Firmly rejecting Ebert's position that games are inherently inferior to more traditional narrative vehicles such as literature and film, Barker let rip with, "That’s bullshit. This is a medium that’s barely 2 decades old, and he (Ebert) is saying oh, there’s no 'War And Peace' yet – of course there isn’t! ... You have to come at it with an open heart... Roger Ebert obviously had a narrow vision of what the medium is, or can be. It seems so high-handed. A lot of very very smart people, here in this room, are working to make these experiences extraordinary."
Emphasising the creative control and flexibility allowed by games over film, Barker, the passionate person he is, also suggested that, "I’m saying we should be looking at stretching the imaginations of our players, but also ourselves, and saying ‘let’s try to make everything possible' ... We’ve lost our imaginations, and given them over to people who put plastic toys in with the hamburgers. [Stuff] them! Let’s take our imaginations away from the people who want the lowest common denominator, and give it to all the people that were shot down in flames at the age of 5 or 6 who were shot down by their art teacher, who said they couldn’t draw a straight line."
Moving on to Jericho, his upcoming game, Barker explained that, "It was going to be a novel. I have all these ideas buzzing around in my head. And I have to decide at some point with the ideas in my head, where it belongs. Is this a book, a comic book, a novel? And Jericho seemed to scream out game ... the concept of Jericho is that there’s this evil [guy] that lives in the Sahara... [the plot involves] an assassination attempt upon a creature that gives the devil the shivers."
Clive Barker has a strong literary, film, and gaming background, having written such books as Weaveworld and Imajica, created films including Hellraiser and Nightbreed, and worked on games such as Clive Barker's Undying. His upcoming game Jericho is to be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. PALGN has previously featured the trailer.
, man this games screen shots and videos freak me out.
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