All I know is that Molyneux in particular needs to stop talking. He has a nasty habit of promising the stars and ending up "just" delivering the earth, thereby making what would've otherwise been a very good game into a mere meh thanks to his hype.

And I couldn't care less about the damn Fable 2 dog.

NoFunShogun

Can't say I agree with Jaffe being on the list. So what if he's opinionated? He's not like everyone else who has to sugarcoat things for the public. If he thinks something is fucked up, he'll tell you, even if its own product

Sparx

You know which guy should STFU? Bobby Kotick

Not just at E3, but life in general.

doesntlikedede

Fanboys of all flavors would have less fuel to feed their silly fires if these guys didn't open their mouths as much as they do. Most of these guys are just spouting off opinion (that is largely in support, of course, of whatever platform or game they are working on - that's marketing).

When they are talking about actual game development, and not complaining/gushing about "game x" or "system x", I usually find their thoughts interesting.

quadmonkey

"Clifford "The Big Red" Bleszinski"

I'm so calling him Big Red Bleszinski.

Genocyde

That picture of Reggie really, really creeps me out, he looks like a rapist. Anyways, I think that all the people who aren't actually involved in making the games should shut the fuck up about sales figures and new demographics, cause honestly, nobody gives a shit about that stuff. People get excited about E3 because of games and occasionally hardware, not pointless bragging and marketing.

Placentasaurus

Hahaha! That list is hilarious!

About Peter Molyneux:
"Please be quiet for a minute. Stop talking about the dog in Fable 2. Just stop talking altogether. Go sit in the corner next to Jaffe."

Vetterli

@Philudo: OMG FEATHERS MCGRAW!!!!

CHU BOI

I think some of the people who get offended by this list need to STFU as well.

Do you also get upset when Kotaku takes an irreverent tone or subtly bitchslaps some of the industry's most annoying blowhards.

Cliff needs to STFU and decide whether he's a game developer or boy band member.

Moly needs to STFU and quit overselling games that never live up to his own hype.

Dyack needs to STFU and focus on making a good game rather than bitching at nerds on gaming forums.

As long as we're still paying $60 a pop for games they should expect a vocal and opinionated fanbase.

Silverbackne

How can they not have Aaron Greenberg on there?

MistaJeff

I would say "STFU" but..more, think what your are going to
say. They can say whatever they want, but sometimes they say
somethings that makes you like "mmm....really?..."

Hades

I'm not exactlly the individual who wrote the piece is (I'm sure "Crispy Gamer Staff" is a wonderful person with good Christian upbringing) but maybe they need to STFU and let people do their jobs. This is about as pretentious as a piece as the internet is capable of and adds absolutely no value to anybodies existence.

okenny :)

The list isn't complete without Shane Kim.

beem

I regret giving that site the hits I just did. *sigh*

I have no problem with any of these gents speaking their minds. They've never said anything close to the inflammatory stuff I've read from anonymous posters. And I'm FAR more interested in what they have to say than the website that posted this list.

I'm sure a part of this was meant to be fun jesting, but there was also a passive aggressive tone that makes me think they were just being internet-mean.

DARTH_TIGRIS

I chuckled at "Clifford Octavius Bleszinki III" and the pic is priceless.

I do hope we get news from Junction Point's latest game.

osiris83

Great list, esp. CliffyB, Rein, and Molyneaux.
Pachter? No one listens to him anyways :p

Totorototoro

Oh shit where did the CliffyB bunny rabbit suit come from?

ifalldownstairs

How about every developer just shut the fuck up and make games?

Pachter, though? That guy can definitely disappear ASAP. That guy gets paid to make the same predictions half the people here would - months ahead of him, no less.

KaneRobot

@cellshadedninja: Thats not being a hypocrite. I'm not obstructing his opinion, I'm just commenting on his poor writing style.

"Hey look at me, I'm saying something controversial and snarky!"

Philudo

lol @ Reggie being on the list:

''Instead of walking around and waiting for everyone to slap you on the back at this year's E3, we recommend you dig your GameCube out of the hall closet and spend one full hour staring at it.''

