God of War's Game Director has emotional response to game's reviews

[midian182]

Putting aside any console/PC rivalry, it seems that PS4-exclusive God of War is a fantastic game. And while the industry’s reputation took a hammering through the microtransaction saga last year, it’s worth remembering that video games aren’t all about greedy corporations looking to squeeze you for cash—they’re also the work of developers who put their heart and soul into the projects.

Nowhere is this illustrated better than in a video by God of War’s Game Director Cory Barlog. The clip, which was posted on YouTube yesterday, shows the moment when Barlog checks review aggregate site Metacritic to see how the title had been received.

“I’m really trying to stall as much as possible,” Barlog said. “I am very nervous about seeing this. It is a long, long time coming. Five years of work has gone into this game. This moment means… a lot.”

When the site loads up, God of War boasts a Metascore of 93, which goes up to 94 as Barlog watches (it’s now at 95). Seeing his game called one of the best titles ever released on the PlayStation 4 moves him to tears.

Barlow said he debated whether to release a video that shows him so emotional, “but then I thought of what my son, Helo, is going through right now,” he writes. “He doesn’t want us to be around when he is sad — opting to run in another room and yell at us if we try to come in. It has been important to us to let him know that it is OK to be sad, it is OK to cry. There is nothing to hide. I thought I would try to set a good example and show him that papa can cry in front of the world, or at least the 50 people who end up watching this.”

God of War’s Metascore of 95 makes it one of the site’s highest-rated games of all time—1998’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time sits in the number one spot with a score of 99. But when it comes to PlayStation 4 games, God of War is beaten only by Grand Theft Auto V, which was recently crowned the most successful media product of all time.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/74251-god-war-game-director-has-emotional-response-game.html

 

[Vulcanproject]

Be very proud of the accomplishment of you and your team. So many games today are not a labour of love, they are evidently just a product to make a positive number on a balance sheet.

When there is obvious passion and commitment and hard work put into a title like God of War it will be recognised.

 

[ghostf1re]

I cannot wait to play this game. Partially because I haven't played a God of War game since the 2nd one and partially because of all of the reviews I have watched/read over the past week.

 

[Puiu]

It was a risky move but in the end it payed off handsomely. He created a great game, congrats to him.

 

[Bakgrind]

Makes me wished that I could enjoy games such as this on consoles, but alas I simply can't. This is what all gaming companies should hope to achieve. And it starts by creating a game that they themselves love that they are proud to release it to their fans who will enjoy it in kind.

 

[David Matthews]

He should be proud. I've only played the first hour but it's already fan-freaking-tastic. I try to primarily be a PC gamer but I bought a PS4 Pro because I love the first party exclusives.

 

[psycros]

"..but then I thought of what my son, Helo, is going through right now,” he writes. “He doesn’t want us to be around when he is sad — opting to run in another room and yell at us if we try to come in. It has been important to us to let him know that it is OK to be sad, it is OK to cry. There is nothing to hide.
...

*SIGH*..yet another delinquency enabler who has no concept of childrearing.

 

[Puiu]

"..but then I thought of what my son, Helo, is going through right now,” he writes. “He doesn’t want us to be around when he is sad — opting to run in another room and yell at us if we try to come in. It has been important to us to let him know that it is OK to be sad, it is OK to cry. There is nothing to hide.
...

*SIGH*..yet another delinquency enabler who has no concept of childrearing.

wait what? how the hell did you even reach that conclusion?

 

[Scshadow]

Because of this news story and a 20% off PS4 Pro hardware coupon for Target cartwheel and 20% off of the game with BB GCU, I'm now in desperate need to get a worthy 4k monitor to play this game on. FML. What have I done?

 

[captaincranky]

"..but then I thought of what my son, Helo, is going through right now,” he writes. “He doesn’t want us to be around when he is sad — opting to run in another room and yell at us if we try to come in. It has been important to us to let him know that it is OK to be sad, it is OK to cry. There is nothing to hide.
...

*SIGH*..yet another delinquency enabler who has no concept of childrearing.

The kid sounds like just one more millennial snowflake to me, well on his way to making headlines as another school shooter. He'll probably dress up as Mars or Aries when he goes on his rampage.

I want to be alone now...

 

[captaincranky]

wait what? how the hell did you even reach that conclusion?

