Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Shia LaBeouf getting booted off a Broadway play, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. switching from HBO to Showtime, or celebrities wearing pajama pants, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
As a Bill Simmons fanboy, the “Ewing Theory” is far more relevant to my life than any scientific theory. When Simmons posted a column revisiting the Ewing Theory, I started thinking about it in videogame terms. Obviously videogames are larger team efforts than sports are, so some of the principles of the theory don’t apply, but it was a fun exercise. Over the last week, I asked a bunch of friends if they could think of any videogame franchises that improved when a “celebrity” developer moved on or left the team.
The most common answer I received was the God of War series. A lot of my friends feel that the series reached new heights after David Jaffe left the team. The answer surprised me. Part of it is because I hold Jaffe in high regard and part of it is that I believe the series simply progressed. Of course Cory Balrog and Stig Asmussen did wonderful jobs directing the next two God of War games, but I believe the series would have improved similarly with Jaffe at the wheel. (Hmmm, now I want to rewrite the song “Jesus Take the Wheel” with the lyrics “Jaffe Take the Wheel.”) While I understood their points, I don’t think it was a “Ewing Theory” situation. God of War definitely got better, but I don’t think it was because of David Jaffe taking a different role (II) or leaving the team (III).
A few people mentioned John Romero and the Quake series. I understood this argument more, but felt that the older guys I spoke with still had Daikatana on their minds. That said, Tim Willits and Graeme Devine definitely took the franchise to new heights.
Now it’s your turn! What videogame franchises can you apply the Ewing Theory to?
Damn I seriously cannot apply Ewing Theory (almost a law) to the video game world. A few titles jump out at me as seriously missing the original visionary for the game. My initial thoughts were that the sequels for Bioshock and God of War were terrible compared to what Levine and Jaffe did with the first games. Granted Bioshock could move into Ewing Theory territory if Infinite flounders from overhype.
Maybe I am having a hard time applying Ewing Theory due to nostalgia? I’ll be interested what others might bring as Ewing Theory in this thread.
Nostalgia is a totally understandable blockage. I was/am having a hard time with it out of respect for developers. It’s much easier to criticize athletes. Ha!
What about when Rare went to MS and left Nintendo? I know it didn’t cripple Big N, but it left a large community to feel alienated by them.
Does that fall into Ewing Theory?
Other than that, Jade Raymond is not the producer on AC3 and it feels like a totally different game than the previous installments. That may be pushing it though.
Ohhhh! That’s a very interesting example. Patrice Desilets directed the first two games and left the company before the third one.
On a side note, he went to THQ Montreal…which Ubisoft recently purchased in the fire sale. He’s supposed to be working on the same project, but in my head he said (in a French Canadian accent), “Sheet! I ave to work wiz zeez guyz again!”
I’m thinking he probably quit like Guillermo Diaz did in Half Baked.
“F**k You, “F**k You, “F**k You, You’re cool, “F**k You, I’m out!”
(In a French Canadian accent of course)
I can apply the Ewing theory more to music than video games.
No Tokz, Van Halen was not better with the guy from Extreme.
Ewing theory is a big piece of crap!!! Have you read the link?
The writer don’t even know his NBA history…
“So what happened? The Knicks won three of the next four and advanced to the NBA Finals for only the second time in 26 years. ”
– Hello?? The KNICKS are in the 1994 NBA Finals against the Houston Rockets with Ewing playing up to Game 6 or 7 i think..
The 1999 Conference Finals was just a coincidence IMO and Ewing was old already so you kinda expected that injury..
Wait, what? “Celebrity developers?” Uh, maybe someone should tell the public who these people are first before we start throwing around fictional phrases.
-M
It’s not fictional at all. There are several developers that have lots of fans. Look at people like Cliff and Kojima.
No dude, it is fictional… or at least subjective. Kojima and Cliffy are celebrities within their own industry, but outside of that, no one knows or cares who they are.
It’s like me telling you that Mike Phillips is a celebrity real estate agent. Sean Cota is damn near a rock star in the petroleum marketing industry. These guys have lots of followers on Facebook and Twitter (I guess), but you still don’t know who the hell they are. If me and you are walking down the street and I see Mike Phillips, I’ll start marking out while you think I’m having some sort of spaz attack from some random dude walking by in a nice suit. I couldn’t pick out Kojima out from a group of five other Japanese people (including women) and I actually know what the guy looks like.
In contrast, my dad (who only watches TV for sports purposes and knows absolutely nothing about the entertainment … anything) knows who Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are. Everyone knows who Stephen Hawkings is because he is a celebrity. Yet, how many people know who Leonard Susskind is? He’s the guy who’s smarter/better than Hawkings in physics. In the physics world, he’s the real celebrity, yet barely anyone outside of that circle knows he even exists.
See where I’m going with this? There are no celebrity developers because there are none that are popular enough to be recognized outside of the industry en masse. Hell, I’ll be willing to bet money the the majority of Gears of War players wouldn’t be able to pick Cliffy out of a line up.
-M
Your definition of celebrity is suspect. It’s merely a person with a degree of fame. By your definition, NFL players aren’t celebrities either. Go to Europe or Asia and try starting a conversation about Tom Brady. “No one knows or cares who” he is over there.