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Gearbox’s Mikey Newman Subtly Trashes Retake Mass Effect
Over on OPM UK, the story lead on Gearbox’s forthcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines, Mikey Newman, has some harsh words for folks who say they have a right to alter a game because they don’t like it. While he never comes right out and refers to the organization by name, Newman clearly has a bad taste in his mouth for Retake Mass Effect, the fan-led movement that sought to convince BioWare to change Mass Effect 3’s ending through a petition/fundraising combo.
When asked about how he came to the Alien franchise’s canonical story, he replied, “Don’t do the thing that makes people write petitions on the internet.”
He continued:
“You have no right to petition people in art. God damn it. You don’t I don’t give a shit. That’s on me, that’s not Gearbox that’s totally me. You have no right to petition artists to change their art. You can not like it, you can not buy it, you can not enjoy it—that’s fine. Bitch all you want: you can not petition them.”
It’s a lesson that many fans seem to learn every day. While EA and BioWare have confirmed that their “Extended Cut” DLC will be available for free this summer for Mass Effect 3, the Retake Mass Effect movement itself turned out to be a complete failure. (UPDATE: NOT SO MUCH.)
According to a post on Joystiq from about a week and a half ago, the $80,000 or so that was raised in the name of a new ending for the game was refused by the Child’s Play charity it was meant for. Said Penny Arcade’s Jerry Holkins (Penny Arcade started the Child’s Play charity), “We were dealing with a lot of very confused people, more every day, and that told us we had a problem…Apparently some of the people giving to the cause seemed to think that they were paying for a new ending to Mass Effect.”
Whoops.
Another post on Joystiq says that the money raised was returned to those who thought they were purchasing a new ending, and Holkins himself clarified the ways in which money can and will be donated to Child’s Play: “Child’s Play cannot be a tool to draw attention to a cause. Child’s Play must be the Cause.”
Hopefully the folks who ponied up $80,000 when they thought there would be a new ending have decided to go ahead and make their donations directly to Child’s Play anyway.
UPDATE AGAIN, 4/13/12: A post on Joystiq points out that, in fact, only a small portion of the donations were returned, and that the majority of the $80,000 in pledged funds stayed with Child’s Play. Good on you, angry ME3 fans.
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Whoops is right. Goes to show that no matter how misguided a cause is, with multiple (supposed and assumed) points of “validation,” you get enough people hyped and riled up in a fervor over something they don’t agree with, it can end an ugly, futile death, which we see here.
Points were made, considered and “taken note of” through the whole ordeal since Mass Effect 3 dropped, but in the end, gamers truly do have no right to demand, nor assume an artist can/will change their work after you find it leaving a bitter taste in your mouth.
I support Newman on this one, though I try and keep my opinions to myself (mostly) on IG comments… whoops!
garbage
He needs a lesson in grammar and video games aren’t art. There has never been any game that was called a work of art by the art community. Although it’s considered art, it is not technically art. Even if games were art, the Mass Effect would be a piece pertaining to its immersive story that was ruined by a boring and altogether disappointing 1, 2, 3 ending and would be criticized as such. It’s not that the ending sucked for a game, it was a very intuitive ending; it’s just a poor and lazy ending to, in my opinion, one of the greatest RPG game series’ ever made.
On a side note, The Last Guardian is going to be a piece of art, just sayin’.
You can’t contradict yourself and say that video games aren’t art, and then turn around and say a game is going to be a frikin awesome piece of art.
Gaming is slowly becoming an art form, but the community of gamers are still so childish and immature that the only reason it’s not considered an art form is because of the very consumers that the games are made for.
video games are art, but WE PAID FOR THAT ART, we have the complete right to ask for any changes we fucking want, it dosent mean you have to make those changes, p.s your game looks like its going to be shit, cant wait to laugh at it
First off, there’s a reply button. Secondly, video games aren’t art because the art community (you know, those rich, metrosexuals who disembowel dead and living animals) says they aren’t. I myself consider video games to be a work of art, and cod is the disembowelment section of video gaming art (hehe). Like I said, Mass Effect as a series is like a series of paintings by Da Vinci, only the last one was rushed at the very last second, ruining it’s reputable name.
