Designer Touts 'Quality Guaranteed'-Type Label for Games

[fitbabits]

Found the following story (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1556&Itemid=2) over at Next Generation (http://www.next-gen.biz) interesting.

Lionhead scene designer Tadhg Kelly believes games and the entertainment media could use some form of quality control label, to sort the 'good' from the 'bad'.[Kelly -] So I'm thinking, why not start a trade label like Fair Trade which tells media-buying consumers "This media actually has some creative brains behind it and will speak to you like an adult".
I just can't see how this would work - art is not like organic food, where you know what's organic by definition. Art to one person is bollocks to another.

[LilEvilFish]

sounds like the guy has been soured by something or someone

[Tricky Thumb]

Sounds like a bad idea to me, I don't think it should be up to a group of people to start labeling whether a game is "creative" or not. That's the sort of thing that somebody who's a bit full of themselves would think up.

[Captain Awesome]

What a dumbshit.

[Ernst_Jager]

....Speak to you like an adult.

Scratch the Final Fantasy series.

[Ludoc]

Quality Guaranteed? As in not full of games stopping bugs and wild promises that have no hope of being fulfilled? Too bad, working at Lionhead, he will never see one of those awards.

[bean19]

Do we really need a video game Illuminati with a Culture stamp?

Nah. . . too subjective. Finding good reviews and actually reading them for a full description, rather than just looking at a point score is much more helpful. Personally, I think a simple "Off" or "On" label on whether or not something is "art" would be unhelpful to me as a consumer. I don't want to just play artistic games. I like some artistic games, but I also like trashy unenriching games. . . just so long as both types are fun.

That's what reviews struggle to tell us. . . whether or not a game is fun.

Lionhead is pretty awesome in that they are constantly innovating and trying new things. Sometimes to spectacular effect (The Movies) and sometimes with mixed results (Fable, Black & White). With a culture stamp, all of these titles would get a simple "Yep, it's art" stamp, but that wouldn't tell you that The Movies suffers from some continuity problems between scenes and that they shipped with a bug that hasn't been patched yet that causes the lot to run out of people to hire shortly after the beggining of the game. It wouldn't tell you about all the wonderful things about the game in detail either.

This is sort of a half-formed idea. I wonder if it wasn't fully explained to the reporter, or if perhaps the developer was just throwing out an idea that he had not fully weighed yet.

[Scaryboy]

Quality Guaranteed? As in not full of games stopping bugs and BLARGBLARGBLARG

I made a bet with myself that I would see this kind of autopilot moaning about Lionhead within 5 comments.

I win! :D

[KeeBaud]

We already have this feature on games. If the game has '7/10 - WOW! Graphics! --- Unofficial Game Magazine' on the front then you don't buy it. If it retails for $4.99 from new I'm thinking it's not an A-rated product. If the screenshots on the back look like they came off a ZX Spectrum or mainly consist of cut-scenes then keep your distance.

Any other signs that we currently have on games?

[Varsity]

Box quotes coming from FHM and/or a website you've never heard of is usually a good indicator of crapness.

[jacktion]

I made a bet with myself that I would see this kind of autopilot moaning about Lionhead within 5 comments.

I win! :D

Yeah, but how can you not win a bet with yourself?

That aside, this label thing is not only a bad idea, it is impossible. Organic foods are so by definition. It is objective. Good games have no definition. They are subjective. And we kind of already have this. It is called 'reviews'.

[picky]

Ya, that's what I want, Lionhead putting Quality Guaranteed on Black & White.

Does the small text add, "if you wait a few months to make the game literally beatable using a patch?"

Don't worry bean19, I'm sure if you wait a few more months (what was it with B&W 1, 6 months?), then the patch MAY appear.

Also, Lionhead will only ship games when "they are ready." Ya. Ya...

[Selar]

We already have this...Electronic Arts. :)

[Mr.Green]

I just can't see how this would work - art is not like organic food, where you know what's organic by definition. Art to one person is bollocks to another.
There is art in games but games are not art, they're entertainment as far as I'm concerned. I agree that it's all very subjective though and this is a stupid idea. There's already a way to sort the 'good' from the 'bad', it's called the internet.

