Jeff Minter Ready To Quit Games?
Space Giraffe Creator despairs over games industry
Darth Minter.
Jeff Minter, the gaming luminary behind Space Giraffe, has had a few very disparaging words to say about the games industry at large - to the point where he's musing over getting out.
In a Livejournal posting, Minter writes:
Yup. The consumer's the problem, by the sound of it. Minter continues, "OK, we get the message. All you want on that channel is remakes of old, shite arcade games and crap you vaguely remember playing on your Amiga.
"We'll shut up trying to do anything new then.
"Sorry for even trying."
A tad melodramatic, perhaps. SPOnG loves Mr. Minter, but he is, after all, catering to a niche market rather than the mainstream gamer. A niche market is, by definition, smaller than the mass market. You won't catch The Fall quitting music because they get outsold by Girls Aloud...
You can catch SPOnG's two part grilling of Mr. Minter here and here.
Source: Livejournal
In a Livejournal posting, Minter writes:
"not seeing a lot of reason to continue even trying to make games, at this point, when a remake of Frogger, one of the worst games in the history of old arcade games, can outsell Space Giraffe that we put so much love and effort into, by more than ten to one, in one week."
Yup. The consumer's the problem, by the sound of it. Minter continues, "OK, we get the message. All you want on that channel is remakes of old, shite arcade games and crap you vaguely remember playing on your Amiga.
"We'll shut up trying to do anything new then.
"Sorry for even trying."
A tad melodramatic, perhaps. SPOnG loves Mr. Minter, but he is, after all, catering to a niche market rather than the mainstream gamer. A niche market is, by definition, smaller than the mass market. You won't catch The Fall quitting music because they get outsold by Girls Aloud...
You can catch SPOnG's two part grilling of Mr. Minter here and here.
Source: Livejournal
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Comments
SuperSaiyan4 22 Nov 2007 10:46
1/11
Err...o k then...*raises eyebrow*
irritant 22 Nov 2007 11:07
2/11
I won't miss him.
I played his games back in the 8 bit era and I played the demo of Space Giraffe and I didn't get any enjoyment out of the experiences. Personal opinions, I know there are tons of people who love his games.
I played his games back in the 8 bit era and I played the demo of Space Giraffe and I didn't get any enjoyment out of the experiences. Personal opinions, I know there are tons of people who love his games.
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zoydwheeler 22 Nov 2007 12:14
3/11
"You won't catch The Fall quitting music because they get outsold by Girls Aloud..." - genius comment!
Spinface 22 Nov 2007 13:15
4/11
zoydwheeler wrote:
"You won't catch The Fall quitting music because they get outsold by Girls Aloud..." - genius comment!
Thought you'd like that.
Minter's a sensitive chap, isn't he? Must say though, I find his openness about his games and the public's reaction to them refreshing.
DoctorDee 22 Nov 2007 13:29
5/11
irritant wrote:
I played his games back in the 8 bit era and I played the demo of Space Giraffe and I didn't get any enjoyment out of the experiences.
Not even Llamatron? One of the greatest games ever made!
zoydwheeler 22 Nov 2007 13:37
6/11
I wonder if he'll just sink into becoming an embittered, alcoholic sheep-farmer... has anybody actually played much of Space Giraffe?
irritant 22 Nov 2007 14:28
7/11
DoctorDee wrote:
irritant wrote:
I played his games back in the 8 bit era and I played the demo of Space Giraffe and I didn't get any enjoyment out of the experiences.
Not even Llamatron? One of the greatest games ever made!
Yep, that's the old one I played. Really didn't like it. It just failed to grab me. I remember recently after a luke warm review of Space Giraffe, Minter ranted that the reviewers weren't playing the game properly. That's a new one on me, I didn't realise that some games have to be played a certain way to be enjoyed...
Based on the psychedelic effects he loves and the odd choice of themes for his games, I'm assuming the way you are supposed to play them is while stoned. Maybe this is why the majority of people don't find them that good. Give me Frogger any day.
Joji 22 Nov 2007 15:40
8/11
While I respect Minter and what he's done in the history of games, he's a guy clearly out of touch with modern games and game consumers. Its as thoiugh he's making product for himself to play and no one else.
If Space Giraffe doesn't appeal to gamers and sells badly, it's hardly the customers fault. It seems Minter doesn't love games enough to learn new tricks and improve, so he can bounce back from negativity and dazzle us.
Minter. stop being a muppet and make something modern and great, that will appeal to us. If not, then just bow out of the industry. Plenty of other talented people out there.
If Space Giraffe doesn't appeal to gamers and sells badly, it's hardly the customers fault. It seems Minter doesn't love games enough to learn new tricks and improve, so he can bounce back from negativity and dazzle us.
Minter. stop being a muppet and make something modern and great, that will appeal to us. If not, then just bow out of the industry. Plenty of other talented people out there.
schnide 22 Nov 2007 15:59
9/11
F**K OFF JEFF MINTER!
I've been wanting to say that for years.
I've been wanting to say that for years.
Mable 22 Nov 2007 19:30
10/11
ah bless Jeff, but what have you actually been doing over the last few decades?
you backed Konix Multisystem and it never saw daylight
you backed the same tech that was salvaged from konix and became Atari Jaguar. it flopped
you back the Nuon DVD system and that flopped too
unity for gamecube was canned, and the console was a flop
now you're whining about yuor trippy little game flopping
seems that your accustomed to backing failures
when are you going to realise that people would rather play crappy old arcade games then stupid trippy sound-to-light generators
you backed Konix Multisystem and it never saw daylight
you backed the same tech that was salvaged from konix and became Atari Jaguar. it flopped
you back the Nuon DVD system and that flopped too
unity for gamecube was canned, and the console was a flop
now you're whining about yuor trippy little game flopping
seems that your accustomed to backing failures
when are you going to realise that people would rather play crappy old arcade games then stupid trippy sound-to-light generators
mrAnthony 22 Nov 2007 22:22
11/11
since when was the gamecube a FLOP. not selling as much as the ps2, the biggest selling console ever, doesnt make your system a flop. if it was a flop, ie, they lost a ton of money on it, nintendo probably woudn't still be making consoles.