How could you not come to that conclusion? The whole, "I want to be alone, don't come near me", sounds like a seminal anti-social personality disorder, along with social interaction anxiety issues.

Stir in a bit of, "doesn't tolerate or play well with others". Not to mention his using tantrums to control his parents emotions and behavior. Add some ego, a controlling nature, and we've got a future member of the, "Junior Sociopaths of America Club", on our hands

 

[Puiu]

How could you not come to that conclusion? The whole, "I want to be alone, don't come near me", sounds like a seminal anti-social personality disorder, along with social interaction anxiety issues.

Stir in a bit of, "doesn't tolerate or play well with others". Not to mention his using tantrums to control his parents emotions and behavior. Add some ego, a controlling nature, and we've got a future member of the, "Junior Sociopaths of America Club", on our hands

Yeah, I understand that, the kid is not the best in the world, but I was confused about why he was making his father turn into some evil parent from just this video. Most children don't like to share things with their parents, it's normal. His father was talking about trying to teach his son to not do that.

 

[captaincranky]

Yeah, I understand that, the kid is not the best in the world, but I was confused about why he was making his father turn into some evil parent from just this video. Most children don't like to share things with their parents, it's normal. His father was talking about trying to teach his son to not do that.

I'm drawing my conclusions from the context of the article, since watching videos of grown men crying, (IMHO), is not necessarily a worthwhile spectator sport.

Dad is only sharing a brief glimpse of what "the kid is going through", and I can't help thinking deeper issues are being withheld. I think dad is quite a bit more rattled than he's letting on, but his success with the game, and good taste, are preventing from an over-share.

The reason I say that is because, what's going on with the son, is for all practical purposes, completely out of context. with the reason for the article. My feeling is the sub-text is something on the order of, "oh dear, I've said too much already".

Or, I suppose the guy could just suck at dealing with the press. Stay tuned.

 

[ManuelV]

wait what? how the hell did you even reach that conclusion?

How could you not come to that conclusion? The whole, "I want to be alone, don't come near me", sounds like a seminal anti-social personality disorder, along with social interaction anxiety issues.

Stir in a bit of, "doesn't tolerate or play well with others". Not to mention his using tantrums to control his parents emotions and behavior. Add some ego, a controlling nature, and we've got a future member of the, "Junior Sociopaths of America Club", on our hands

"Junior Sociopaths of America Club" future member say the one who calls a kid on a period of issues a "sociopath" and criticize one of the few dads who actually cares. I really don't know if I should laugh at this or cry. Wow... woooowwww.

 

[captaincranky]

"Junior Sociopaths of America Club" future member say the one who calls a kid on a period of issues a "sociopath" and criticize one of the few dads who actually cares. I really don't know if I should laugh at this or cry. Wow... woooowwww.

Wait, I know what you should do! Just lean on the "W" and "O" keys, until you delude yourself into thinking you've made valid point.

Because after all, being a "good dad", is running lines of code for a game with every waking hour, instead of going out and shooting some hoops with the kid.

So then:

PRESS: Your new game is a masterpiece, and a spectacular individual achievement!

DAD: That's not what I want to talk about. I called you here to share the behavioral issues I'm having with my son. He suffers radical mood swings, and I can't, or am not allowed to communicate with him when these occur.

PRESS: ??

There's a legal term called, "excited utterance", which, while not a direct analog to this situation, shares some situational commonality with it. Namely, it deals with statements made under duress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_utterance

Anyway, the shooters at Columbine high school were loners, and not accepted by the school mates. The reasoning behind the massacre was, "they didn't like us because we dressed differently", so we decided to kill them all. In this case you had sociopaths with a common interest working together. Unusual, but not unheard of. Just think of a law firm, and you'll know what I mean.

Here's a list of school shootings in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States

Now, I have a great idea, "since people don't shoot people, guns shoot people", let's blame and excuse all our child rearing ineptitude on guns, and enact stronger laws.

Keep in mind before the Kennedy assassination (John, not Bobby), you could buy guns through the mail, no questions asked, and we didn't have anywhere near the level of violence on our streets, workplaces, and schools as we do now.

There are a lot of worsening systemic problems in the US, and a lot of them are brought about by the so called,. "millennial generation". In fact, we've had to develop new terms to somehow try to explain their odd behaviors, such as, "snowflake", and "social justice warriors".

Oh well, we can always pawn the blame for those behavioral abberitions off on the internet!