Ed Boon: Constantly Not Getting It

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5948/back_to_basics_with_mortal_kombat.php 

lol

You guys seem to be angling this new Mortal Kombat as a revival, or reinvention, of the franchise. It's been around for so long; at this point, what's the essence of Mortal Kombat? What are you telling your team, and what are you all trying to recapture with this new one?

Ed Boon: You know, I think it hasn't really been that long since the last MK game came out. It's only been like two years, so from that respect, it's not like a reboot like we've seen... like when Tomb Raider went away for a long time, or Street Fighter, Twisted Metal, and all that. Those games had a long absence.

But from our perspective, the last game we did [Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe] was probably the biggest departure for MK. It was the first T-rated MK game, and we added characters that had never been in a MK game, with DC -- you know, Batman, and Superman, and all that.

So from that standpoint, we just heard a lot of feedback asking, "Is the next game going to be back to an M-rated presentation," and, you know, "traditional" MK? So we really felt that now is just a really great time to explore a reboot of sorts.

You know, we've actually kind of rebooted the presentation and the fighting and all that a couple of times in the past. With Deadly Alliance, in 2002, we did. And so we just really felt like, along with the post-MK vs. DC T-rated thing, and the fact that we haven't rebooted our whole presentation and fighting mechanic in awhile, it was just the perfect time for all that to happen.

I played [MK vs. DC] and it was fun, but there was always the question of whether the series would return to its M-rated roots.

EB: Oh yeah, absolutely. Especially coming from a game that was almost instrumental in defining what an M-rated game was -- just sparking the whole argument that ratings are necessary, which they are. So it's ironic, it's like making a G-rated Halloween movie...

So from that standpoint, yeah, it did really well, but at the same time, it created a great opportunity for us, because it gave us a break in terms of a period of time which there hasn't been an M-rated Mortal Kombat, and created this hunger for a return.

So I guess that I really feel like the planets are aligned, and in so many ways; it's the first M-rated MK on this generation of consoles, our last game was a T-rated game... You know, there certainly is a resurgence of games returning to their classic form; Street Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog, now the more recent Twisted Metal, and there's just a good amount of this trend that's happening.

Oh good lord Gamasutra, are you serious? Nobody gives a shit about Mortal Kombat games that aren't good. Mortal Kombat games haven't been good since the SNES, and then Mortal Kombat vs DC was the first time you did anything right in fifteen years, because the game was, you know, good. It actually had good fighting game mechanics and didn't bother with open-world bullshit, go-kart racing, coffin minigames, or any of the ridiculous crap and just said, hey, I'm a fighting game. Fight people.

I don't know why it is that Boon and Graft are talking about 'returning to the roots', when 'the roots' was a middling fighter with an absurd fixation on middle-schooler violence. Mortal Kombat vs DC was a good game! "Flee!" Boon seems to say, "Run away! Success and money terrify us! We must stick to middle-of-the-road scraping-by to fuel our jobs!" 

Why not take what you learned from the game that's been best recieved, use that as a tool for making better games in the future, and focus on the core mechanics of the fighter rather than making up all this crap about 'returning to roots'? Your roots sucked; returning to them is just downright ridiculous. 

The guy says they're 'reinventing' it, but then Boon keeps going back to 'revival' or 'return to roots.' Pick one! The first one!

Reading Wanted: Hal Jordan

So, let me get this straight. 

The Green Lantern Corps is created by Ganthet and the Guardians who deprive themselves from emotion because it's dangerous, IE fear. However, a rebel group of alien women who don't wish to separate themselves from emotions form a dangerous splinter faction that lets a love-fueled gem zip from planet to planet, making hostile takeovers of whatever female body it wishes with no concern for human life. Its grand plan is to encase everything in crystal to keep it in suspended animation for all time.

So yes, the right and proper men The Guardians cleanse emotion from their lives, while the hot tempered women Zamarons run off and do senseless and dangerous things that turn them into terrorists.

The men are smart, logical, and good while the women are dumb, emotional, and villainous. 

Um.

What the fuck Geoff Johns?

That "National Debt Digging" ad is bullshit

Yeah so let's see - war in Iraq, sure! No problem! Let's go for it.

War in Afghanistan? Heyyyyyy, why not? Sounds like a great idea!

Tax cuts for the rich? PRFFT YOU KNOW IT BABY!

Health care for everyone?

WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH, HANG ON THERE YOU SOCIALIST FUCK! WHAT ABOUT THE NATIONAL DEEEEEEEEEBT!?!?!?!?! HUH YOU EVER THINK OF THAT YOU LIBERAL SCUM!

I mean it's fucking astounding how utterly putrid the Republicans are - if we want to go into middle-eastern countries and shoot people 'cause they're brown and spend billions of dollars on money that goes fuck-all anywhere meanwhile the instant you want to give Americans health care so they can live suddenly THE NATIONAL DEEEEEEEBBBBBBBTTT!!! is our main concern, cause God forbid we try to help people rather than let people die and make money off it.

#firstworldproblems

Goddamn it my Blackberry got dropped one too many times, now it's fucking not working correctly with the SD Micro chip.

I spent like a million years trying to jury-rig a solution then ACCIDENTALLY BREAK MY FUCKING CHIP goddamn it now I'm back to the default ringtones.

And cause I'm on a family plan cause it's crazy cheap I can't re-sign our contracts to get a Droid cause I gotta wait for my mom instead. And she's never got time so WHEEEEEEEEE.

So instead of listening to custom ringtones I have to hear BOOPBOBONG! whenever I text my girlfriend and ughhh it's gonna drive me fucking crazy.

My subconcious is wierd

Just had a spontaneous thought while stocking bell peppers. I have no idea where it came from or even how it came into being.

At the end of Chrono Trigger, Robo has to return into the portal to 2300. "Lucca, it is you who have taught me these emotions. Thank you." He climbs onto the portal, and as the timegate closes over him, leaving only his arm sticking out, he gives the thumbs up.

My best friend is a closet homophobe

So let's see what we ran down in the usual checklist of homophobic things he said today.

I worry about Prop 8 overturned because I don't want to see gay men kissing on TV - check!

The reason I feel this way is because I don't want to see it and therefore they should censor it - check!

I shouldn't have to turn off something I don't like watching; I mean, what if it's in the news? I can't turn that off! - check!

No I don't see a hypocricy in lesbians being okay while gay men are gross, why do you ask? - check!

See cause I'm a straight male, that makes lesbians okay because they're pretty to look at, so, there's your explanation - check!

Any otherwise normal movie would be reduced in value by male homosexuality - check!

If I were getting hit on by a guy at a bar I'd probably react violently 'cause I don't like getting hit on by guys - check!

Well yeah, being considered gay is an insult. ...what? There's nothing wrong with feeling that way - check!

See I'm also against it because I'm opposed to gay couples adopting because it might cause problems with the child - check!

What if the child grows up in a gay household and becomes a straight homophobe? - actually he agreed with me on this one eventually because nature vs nurture shows pretty clearly that anything's possible but still, he totally used it for like two minutes, so...check!

With gay marriage legal hate crime will go up - check!

Well the reason it'll go up is because it's more in-your-face today since the media is giving it such attention - check!

I mean, isn't anyone worried about the children during these gay pride parades? - check! (See earlier blog post for explanation of that one)

Society is too homophobic to let that happen without a backfire (And therefore I'm blaming a faceless third party to avoid making it about my homophobia) - check!

I'm not homophobic just because I don't want to see gay men kissing - check!

And the whipped cream topping!

"I have gay friends(so I GOTS HOMOPHOBIC DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY)." - check!

DING DING DING DING DING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE HAVE YOUR NEW AMERICAN HOMOPHOBE!

BONUS STAGE: "Transexuals are fucked up. I mean, they are mutilating their bodies." 

EDIT: The worst thing is 99% of his argument was well 'cuz I say so, and I don't know if you've ever tried it but arguing with that point is the equivalent of someone saying "Well if I wasn't a hypocrite I wouldn't have an opinion."

This isn't rocket science, people

If you cut a fuckton of government payroll jobs due to lack of funding, you can't be surprised when said fuckton of jobs proceed to keep the economy slumped. 

This is not fucking hard.

This is very very fucking simple.

You take this money, this stuff you don't have...and you look at the people who have lots of it. Then you say, hmm, you know, to fix this vapid morale across the entire US and shitty fucking unemployment streak, we need money. So, how do we get their money?

Well there's this great thing called 'taxing,' where the world already owes you money to run the society you protect and serve that's worked out great for almost a century. So, these rich people that have all the money? 

TAX THE FUCK OUT OF THEM GOOD CHRIST