LeLoi

BEST. PICTURE. EVER.

IntelSilver

I agree with that entire list. Especially CliffyB, Jaffe, and the Gamecock guys. Well, they could maybe let Pachter off. But that's it.

@Helioz: As far as I'm concerned, Will Wright and Sid Meier can talk as long as they want about whatever they want.

antialias02

+1 for Pachter

wild_world_girl

all so true.
but i must admit i can't resist pachter's colgate smile.

mosumi

@dry-roasted-peanuts: What the hell is wrong a curve to the left???

chuffhoncho

Wow, that post is bigger, better, and more badass.

SnprSlick

I'd like to add Will Wright to this list!!!

lol, totally kidding.

I could seriously listen to Will Wright talk about his games for hours, I've personally watched his interviews and descriptions of spore multiple times.

Will is the perfect example of what a spokesperson should be, well-informed, passionate, intelligent and most of all genuinely excited about gaming.

Helioz

Tim Schafer is a genius, he made psychonauts, best original idea in a long time.

Mr.DuckSauce

@Praseodymium: Oh, yeah, well, that's like a given. I mean he's the mother ****ing Batman. He can wear a cape and totally kick butt in it.

Salen

It's a publicity/marketing event, what do you expect? The whole point is to wave your pecker around and point out how bit it is and how it doesn't curve to the left like that other guys does and how it's been used to pleasure more people than the other guys.

dry-roasted-peanuts

A source on the inside has told me that at least 7 of the 10 will in fact be quoted saying absurd things at this years E3.

firen

Completely and utterly agree, after checking their "who we want to hear from" list. Beforehand I was like "eeh, it's either developer goons we hear too much of already or PR douche bags, which do you want? 'cause it's one or the other". But yeah, I'd really like to hear from those guys on their second list too.

Demaar

I really have to agree. I want to see some different people out there, talking.

And Reggie....When I first heard of him, everybody assured me he was a great public speaker. Then, I watch his E3 speech, and it's possibly the worst speech................I've.....ever.....heard.......in.......my.....life...

Arsenicberyllium

@cellshadedninja:
I agree with Philudo. Its not hypocritical for him to call the Crispy article immature. Hypocritical would've been Philudo saying something along the lines of "I hate how x gaming blog(s) run stories I don't like. I won't read them anymore" within the last week or two, and then makes his above post.

SpishackCola

Right on BOTH lists... Especially the second list which mentioned the 6 people we WANT to talk more at E3. That is a good list and comprises at least four people that I have the utmost respect for.

Jason *Jaxel* Axelrod

@Praseodymium: and Spawn

FlashIV

@exkon: True but there is always a limit to what they can say. I get the feeling a lot of studios keep their developping methods close to the vest. Not that gamers for the most part would understand what they were talking about, but most likely so that could not mimmick their techniques. And if that were true, it would be super ironic because Insomniac Games, one of the best studios developping on the PS3, is actively sharing its info with other studios.

Moylneux should STFU. Moore and Reggie as well. Rein and Cliffy are likely to be NVidia whores to bullocks to them. Anyone else I cant think of right now can blab away.

And if The Honorable Mr. Kojima could find it in his heart to let the people in on His plans for the future, we would all be grateful.

NumberTWO

I agree with some on both lists.I could care less about Gamecock or hearing Moly speak again.I'd like to listen to Dylan,Mak and Gabe Newell talk some more though...and yes Jaffe rocks.

enewtabie

I've got to agree with the thought of CliffyB, if he calls Gears2 'Bad-Ass' one more time...

We get it, you can give a large alien a proctology exam with a chainsaw, I don't think we need to actually hear it said to know just how much bad-assery is going down here.

Jayl3w

@Salen:

I think you have to make an exception for Batman. Batman's cape is awesome.

Praseodymium

@Philudo:

How hypocritical. No one's forcing you to read and comment.

cellshadedninja

FAHEY AND GAMECOCK ARE FIGHTING BEHIND THE BLEACHERS AFTER SCHOOL!

GO FAHEY!

liquid_kore

Lame. CrispyGamer should help themselves to a cup.

Madeira

I bet I could take the founders of Gamecock, but only by exploiting their penchant for wearing capes.

NO CAPES! That's the one thing I know about when it comes to being a superhero/villian.

Salen

I don't mind hearing Jaffe speak, he's made some incredible games in the past, but recently he's been bitching, whining, and crying like a 12 year old little girl. That I can't deal with.

rotcepsurt

Don't agree with them including David Jaffe. He's a nice guy who is not afraid to back down when something needs to be said. He always has something interesting to say.

UkGuru

I love that poster... ^_^

Shiryu

I got to agree the column for Mr. Pachter. Being marginally "off" by couple "million" is NOT a great prediction whilst making rupees off of his services. He is also very consistent when it comes to being wrong and instilling a false security to clients.

Would you please STFU?.

PsycheE

How immature. No one's forcing you to listen.

Philudo

I'm always happy to hear some Game Developer speaking, being it for good or bad. It's just interesting to see their thought process into designing games.

It's okay to hear them push their game, but the best is when they're being interviewed or on a podcast.

exkon

Haha that list hilarious, what a ballsy thing to do right before E3.

D-Sovereignty

@Ptolemy:
I've listened three times so far.I almost feel as if it's a marketing ploy to attract hype to the title.In the end,Denis won't change anything or get Neogaf to change in the least. I admire him for caring about his game and it took some guts to call out commenters(which I still feel was the wrong thing to do)
But,I felt like I was listening to a book review.Trolls are trolls and if they have made up their mind,you aren't going to change that in the grand scheme of things.If your game is good then let it speak to the masses.Your talent will shine above any doubts.

enewtabie

@PsycheE:

Pachter is the only person in that list that I think should just keep his mouth shut. Then again, I don't like analysts to begin with.

dead_red_eyes

@Toasticus: As Silverbackne has alluded to, it's not because they grant interviews, it's the idiotic things they say at those interviews.

It's a big problem. You don't see, say, an IBM executive going in front of cameras and talking about how nobody should take Apple's productivity suite seriously, or Spielberg saying that Michael Bay's games aren't worth playing. It's a matter of professionalism, something most of the people on this list sorely lack.

Fnor

Fuck that, none of these guys should shut up. In fact, we need more people like them who form their own opinions and voice them. It create dialogue and discussion which is extremely healthy.

The only people who need to shut up are morons who write articles like this.

Tulkamir

This is moronic. These developers aren't calling pointless press releases to stroke their own egos, they're accepting requests for interviews. They grant the interviews because they know their fans will enjoy reading them. Dyack is the only one that seems to be an exception in terms of going out of his way to communicate with the gaming populace.

@KaneRobot: How about you shut the fuck up and just play games then? See what I did there?

Toasticus

@Silverbackne: well said

schizorogue

Add N'Gai Croal to the list. When he's not bleating about the obvious racism in RE5, he's dispensing pseudo-intellectual nonsense about games and gaming culture. I've never read a word by the man that was the least bit insightful or interesting, yet somehow he's become one of the leading figures in his field. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he's not worthy of his post.

AtomicPlayboy

You know, I listened to Dyack on that 1up yours podcast. I can't say I disagree with him wholly.

He said organizations need to be socially responsible and take care of their own. There were two things that happened at Neogaf that he found appalling and I can see his side.

A moderator divulged personal info, I think it was about Jeff Bell, and someone said they liked Too Human and a moderator asked them if they were "fucking stupid".

Dyack said that these kinds of bad practices are the downfall and ultimate ends of organizations. I don't see it as a threat that he was making, just an observation.

Granted, listening to that whole diatribe was a little weird at times, but he's an eccentric man, thats what you expect from those creative types. So maybe he shouldn't care what happens on those boards, maybe he needs a thicker skin. Its refreshing that he seems to actually care about where society is headed. Is he totally genuine? Who knows, the subject of Too Human is actually at the forefront of my mind where it wasn't beforehand. I'll definitely be following that game more closely now, I've liked all of and own two of their previous games.

