The OG of video game journalism

Gamasutra has an interview up with Bill Kunkel who founded "Electronic Games" back in 1981 with a bud named Arnie Katz. And no, he doesn't dig the Xbox 360 or the recent Tony Hawk games (I say keep'em coming!).

 

You can't keep a good Game Doctor down, and Kunkel still has a few things to say about the state of the industry. "My big problem is that they kill these systems too soon," said Kunkel. "There's no other consumer product like that. Imagine if the video format changed every three years. You look back at the Commodore 64, and near the end of its life companies like Cinemaware were distributing games that were almost indistinguishable from early Amiga products. It clearly had life in it."

"Sony's smart!" he continued. "You don't come out with a new system THIS YEAR, people are just learning how to do stuff on what we have. The Xbox 360, to me...it's a very questionable system and a very questionable idea. I say, let these system have ten years, let developers find all the little tricks. It's like if you're a painter, and they give you a million more colors to paint with every three years. 'But I need time to experiment with all these colors!' you might say. No. The canvas keeps getting bigger, and ideas are getting smaller. There are so many sequels, and so few new ideas."

"No more Tony Hawk games, okay?" The Game Doctor concludes. "We've had enough goddam Tony Hawk games. I don't care how much you love Tony Hawk games, you don't need any more. Just stop it."