And I know your type, The Last Guardian isn’t about polishing a piece of crap until it shines and everyone becomes enamored with it’s beauty; The Last Guardian develops an emotional bond between the colossus and the boy through wordless actions. Team Ico made the movements, the actions of the colossus as if it were really alive. If you don’t like how it’s turning out, then ball’s to you, good sir.
im part of the art communtiy and evry1 does not abbid by those staryotypes, and rule number 1 of the art communtiy is there is no real definion of whats art and whats not it comes down to personal choice. a example is i fell video games and street art are forms of art but some others do not, that dosent mean it is or isnt art, it means its art to me, but it isnt to them, so basicly video games are art if you think thery are no matter what “art ciommunity” thinks.
and the reply button is to mainstream man (in a hipster voice)
hes misinformed, we’re not fighting to change the artists integrity we’re fighting to preserve the artists integrity, its obvious that the mass effect ending what not art, it was designed to tear down the previous artists work so they can structure a new mmo based world on how EA wants it to look. We are fighting to preserve the original authors storyline, the very same story that drew fans in droves to the first game the same story that heightened the universes experience in the second game and now the same story that save for the 1 percent was a fitting conclusion, If the ending didn’t destroy the entire franchise we the fans would not be angry, instead we the fans would be begging bioware to take our money. Instead they chose to destroy the only series that was so close to making video games iconic to making people get nostalgia and warm feelings when they talk about how the games universe was based in actual scientific theory, or about how the game almost seemlessly blended the RPG and third person shooter into one new genre, or the first time they found sovereign and how the quote “you exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it” sent shivers up their spines instead we will talk about how the closest thing to this generations star wars or star trek we had was destroyed artists who claimed artistic integrity demanded they destroy someone else’s hard work.
gotta add one thing, if this artist is not willing to listen to his fans requests with an open mind I fear what aliens colonial marines will become, Gearbox refused to listen to fans and ask for fan input on the game duke nukem and it suffered greatly because of that, If they make the same mistake again their reputation will start to falter as well, art is about a design and idea, and the willingness to listen to feed back, if leonardo divinci didn’t listen to his critics and fans we would never be able to display his work, its horrifying to think that artist have lost touch with the very people they expect to get their art. Mass effect 3′s ending will not be something to be remember it will be an example by future civilizations about how not to end a story.
I have always been a quiet admirer of IGD but this is nonsense
I would really like to know where you are getting some of this information. I have just spent the better part of an hour looking for any reason why the Total funds raised was refused. Nowhere on the listed site (joystiq) or anywhere else does it say this. As a matter of fact then quote from Holkins was not only taken out of context but misquoted. He is talking about why the cap was instituted . He says a lot of things about the situation none of them negative which you can find here:
http://penny-arcade.com/2012/03/22
You can read comments right from the manager of Childs play right here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/r93jo/retake_mass_effect_fund_raiser_under_attack_by/
Sady at the end of the day the reason for all the trouble and the reason retake cannot donate any more money to Child’s Play is because some people cant read and because some gaming journalist couldn’t get their facts straight and misrepresented RME and Child’s Play, your not contributing by doing the same
When I read this piece on Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/05/no-plans-to-pull-or-charge-for-mass-effect-3-extended-cut-dl/), it seemed to me as though the writer said that the funds were, in fact, returned to the donors by Child’s Play. But I’ll check it out some more, and if I find that I have it wrong, I will absolutely amend the post. Apologies if I’ve got the facts wrong.
Even still, it seemed to me that Holkins, despite supporting the idea behind Retake Mass Effect, was not in favor of the headaches that the donations caused, since many people didn’t realize they were making donations to a charity. Again, if I see that I’ve got it wrong, I’ll amend this post. Thanks.
i thank you for the quick response and i want that i mean no ill intent and i am not trying to grief you or trouble you. I love the work done at IDG. I am just a little shocked at how much of a fiasco this has become. As of right now all that has been said of refunds in the past two weeks is that if anyone request a refund, Jamie Dillan (Childs Play manager) would be happy to oblige. But there has been no Mass Paypal refund from Childs Play up to this point(ask anyone who donated) If people would would just read the main page of RME there would be little or no confusion. They are not forcing anyone to do anything they’re merely stating how they feel in a constructive manner. It just feels wrong to see people being demonized for simply expressing an opinion.
Totally updated. You were right! Good looking out, dear reader. Thanks.
Define art.
I can argue that anything can be art. That is because art is a useless fucking word. Art is a label we put on things that are good. The ending fucked the game up, had plot holes, employed dues ex machina and several points in the game were ripped off, both visually and plotwise. Art is a title given in a different manner by every person. That is because art is a fancy substitute word used when people want their opinion or their actions to have credibility (“We won’t compromise out artistic vision!)
Give me a break. Everyone else is held accountable on the quality of their work in a capitalist system, you don’t get to forego that by screaming “I’m an artist!”
