MotorStorm Dev Rips Critics Who Hate On CGI "Target Videos"

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

Sometimes, developers and gamers are at odds when it comes to the issue of marketing and promotion. In the past, the pessimistic gamers - or perhaps the realistic gamers - would take a look at an early CGI video for a game and dismiss it immediately. "The game won't look anything like that," they'd say. Well, one developer is downright pissed about this phenomenon.

According to a recent 1Up interview, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift lead designer Nigel Kershaw had to vent a bit on this issue. After we determined that the unbelievable unveiling video for the original MotorStorm wasn't really indicative of the gameplay, some reviewers harped on this for a loooong time. But Kershaw defended this and other CGI "target videos" by saying it's a standard practice and gamers should better understand the position of the developer.

"We always do a render. Before you do a game, you do a test render that says, 'This is the game we want to make, now let's go make it.' It's just like writing a game design document. The end result might not look like the render that you did. Who gives a sh*t? If you're 50, 60, 70, 80% to that line, then you've succeeded. But also, it's not about the visuals. If you go back and look at that movie, it was about the interaction of the vehicles. It was about lots of vehicles racing together... all that stuff that we achieved."

By now, most all avid gamers realize that such promotional videos are just that: promotional. And because we know this, they're not necessarily misleading. The only thing we care about is whether or not the "target video" is proportionate to the end gameplay result; if the CGI is amazing, we expect a final product that really impresses us. But just don't focus on it. Kershaw finishes-

"But it's this thing that haunts you, that you didn't match your target render.... Everybody makes such a big f***ing deal of it. Who gives a sh*t? That's how we make games. If people have got a problem with that, tough."

See what happens when you complain enough? You tick people off. Heh.

Related Game(s): MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

11/10/2008 Ben Dutka

Email this to a friend!
Put this on your webpage or blog: