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Venturebeat: Our Cuphead runneth over

I dont see whats wrong with what TB said.

Do you not need a basic level of understanding to cover the career youre in? The only thing hes wrong about is that it hurts the image of the game.

The game is gonna survive just fine. Anyone with a brain can see that hes just bad, not that the game is bad.

But that this video hurts the image of the game is his whole point. And it doesn't. It's harmless.

Also the pointless dig at other critics for how "competence is anathema for some"

He is a child with an inflated ego and sense of self importance.
 
Obviously there is no excuse for the extensive harassment Dean has received due to racism and some dumb agenda. They updated the video description to say that Dean doesn't really play these kind of games, but he was the only one in Germany available to get some footage and so he did his best. Watching someone struggle through some simple concepts as a game reviewer would be intensely frustrating, but that is not the kind of game Dean plays, nor is he primarily a game reviewer. They put it up as a joke video without that context and it snowballed into this. While that is unfortunate, so this block of text from Dean:

Guess what? Unskillful gaming is authentic.

Here’s where my nonapology starts. Gamers need to stop being mean to those who aren’t skillful. They don’t need to put others down to elevate their own subculture. Games have gone viral. They’re more popular than ever, reaching 2 billion people around the world. They have become a $108 billion industry. It’s silly to look down on games.

That industry will grow bigger, and gamers will get better games, if we embrace the new gamers. We don’t need to dumb games down. We can have adjustable difficulty, so that the unskilled and skilled alike can play. We can make tutorials even easier than the one that I failed at so miserably.

No, I’m not blaming the developer for my own shortcomings. I respect the designers, even if I didn’t truly understand at first the games they’ve made. I would just like to make sure that they make their games for people who are new, or noobs, as well as hardcore fans. As Nolan Bushnell, cofounder of Atari, said, games should be easy to learn and hard to master. (Yes, I know Cuphead’s tutorial isn’t that hard to learn).

No, I’m not celebrating mediocrity, like the Antonio Salieri character in Amadeus. I’m arguing that all gamers, casual or hardcore, deserve recognition. We are not all going to be esports stars who rake in millions of dollars. But we’re going to be the masses of unskilled players who make the game companies, including the makers of Cuphead, as rich as they can possibly be.

There is so much in here that I just don't agree with, but I've highlighted the worst of it in bold. Look Dean, this isn't your kind of game, but how the hell would you make the tutorial simpler? I feel like there is finally a push back against excessive hand holding in video games and Dean is asking for more due to a game he wasn't able to understand. With a tutorial he even admits isn't hard to learn. I believe games should primarily teach through gameplay and not in-depth tutorials. I mean, is Dean even finding games consistently that he can't play due to lack of skill or is it just that he doesn't like these kind of games? Is there even a movement for games being too hard? Also who is he to say that all developers should be aiming for every level of player? Some games are inherently easy, some games have difficulty ranges for everyone, and some are just intentionally cruel and hard. And there is an audience for all of those kinds of games. You wouldn't ask the movie industry to start making movies that appeal to everyone. He just either needs to go back to the kind of games that he enjoys or take the time to learn them. If he's not enjoying the game or understanding it, then he just needs to put it down and move on. And that isn't anything to be ashamed of either.

I personally think if they continue with this "Game Crimes" thing they should take the self-deprecating aspect out and see how Dean's skill in the game evolves over time. They have a pretty good opportunity to study how a game can or can't teach an unskilled player. Or maybe have him try one of the Mario games with the help videos/golden tanooki suit and see if that helps him understand the mechanics better.
 
Funny thing is, gamesbeat is trying to be all "we're all laughing at it!" now, but the original video had a different name and description, and was edited later after the outrage

So they're not being honest about it at all.
 
If one is going to review or cover a skill-heavy game that requires a good amount controller dexterity then I would expect the reviewer to at least be competent and game-literate. I can understand struggling with a hard game but the video reflects a basic lack of motor understanding in even a simple tutorial. It's unfortunate that this was picked up by the usual suspects but their involvement doesn't change what is plain to see.
 
I dont see whats wrong with what TB said.

Do you not need a basic level of understanding to cover the career youre in? The only thing hes wrong about is that it hurts the image of the game.

