I used to love Crash Bandicoot on my PSone. ...Okay, love is a bit of a stretch. I used to play it compulsively, in an irate lather, frothing at the screen, throwing my controller hard into the floor, while the fabulously kooky and creative character designs hopped back and forth, eyes cheerfully agog, mocking me. That kangaroo in the straitjacket, tongue lolling obscenely, threatened to put me in the crazy house, I swear. Admittedly I was a hot-headed teen, and I definitely wasn't as good at traditional titles as I am now, but I can't quite recall ever being quite so frustrated.
By the way, in my book, the original PlayStation controller would have held up second best in Mitch Krpata's excellent control pad stress tests -- first of all is the SNES pad, which gamely bore my teeth marks without complaint. Yes, teeth marks.
Now that Naughty Dog vets E. Daniel Arey and Bob Rafei have founded their own studio, Big Red Button Entertainment, they've promised me that the days of that breed of vein-popping rage that inspires many gamers to simply quit playing a given title are over. I recently did an interview with the two fine gents for Gamasutra, and learned that the studio's name isn't simply a cute buzzword -- they really mean there will be a panic button to bail out frustrated gamers in the event of an emergency that might result in game abandonment.
Said Arey, "Can you imagine what the film industry would be today if you could only watch 60 percent of a DVD and then stop?" Good question -- and there are plenty more comparisons between the game and film industries to be found in the interview, but not necessarily from the angle you might expect. Check it out! They've at least got some perspectives I've not yet heard before, which is nice to hear as our game landscape is shaping up like a space battle wherein the Death Star is set to crush and swallow... uh, the six or seven other Death Stars.
