I enjoyed it but I do agree that you could try and make it a little more visually interesting.

You're just as bad. You say video games are being treated in an inferior manner, then go on to state that video games could probably be superior. Apples to oranges my ass.

Interactivity does add elements to the narrative, but it certainly also takes away plenty of elements as well. Every medium has its own restrictions.

Comparing video game designers to movie directors occurs because movies predate games, and as such, are more developed as an art form. Since both are visual media, the comparison seems fairly sound to some.

Either way, a hierarchy should not exist between different mediums, as they can certainly learn from each other but also coexist peacefully. There is never going to be a moment where people stop reading books or watching movies. Now, there will also never be a moment when people stop playing games. If you assume that X > Y > Z, then Y and Z both become obsolete in the scheme of things.

Arguably, the existence of Heavy Rain is less detrimental to video games than Gears of War 57 1/2: Episode 4 because they are at least trying to bring innovation into the field. Whether Heavy Rain is a failure or success is up to you, but it certainly contributed in some way to the evolution of the medium.

He's right but he sucks at getting that across, he cant channel his rage as coherently and eloquently as Yahtzee and he keeps circling back and repeating himself. Maybe wander off and get a little practice at public speaking and use less flow breaking random images or at least go back and do re-takes and edit the video a little more carefully to weed out the crap bits.

Whoa Jim has joined the site? Destructoid and The Escapist converging....too much awesome...

Edit: It seems some people are going to need to get used to Destructoid's off-kilter style videos.

Delve into the oddball world of Birdie!

Moriarty:
yeah no. Just because games aren't movies (duh, chairs aren't bicicles either, why don't you make a video about that?) doesn't mean there aren't any parallels between them.

Yet would make a bicycle like you would make a chair? The problem is that different media require different methods. A book can spent a chapter about how scary a hallway is. In a film you might show the hallway with sound effects. In a game you drop the player in the hallway and let find him/her out the hallway is scary.

Now image a narrator telling you the hallway is scary while you see it in a movie, it might break the immersion. Yet some games do just that, the break into a cutscene with cinematic effects, which jerks you away from your character and breaks some of the immersion.

Yes it's easier to make a point with a cutscene, because how else do you keep the player in the hallway long enough so he/she discovers it's scary.

Guess i'll have to skip the Escapist on mondays now. I can't stand this guy, he's the reason why i stopped paying attention to Destructoid. I can't stand people who states their opinions as if they were UNDENIABLE FACTS.

Oh well at least there's still Extra Credits, Zero Punctuation and Movie Bob's shows to look up to.

Woodsey:

Jumplion:

Honestly, while I do like David Cage, even I admit that he can be a pretentious twat once in a while. I like to think that you need a little bit of pretentiousness to move any medium forward, and few developers are as passionate (or loud) as Cage about trying to move this medium forward. Still, he never really knows when to shut his mouth or what should come out of it.

But he's not moving it forward - if he was then yes, I might stomach him a bit more.

As for him being passionate about it, I'm pretty sure I've heard him actively shun the idea of being called a game developer. He wants to be a film writer/director, and his lack of talent means he never got to do that.

Its just a shame that we put him on a pedestal.

I think the point of a certain level of pretension being crucial for artistic development is a salient one, and I welcome any attempt to explore new means and methods. Hell, I rather liked Fahrenheit for the first hour or so. It had an absolutely stellar opening.

I'm just thoroughly sick of how Cage is actively attempting to distance himself from the form as if he was above it.

I think videogames are like movies in that they tell a story from start to finish using video...okay let the crucifixion begin

Is this the new Escapist show?
Please, God tell me this is the new Escapist show!!

Jim Sterling?

The Escapist keeps picking up the best. Now all you need to to pick up Ross Scott and have Anthony Burch start Rev Rants again.

EDIT: Good core point, you say a few off centre things though.

well, its better than that top 5 BS

Woodsey:
But he's not moving it forward - if he was then yes, I might stomach him a bit more.

Eh, debatable. I for one am glad that a game like Heavy Rain exists (and yes, it is a game, I don't care what anyone else says) and was as successful as it was. While it certainly had its flaws, I prefer to look at it in a more optimistic light and say that it's developing the medium in some way. It proved that you don't need explosions, gunplay, or blood+guts everywhere to sell a game, you can have a more mature, more adult game (whether or not is succeeded is beside the point).

As for him being passionate about it, I'm pretty sure I've heard him actively shun the idea of being called a game developer. He wants to be a film writer/director, and his lack of talent means he never got to do that.

That's more on what he thinks he is. He's still passionate about his visions and whatnot, and I respect that to an extent. I do think gaming needs a few more auteurs like with movies, it helps focus the direction a game would go.

Its just a shame that we put him on a pedestal.

I think Cage just imagines the pedestal is there ;P

Tarkand:
Well, if that's basically what he does all the time, I don't think I'm going to be a fan of this series...

It's not visually appealing, still not funny... and his points are kinda 'deeeeeeeeeer'. It really feels like he's talking down to the audience too. I don't appreciate having someone telling me what I already know in a condescending tone.

That is exactly what he does all the time. This guy thinks extremely highly of himself. Condescending is the right word indeed. Just skip this retarded series, the Escapist didn't need that honestly... or did they? After all they are filled with quality and intelligent content so maybe they're trying to appeal to less intellectually able people?

