L.A. Noire Boss Defends Against Developer Diatribes
Brendan McNamara can't see what the fuss is all about
You might think that working close to Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach on a video game that set out to change gaming would have been a blast. More anecdotal evidence is hitting the fan, however, that developing L.A. Noire for Team Bondi was more like a work-life explosion.
Australian devs have already started a website complaining that credits for the game have either been dropped or understated. Now other creatives have called TB head Brendan McNamara's management style into question.
He has taken the chance proffered by IGN to set the record straight in the light of criticisms quoted by the site such as:
"A gameplay programmer comments that when he resigned, he recalled thinking, 'I can't do this to myself anymore. When I started, there was 'less than 12 months to go' on the project. Then, two and a half years later when I left, there was still 'less than 12 months to go',' he laughs. 'I'm not sure whether management were lying, or just naïve.'"
McNamara is up front to say that least, "I'm not in any way upset or disappointed by what I've done, and what I've achieved.
"I'm not even remotely defensive about it. I think, if people want to do what I've done – to come here and do that – then good luck to them. If people who've left the company want to go out there and have some success, then good luck to them. If they don't want to do that with me, that's fine, too. It's like musical differences in a rock and roll band, right? People say they do want to do it; some don't."
In terms of how he would deal with that he obviously perceives as a high level of 'whinging' from Australian developers (our words not his) however, he has a solution.
"I think we'd think twice about Sydney... There's not that much government assistance, compared to Canada or the U.S.
"The expectation is slightly weird here, that you can do this stuff without killing yourself; well, you can't, whether it's in London or New York or wherever; you're competing against the best people in the world at what they do, and you just have to be prepared to do what you have to do to compete against those people. The expectation is slightly different."
Read the entire thing at IGN. It's riveting.
Australian devs have already started a website complaining that credits for the game have either been dropped or understated. Now other creatives have called TB head Brendan McNamara's management style into question.
He has taken the chance proffered by IGN to set the record straight in the light of criticisms quoted by the site such as:
"A gameplay programmer comments that when he resigned, he recalled thinking, 'I can't do this to myself anymore. When I started, there was 'less than 12 months to go' on the project. Then, two and a half years later when I left, there was still 'less than 12 months to go',' he laughs. 'I'm not sure whether management were lying, or just naïve.'"
McNamara is up front to say that least, "I'm not in any way upset or disappointed by what I've done, and what I've achieved.
"I'm not even remotely defensive about it. I think, if people want to do what I've done – to come here and do that – then good luck to them. If people who've left the company want to go out there and have some success, then good luck to them. If they don't want to do that with me, that's fine, too. It's like musical differences in a rock and roll band, right? People say they do want to do it; some don't."
In terms of how he would deal with that he obviously perceives as a high level of 'whinging' from Australian developers (our words not his) however, he has a solution.
"I think we'd think twice about Sydney... There's not that much government assistance, compared to Canada or the U.S.
"The expectation is slightly weird here, that you can do this stuff without killing yourself; well, you can't, whether it's in London or New York or wherever; you're competing against the best people in the world at what they do, and you just have to be prepared to do what you have to do to compete against those people. The expectation is slightly different."
Read the entire thing at IGN. It's riveting.
Read More Like This