Why Do We Care About Mark Ecko?

I'm fascinated by BusinessWeek's fascination with Mark Ecko. Sure, before the game was released I could see where a graf artist turned fasion designer turned game developer might have been an interesting perspective.

But, I'm sorry to be blunt ... isn't the game out and it's simply not very good? I haven't read a single review, either from the mainstream sites or blogs, which has been favorable to the game. People wanting a good graf game should hunt down a copy of Jet Grind Radio. Heck, anyone should hunt down a copy of Jet Grind Radio if they haven't played it. Why should we concern ourselves with someone who had the money to design a short game with average graphics and subpar mechanics?

Games require a lot more than some cash and free time to develop, and giving celebrity game developers free advertising simply because they're a celebrity is hardly beneficial ... or even interesting. The BusinessWeek article goes to length about Ecko's thoughts on the game, but only mentions that reviewers didn't like the game's length ... not that they didn't like the game. And they even let Ecko try to explain the 15 hour gameplay length as a good thing.

Meanwhile, I'm playing Mercenaries into what must be like hour 50 or something. Wonder when Pandemic gets their closeup.

Update: The metacritic reviews seem to suggest that it's at least above average, I guess, although I sure didn't get that impression when I previously drifted through reviews. I still hold to the theory that a slightly above average game is anything more than just that, despite who floated the checks.



tagged: game, gaming