So is this:

Ergo, we’re all going to die.

We want impassioned speeches which sum up the enthusiasm we have for our hobby, we want humour, the impression that we understand – and are understood by – these alien creatures, when so often that isn’t the case. Whether that’s what the industry needs from these men, the Koticks and Riccitello’s of the world, is an entirely different matter. What Butler has brought into sharp focus is how an expertly crafted marketing push can fill the void Kotick et al are incapable of spanning, and in an industry where brand loyalty forms such a strong part of gamer self-indentification, the man who can achieve that is worth his weight in gold.

But now said marketeer is to be employed by Activision, the Butler effect may be more challenging to achieve.

Mana & I were discussing this whole issue last week, in the current world of instant communication and 24-hour news whether VPs and CEOs need to be both astute businessmen and forward-facing publicity figures. Nintendo of America has Reggie, who seems to walk the line with aplomb, while Satoru Iwata’s regular appearances on the Nintendo Channel speak to an attempt to make Nintendo’s President a more approachable figure. Microsoft seems to cycle through attempts to celebritise their mid-level executives, to varying degrees of success, while Sony struggled with the waning stars of Kaz Hirai and Ken Kutaragi, before switching tack to let Kevin Butler take the strain of the public face, letting the actual executives get on with the running of the company.

The danger to this approach is simple enough; unless the writing and characterisation – not to mention grokking the audience – are pitched to perfection, the message risks coming across as insincere, particularly when the message contrasts sharply with traditional impressions of a company’s working practices. This was the case at the beginning of the PS3 era, particularly in Europe, where the arrogance and downright cockery of Playstation executives successfully undid a good deal of the goodwill left over from the PS2.

In short, we don’t need you to be hip, CEOs.  We don’t need you to be down with the kids in their hoods.  If necessary, hire someone to entertain us while you get on with the business of making games, ’cause hell, we don’t have the greatest attention spans in the world. Do what you have to, but don’t confuse keeping out of the limelight with an excuse to pour disdain upon gaming culture from your lofty heights.

Or if you do, expect to be called out on it.

Maybe I’m just not grown up enough to understand the requirements of mature gamers.

Clearly this sort of out-of-the-box thinking is what made me the imperialist oppressor in the first place. Go on, have your celebrations. I’ll be sitting in a darkened room resculpting time itself to my very whim.

While the tech on display was indeed impressive, and many fo the games both graphically and mechanically epic, there was one short moment which captured the show for me:

I shouldn’t be excited, or even slightly interested, by the re-release of a sixteen-year-old game on a pair of formats totally unsuited to playing it, especially since I don’t even own either of the formats involved. But Secret of Mana holds a special place in my heart, and this short teaser implies that Square haven’t totally forgotten about the franchise.

Whether they can make it good again is an entirely different matter.

I’m not usually a huge fan of biblical plots in my entertainment in general, not for religious reasons but because the plots can get so weighed down by biblical “wink wink nudge nudges” that I can do naught by loll my head back, drool, and wish to be somewhere else (Evangelion, Xenosaga, I’m looking at you). However, I’m keeping my fingers crossed here because you can usually trust former Clover staff to put the fun first.

And besides, did you see the colors and animation in that trailer?! I would kick a puppy to see more of that level of artistry be considered in gaming. Beautiful.

This trailer convinced me and Teph that  gesture control games have the ability to go beyond being “just a gimmick”. Let’s hope other game developers realize the same thing and run with it.

So, it’s that time of the year again. The time where game publishers exit their stasis pods, rub their eyes from the bright sunlight, and proceed to make giant asses of themselves on a stage while they try to convince us (or perhaps… themselves? How meta…) that the months they spent in self-imposed exile trying to create the next big game was indeed worthwhile.

We’ll be keeping track of E3 all this week, so if anything catches our collective eye, we’ll post links/videos right here during the week. Til then, enjoy the spectacle!

Cave Story is one of the best things I’ve played this year – not the best; that plaudit, I suspect, would go firmly to Bayonetta – but god damn, it gets tough. After attempting the aptly-named Blood-Stained Sanctuary for the thirtieth time, average survival time 8 seconds, I decided to call it a day. That’s not to say it’s unfair, however, and therein lies the beauty of the difficulty curve. Much like in Bayonetta, each death only serves to highlight a failing in your abilities, a flaw with an obvious solution.

Don’t suck.

Hence why I’m typing this post rather than jaunting deeper and deeper into death-trap filled lunacy. And speaking of trap-filled lunacy, with Spelunky getting ever closer to its XBLA release, it’s a fine time to spoil the entire game with a frankly insane speedrun. Astounding.