The game is gonna survive just fine. Anyone with a brain can see that hes just bad, not that the game is bad.
The person in question has done more than enough for this industry to show that he has a level of understanding about his job. And like you said, the notion that the footage is harmful to the game, is straight up BS. Especially given TB's history with other games and his total pretentiousness that he calls critiques.
 
I'm going to take my big fat L here. Thank you for the responses.

In my haste to give an opinion I did not do enough research and did not know this guy writes the majority of his stuff about the industry rather then review and previews and things of that ilk. In my mind that changes things.
 
"Opening the Xbox" was one of the first books I read about games, and is still one of my favorites. He's a top notch investigative journalist and an engaging writer, and the games industry is lucky to have him.

He probably shouldn't be reviewing games, though.
 
There is so much in here that I just don't agree with, but I've highlighted the worst of it in bold. Look Dean, this isn't your kind of game, but how the hell would you make the tutorial simpler?

That specific part of the tutorial could be better in my opinion.

For example, the following part has the Cuphead guy doing "Parry" jumps, which essentially allows him a double jump. On the third one, it shows a little arrow that points to the next platform. That makes it really obvious as to what the next step is after completing the three Parry jumps. An arrow similar to that could be helpful to players like Dean that don't intuitively know what an air dash is or how it works.

Alternatively (I think this is the best solution), they could introduce the jump first, then introduce the slide second separately(similar to how they introduced the duck), and then introduce the air-dash after introducing the two mechanics.

I think the way they do it now, while not something I find personally problematic, could easily be cleaned up for players that are not familiar with the genre. Especially since most of the other tutorial looks fine in that regard.

I can't put myself in the shoes of somebody that wouldn't have gotten that right away because I've known about dashing in the air in 2d platformers for years. I think it's weak to just assume that everyone is going to pick up every mechanic right away. I'm sure we've all struggled on something that somebody else found intuitively obvious.
 
Funny thing is, gamesbeat is trying to be all "we're all laughing at it!" now, but the original video had a different name and description, and was edited later after the outrage

So they're not being honest about it at all.
The editorial team might have different reasons for doing things internally than might be immediately apparent. Writers do stuff as inside jokes all the time. It's not terribly professional, but it happens.

There's no reason for them to think this would have gotten the traction it did. It was a mistake no doubt, but one that doesn't really require questioning their motives to believe their side of he story.
 
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This mother fucker shouldn't be allowed to eat, let alone have terrible opinions on the internet.
 
I mean, as long as the reviewer is transparent with their skill (video is a great way to do this), it's a big old whatever.

I'll avoid his reviews. Not like there's a lack of opinions about videogames on the internet.

This abuse though is disgusting.
 
I'll say this again. Does not understanding Cuphead's first part of the tutorial mean that he's going to be bad at the latest Madden game? Does that mean he cannot play Uncharted? Does this mean that he's definitely incapable of playing an RTS?

If you can't use an android phone, can you claim you are competent on an iPhone? There's a certain level of base competence which transfers and shows that you understand how video games work otherwise no one would ever be able to switch genres!

The ability to time and combine presses, the ability to read and execute what is being asked of you, the understanding of using the new thing you are learning in conjunction with what you have already learnt are not things unique to cuphead or even to platformers.
 
I think there's a fact that some people are forgetting:

Cuphead will be too difficult for many people.

Dean is (or was at the time of the video he recorded) apparently one of those people. And young kids, who would otherwise be attracted to the cute cartoon characters, will probably be too. As well as many other people who have previewed Cuphead in the years since it's E2 2014 reveal, and probably some of the people who will review it too, unfortunately.

From all accounts it's a really hard game. I expect the summary from many reviews to be: "great gameplay, gorgeous graphics, too hard". It's what we've been hearing for three years! Many people will love it for that reason - good for them. Others will not, and will probably want to wait and see what more people think - always a good idea.

We'll see in 21 days.
 
I'm going to take my big fat L here. Thank you for the responses.

In my haste to give an opinion I did not do enough research and did not know this guy writes the majority of his stuff about the industry rather then review and previews and things of that ilk. In my mind that changes things.

You know what? That's cool. Props to you.
 
