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Ward on impact of technology, legislation, more 24 Jul, 2007 / Comments: 5

By jp-30


There's a new interview with LucasArts president Jim Ward up the San Jose Mercury News site.
"George is always on us about this,""It's like, `Guys, you're showing me great technology, and then you go and try to wrap a story around it. And the story's really thin, and then it's not fun. Forget the tech for a second. I assume you'll be able to figure out the tech. Come in with a great story.' "
And why is George on about this after all these years?

Update: Keith Stuart, a UK Guardian Games blogger has also commented on these utterances from Big Jim, and severely laid the smack down. Well worth a read, in fact, one wonders if Keith is a Mojo reader himself...

Source: San Jose Mercury News

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5 Comments

  • McScurvy on 24 Jul, 2007, 19:16…
    Lucasarts has been in ?me too? mode for the past several years so it?s kind of funny that he keeps talking about innovation in the industry. I?m pretty sure that making a Star Wars game that uses the Wiimote doesn?t qualify him to be an expert on the subject.

    It?s nice he mentions the importance of story but I don?t see anything coming out of it. Shooters are the top genre and that?ll remain their focus but there?s only so many tales you can tell about blasting aliens or foreign armies. So at best we?ll get a decently spun yarn (about wars, be they among the stars or not) but with the same half-assed everything else.

    Of course, this revelation opens the chance of LEC reviving some of their classic IPs but I believe that would do way more harm to them then good. Remember, Jimbo is in the mindset that adventure games don?t sell worth squat so if a new Monkey Island game were to be made, it would, most likely, end up being a lame 3D platformer where Guybrush runs around collecting pieces of eight and hitting things with a rubber chicken.

    In short, Jim Ward needs to leave, as he?s a pure businessman, thinking in numbers instead of ideas and knows as much about innovation and storytelling as I do about quantum mechanics. In his place should be someone who can handle the business side as well as the entertainment aspect if Lucasarts hopes to reclaim a sliver of its former glory.

    Of course that?s just my opinion, but I?m probably right.
  • jp-30 on 24 Jul, 2007, 20:52…
    Maybe they just need a Creative Director role to go alongside Jim's Marketing / Business focussed role. Or if they actually already have one, that person needs to do some interviews, not just Jim.
  • ThunderPeel2001 on 22 Jul, 2007, 22:48…
    I guess he's finally taken an interest into why his once highly acclaimed games studio has turned into a turd producing factory.
  • jp-30 on 22 Jul, 2007, 22:59…
    Incredibly well-selling turds, for the most part though.
  • Udvarnoky on 22 Jul, 2007, 22:58…
    Don't expect any shifts in the company's direction based on that quote. It's common knowledge that Lucas voluntarily stays uninvolved with the affairs of LucasArts. He might have some good ideas for games, but don't expect him to implement those ideas in any hands-on kind of way.