lol

Dyack's company designed a string of critically acclaimed hits as a second-party developer for Nintendo, the dominant game system in the mid-'90s

:lol

String of hits? Dominant game system?
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
Spike said:
You would think that the author of the article would get his facts straight:



Kojima, a Nintendo founder? :lol

um... miyamoto, a nintendo founder? :lol!

Nintendo as a company is almost 120 years old...
 

jett

D-Member
I don't really know why, but I hate that pretentious bastard and his overrated company. A $60-80 million budget would only make the inevitable sound of BOMBA much sweeter. Microsoft gotta be crazy to give this people the money to make 3 games, when they have never produced a hit.
 

Mr Gump

Banned
I love how dyack talk his games as the second coming of christ. He puts himself on such hight a pedastal that the fall is excrutiatingly painful.

I was as hyped up for eternal darkness as anybody, but i was so glad my friend bought it and i didnt, as that game was so.......not fun.
 

Mr Gump

Banned
jett said:
I don't really know why, but I hate that pretentious bastard and his overrated company. A $60-80 million budget would only make the inevitable sound of BOMBA much sweeter. Microsoft gotta be crazy to give this people the money to make 3 games, when they have never produced a hit.
Microsoft have tried to give money to everyone. The ones that arent making games for them are the ones that rejected them.
 

D3VI0US

Member
Why do some of you guys nitpick the irrelevant parts of articles like little bitches? Who cares what the local paper had to say, what I want to know about is the event and what they showed. Dennis is spouting his usual high brow razzmatazz but what I'm really curious to see is how the game looks in motion cause that trailer had some really rough edges that no one seemed to notice. Also I want to know if it really is a shallow hack and slash game, I heard the combat was supposed to be easy and to me that implies lacking depth which makes me sad. Still I really hope these games live up to the hype and tell a truly epic story, I would enjoy that very much.
 

Mr_Moogle

Member
I'm sure I heard the term 'paradigm shift' from Nintendo executives prior to the Revolution's unveiling.

I think Silicon Knights make very solid games but they dont really output that much (at leats this gen). We only have Eternal Darkness and a remake of Metal Gear Solid.

I'm still rather annoyed at Dennis Dyack. He said all sorts of things about being a part of Nintendo and how they had no plans to leave but we know it was all bullshit.

I have nothing against Microsoft and I hope SK's games turn out to be awesome on the 360. It just really annoys me when the executives, say one thing, and do something entirely different. I liken it to Capcom with their "RE4 will only release on Gamecube" mantra.
 
Mr_Moogle said:
I'm still rather annoyed at Dennis Dyack. He said all sorts of things about being a part of Nintendo and how they had no plans to leave but we know it was all bullshit.

I think it had less to do with SK leaving and more to do with Nintendo not wanting them.
 
Who gives a shit about this douche. Both of their Game Cube efforts weren't that great. Eternal Darkness was boring and had Dreamcast era graphics. Twin Snakes was good but not great. So why give this B or C grade developer any merit? He needs to start stepping up his shit before I give a damn about him.
 
The Experiment said:
Who gives a shit about this douche. Both of their Game Cube efforts weren't that great. Eternal Darkness was boring and had Dreamcast era graphics. Twin Snakes was good but not great. So why give this B or C grade developer any merit? He needs to start stepping up his shit before I give a damn about him.

wrong. eternal darkness was way better than twin snakes.
 
The Experiment said:
Who gives a shit about this douche. Both of their Game Cube efforts weren't that great. Eternal Darkness was boring and had Dreamcast era graphics. Twin Snakes was good but not great. So why give this B or C grade developer any merit? He needs to start stepping up his shit before I give a damn about him.

you posted in this thread. Like it or not, you give a damn about him.
 

duckroll

Member
So what exactly has he said about the GAME itself that makes it sound even remotely like a paradigm-shift for the "changing industry"? And what exactly is a "Poetics for videogames" besides "wankery dialogue and onscreens done way too seriously for anyone to care"? I would like some answers to these questions before he should be allowed to talk about Too Human ever again. :p
 
Top Bottom