Speaking of technological advances, let’s jump ahead a little bit: where would you like to see the video game medium go? What kind of ambitions that you have for video games, let’s say, 10, 15 years from now?
I would love to see video games just keep going in absolutely different directions. I mean, I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of God of War. And, on the other side, I love Portal. And I think, as long as games embrace the whole gamut from one to the other, it’s great.
(More on Techland: Whom The Gods Would Destroy: The God of War III Review)
Yet again, I love sitting there with my iPhone and playing Angry Birds, which is the simplest thing in the universe but really hard to do. Or Flight Control or Doodle Jump, or any of those. So for me the thing that’s wonderful about video games at this particular point is that everybody is trying everything, and I hope that never stops, that they just get better at it. There are times I just want to sit there and go like this [tilts iPhone] with Doodle Jump and get the guy to go up to the top of it. And there are times that I want to play Uncharted 2, which is one of the best story games I’ve ever played.
So you really like the idea of this very broad and varied spectrum….
Yeah, too much of one thing is wrong. Comics had that for awhile and now we’re back to having a lot of different genres in comics, but for a long time it was only one. As much as I love superheroes, and love writing them, and love reading them that’s how I got into comics, after all–I really like having all the other type of books too. What I really would like is everyone just keep coming up with the most whacked-out ideas for video games they can, and keep the medium fresh so I never get tired, because I get bored real fast.
Well, you mentioned a broad spectrum. We’re in a time when the spectrum of content might be threatened because of legislation. Did you follow that landmark Supreme Court case that was in the news a few weeks back?
I’ve been following it a bit.
(More on Techland: US Supreme Court Begins Case Regarding Prohibiting Video Game Sales To Minors)
Did any of the old-timers you worked with– whether it was Stan Lee or other people–do they have stories about when the Comics Code Authority came into being?
Well, I certainly heard stories of the Comics Code Authority censoring material. I’m obviously totally against censorship and I do feel that you do have to protect kids, which is very different from censorship in my mind. What’s ridiculous about the video game situation is that there are codes on the video game boxes and have been for years. And, even if it was passed, all it means is that the parent has to buy the game and give it to the kid. And frankly, there aren’t a lot of 10 year olds or 12 year olds who can afford $60 a game.
So, the parents are buying the games anyway. And it should really be the parents’ personal decision what’s acceptable in the house and what’s not. I think this is just a
political problem that will probably go away now that the election is over.
(More on Techland: AIAS President Emeritus Joseph Olin on Video Games’ Supreme Court Case)
I’m sorry it got all the way to the Supreme Court; I think it’s utterly ridiculous. I do think you do have to protect kids. But there’s already set up a system set up for that, and I think encouraging the different shops to make sure they honor that is the way to go. That, if it says, it’s not for under 17, don’t sell it to someone under 17.
It’s pretty common sense.
Yeah, it’s just common sense stuff. But it’s not illegal. And frankly, they can turn on the TV, and what people forget is that kids see HBO and Showtime, and they’re watching gruesome movies if they choose to when their parents aren’t around. That’s far worse than a video game because, with a video game, the kid knows he’s playing it.
It’s fantasy.
Yeah. And it doesn’t look that real no matter how good the graphics are. And you’re in control of it, so you can do whatever. Special effects in movies are brilliant nowadays. So, if they don’t have a problem with what special effects can portray, which also have ratings, they shouldn’t have a problem with video games.
Hopefully, Could you tell us what you’re looking forward to, aside from DCUO obviously?
I wouldn’t even mention my own. I seriously wouldn’t. The two games I’m looking most forward to right now are BioShock Infinite and Portal 2. There are some trailers out there for Portal 2. I worry about it because the first one was so simple and this one looks a lot more complex.
(More on Techland: Look, Up In the Sky!: First Video from Bioshock Infinite [UPDATED])
But, I loved the first one so much, and I turn more people on to video games through that and Uncharted. Not BioShock. I think BioShock, you have to be into games already. But Portal and Uncharted are the two games that I generally will bring new people into, depending on what I know they like.