It’s awful to think that there might be people out there who use it as their main source of news and opinion for games, never having known anything better. Like Fox News, it’s tarnishing the world in a subtle but persistent way. So yeah, that’s why so serious.

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First of all, yes, the community does have a lot of douchebags. Some of the responses to Luc were a little over-the-top, but I think the community was justified in giving him one big, unified “fuck you.” The man insulted the site’s staff because of their opinions. This seems “fuck you”-worthy, in my book. However, try not to judge the Dtoid community too harshly. We’re just a bunch of goofy fucks. Put on your thick skin, get to know us, and maybe you’ll find we’re not so bad. Sometimes.

And as Jetsetlemming mentioned, Luc had been on the site for a while. Essentially, he showed up, started blogging about the process of making Eternity’s Child, and now he’s whining because he made a bad game. Frankly, I’ve always felt he was just using the site’s community (definitely one of the tightest and most devoted of any gaming site) to advertise his game and get attention, but that’s probably just me being a judgmental dick.

Anyway, I can’t deny that I’m a little bothered by the harsh comments about Destructoid in this comment thread. The staff are wonderful, down-to-earth people, and the community is second to none. We’re just gamers, guys. Why so serious? :) Either way, I also love me some RPS. So, friends? Hug it out?

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Sure, there’s definitely elements of Jarvis and Theurer in all his games, I’d be a fool to deny it but in Space Giraffe *alone* there’s 30 years of arcade history wrapped up in there with so much love, passion and enthusiasm for the source material with a massive side order of Jeff himself that I can’t help but love it.

I had a massive head in hands moment when he was sounding off because it’s like watching someone you love, well it was watching someone who’s work you love, take a massive crap in the middle of the floor for all to see but I can understand his frustration. Maybe less time screaming “it’s not Tempest” and more time spent on what it is may have been better, but feck – it’s all history now.

I suppose this goes back to Cliff’s point earlier about having someone inbetween the dev and the press, that’s something Jeff could have done with.

Space Giraffe though, still one of the best games I’ve ever played. Much respect to and for the man for getting something like that out there when so many people just play it safe. There’s nothing like Level 64 anywhere else in the entire spectrum of gaming and that’s a good thing. ‘Twas a beautiful thing to see and the moment that level clicks into place and you realise precisely how to survive is wonderous.

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This game sucks and everyone who likes it sucks and it’s as funny as somethings that’s not funny at all.

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KG

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See, already this thread is the most interesting back and forth I’ve had in a long time.

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Many of Minter’s games are Jarvis’s games with whacky graphics and – according to others – minor gameplay updates. If Minter is the UK’s Jarvis, it’s faint praise for the UK?

P.

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I think Jeff Minter needs to be respected for what he’s done in the past. Tempest 2000 for Jaguar was pretty amazing, as was Hoover Boover and Grid Runner.

I have never been on board with his lame Lamma fetish. Since his jaguar stuff I’d say the only thing he’s done that I’ve liked is the visualizer on xbox 360 music player (not as good as win amps…which also has a lama fetish…hmmm).

I felt embarased for Minter after he posted responses to the bad reviews. But i also felt bad for the idiots on Destructoid who were like “who the fuck is this guy? who the fuck does he think he is?” I mean he’s basically like the Eugene Jarvis of the UK. Of course Destructoid readers would then go “Eugene who?” There knowledge does not exxtend farther back than PS2, with the exception of Nintendo franchises and JRPGs.

I’m rambling…I just had those thoughts about Minter that I always wanted to share…seems like a couple of people in this thread might actually know/care/agree/know enough to disagree, so I couldn’t resist.

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Also, Minter does mechanisms very well. Try GridRunner++. In term of action it’s amazing (very fast paced, yet you’re always in control) but it also has ingenious mechanisms like “Sheepie Save”.

Space Giraffe I didn’t really like, but that was due to the enemy design. Bulling is a lovely mechanism, very rewarding to bull a tonne of enemies of the web.

Also, I’m a sucker for psyhedelia. :)

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I remember seeing screenshots of this when it was destined for XBLA. I remember when he didn’t get approved for XBLA he made an excuse about size limitations and then announced a Wii version. At that point I knew the game probably wasn’t that good.

I think I may check out the Steam demo though and do a comparison of that keyboard vs controller thing he’s talking about.

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But generally speaking, I wouldn’t and – in fact – didn’t respond. McKelvie and I, being obsessive blogsearch.google.com and google/advancedsearch/24-hourers have read pretty much every single word that’s ever been written about Phonogram, so I’m well aware of that cheerily wank-obsessed review.

I almost linked to that particular one in the thread actually, but didn’t want the post to be about me. It’s a review which, if I wasn’t following the smarter rules, I’d have piled on to. There’s much which is demonstratably iffy about it, not least the fact its synopsis goes no further than the first issue (i.e. the classic “OH GOD! HE DIDN’T GET OFF THE SECOND LEVEL!” whine of games developers).

Doesn’t matter. I’d have looked worse if I’d gone for him, so sighed and carried on my way.

What I didn’t do in this case – because they didn’t have an e-mail address for the writer – but did do generally to the (thankfully few) negative reviews PG got, was to drop a short line expressing that it’s a shame it didn’t work for them but thanking them for taking the time to write a review.

Because that’s a far more effective way to manipulate a critic, frankly.

KG

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