Ptolemy

I think it's Crispy Gamer who should stfu, with their judgemental article, they lack modesty to criticise the way they do:

"Go sit in the corner, David. Yes, face the wall. Now think about what you've done. "

Really? This isn't funny. The writer might think it is but it's not.

"Yet no one in the industry is more guilty of overpromising on his games than you are, sir."

While this might be true, the way it's said is very annoying: referring directly to Molyneux with "you", when this article is not an interview or direct conversation with him, and the "sir" at the end adds another touch of obnoxiousness.

This did not convince me.

belger0g

I'm fairly surprised Itagaki isn't on the list...

Avonej

Good call on almost everyone listed.

As much as I have grown to like "Cliffy B" over the past few years, he definitely needs to not only keep his mouth shut, but he should really start maintaining a lower public profile. He's becoming a cliche as the standard "go to" dev for a gaming related photo-op. His overexposure is diminishing his credibility; how can he get any work done when it seems that he spends all his time in front of a camera or on stage somewhere?

Molyneux will never stop talking although he seems to be doing a better job with his pre-release PR for Fable 2 then his well documented hyping of the first Fable.

Pachter gets paid to run his mouth. What should happen is that the Gaming press should ignore him utterly since he brings nothing relevant to the table, and that applies for the rest of the prognosticating ilk like him that get paid for stating the obvious.

Reggie, and the cult of personality that surrounds him, mystifies me. What does he actually do? Nintys products sell themselves and don't require his bullying from the pulpit.

Pete Moore is a classic. Every few years he changes jobs and acts like an amnesiac when it comes to his previous statements. And he has some of the worlds worst tattoos to boot.

And saying that Jaffe should shut the fuck up is the biggest "Ya think?" statement Captain Obvious could ever make.

On the flip side, I really hope Tim Shafer brings Brutal Legend to us soon; the concept of the game sounds like gaming nirvana to me.

coalhalo

@AtomicPlayboy:
Oh yeah, him! He tends to slip my mind because I don't give him much thought. That said, I think dismissing him requires a bit more:

- He's a NEW gamer, but so is anyone who's still a kid. He's quite avid and did well to catch up so that's cool.
- He writes for a respected mainstream news outlet, not gaming media.
- He makes an admirable effort to bring up new concepts to discuss instead of just rechewing the same old stories and that's awesome. More gaming writers should do that (Kotaku! WOOOOO!)

But after all that, I've been paying him more attention since his RE5 article and IMO it's been fail after fail. Nice try, but almost hit means missed. :/ He raises interesting points then variably gets it wrong, misses opportunities to raise more interesting issues, or just pours a ton of analysis into something irrelevant.

fuchikoma

Haha... awesome.
Mak talks? The most I've heard him say is that he's not a business guy, and he just kinda did a thing and some stuff so that's how it happened, lol. So modest and vague.

But Pachter... I don't know. No particular disrespect to the man, but the opinions line nails it. He's no better than a skilled forumite yet game news filters through him like he has to rubber stamp it or something. Maybe that's just bias from reading so much Kotaku. By all means, BS on forums (I do! It's fun, but not world-changing!) but I don't get the obsession over him.

fuchikoma

(JeffK from 2000)

Adam Rock

Also, I think that it's really silly how Crispy Gamer made this list. Then again, there's haters everywhere these days. Nothing you can do about it really, other than just not pay attention.

dead_red_eyes

Epic guys most certainly need to shut up, they rarely say anything actually insightful, Cliff Richards the Younger just whoops a lot like some missing 4th Stooge and Raine says controversial stuff just to get face time. Epic, if you're going to open your mouth make it interesting not advertising.

Jaffe I like for his straight talking but he could serious do with staying on point and growing a thicker skin so he doesn't need to whine as much.

Pachter just gets way too much blog time for what is largely empty statements. Can't we just replace him with a magic gaming 8-ball or something?