Good point, I'll come back for next video

I thought it was good. I'm interested in seeing what he will talk about in the future, so I'll watch the next one, at least.

MatsVS:

Jim Sterling:
That says films has better stories. Look at some of the films out there; that ain't fucking true most of the time.

Yes it is, unfortunately.

Not really. Most film stories are utter toss. Over the last 20 or more years Hollywood in particular has been reducing the number of themes and constructs it uses in storytelling to a vastly reduced pool, so much so that you can almost tell from the poster the entire story of the film.

Jumplion:
and few developers are as passionate (or loud) as Cage about trying to move this medium forward. Still, he never really knows when to shut his mouth or what should come out of it.

He's not moving the medium forward though, he's moving it backwards by removing freedom of interaction. Heavy Rain is just an animated equivalent to a Visual Novel, not a game in any real sense of the word.

David Cage needs to be picked up by a snatch squad in the middle of the night and taken to the secret facility where the hideous mutated thing that used to be Chris Roberts' career is kept, so he can understand the consequences of diving into the "I am a repressed movie maker honest" pit.

LiquidGrape:

This video was almost presentable and I was almost liking it till he started to stumble about half way through.

Strike two in the same day.

Oh my... a snarky Brit with a strong opinion about videogames? Truly the Escapist has no shortage of original videos to feature! :P

But in all seriousness... Jim? You have my attention. Why? Because you care about games. You care about them becoming more than they are, and that's an attitude I always want to support. Enjoy feeding on the trolls, and here's to a long and happy run on the site.

Jumplion:
It proved that you don't need explosions, gunplay, or blood+guts everywhere to sell a game,

And meanwhile Wii Sports is the highest selling game of all time and is so "mature" your gran could play it.

David Cage, Ur Doin It Rong.

Basicly Bobs big picture with the work fuck used more then necissary

Brainst0rm:
So...it's entertaining because he says "fuck" a lot?

'Cause, otherwise, I feel like I've missed the joke.

Not everything is supposed to be funny...

jcg:

Yet would make a bicycle like you would make a chair? The problem is that different media require different methods. A book can spent a chapter about how scary a hallway is. In a film you might show the hallway with sound effects. In a game you drop the player in the hallway and let find him/her out the hallway is scary.

Now image a narrator telling you the hallway is scary while you see it in a movie, it might break the immersion. Yet some games do just that, the break into a cutscene with cinematic effects, which jerks you away from your character and breaks some of the immersion.

Yes it's easier to make a point with a cutscene, because how else do you keep the player in the hallway long enough so he/she discovers it's scary.

Sorry but.. what? I can't even make out wether you're agreeing with me or not.

It may be easier to make a point with a cutscene, but it isn't impossible without one either. Check out Amnesia: The Dark Descent about the specific example you mentioned.
On the other hand cutscenes themselves aren't bad at all. Only if done badly, or maybe overdone cutscenes can frustrate players, but taking away the players control to set the scene or for plot exposition has always existed in games, at least since games have actual storylines outside of manuals.

Good content, the presentation of said content needs work however.

Anyhoo, while I agree with many of Jim's points, I think he has also failed to see that games do not automatically qualify as A STORY-TELLING MEDIUM.

They can be, and are often used to be Story-tellers, but that's not the main focus of games.

I think my opinions can pretty much be summed up as "take what Jim said, but replace 'Movies' with 'story-telling devices'".

If that makes sense.

Thought that was pretty good; though it was a bit too Pen & Teller's Bullshit, minus a mute co-host & Pen has swollen up a tad.

Brainst0rm:
So...it's entertaining because he says "fuck" a lot?

'Cause, otherwise, I feel like I've missed the joke.

I concur with this statement. This man makes me ashamed to be English. Please remove his content from the site.

Seriously though. What did I just watch? That wasn't amusing in any way, that was just a guy being an arsehole for 10 minutes. Call me an elitist prick, but doesn't everything this man stands for abuse the Code of Conduct for the site? You know, the whole "don't be a jerk" rule followed by the bit about "making the forum a less pleasant place"? You even promote him as a "douchebag".

TheSkaAssassin:
o...k...

I don't get it. Why do we need more videos people rambling into a microphone and calling it "commentary"? We have Yahtzee, Movie Bob (twice a week), and Extra Credits.

I whole-heartedly agree. Ever since D&A left there's a comedy-sized hole in my heart that LRR can't make up for on its own.

Captcha: Research rseech

CAPTCHA HAS SPOKEN. I will now look up what rseech means.

In my opinion, his "Bias Reviews" Jimquisition is by far his best. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-oeOqgRi7E

This could quite easily have been an article.

Harry Mason:
Good lord, that was awful. I would give up my Silent Hill collection to see Yahtzee physically spank this man. He stumbled over his words, pretended to be angry so poorly it made me sad, and the glasses look like a completely transparent attempt at creating a signature "look."

I'm not usually the person to be snotty about these types of things, but I've come to expect a certain level of quality from Escapist shows, and GOOD GOD THAT WAS TERRIBLE. I even AGREE with him and I hated the show.

You know what? Scratch that. I want to see Lisa Foiles hit him with the Irritating Stick. This guy takes himself WAY too seriously. I will give this show another episode to be fair, but that was truly awful.

Wow. There is not a single thing that was on my mind when I stopped the video that you did not say. Well played, sir. Fantastic ninja skills.

I'm willing to experience this bij one more time if the topic is interesting, but my expectations will be rather low.