I had a few discussions about this on twitter and while I agree he deserves every bit of jovial shit he copped for his competence level at games, I have no idea why it went over the top with calls for his firing as such. He's a journalist isn't he? Not a reviewer.

I feel reviewer should have a bare minimum level of competence at video games in order to be qualified to pass on an opinion that will influence potential sales.

But obviously journalists don't require that same minimum.

I myself just found it funny that someone who has probably played games as long as Dean has didn't have a grasp on 30 year old basic platforming mechanics.
 
Lmao at that video title. Good sport, the harrasment is a damn shame.
I... don't understand the argument here, honestly.

Let's ignore that the "it reflects bad on the game" argument is usually misguided at best in general. In this specific case, what looks bad as a result? If it's so obvious that he's playing badly, then what blame is the video putting on the game? What harm does it do to the game?
I think that answer is subjective, but we've all seen people complain about showings of video games with less than capable people playing them. I don't mean with a reaction like we see here or with Doom, just in general. We've all seen people perceive a game a certain way due to the player playing it. I believe this happened in a previous Cuphead thread, having people given different gameplay and going: "ok this looks better".

The video didn't change my opinion of the game, but it did make me switch videos lol. When I saw it initially I went: "whew" and just watched some more gameplay of the game.

I don't think it was a good video, but it doesn't warrant anywhere near this type of response.
The man even made fun of his struggles, but people are still going at him.
 
Where's your red lines and red text "connecting the dots"????

WHAT'S HIS CONNECTION TO ANITA?!?

Just coming back to ask what the hell is going on with you. I found all these excerpts in one GAF thread that wasn't even about him in the first place. That's literally the only place where I even came in contact with anything related to him, that thread and this one.

I just think people that want to paint it like he was doing this as a self deprecating bit and was going for that angle from the beginning have it wrong, that's all. Acting like that's some gamergate thing because some asshole related to that stuff chimed in days later is weird af.

I'm really out now though.
 
If you can't use an android phone, can you claim you are competent on an iPhone? There's a certain level of base competence which transfers and shows that you understand how video games work otherwise no one would ever be able to switch genres!

The ability to time and combine presses, the ability to read and execute what is being asked of you, the understanding of using the new thing you are learning in conjunction with what you have already learnt are not things unique to cuphead or even to platformers.

I get what you're saying, but that doesn't answer my question. Can you tell me that Dean is poor at every other genre of video games because it took him a minute and a half to figure out how to air dash in a genre that he's not familiar with? I just don't see how the answer can reasonably be yes.

I also think the phone comparison is pretty bad.
 
I get what you're saying, but that doesn't answer my question. Can you tell me that Dean is poor at every other genre of video games because it took him a minute and a half to figure out how to air dash in a genre that he's not familiar with? I just don't see how the answer can reasonably be yes.

I also think the phone comparison is pretty bad.

Including the Mass Effect retraction?

I can think of three separate instances where the lack of skill of a gaming journalist became newsworthy. Dean Takahashi is responsible for two of them.

Don't waste his time on this stuff anyway, there are thousands of people that can record footage and write reviews, but only a small handful that have Takahashi's journalistic skills.
 
Including the Mass Effect retraction?

I can think of three separate instances where the lack of skill of a gaming journalist became newsworthy. Dean Takahashi is responsible for two of them.

Don't waste his time on this stuff anyway, there are thousands of people that can record footage and write reviews, but only a small handful that have Takahashi's journalistic skills.

If you include that it still doesn't really change the story. 2 issues over the course of 9 years hardly does anything to prove that he's incompetent at video games on a broader scale. The critical piece of Mass Effect has more merit because he was objectively wrong about some of his criticism, but Cuphead isn't a criticism piece so his skill at the game shouldn't matter at all outside of "Hey this guy is really bad at this game, it's funny."
 
I read the article and was like "right on dude, screw the overly negative gaming culture that has people getting all worked up at gaming journalists for not being pro players at every single game."

Then I watched the video and was like "holy shit, this guy sucks."
 
I read the article and was like "right on dude, screw the overly negative gaming culture that has people getting all worked up at gaming journalists for not being pro players at every single game."

Then I watched the video and was like "holy shit, this guy sucks."

