Over at GameDaily, Chris Buffa (ha!) has put together a list of what he believes are the "top 5 most overrated industry people," calling out industry gods (and rightfully so) Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto. Surely, anyone who ever doubts the abilities, contributions and impact one Mr. Miyamoto has on the industry deserves to have their head examined ... with a sledgehammer. First, we'll get into his comments on Kojima, a man we'd probably be thankful to if he even took the time to set us on fire. We love him that much. And with Chris' criticisms of the Metal Gear Solid franchise (all play the same, no idea what is going on in the games, etc.), we're that much more sure the man is off his meds. The reason all the "traditional" Metal Gear Solid games play the same is because they are good. Why fix what isn't broken? Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was our favorite game of 2004, and for good reason. As for not being able to understand the game's content, we suggest you actually pay attention to the cut scenes.
As for Mr. Miyamoto, to say that he is "falling back on the same overused franchises" over and over again is a misinformed statement. He isn't falling back on them, he's helping to improve them. Whether you believe the hype or not on a certain Super Mario Galaxy, it's probably going to reinvent the platform genre (we can say that, we played it). To try and downplay his contributions at Nintendo is just idiotic.
Finally, Chris takes time to bash Reggie Fils-Aime. Aside from the GBA Micro debacle (seriously, why was that thing made?) at E3, Reggie has done nothing but improved Nintendo's place in the industry. And that's not to downplay Iwata's contributions, but for as much as we all love to make fun of Reggie, he's probably done more than most for the company during his stay with Nintendo.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-23-2007 @ 3:17PM
Loban said...
I actually sort of agree with this guy. He's not bashing these icons at all, in fact he admits that he loves Shiggy. He just doesn't think these people are the infallible Gods they're made out to be. As brilliant as Shiggy is, he does make mistakes and sometimes he's a little slow to catch up with the times of modern gaming. And he also tends to try to force what he likes onto the rest of the industry like with this whole Mii popularity channel thing. That was his idea and it's going forward because he thought it would be fun, he has no idea if the rest of the Nintendo community will like it, but that doesn't matter.
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3-23-2007 @ 3:50PM
Wonderflex said...
What's with the lack of love for Oregon? Especially on gameday.
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3-23-2007 @ 4:15PM
r-deezy said...
@ Loban
So are you mad that he also "forced" his idea of fun on the people with all of those stupid Mario games that nobody liked??
The man has been played a major role in creating great games for 20+ years! There's NO WAY he should even be considered in the category of "most overrated".
Somebody just wanted some attention.
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3-23-2007 @ 4:29PM
Mr Khan said...
Shiggy reflects Nintendo fairly well in his sometimes inability to keep up with the times
In some ways, Nintendo forges ahead (look at the Wii Remote, N64 was most powerful of its day) but then again, they are also dragged into the future kicking and screaming (Online comperable to the Sega Saturn network, and the N64 used cartridges)
its an odd double standard for Nintendo, and Shiggy
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3-23-2007 @ 5:50PM
David Hinkle said...
Wonderflex,
Not much of a college sports fan myself, and honestly had no clue what university it was when hunting for the picture. Just needed something to go along with the post, you see. :)
Thanks for reading!
Dave
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3-23-2007 @ 7:11PM
Wonderflex said...
Dave - All is forgiven.
As for the article - I agree; somebody just want's some attention. Seriously, Shiggy and Hideo don't deserve to be on that list at all.
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3-24-2007 @ 12:34PM
TE-Ryan said...
Bah to you, fanboy! The MGS series just gets dumber and dumber as it goes. The first was awesome in every way, two had huge story issues, and three was majorly overcomplicated and the bosses might as well have been the Goddamned Justice League. Real people don't have superpowers, Kojima!
I mean, other than ruining that franchise, I've got nothing against the guy though.
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3-24-2007 @ 6:11PM
marc in corvalllis said...
regarding the picture used in this post - GO BEAVERS!!!
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3-24-2007 @ 6:57PM
RandomLifeForm said...
When was Mr.Kojima overrated and a gaming god?I know he made MGS but what else did he do,can somebody tell me of his other great projects that earned him this title?
Also why is everybody getting in a bundle over this list,
its his opinion!
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3-26-2007 @ 3:57AM
brian said...
2005 Beaver Grad....Love the Pic!!!
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3-26-2007 @ 9:37AM
Loban said...
I actually sort of agree with this guy. He's not bashing these icons at all, in fact he admits that he loves Shiggy. He just doesn't think these people are the infallible Gods they're made out to be. As brilliant as Shiggy is, he does make mistakes and sometimes he's a little slow to catch up with the times.
Reply