Calling All Cars Delayed Indefinitely And Jaffe Pulls Away For A While
Calling All Cars has been delayed twice recently. It was supposed to hit the PlayStation Network over a week ago. David Jaffe reported on the Neogaf forums that the game is going to be delayed indefinitely, until two big bugs are taken care of.
"....The two big bugs tho- so you realize we didn't hold it up for no reason- were:a- About 30% of the time if the host of a network game quit to the XMB or powered off his PS3, the other folks in the game would experience a hang/crash when going back to the game lobby. This was way too frequent for a crash bug and we wanted it fixed.
b- If players were doing voice chat and one player unplugged his head set and quit out of the game, when he tried to jump into a new game, about 50% of the time the player would be able to play the game but no one could hear him over voice chat."
In an uncharacteristic move, David Jaffe announced that he was going to cut off communication with the public for a while.
"But for the time being, I'm going to go dark. My stylings have upset some folks within the biz I care very much about and that I can not live with. For me, it's always been silly, stupid fun...you know, giving what I get, talking like alot of folks on geeky message boards do, trash talking,etc. But I guess some folks have taken it to heart and that's not cool for me. End of the day, even the folks who spew much venom my way, I probably would like very much in real life. As I've said before, we're all geeks and if you can't get along with a fellow geek, then what's the point."
For a man whose mouth has been his most distinguished asset, I’m surprised by this revelation. For all of the various personalities at Sony, he shines the brightest. He has always been outspoken, even at times against his own company. So to hear him acknowledge that he may have stepped on some fingers in the past, and that he needs some time to think about his public relations, is pretty amazing.
Jaffe has always come across as a hot shot developer who makes solid games, and has a fiery personality with little regard for how his words may affect others. There is something admirable about such an approach to public communication in a world of over sensitive individuals who jump on every last word, mix them up out of context, and all of a sudden you have every human rights group imaginable jumping down your throat demanding an apology. So Jaffe, don’t let me down. I don’t want to see a kinder, gentler Jaffe. I liked you just the way you are. So don’t go changing on account of what other people may say.
Calling All Cars Delayed Indefinitely; Jaffe Goes Dark [Aeropause]
Toots
Posted to Video Games on 2 May 2007
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: calling all cars, david jaffe, playstation network, ps3
He's probably just tired of everyone yelling at him all the time. Even the most arrogant $%^#head has to say to himself "enough". (And I've been near worse, worse people than Jaffe)
I'm intrested in knowing who it was that he hurt in that he felt the need to hold back.
Jaffe's blog makes me sad. I have so much respect the messages that Jaffe tries to bring to a wider audience. His ideas are (typically) valid and thought provoking enough to encourage genuine disccussion among gamers and industry insiders alike.
With that said, I've found that Jaffe's way of delivering his message to be immature at best, and hypocritical at worst. For someone who talks a big game about himself, his work, and his team, while purposely putting himself in the public eye, it's a little weak to go crying "unfair" and "simply wrong" when someone says anything remotely negative about his work.
When I was a student in college, every art major (be it drawing, digital media, film, etc.) had to take figure drawing. This is the class where students draw the human form with pencil, pen and paint. While learning traditional media is an important fundamental aspect to any artist, the figure drawing class also taught how to take a critique from a group of peers. This is an even greater skill that every artist should be comfortable with. To be able to hear criticism, grow from it, and make even better artwork as a result is something that every artist needs to develop and refine the style and content of their work.
From reading Jaffe's blog, he sounds like a student that is so wrapped up in his own work that he cannot see the flaws that an outsider can. Jaffe has a great eye for games and a fantastic artist in the creating this mysterious thing called "fun." Even still, I wonder how much better he would be if he took a figure drawing class.