[AversionFX]

I don't see this working, because people say Halo2 is the messiah of gaming.

Others say that Halo2 is craptacular.

Who is right? (This is rhetoric, for those of you who are unaware)

[fitbabits]

I don't see this working, because people say Halo2 is the messiah of gaming.

Others say that Halo2 is craptacular.

Who is right? (This is rhetoric, for those of you who are unaware)
Did you mean rhetorical? :rolleyes:

And Halo 2 is not all it's cracked up to be, so there!

[fitbabits]

There is art in games but games are not art, they're entertainment as far as I'm concerned. I agree that it's all very subjective though and this is a stupid idea. There's already a way to sort the 'good' from the 'bad', it's called the internet.
Are movies art or entertainment? Can't something be both? I consider some games to be art and entertainment - ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, for example.

Maybe we should invent a new word? I vote for entartainment.

[Mr.Green]

Maybe we should invent a new word? I vote for entartainment.
Ooooohhhh! http://www.mundogasol.com/foro/clap.gif

[Demo_Boy]

If a dev wants to be the arbiter of wether or not a game is good, he's got the wrong job.

[eatme]

Is there anyone who really has difficulty identifying a solid game from a shitty one, if they try? The only people buying shitty games are the ones going into a store saying, "OMG I want to get this game. I love the Matrix/I always get my games on preorder/I have too much money/the last Tomb Raider was good."

People who actually want to buy a good game, and make even the most minimal effort-- i.e. waiting a week then going to gamerankings-- will always be able to identify a game that, at the very least, has solid production values and relatively few bugs. That's all any "quality label" could guarantee, so what's the deal?

[fitbabits]

Ooooohhhh! http://www.mundogasol.com/foro/clap.gif
It's rather good, isn't it? Let's break it up for those who missed it:

ent-art-ainment. :)

[Xerxes]

Game Rankings is pretty good at providing the 411 on what you need. A collection of reviews and a avg.

[Zurik]

More interested in a pc game label for "No showstopping bugs guaranteed". Bethesda will really need to earn this one.

[jeffool]

With everyone here instantly trashing it, I have no choice but to support this.

How is it different than a publisher putting "10 of 10!!!! -EGM!" "***** -Official Magazine!" ?

At least this would, ideally, be done by an independent group whom has artistic value in mind. (Yes, that's a jab at gaming media.)

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

You know who tried this idea? Nintendo. And I certainly don't remember any bad games ever coming out for the NES or SNES...

[netcraazzy]

You know who tried this idea? Nintendo. And I certainly don't remember any bad games ever coming out for the NES or SNES...

Yes except the Nintendo Seal of Approval was more about paying Nintendo their licensing fees and less about how good the game was.

[jeffool]

I asked what kinds of titles would be elligable for this seal, suggesting things like GTA3, Spider-Man 2, Shadow of the Colossus, and Psychonauts. Tadhg listed "Killer 7, Ico, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, God of War, The Neverhood, Cannon Fodder, Worms, Zelda" as games he liked, saying:I don't even like all of those games, but there's a definite creative intent/intellect going on underneath each of them that makes it worth noting. The label is not a '5 star' seal. It's a label that says 'Discerning people might like this'.So if you liked those games and wonder why they didn't get more recognition, maybe you should think about supporting this idea.

And if you don't like the idea, that's cool. But if you "didn't get it," maybe you should be over there asking questions about it until you do.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

Yes except the Nintendo Seal of Approval was more about paying Nintendo their licensing fees and less about how good the game was.

Right, because they were on Nintendo's payroll and they were hardly going to reject a product that brings money to their employer. So what exactly is going to be paying these people? Ad revenue? From who? The industry? Sitting around playing games all day doesn't pay for itself, but Kelly didn't even address this. I fail to see how his proposal is immune to the kind of whoring that afflicts traditional reviews.

[KeeBaud]

I've thought long and hard (3 minutes - honest!) about this and I think that it might be an acceptable idea for one reason - it gives us even more reason to slate a game, especially if it has a quality seal and 15 patches in the first month.