Do you count yourself among an imaginary coalition to effect an industry of "violent, fart-joke-infused, aggression-release-valve games?" Well, LucasArts creative director Clink Hocking has a few condescending words for you. Yes, the first published work with Hocking's name on it since he jumped from Ubisoft to the Star Wars house may not be a game per se, but shouldn't lecturing people about the culture of making games take precedence over actually making games?
To be fair, the disclaimer beneath Hocking's rant does assure that he's still attached to that "unannounced project." I'm still pretty sure that's a game.
Source: Edge
Jason
It's not the opinion itself that inspired my venom...
Fair enough. I wasn't trying to contest your sentiment in any way, I was just curious. I have been scratching my head myself wondering why Clint Hocking ended up at such a dismally uncreative--hell, unproductive--house as LucasArts.
I think he's a genius, but I'll admit that more of it shows in his writings than in his shipped titles. For an FPS, Far Cry 2 is a game of sincerely remarkable vision, but the product that was released was severely neutered at best. And Splinter Cell... is Splinter Cell, I guess. I really hope LucasArts is serving him well, though, and that the guy actually gets to do some game designing sometime soon... and that whatever game he works on doesn't get cancelled or run aground by low budgets and rushed dates.
Capn_Nacho
Why the negativity, Jason? I think this is a pretty respectable opinion (and a perfectly respectable opinion piece.)
It's not the opinion itself that inspired my venom. The sentiment that the industry could benefit from a more balanced culture is a true-ringing if not exactly original through-line. My snark is borne more out of a statistic:
Name: Clint Hocking
Duration at LucasArts: 11 months
Number of announced in-house games since his recruitment: 0
Number of rants about what's wrong with the industry since his recruitment: 1
Yes, I know he's not new to this industry. Yes, I know that he's perfectly free to publish independent opinions and that releasing official information about in-development LEC titles is outside his sphere of influence. It doesn't change the fact that I'm way more interested in seeing his contributions to the industry before reading his platitude-laden diagnosis of it.
Ascovel
Can anyone tell me who is Clint Hocking? I'm not able to connect that name to any game title in my memory.
According to Moby Games he worked on the Splinter Cell games. And Far Cry 2.
On a similar note, who is Clink Hocking!? And what's the relation between the two?
"Come work for LucasArts! But don't be too bold, or you'll end up like Darrel Rodriguez."