David Cage calls for Apocalypse Now-like shooter

Well.. A war game more psychologically invested in the inability to sleep and constant fear of bombs going off in the distance, or the terror of seeing people maddened by having to kill, or forced with the choice to hurt a friend or let him rape an unarmed civilian etc would be mature, exciting, challenging, an innovative step in war-based games.. But, it is hard to base core gameplay around concepts like that.I really enjoyed Fahrenheit /Indigo Prophecy. Heavy Rain was the same kind of game, but refined. I actually hope Cage himself innovates a little more with Beyond, otherwise I know what to expect from him. That may take the edge off, but I still like the character centred approach, I feel like I know the protagonists of his games a great deal more than others. Probably because they have constant inner monologues ha

Yeah, sounds like he's trying to get in front of what Spec Ops did already.

Not saying he hasn't created quality himself.  But calling for an "Apocalypse Now" game after Spec Ops just came out, which pretty much ruthlessly skewers the entire shooter industry, is just blatant positioning on his part.

He wants to be seen as the big thinker in games.  Meanwhile others have already done, or taken a very legitimate stab at, what he has "called" for.

What he needs to do is continue to create great games, and stop trying to portray himself as some kind of visionary and leader.Lead by example, not by lecturing.

Pffft. Another gas bag developer trying to position himself as some kind of digital messiah. Power Creative whatever. This WHOLE form of entertainment, like any other, is based fundamentally on genre... The way Genres work in this area seems generally to be what form the interface takes and from what perspective the story is told from. This leads to games being similar, Which is good because organisms like ourselves like and respond well to things we recognize and know how to interact with... Its the reason for repetition in mediums. Now aside from attempting to do things differently what is Mr Cage suggesting. He himself is never THAT far ahead of the pack... if even ahead at all. He just seems to like the sound of his voice. 

Of course we all long to be different and break free of the mold. We all feel that. But its not Shouting "I am different" that makes someone different... Its actually achieving something different, its not posturing and forcing your opinion on people. No matter how much noise this guy makes his comments always seem to be ignorant of whats happening around him or of whats gone before. So he wants things to be different... Hows about some ideas dude!?! Otherwise you just sound pretentious. 

I think Mr. Cage called for innovation, something to excite gamer in a big way, not traditional gaming experience.

While playing Heavy Rain, I realized that the game must require extreme patience and effort to create. That's why we don't get to play or see much of such game.

already there, BFBC2:vietnam

The Brothers In Arms series is all of the above - do your homework David Cage.

Spec Ops: The Line would like a word with him.

ha he played spec ops the line yet? apocolypse now is an adaptation of a book called the heart of darkness which the line is based heavily on.

Let's get a shell shock simulator and then we can also blame games for post traumatic stress disorder like those caused by war. Unlikely complaints perhaps, but not impossible ones.

A game that is like Apocalypse Now would really change the gaming industry. David Cage really is pushing what gaming can do as a medium, so I wouldn't be surprised if he were the one to make such a game.

He would be the one to say this... But for the record I one hundred percent agree.

David Cage, I love you, and love your games; but as it has been said already, you really should check out Spec Ops: The Line.  This was a great game, that made you feel pretty shitty about killing people.

Can somene just sut this guy up? He speaks words of wisdom but he's still annoying.

I sympathise with your sentiment Mr. Cage, but you come off as uninformed when you fail to mention the newly released Spec Ops: The Line.

I had a lot of respect to Cage and his work.... i HAD!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, Just play Brothers in arms.

Then make it Mr. Cage. 

What a slap in the face to the developers of Spec Ops: The Line and Far Cry 2. At least applaud them for taking a step in this direction, Mr. Cage.

So once again, Mr. Cage uses numerous adjectives for his latest work: "emotional, mature, and unique", but misses out on the most critical one for a game ...FUN! Granted I know squat about his earlier work, all I've played from him is Heavy Rain and it was interesting, a decent enough story, but it was not fun to play.  Hopefully his latest project will have some good gameplay to back up what will no doubt be vastly improved voice acting than his last game as Ellen Page is awesome.

reminds me of people go on about how modern movies should just be "better", without having ideas as to how to make it so.but he does have a point, and i think spec ops: the line answered his call.

He throws a great deal of criticism at this industry but nor does he offer any direct solutions. How does he expect anybody to take him seriously?

From what I've heard and seen (haven't played Heavy rain because I don't own a PS3), Heavy Rain is more of an interactive movie than a videogame. It sounds like the player would have a better time watching it than playing it.

