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Mark Ecko: DS more fun than 360

Mau ®

Member
Play: You're obviously a huge gamer. What are some of your favorite titles?

Ecko: I've been obsessed with games since childhood. Favorite titles... where do i begin? Atari, Colecovision, i had all of them. Yar's Revenge, whatever. The NES Mario, Sega's Sonic, of course. I remember being immediately hooked by Metal Gear Solid, and on PS2 GTA3. Lately i've been playing a lot of DS games, i've found found a lot of them more fun than the Xbox 360 launch titles. Although i have to admit Fight Night 3 is amazing. I could go on for days, i have billions of games. Oh yeah, World of Warcraft is beginning to ruin my life.

Keyword being launch titles. Obviously he hasn't played Oblivion. Go back to your caves non-gamers!!!
 
I do actually own the game (was one of the recent $10 circuit city games), and from what I played so far it does seem pretty cool, although I've only really put like an hour or so into it. If you're a big hip-hop fan like I am though I definitely recommend it trying it out...I never thought I would hear Nas' "The Genesis" in a video game until I played Getting Up :) . It seems a hell of a lot more genuine than, say, Saint's Row.

They do seem to have nailed the graphics, including the atmosphere and presentation, that's for sure. I do look forward to putting some time into it later (I have too many games!)
 

Monk

Banned
inthezone said:
Keyword being launch titles. Obviously he hasn't played Oblivion. Go back to your caves non-gamers!!!

Oblivion is a hit or miss kind of game. It is like Morrowind with a new coat of paint, which made a HUGE difference considering how ugly Morrowind was. For me it felt like the same old, same old though.

He might have preferred the ds games because he might be one of those looking for a unique experience. From that perspective, you got pac-pix, yoshis touch and go, Nintendogs, Polarium, and rub rabbits.
 
CO_Andy said:
Yeah, i don't get all the hate. All the praise around here lately seems to be going to Cliffy "generic-looking-marine-shooter" B or David "F-bomb" Jaffe. At least Marc Ecko's Getting Up was somewhat original... and the guy didn't curse at all in the interview.

The reason we bash him is because he likes to portray this persona of being all "urban" and "hip-hop" and "real", when he's just as much of a posing Sprite commercial as the people he talks shit about.

Bomb Air Force One? Nope! Paid a bunch of money to make it look like he tagged Air Farce 1.

Ever hit up trains, walls, billboards? Nope! Just admired from a far and "spit" his scribble. He's never thrown out a piece... he doesn't know how.

He also said he was going to teach videogame developers how to make games, because they were "out of touch" and he know everything, because he's been "a gamer for years". A gamer for years!?!? WTF!?!? I've been playing games for like 20 years, but that doesn't necessarily mean I know how to make a best-selling game (even though, I'm sure I can do better than Getting Up).

If hadn't had such a big head and been such a poser, maybe his game could've come out and there'd be no hate, but instead his ego and mouth got in the way.

Is he a great businessman? Yes! Does he have more money/clout and go to more celeb-parties than us? Yes!
Is he a great game maker? Well, I finally picked up Getting Up. It was sitting on the shelf at Best Buy for $9.99 NEW! Even then, I had to think about it...
 

aku:jiki

Member
Twitchfactor said:
The reason we bash him is because he likes to portray this persona of being all "urban" and "hip-hop" and "real", when he's just as much of a posing Sprite commercial as the people he talks shit about.

Bomb Air Force One? Nope! Paid a bunch of money to make it look like he tagged Air Farce 1.

Ever hit up trains, walls, billboards? Nope! Just admired from a far and "spit" his scribble. He's never thrown out a piece... he doesn't know how.

He also said he was going to teach videogame developers how to make games, because they were "out of touch" and he know everything, because he's been "a gamer for years". A gamer for years!?!? WTF!?!? I've been playing games for like 20 years, but that doesn't necessarily mean I know how to make a best-selling game (even though, I'm sure I can do better than Getting Up).

If hadn't had such a big head and been such a poser, maybe his game could've come out and there'd be no hate, but instead his ego and mouth got in the way.

Is he a great businessman? Yes! Does he have more money/clout and go to more celeb-parties than us? Yes!
Is he a great game maker? Well, I finally picked up Getting Up. It was sitting on the shelf at Best Buy for $9.99 NEW! Even then, I had to think about it...
How is the guy a poser when he freely admits all of this? I've never heard him claim to be one of the graffiti greats that has pieces all over the world or some shit -- he just says he loves it. He loses the right to enjoy the art because he doesn't do it himself? Doesn't that mean that neither you nor I can play games since we don't produce them?

And besides, the biggest flaws in Getting Up were from the developer side and was mainly ****-ups on The Collective's side. Or did you guys think that Marc programmed, drew textures, modeled environments and did the voice acting all by himself? No, you didn't, so save some bashing for The Collective.
 

qirex

Member
aku:jiki said:
How is the guy a poser when he freely admits all of this? I've never heard him claim to be one of the graffiti greats that has pieces all over the world or some shit -- he just says he loves it. He loses the right to enjoy the art because he doesn't do it himself? Doesn't that mean that neither you nor I can play games since we don't produce them?
Whether or not he's a poser for co-opting hip hop culture and repackaging it so it's safe for white kids isn't that relevant to this thread. My problem is that he talked up this game like he's Game Design and Marketing Jesus and it ended up being yet another third-person combat-centric action adventure game that was a commercial and critical flop.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6095542.html?q=ecko
Ecko also dispensed mad props to the game that bears his name, which he claims to have been working on for seven years. "This game will be genre-defining. Revolutionary," said Ecko. "We will put the flag in the ground of popular culture with Getting Up."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6117729.html?q=ecko
Slowly, Ecko came around, encouraging game producers to rethink their approach to game making and to take some time to really understand the consumer. "It's not the game," Ecko said over and over. "It's not the game…it’s the alternate way to spend your time." Ecko claimed that "at this moment in gaming, there's never been a greater divide between producer and consumer. We're missing the boat on the consumer, the culture."

"Making games for gamers will never get you out of your dungeons," he then added, to some chuckling.

For the next 40 minutes, Ecko gave suggestions on how to reconnect with consumers who "make fun of labels like Gen X and Gen Y." Claiming that a generational shift is going on, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the '60s, Ecko suggested that attendees "not address your own needs, or the retailers' needs, but your customers'."

While there were plenty of outbursts, and heaps of M-rated language, Ecko did his best to present himself as one of the tribe. "The dominant form of culture is gaming, not fashion," Ecko said, and then proceeded to give a short checklist of what games needed to contain or address to be taken seriously by a youth culture with a want-it-now mind-set when it comes to entertainment.
Big words for someone whose game hit $8 on Circuit City's clearance rack last weekend.
 
Of course, the fact that the developer might have done a poor job is not to take into consideration. Imagine a group of 'nerds' seeing a guy like this come into the office and say he wants to make a game.
I'm sure they have loved to work with him and answered all his demands ;)
 
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