The ending might not have been that great, but some people are acting like major assholes about it. I don’t care if you think video games are art. You shouldn’t be demanding that they change the ending. Some people say they are “preserving the artistic integrity” of the game by demanding this change. I’m sorry, but when did the universe start to revolve around you? I know some people you think the ending was actually good. I myself think it was a little sloppy, but nothing warranting the reaction it got. The point is that it’s a matter of opinion. Bioware can do whatever the hell they want with the game because it’s their game. While there is nothing wrong with giving feedback on the game, some people are taking this way too far.
Agreed. The whole thing has been blown out of proportion.
I agree that the ending was a bit sloppy, but I’m not bitching or moaning at bioware to change it so that it’s all sunshine and rainbows and wasn’t the ending I was asking for.
While I’m glad they are adding in some stuff to provide some additional closure to the game at the same time I’m a little saddened that Bioware caved for the kiddies. It was a great game untill the ending but everyone is damning the end and not thinking about that epic journey you undertook since you slapped that disc into your console/PC
“Hopefully the folks who ponied up $80,000 when they thought there would be a new ending have decided to go ahead and make their donations directly to Child’s Play anyway.”
Damn right son.
YOU CANT DEFINE ART IT IS STRICTLY PERSONAL CHOICE PLAIN AND SIMPLE
Here’s the thing with Bioware. When Mass Effect Deception was released, and the fans went nuts, Bioware said sorry and are now basically re-writing the book. A whole book.
Then fans do the same thing with the last 10 minutes of ME3 really, and then Bioware and others are talking about “Artistic rights” or something. You lot we’re doing that with Deception!
I don’t understand why these people think they are entitled to an ending that they like.
you can not enjoy it
When a video game is not enjoyable, then the video game is a failure. If there was a bug that made a game unenjoyable would
Accidently pressed submit
People not want it fixed, if a game is not enjoyable it fails the point of being a game
A shity response for a shity ending.
I live in Dallas, not too far from gearbox, so I may have crossed paths with this fellow before. It’d be interesting to talk to him in person and see how he really feels O_O
That being said, I exchanged money for Mass Effect 3. So the money is now theirs, and the game is now mine. The story came from them, but we payed for it, so we have every right to criticize the fact that they lied about how it would end and that the current ending(s) are utterly devoid of either substance or style.
It’s like paying for a bottle of fine wine and getting a box of trailer juice, and then after complaining, being told that I need to learn to appreciate what I’ve been given. Even afterwards they’re trying to explain to me the merits of said juice, when all I want is the fine wine I was promised.
Too many people miss the mark when criticizing the Retake movement. All we want is what we were told was coming, not some egotistical douches idea of a conversation starter.
I’m late but I completely agree with this guy. Video games, or before I get jumped for calling them art, any kind of art are created using an artists vision and should remain that way.
When an artist creates a piece and puts it up for sale, the state at which it is in is the artists vision for the finished product and how it should look or feel. If you choose to buy that you have NO RIGHT to return to them and demand they change something about it because it’s not to your taste.
If you COMMISSIONED said artist to make a piece FOR YOU then yes, you DO have the right to complain but buying a free lance piece of art IS NOT commissioning somebody, you are BUYING it in it’s finished form.
I know exactly how this feels as a small time and up-starting game developer, if you don’t like the piece of art DO NOT BUY IT. It’s as simple as that! The art was made to the artists vision, not your personal taste and is only sold because it can be. It was not made personally for you and spending your money on it does not change this.
The main issue about ART, ME3 and te RME movement is…
ME3 can be art or not but it’s for sure a COMMERCIAL PRODUCT and this means that BW/EA must satisfy the ir cients…
A Ferrari is an art piece of car but if you buy a ferrari with a bad steering wheel is your right to have the car fixed or a new one…
Ferrari cannot say you “my artistic integrity requires you to adapt to drive a car with a broken steering wheel”
BW madea bad ending to their game, not fullfilling the promises they made inpre-lanuch statements…
As i pay for the product i am a customer and art or not it’s my right to have a product that is at least fitting the promises of the producer selling it and WORKING…
Artistic integrity cannot go against your custkners satisfaction cause the customers are the ones who pay you thebills…
If you want your art to be undisputable give it for free but in the moment you sell it you must obey the first rule in commerce…
Custmer is always right until he pays…
Hmm, and I was planning to buy his game too. I think I can live without it. Oh, what’s that Mikey? We shouldn’t reserve our money because we don’t like the opinion of one developer? Hehe… it’s my money bud, I can do whatever the *blank* I want with it.