And this is an important point
no one was bashing Dean for not being a pro in gaming. but he couldnt even do basics, stuff 4yo (as there's a video showing) could do effortless. From a dude with self-proclaimed 25 years of experience
 
I get what you're saying, but that doesn't answer my question. Can you tell me that Dean is poor at every other genre of video games because it took him a minute and a half to figure out how to air dash in a genre that he's not familiar with? I just don't see how the answer can reasonably be yes.

I also think the phone comparison is pretty bad.

Dean is poor at every genre of videogames which require timing or any sort of manual dexterity. Unless he was sick or somehow mentally impaired on that day, then that is the only thing that makes sense. Maybe he is great at point and click games but I find it very hard to believe that someone who runs into the same enemy 4 times in a row when he spawns can be at any level be considered competent.
 
I can't take your video game reviews or video game "journalism" seriously if you don't have a basic understanding on how to play video games.
 
He shouldn't have been harassed, but he should be nicely goaded into at least trying to be better at games because it is his profession even if it is just him pushing his own skill level further by practice.

I'm not sure how to take this. I feel this article is a bit much, but the overreaction was also a bit much so they equal each other out. He definitely kind of sucks at games it seems like. But you know what he should be allowed to get better. I just sometimes fear all developers are going to make their games piss easy to appease these folks, and that is something I don't want.

I mean I don't think people would want to see my shmup vids even though I am a decent player, I can't even begin to compete with good players on those games.

But holy cow. I thought he was just smashed on the tutorial.
 
If you include that it still doesn't really change the story. 2 issues over the course of 9 years hardly does anything to prove that he's incompetent at video games on a broader scale. The critical piece of Mass Effect has more merit because he was objectively wrong about some of his criticism, but Cuphead isn't a criticism piece so his skill at the game shouldn't matter at all outside of "Hey this guy is really bad at this game, it's funny."

To be completely fair about it all.

he shouldn't have recorded/broadcasted that part if he was still learning the game.

If I'm a video game journalist and I'm supposed to write a review about a game and I know if i start up a brand new game i'm not going to know how it works, I'll try it out first, play it enough to understand the core concepts and mechanics, THEN go and start a new game to broadcast to show.

It's a simple mistake that got blown out of proportion. But it's something that he could've easily avoided.
 
Everyone commenting in the thread should make sure to check out the video. Harassment isn't cool at all, but what everyone is giving him grief for is not being able to get through the tutorial. It's literally telling him to stand on a block and press A then press X and he can't do it.

Any review/article I see from him going forward, I'll be sure to disregard.
 
Dean is poor at every genre of videogames which require timing or any sort of manual dexterity. Unless he was sick or somehow mentally impaired on that day, then that is the only thing that makes sense. Maybe he is great at point and click games but I find it very hard to believe that someone who runs into the same enemy 4 times in a row when he spawns can be at any level be considered competent.
Just to be clear here, you're calling Dean incompetent, right?
 
I dont see whats wrong with what TB said.

Do you not need a basic level of understanding to cover the career youre in? The only thing hes wrong about is that it hurts the image of the game.

The game is gonna survive just fine. Anyone with a brain can see that hes just bad, not that the game is bad.

Why is being able to play a 2D platformer considered the baseline of writing for video games? How about CRPGs? Puzzle games? FPSs?

Do you see how incredibly dumb this train of logic goes?

i don't think most of the people attacking him know what a games journalist is.

Do they? Because I see a lot of people both here and on Twitter/Reddit/etc who are incredibly ignorant about the job requirement of a games journalist. Like the post I quoted above.
 
i don't think most of the people attacking him know what a games journalist is.

you can't be a good games journalist if you suck at games and use that in your pieces to blame the games instead
and Dean did that. more than once. and he even apologized for it once.
 
This all seems like classic concern trolling to me. No one cared about Dean's gaming ability until they could use it as an excuse to further some stupid agenda.
 
I didnt previously know about Dean's Mass Effect review so i looked it up on google and the immediate search results for his name include Cuphead and ME.

Its going to be hard for him to ever recover from that reputation.

Why is being able to play a 2D platformer considered the baseline of writing for video games? How about CRPGs? Puzzle games? FPSs?

