American McGee: Genius or Anus?

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I'm a pretty frequent game shopper. A serial-browser, really. Whenever I stop into a computer/electronics/sex shop, I always browse the latest titles of computer games. Rarely does the creative genius behind the game have his name in the marquee of the title, but you do see it. Kind of along the lines of "Stephen Spielburg's Jurassic Park," kind of thing. There are two names in the gaming world that also tend to brand this cache: Sid Meier, and American McGee.

Now Sid Meier I get. The man has been making computer games (damn good ones) pretty much since computer games were born. Having his name attached to a game will certainly make fans of his work much more likely to buy the game. Even his latest "Pirates" - which I heard was downright mediocre - sold very well.

Then we have American McGee. He's fairly young, he's only been in the game [industry] for about 6 years or so, and hasn't exactly turned the gaming world on its ear. Yes, "Alice" was a very well done game with very gothic, inventive art direction and concept (despite being incompatible with anything newer than Windows 98). Another big project of his, "Daikatana" was a legendary failure. So then I see his new title, "Scrapland," and I'm actually less inclined to buy the game because it says "American McGee's SCRAPLAND." It says to me "Great, more pretentious sh*t from a self-important game designer." I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't alone.

You don't see "John Romero's Quake 4" or Carmak's "Doom3," etc., and those two could certainly garner the marquee ego treatment. So what makes McGee think he's so damn cool? Just having a goofy-ass name isn't enough to inspire such self-importance, last time I checked (yes, Bijou Phillips, I'm talking to you).

 

Well, perhaps they think that having his name there will have some benefit for the same reason as in the case of Sid Meyer or, for example; Coca Cola.

Have to agree about his games though; most of them have a good idea behind them, but lack in execution. Loved the atmosphere in Alice and Scrapland certainly had an interesting idea in it, but -sadly- they simply haven't thought out all the features. So what does "American McGee" say to me? Creative ideas, but hasty build. My bet is that they don't have enough money/patience to do it properly.

...Which, in turn, makes me wonder why they haven't just given up 3D and moved to 2D. Would save money and detailed 2D adventures can still sell real big.

 

Hehe. If you look closely, you'll notice it says "American McGee presents Scrapland". The difference? He only produced the damn thing, he wasn't directly involved in the development, which makes the whole thing a bit more irritating.

On a related note, M. Night Shyamalan needs to stop putting his name on films.

 

Er - i was under the impression that Daikatana was John Romero's failure - unless American McGee was involved too. However, I've always been under the impression that it was Romero who was at the head of Ion Storm and rammed it so gloriously into the ground.

 

You could be right about that, Aik. I may have confused my McGee with my Romero with regards to Daikatana, but I seem to remember it being McGee. Hmm. Not sure now...

@ Tal

I don't think patriotism has anything to do with it. The way it's worded, "American McGee" sounds like a proper name (either for a studio or a person) and most Americans would recognize it as such; and besides, using outside influence like that (using patriotism to sell a crappy game) is pretty transparant, and most gamers can see through that. If you can't sell the game on it's own merits, it isn't worth your time or money. If just having the word "American" on the box influences any of us Yanks to buy the game, I'm sure it's an infinitely small number. There are plenty "Medal of Honor" type games for that crowd, anyway.

I doubt you'd be any more inclined to buy a game made by "Slovenia McGoo," would you?

[ November 15, 2005, 14:39: Message edited by: Death Rabbit ]

 

Right, but what I'm saying is if were his first game ever, I could see branding it "American McGee's Crapola" would be a feeble attempt at getting people to stop at look at this unusual name, and thus, pick up the box. But I don't think the branding has anything to do with attracting attention due to the word "American." I still would have started this thread if his name were "Bob McGee" instead. The point I was trying to make is that I think you overestimate American nationalism when it comes to goods marketed towards young people (the major gamer demographic). People here aren't any more likely to buy a game because it says "made in the USA" or whatever on it, at least people of the average gamer's age. They usually don't give a rat's ass. The older generations are perhaps a different story, but still - a percentage of the market that's marginal at best.

The point I'm getting at with this thread is I don't think American McGee is all that impressive, certainly not enough so to warrant the pretentious "M. Night Shyamalan" treatment on the games he makes. But I also started this thread to see if I'm wrong about him, as maybe he has this huge cult following I'm not aware of that would warrant it.

And no, "American" is not a common name for Americans at all.

 

Are you suggesting that, at 45, I wouldn't be classified as a "young gamer"?

Nakia might disagree.



Anywho, calling a game "American McGee's such-and-such" is just as pretentious as calling it "Tom Clancy's so-and-so". And no, I have no idea what my point is.

 

Neither do we. Ever.

 

Hear, Hear!
Aparently American is not a frequent name at all.
From American himself:
"Yes my mother named me that. She claimed a woman she knew in college who named her daughter 'America', inspired the name. .... She was and always has been a very eccentric and creative person"

He did work with John Carmack at id for a while, working on games such as Doom 1 & 2 and Quake 1&2. The interview (printed in the December issue of PC Powerplay) did not mention Daikana, but he would have presumably worked on it to some extent.