Molyneux I have to say I disagree with, the guy often gets way into the details and ideas which is interesting to hear from a developer. Unfortunately those things don't always materialise and then gamer's get all pissy about it. Perhaps he'd be better to STFU until after the game is released and then he can talk about the stuff he wanted to do.

Gamecock can cock off. For all the pomp and piss taking earlier this year with Romero and they are looking like the bigger bag of bullshitters now with so many terrible games to their name. Least Romero sticks to his personal blog with his opinions, Gamecock should do likewise.

Peter Moore (is it a Peter thing?) I actually liked as far as interviews and such. He seemed knowledgeable, humourous and entertaining. I think any corporate figure head is going to be dispensing a certain amount of company BS. Same for Reggie but he seems to have less of a presence. This years E3 keynotes will be interesting.

Warren Spector, respected as he is came across a little smarmy in a recent pod cast. Perhaps it was an off day but right now he's determined to prove he's not taking the Disney dick, time will tell I guess.

I love to hear John Carmack talk (yay Quakecon!), he covers such a variation of subjects and just tells stuff from his point of view. Likewise Tim Sweeney should be let out of the box more often.

Paul Wedgewood (Splash Damage) needs more air time. As one of the Mod Team come Developer stories they have shown fantastic growth and maturity. The fact SD are now working on their own original IP, one that may have been an ambition of theirs for many years, I'm very excited to hear more.

Jelster

@enewtabie: "In the end,Denis won't change anything or get Neogaf to change in the least."

So what do you suggest? That we should be silent, impotent to do what we think is right, yielding to ignorance, paralyzed by cynicism?

You are insinuating that it was *possibly* just to make headlines and hype his game. You should have to back that up with some sort of previous incedent that gives you some basis to comment that he could have been pulling a stunt there.

Madeira

It's true that there is a point after which all the talk starts to hurt sales the product they are promoting. But I don't think I've seen that yet? Except GameCock, those idiots managed to alienate quite a chunk of their audience.

ara

@OtisElevator:

I'd rather Kotaku link to content like this than Mark Rein's latest "me! me! me!" comment. One serves to entertain us gamers the other to advertise someone's business by appearing to be savvy in the industry.

Let's hear more about game design, the challenges and processes that go into the stuff we enjoy. I don't need someone to tell me how much I'll like their game on a scale of 1 to 10, what douche developer is going to say their game sucks? or is too short? Or has a multitude of flaws?

Kotaku. Foot. Arse. :)

Jelster

@OtisElevator: How so? Can you explain?

Silverbackne

Kotaku. Foot. Mouth.

OtisElevator

@Fnor: Itagaki is the only prominent developer I can think of who trash-talks the competition, and he isn't even on this list. I mean, did you read what they were saying about Kudo Tsunoda? They basically were saying he should STFU because they don't like his personality.

I agree that developers should be careful about expressing negative opinions toward their competitors, but that has pretty much nothing to do with this article. And no, it really isn't a big problem unless you believe the ridiculous spin that Bashcraft puts on his out-of-context quotes to generate controversy.

Toasticus

Such a good article, and I can't agree more.

Dyack's a fool for crusading to change the minds of 13 year olds when he's busy trying to peddle to them; if his game is any good, it'll sell, and they'll all eat their words. Or, alternately, Dyack has created something he really believes in and likes but which, for all the world, is teh suck, horifically overcomplicated in some places and unbelievably shallow in others. Regardless, ultimately, his game will do all the talking, whether he likes it or not, and he'd be wise to leave it that way.

Also, he's quite frankly a *rotten* speaker. Next time, deliver your manifestos in text, not on 1up podcasts, I've grown extremely weary of you.

Pachter is just like every other of his ilk. More often wrong than not, but at least *someone* is out there trying to do these projections; they're harder than they look, and more important than people think. All of which is unfortunate.

Molyneux can spend more time talking about the process of development and less time on the wild-wooly 'we're going to press the FEELING button' waffle.

Jaffe should make a game that doesn't suck.