There are plenty of games that touch upon mature themes and content : Fallout with it's focus on survival; Bioshock with it's attempt to cling to order and power in a corrupt world away from ours; And Mass Effect and Dragon Age have some of the best character development I've seen in videogames. And these are games that are also great to play as well (VATS, Biotics, Abilities, Powers, Plasmids, etc.). I've only touched upon quite a few of the many seriously mature and great games we have in this industry.

Cage sounds like he wants something more along the lines of a movie (which is great for him). But I'll stick to my great stories and fantastic gameplay.

Also (just a quick tidbit), he's talking about "new hardware" arriving and changing the industry for the better (in his view). Wasn't this the same man who said in another Gamespot article that new consoles are not needed in the near future? Or was that someone else from the same studio/company?

Another war fps? hmmm

The American "gun culture" still struggles to cope with its effects in society...

Wow- isn't this guy in the gaming industry? How does he not know about Spec-Ops: The Line? (slightly superior to Heavy Rain imo).

Just lost major respect for this dude.

Spec ops the line: the line

Then there are the boat load of games that have used little elements here and there from the film....sooooooo STFU.

David Cage confirms his status as the gaming industry's own personal Captain Obvious.

The game he's talking about is already done and called Spec Ops: The Line. Furthermore, the new installment of Rainbow Six will revolve in the same fashion, as well as more vanilla, but nevertheless worthy of mention MoH:Warfighter

To everyone that thinks David cage is all talk, you haven't been there through all his work especially the first game he made Omikron the nomad soul Which is not a interactive movie.

The game is one of the first to have an open world environment, It had many gameplay elements, fighting, shooting, exploring. It also had story.  If you think all he's done is "quicktime events" your sadly mistaken you need to do your research before you talk.    If you want games to just be bland and have nothing new go for it but David Cage is right we need to encourage more creativity aka a little more risk for developers and publishers to tackle then just the same games over and over.

And so we set along the river, tearing through the jungle landscape like a twisting dagger. Days went by, when we were beset by a group of french video game developers. Most of my squad perished in the battle.

I continued alone, 20, maybe 30 miles to find a large temple in the shape of a fat Playstation 3 console surrounded by overworked, underpaid developers. They allowed me passage into the temple, and within its dark, damp walls I met a man. It was him, alright; David Cage. He was eating a tamarillo. Or maybe it was a blood orange.

Nestled in a pile of torn-up, soggy Official Playstation magazines with Heavy Rain artwork on the cover, he slid his palms once over his sweaty scalp and lifted his head. His eyes square upon me. My heart pounding like the Dual Shock of a PSOne controller during an Ifrit GF summon in Final Fantasy VIII.

He spoke; "Are you an assassin?" I stared blankly for a moment, and replied "I am a gamer."

Wiping the pulp of a mysterious red fruit from his dry lips, Cage refutes; "No, you are an errand boy sent by GameSpot journalists."

I stepped forward and handed him a copy of Spec Ops: The Line, a bag of Doritos and a bottle of Mountain Dew. I reminded him to press X to Jason.

Cage nodded.

He had found his Apocalypse Now-like shooter. The end.

David: Less talk and more work please.

It's pretty well confirmed this man is absolutely oblivious to the industry he works in, and I do really wish he'd learn something about it if he's going to have such an ridiculously big mouth.

Cage's self-contradictions really helped him dodge a bullet :)

The game he is looking for is Spec Ops: The Line. The final stages are like something out of the world of Apocalypse Now but set in the desert. And it works. One of my favorite games of the past five years......

I'm going to put aside Cage's products and just focus on what he is saying.

He is advocating for a different approach to FPS, and it's an idea worth exploring. I think it's feasible to have a game about war that emphasizes the fear and difficulty without making the game "not fun". 

Let's take the standard horror game. Many people say a successful horror game can  incorporate excellent atmosphere as well as a sense of "helplessness". Imagine if a First-Person Military shooter focuses on those aspects. An atmosphere that doesn't unnecessarily glorify war as "rah rah rah", and a sense of helplessness in controlling the death that's happening around you.

If done right, it could incite fear into the player. Not the fear that you would usually experience in horror games that involves ghosts or zombies, but fear like "what exactly are we fighting for and why did the guy that I met back at boot camp have to die for it?"

Food for thought. It would definitely be a game that takes violence more maturely.