Quotes of the year 2007

It's been another busy year in gaming, with no end of events going on to get people talking--there was the Manhunt 2 saga, the launch of Halo 3, the continuing console war, and a shortage of Wiis, to name but a few.

Members of the video game community had plenty to say about all of the above and more. Following is a selection of the funniest, wisest, and just downright strange things people in gaming have said in 2007. (For more information on the stories, follow the links to the full articles.)

Sony Statement about "Goatgate:"
"There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat."

David Cooke, British Board of Film Classification director, on Manhunt 2:
"Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."

Geoffrey Robinson, QC, at Rockstar's appeal against the UK ban:
"Unremitting bleakness? What's wrong with unremitting bleakness? Should we ban Bleak House as well?" Discussing whether the game has moral dilemmas, he asked, "Does tennis? Does football? Does tiddlywinks have a moral dilemma?"

HMV rep on an admin error which listed Metal Gear Solid 4 as coming out on the 360:
"We're sorry to have caused such a stir--the oversight has now been corrected. He is now sitting on the naughty step."

Shigeru Miyamoto on finding his wife playing video games on Valentine's Day:
"It would have been less surprising to find Donkey Kong ransacking my house."

Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, on why there will be just one games console in the years to come:
"All technology, under any circumstance, becomes commodified."

David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, on the US PlayStation 3 price drop:
"Let's understand what the Americans have done... They're just selling it off, they're not dropping the price. The price from August 1 is going to be $599 because all the 60GB models will have gone. They've got to find a way to get rid of the old stock, and that's what they're doing."

David Reeves on the fact that the PlayStation 3 is more expensive in the UK than in the US:
"It is. But so is a McDonald's hamburger."

David Reeves on the delayed European PS3 launch:
"It has been rather like taking a bottle of soda water and we've shaken it so hard over the last six months that when we take the cork off, it's just going to explode."

Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, on Christmas sales of the PS3:
"It's a little fortuitous that the Wii is running out of hardware."

Sir Howard Stringer on his problems with "uncommunicative" Ken Kutaragi:
"I've had dinner with [Mr. Kutaragi] more times than I've had dinner with my wife, and that's not really healthy."

Peter Moore, when still heading up Microsoft's gaming unit, on Xbox 360 hardware failures:
"We haven't done right by our customers, and for that I apologize. We listened, and we're going to make it right."

Ken Kutaragi on the PlayStation 4:
"As a matter of course, I have the vision of PlayStation 4, 5, and 6, which will merge into the network."

Peter Molyneux on Fable 2:
"Let's just say that you've really got to meet my dog."

Keita Takahashi on video games:
"I don't know about the future, but we will see more of the darker side of the earth. I really think so. I don't know if we can afford to have video games in 10 or 20 years' time...video gaming is good, but also it's a luxury."

Keita Takahashi after being asked what the objectives are for his new game Noby Noby Boy:
"Do you think you need objectives?"

Goichi Suda on his unique style of games:
"People always say to me, 'You're probably on drugs when you do these games, right?' No, I'm not. I don't do drugs. I don't smoke... I like alcohol but I can't drink a lot."

Goichi Suda on playing his first video game:
"There were movies, and books, and music...and then there was a small, tiny box, and when I played [the game] I felt something really different, and I don't want to forget that feeling."

Tim Schafer from Double Fine on creativity:
"We are at war, and the enemies are...the publishers. No, they're not. It's not that easy. The enemies are mediocrity, laziness, and fear, and they exist in all of us."

Julian Eggebrecht, Factor 5 president, on why games should have sex (in the games, not with each other):
"Games do not have sex and there is something wrong with that because it says essentially that games are what children play."

Hideo Kojima on E3:
"I hope that my E3 will return next year."

John Riccitiello, EA CEO:
"We're boring people to death."

Ryan Stevenson from Rare on Viva Piñata:
"A lot of the noises are members of the team being put in a studio and told to do things like quack like a duck."

Don Daglow, president of Stormfront Studios, on the the first phase of the face-off between the so-called "next-gen" consoles being frustrating for developers:
"It's like getting into a new apartment after midnight, and the lights don't work, and your furniture's been delivered and you don't know where it is."

Hideo Kojima on the Metal Gear Solid series:
"Solid Snake's story is really going to end in MGS4."

Kaz Hirai on Sony's strategy:
"What Sony needs to do is get back to basics."

Atlus Spokesperson on arm wrestling game Arm Spirit malfunctioning and breaking users' bones:
"Even women should be able to beat it."

Roger Ebert on whether video games are art:
"I mentioned that a Campbell's soup could be art. I was imprecise. Actually, it is Andy Warhol's painting of the label that is art. Would Warhol have considered Clive Barker's video game Undying as art? Certainly. He would have kept it in its shrink-wrapped box, placed it inside a Plexiglas display case, mounted it on a pedestal, and labeled it 'Video Game.'"

Hank Kiersy, military advisor, on Call Of Duty 4:
"The game has reached that level of intensity that a weak gamer is going to soil himself."

Jason Jones, Bungie founder:
"Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees." (Emphasis in the original.)

Dr Julio Bonis on a shocking new potential epidemic:
"Physicians should be aware that there may be multiple, possibly puzzling presentations of Wiiitis."

Dean Martinetti from Spark Unlimited on Turning Point: Fall of Liberty: "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty has fewer calories than your normal shooter, chicks dig it, and it stays crunchy...even in milk."
With thanks to samer_AE.

Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn on Haze:
"Gaming for me is a religion and Haze is the ****!"
With thanks to ImError88, JackLumber, gbrading, Mikado01, Asurael

Peter Moore on Xbox 360 failures:
"You know, things break."
With thanks to amazing_00, tarmadadj

Jack Tretton on PS3s on store shelves:
"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you $1,200 for it."
With thanks to the_ghost, player_leo, stovich

If you can think of quotes that we've missed that you think deserve to be on the list, add a comment including the quote and the link. If we add it to the article, we'll give you a thanks!