Reggie Feel-Some can stand up on stage dressed as a giant cash register, say "ka-ching", and dance while a video plays of two whacked-out freaks turning up at the doors of complete strangers and playing this year's new lineup. It would be an improvement over yet another of his wooden speeches.

CliffyB has done the press equivalent of setting himself on fire; he's now suffering from horrific press burns, and is now a nearly unrecognizable Cliff Blescz... fuck it, I can't even spell it, and I never cared to. Instantaneous lesson in how to throw away good PR for bad and lose your identity in the process.
I think that last name is spelled "S E L L O U T", but I'm not good with speling.

gblock

@gblock: What's funny is, in just that one comment, you have proved to be more of a douchebag than every one of the personalities you whined about there combined.

Madeira

@gblock: You're only a sellout if you change your style from enjoyably niche to profitably mainstream. I don't see how that applies to CliffyB at all, unless you were hoping he'd keep working on JazzJackrabbit titles. I agree it was a PR mistake to ask people to stop calling him CliffyB though.

Toasticus

@Toasticus:

You could say it's just the times we live in but making GoW an exclusive on the 360 was pretty fucking poor of Epic. No reason they couldn't have gone multiplatform other than wanting a big fat exclusivity cheque.

For Cliffy's part, he's seems more interested in hyping his games and company to draw in punters than actually letting his game speak for itself. When GoW came out everyone was like "10/10" and "ZOMG! Most awesome gamer ever!", now it easy pulling up a page of criticisms.

While I can't criticize him for doing that, I certainly won't respect him for it nor do I want to have it clog up blog space.

Jelster

#11. Philudo

Mr.SithNinja

@Jelster: I'm not sure why you're mentioning the exclusivity. Are you implying that CliffyB is somehow a sellout because the game he was working on was an exclusive? If so, then you aren't really considering the role a lead designer plays in game development. CliffyB was not the man who made that call. Even if he were, that wouldn't mean he was a selling out, just looking to get the best funding for the project in order to make the best game possible. Would Gears have turned out so well if they were trying to get UE3 working on the PS3 at the same time with less funding? I'm thinking not.

As for the remainder of your comment, any publisher that just lets its game "speak for itself" needs to fire their marketing department. That's just not how you sell games. In an ideal world everyone would be immune to hype and developer interviews would be completely candid, but in the real world not hyping your game is a total disservice to your team because it will end up getting your game buried and forgotten.

Toasticus

@Toasticus:

Perhaps I am straying from the point.

You said, "You're only a sellout if you change your style from enjoyably niche to profitably mainstream."

I merely mention that (Epic) taking an exclusive deal on the 360 couldn't be any clearer a definition of "Profitably Mainstream". Where Cliffy comes into it is that he loses credibility (with me at least) when he becomes the PR/Marketing spokesperson masquerading as the Lead Designer.

Does that make him a sell out? A bit IMHO. I'd certainly find it hard to believe anything he tells me is more than verbiage to push sales, increase "profitability" and appeal to the "mainstream". You may justify that as him having no choice in the matter but I think we know it's hardly like he has a gun to his head, unless it's one of the promo shots he's always posing for, because that's what lead designers do! ;)

Jelster

@Jelster: You're forgetting the necessary first part of "selling out," which is being niche. If you don't start out being niche, but are mainstream-friendly from the get-go, then you haven't sold out. Selling out requires the abandonment of principles for the sake of cash. Seeing as "multiplatform" never seems to have been an overriding principle of Epic's, I can't say that console exclusivity goes against their principles. So I don't think it should be relevant to how one thinks of Cliff.

I can see how his promotion from lead designer to producer can be interpreted as selling out, though. To me that depends partly on how "hands-off" he is with his management and whether he has any interest in being a designer for future games.

Toasticus

That was a pretty funny article. I agreed with most of their choices except for David Jaffe. That man's left field comments always bring a smile to my face. And finally, couldn't agree more about Cory Barlog needing to make a stand. The guy only made the best game of last generation IMO.

gencid