Domination
07-24-2005, 12:35 AM
These are heady times for video game director David Jaffe.
His latest project, God of War, is a runaway hit. He has new expanded duties at Sony Computer Entertainment’s Santa Monica studio. And he found himself on stage recently at the Hollywood Bowl, where God of War was featured in a program of video game hits performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Jaffe, 34, was in select company, with people behind such hit games as Super Mario, the Legend of Zelda, Halo, Myst, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Diablo, Sonic the Hedgehog and Final Fantasy.
He introduced his game and watched as the music was played over a montage of scenes from the dark brutal epic, set in the rich world of Greek mythology.
“Here I am, this kid that grew up just absolutely loving video games and somehow or other my passion for that medium has brought me to the stage of the Hollywood Bowl and here I am talking to tons of video game fans,” Jaffe said in an interview. “That was a really moving experience for me.
“And then, after that, I got to meet my idol (comic book guru) Stan Lee, who I’ve loved since I was a kid and I got to meet (Metal Gear Solid creator) Hideo Kojima.
“And what was really cool about that is that he says to me, through his translator, that they not only played God of War, which blew my mind that someone as amazing as Kojima would have played a game that I directed, but he says he loves it and he says ‘I want to work with you on a game and I want the God of War team to make the next Castlevania (game).’ “
Heady times indeed.
But, after recalling that special evening, Jaffe reminds himself that such perks, while fun, are not what it’s all about. It’s creating something special, with the help of other talented people.
“It’s tough because it’s a lot of fun,” he said of the fruits of success. “It’s a nice ego stroke. It’s a blast to be able to do things like the Hollywood Bowl and meet all these great people and everything. But you really have to remind yourself that ... the work’s really all that it’s about.”
Jaffe also recalls the days that he worried God of War might be a flop.
“There were days where I thought we were working on the next big thing. And there were days where I thought ‘you know what? It’s average. It’s like a four or five out of 10 on the rating scale and it’s going to kind of end my career.’
“Although, at the time, that would have been a welcome ending because it was such an exhaustive process.”
God of War has been anything but a flop.
G4, the cable channel devoted to video games, has it as a finalist for best action game, best cinematics, graphics, sound, innovation, voice (narrator Linda Hunt) and favourite character (Kratos), as well as best original game and game of the year in the G-Phoria awards to be announced Aug. 9.
Gamerankings.com, which compiles reviews, scores the game at 93.1 per cent, ninth best among all PlayStation 2 titles.
An “absolute colossus” of a game, raved Eurogamer.net, an influential European website. “One of the true greats of this generation.”
Jaffe drew on such inspiration as the films of Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, and Golden Voyage of Sinbad) in creating the world of Kratos, a nasty piece of work who is the embittered anti-hero at the heart of Jaffe’s game.
Scarred, tattooed and wielding deadly “Blades of Chaos,” Kratos makes more than a few pay for his many sins.
The game is rated M for mature and lives up to that billing. Blood billows as Kratos slices and dices opponents, although he does take time out to jump into bed with the odd maiden to recharge his batteries — a process that happens off screen.
The game mixes plenty of rich backdrops with lots of meaty fights and puzzles to solve along the way. Jaffe sees it as mythology with an edge — Heavy Metal magazine meets Clash of the Titans.
“I basically wanted to make my ultimate game. And my ultimate game dealt with the sex and violence and dark nature of things that I really like. But I also wanted to combine that with the high adventure, little boy kind of fantasy Ray Harryhausen, Raiders of the Lost Ark stuff that I also love.”
He also credits Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, a book he studied in Japan in the earliest stages of the game’s development.
Actress Linda Hunt serves as narrator. Jaffe also had Maggie Smith and Emma Thompson on his short list, but neither returned his calls.
“But Linda Hunt did and I’m so grateful,” he said. “She added so much to our game.”
The music also helps. Jaffe was listening to Queen’s Flash Gordon soundtrack when he made the game but was persuaded to drop the “80s sci-fi rock opera vibe” for a more orchestral feel.
Jaffe, who served as game director for two Twisted Metal titles and God of War, is now billed as the Santa Monica studio’s creative director as Sony looks for him to apply his touch to all of the games coming out of the studio.
His next challenge is a game for the PSP in tandem with Utah-based Incog Studios.
“That’s my own personal baby, but I do have four or five other ideas,” he said.
More than three years in the making, God of War took a toll. He put on 40 pounds because he couldn’t find time to get to the gym or eat well.
Others members of his team succumbed to smoking.
“It’s a good hopper to be thrown in to battle your vices because they really come out in game development,” he said. “So I’m hoping to beat them this time. We’ll see.”
After all those long hours, he promised his wife he’d be at home at six each night. But Jaffe says he still moves at “150 miles an hour” during the day. And he talks even faster.
He seems to be getting his priorities back in line, however, blaming his tardiness for an interview on the fact that it’s his kid’s birthday.
The native of Birmingham, Ala., went to USC with dreams of working in film or TV — he had pitched game shows to studios with some success. But he moved into the video game world when he didn’t have enough money to finish his last semester. Needing a job, he looked in a phone book for video game testers after reading about them in a gaming magazine.
“Video games took off, movies never did take off,” he said.
He started as a tester, but soon was pitching one idea after another. “It was either fire me or give me a shot and I guess they didn’t want to fire me so they kept giving me opportunities.”
Source (http://wham.canoe.ca/news/2005/07/20/1139926-dcs.html)
I really don't know what to think of this since the two seem completely opposite from one another.