Do you see how incredibly dumb this train of logic goes.

Considering what ive been reading about him he most definitely needs basic motor skill to write about games hes played.
 
Every outlet is going to have their equivalent of Polygon's Doom video at this rate.

If you struggle to learn basic mechanics, then your value as a reviewer is close to zero. Especially if you're as bad as that video shows this guy is. It's just too big a part of playing games. It'd be like getting book reviews from an illiterate.

As a games journalist I'm sure he can still do the news part of the job - the skill floor for paraphrasing press releases being what it is - but shouldn't expect to be taken seriously when making declarative statements about a game's quality for the foreseeable future. He's blotted his copybook.
 
I didnt previously know about Dean's Mass Effect review so i looked it up on google and the immediate search results for his name include Cuphead and ME.

Its going to be hard for him to ever recover from that reputation.



Considering what ive been reading about him he most definitely needs basic motor skill to write about games hes played.

Do you need "basic motor skills" to play some turn based RPG? Do you need this level of action game dexterity to write about the development history of the canceled Blizzard MMO Titan?

This is stupid.
 
As a games journalist I'm sure he can still do the news part of the job - the skill floor for paraphrasing press releases being what it is

This is garbage tier. You should be ashamed of yourself. Dude has broke many big stories over the years. None of them required knowing how to jump dash.
 
Every outlet is going to have their equivalent of Polygon's Doom video at this rate.

If you struggle to learn basic mechanics, then your value as a reviewer is close to zero. Especially if you're as bad as that video shows this guy is. It's just too big a part of playing games. It'd be like getting book reviews from an illiterate.

As a games journalist I'm sure he can still do the news part of the job - the skill floor for paraphrasing press releases being what it is - but shouldn't expect to be taken seriously when making declarative statements about a game's quality for the foreseeable future. He's blotted his copybook.

Lol. What you wrote is total garbage.

This is garbage tier. You should be ashamed of yourself. Dude has broke many big stories over the years. None of them required knowing how to jump dash.

I wish everyone here who at least wanted to discuss this in good faith would at least do a bit of Google research and learn about the contributions Dean has made to the industry and not just the Mass Effect and Cuphead bullshit.
 
Do you need "basic motor skills" to play some turn based RPG? Do you need this level of action game dexterity to write about the development history of the canceled Blizzard MMO Titan?

This is stupid.

He can still cover the history behind a game like Titan.

What he cant do is critique or review a game because his opinion is worth less now than it ever was.
 
As a games journalist I'm sure he can still do the news part of the job - the skill floor for paraphrasing press releases being what it is - but shouldn't expect to be taken seriously when making declarative statements about a game's quality for the foreseeable future. He's blotted his copybook.

He's been writing about games longer than you probably been alive. Sit down.

He can still cover the history behind a game like Titan.

What he cant do is critique or review a game because his opinion is worth less now than it ever was.

Can't critique any game because he played one game poorly in a couple of minutes?
 
He can still cover the history behind a game like Titan.

What he cant do is critique or review a game because his opinion is worth less now than it ever was.

Well that's dumb. What if for some reason he wanted to review the next big match 3 game and is a fucking genius at match 3 games?

Who the hell are you anyway to tell someone what they can and can't do? You know what you can do? You could just ignore his reviews.

People like you are part of the reason why this industry and its fans are sometimes looked down upon as immature babies.
 
This is garbage tier. You should be ashamed of yourself. Dude has broke many big stories over the years. None of them required knowing how to jump dash.

It's also reasonably accurate to what comprises gaming news, though in this specific instance I considered your point and went to see if his prior output justifies the response. I discovered he's also the person who failed to research Warhammer and Space Marine before accusing it of being a Gears rip-off. He's certainly no stranger to these controversies, it seems.
 
He's been writing about games longer than you probably been alive. Sit down.



Can't critique any game because he played one game poorly in a couple of minutes?

Well that's dumb. What if for some reason he wanted to review the next big match 3 game and is a fucking genius at match 3 games?

Who the hell are you anyway to tell someone what they can and can't do? You know what you can do? You could just ignore his reviews.

People like you are part of the reason why this industry and its fans are sometimes looked down upon as immature babies.