His latest project, God of War, is a runaway hit. He has new expanded duties at Sony Computer Entertainment’s Santa Monica studio. And he found himself on stage recently at the Hollywood Bowl, where God of War was featured in a program of video game hits performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Jaffe, 34, was in select company, with people behind such hit games as Super Mario, the Legend of Zelda, Halo, Myst, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Diablo, Sonic the Hedgehog and Final Fantasy.
He introduced his game and watched as the music was played over a montage of scenes from the dark brutal epic, set in the rich world of Greek mythology.
“Here I am, this kid that grew up just absolutely loving video games and somehow or other my passion for that medium has brought me to the stage of the Hollywood Bowl and here I am talking to tons of video game fans,” Jaffe said in an interview. “That was a really moving experience for me.
“And then, after that, I got to meet my idol (comic book guru) Stan Lee, who I’ve loved since I was a kid and I got to meet (Metal Gear Solid creator) Hideo Kojima.
“And what was really cool about that is that he says to me, through his translator, that they not only played God of War, which blew my mind that someone as amazing as Kojima would have played a game that I directed, but he says he loves it and he says ‘I want to work with you on a game and I want the God of War team to make the next Castlevania (game).’ “
Heady times indeed.
But, after recalling that special evening, Jaffe reminds himself that such perks, while fun, are not what it’s all about. It’s creating something special, with the help of other talented people.
“It’s tough because it’s a lot of fun,” he said of the fruits of success. “It’s a nice ego stroke. It’s a blast to be able to do things like the Hollywood Bowl and meet all these great people and everything. But you really have to remind yourself that ... the work’s really all that it’s about.”
Jaffe also recalls the days that he worried God of War might be a flop.
“There were days where I thought we were working on the next big thing. And there were days where I thought ‘you know what? It’s average. It’s like a four or five out of 10 on the rating scale and it’s going to kind of end my career.’
“Although, at the time, that would have been a welcome ending because it was such an exhaustive process.”
God of War has been anything but a flop.
G4, the cable channel devoted to video games, has it as a finalist for best action game, best cinematics, graphics, sound, innovation, voice (narrator Linda Hunt) and favourite character (Kratos), as well as best original game and game of the year in the G-Phoria awards to be announced Aug. 9.
Gamerankings.com, which compiles reviews, scores the game at 93.1 per cent, ninth best among all PlayStation 2 titles.
An “absolute colossus” of a game, raved Eurogamer.net, an influential European website. “One of the true greats of this generation.”
Jaffe drew on such inspiration as the films of Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, and Golden Voyage of Sinbad) in creating the world of Kratos, a nasty piece of work who is the embittered anti-hero at the heart of Jaffe’s game.
Scarred, tattooed and wielding deadly “Blades of Chaos,” Kratos makes more than a few pay for his many sins.
The game is rated M for mature and lives up to that billing. Blood billows as Kratos slices and dices opponents, although he does take time out to jump into bed with the odd maiden to recharge his batteries — a process that happens off screen.
The game mixes plenty of rich backdrops with lots of meaty fights and puzzles to solve along the way. Jaffe sees it as mythology with an edge — Heavy Metal magazine meets Clash of the Titans.
“I basically wanted to make my ultimate game. And my ultimate game dealt with the sex and violence and dark nature of things that I really like. But I also wanted to combine that with the high adventure, little boy kind of fantasy Ray Harryhausen, Raiders of the Lost Ark stuff that I also love.”
He also credits Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, a book he studied in Japan in the earliest stages of the game’s development.
Actress Linda Hunt serves as narrator. Jaffe also had Maggie Smith and Emma Thompson on his short list, but neither returned his calls.
“But Linda Hunt did and I’m so grateful,” he said. “She added so much to our game.”
The music also helps. Jaffe was listening to Queen’s Flash Gordon soundtrack when he made the game but was persuaded to drop the “80s sci-fi rock opera vibe” for a more orchestral feel.
Jaffe, who served as game director for two Twisted Metal titles and God of War, is now billed as the Santa Monica studio’s creative director as Sony looks for him to apply his touch to all of the games coming out of the studio.
His next challenge is a game for the PSP in tandem with Utah-based Incog Studios.
“That’s my own personal baby, but I do have four or five other ideas,” he said.
More than three years in the making, God of War took a toll. He put on 40 pounds because he couldn’t find time to get to the gym or eat well.
Others members of his team succumbed to smoking.
“It’s a good hopper to be thrown in to battle your vices because they really come out in game development,” he said. “So I’m hoping to beat them this time. We’ll see.”
After all those long hours, he promised his wife he’d be at home at six each night. But Jaffe says he still moves at “150 miles an hour” during the day. And he talks even faster.
He seems to be getting his priorities back in line, however, blaming his tardiness for an interview on the fact that it’s his kid’s birthday.
The native of Birmingham, Ala., went to USC with dreams of working in film or TV — he had pitched game shows to studios with some success. But he moved into the video game world when he didn’t have enough money to finish his last semester. Needing a job, he looked in a phone book for video game testers after reading about them in a gaming magazine.
“Video games took off, movies never did take off,” he said.
He started as a tester, but soon was pitching one idea after another. “It was either fire me or give me a shot and I guess they didn’t want to fire me so they kept giving me opportunities.”
Source (http://wham.canoe.ca/news/2005/07/20/1139926-dcs.html)
I really don't know what to think of this since the two seem completely opposite from one another.