Even when you compliment a man you still cant win huh? He can still use his writing skill for other things.

This some Ben Kuchera level defense force going on right now. Yes, you wont be taken seriously as a reviewer when youre bad at a game.
 
I didnt previously know about Dean's Mass Effect review so i looked it up on google and the immediate search results for his name include Cuphead and ME.

Its going to be hard for him to ever recover from that reputation.



Considering what ive been reading about him he most definitely needs basic motor skill to write about games hes played.
Even when you compliment a man you still cant win huh? He can still use his writing skill for other things.

This some Ben Kuchera level defense force going on right now. Yes, you wont be taken seriously as a reviewer when youre bad at a game.

Why ignore the video of him playing AC where he plays the game just as well as pretty much everyone who doesn't already specialize in stealth? Where have you been reading about it? ��
 
Feel bad for Dean (the video had me grinding my teeth to chalk, but nobody deserves that kind of harassment over being bad at video games) yet I feel just as bad for the Cuphead dudes. Guy at a big outlet shows your game in the worst possible light and thus your game becomes a call to arms for right-wing fuck bags. Oof.
 
This idea that all video games should be played by reviewers with a base level competence is absurd. A Cuphead review written by a gamer who is bad at platforming might be irrelevant to you, but it is going to be valuable to a gamer who is also bad at platformers.

We will have a million reviews written by Nintendo fans for Mario Odyssey, so I would also love a review by someone who has hated previous Mario games. These are all valuable and diverse perspectives I wish we had more of.
 
i remember when the bloke who trashed football manager for not being fifa and just being full of dumb numbers made the same argument.

he didn't have the living and breathing alt-right strawman to make being toss at games a grand political statement though.
 
I'll say I didn't really follow the whole gamergate thing (little blurbs here and there) so I don't fully know what it is about, but based on the op quotes, I don't think every game has to be made for everyone.

Historically, I have never been a fan of difficult games (though I am shifting a bit on that) but I don't think that every game needs to have difficulty options or whatever. For instance, the point of a Souls game (from what I hear - haven't played one) IS overcoming the challenge. Everyone has their own kind of fun.

I mean, I don't like some genres but I don't think every game needs to to my taste. A horror game need not have a non-horror mode just because I don't like fear in games.

Regarding this quote:

"No, I’m not blaming the developer for my own shortcomings. I respect the designers, even if I didn’t truly understand at first the games they’ve made. I would just like to make sure that they make their games for people who are new, or noobs, as well as hardcore fans. As Nolan Bushnell, cofounder of Atari, said, games should be easy to learn and hard to master. (Yes, I know Cuphead’s tutorial isn’t that hard to learn)."

A super easy Darks Soul as I understand it would be defeating the point of the game's existence.

In general, a challenge forces you to become better at a game allowing you to enjoy a game at a whole new level or if you prefer a whole new way. Interestingly, this is something the 'easy' modes of games like The Witcher 2 and Max Payne 3 taught me (not that I have suddenly become a fan of super difficulty).

My overall point is that things needs not be homogenised to just a few tastes.

Some people complain about lack of gender or lack of race. While I think these are important issues I don't think every game needs to have a character creator to the degree of Fallout, Mass Effect, Dragon Age etc. I mean these sorts of games are great and are generally my preference. However, sometimes I just want the tale of Geralt of Rivia or Master Chief and Cortana or Lara Croft.

Personally, my preference is interactive/dialogue-tree storytelling (Kotor, The Witcher, Mass Effect, older Final Fantasy games to a degree) but I know know some prefer the cutscene stylings of Uncharted or Metal Gear or others the full immersion of Half Life and Portal.

I don't really know what gamergate is about but these are my thoughts on these issues.
 
This idea that all video games should be played by reviewers with a base level competence is absurd. A Cuphead review written by a gamer who is bad at platforming might be irrelevant to you, but it is going to be valuable to a gamer who is also bad at platformers.

We will have a million reviews written by Nintendo fans for Mario Odyssey, so I would also love a review by someone who has hated previous Mario games. These are all valuable and diverse perspectives I wish we had more of.

This guy makes a good point. The reviewer will be one in a sea of many, let him differ
 
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