Wall Street Journal visits Chicago-based Wideload Games, where ex-Bungie head Alex Seropian is focusing on "humor games". WSJ looks at Wideload's "Hail to the Chimp" and talks to others (like Will Wright) about humor in games.
ZTGD: Last week we delivered buyer's guides to inform our readers what to get the gamer in their life this holiday season. Today we bring you a list of ten games that should, in no circumstances, be placed under the tree for your joystick junkie. This list of games was actually harder to construct than a list of must-haves for the simple fact that there were a ton of games this year that we should avoid at all costs. Each game represented below is a mockery of why we came to love games in the first place.
lol did fall for IRONMAN right after i saw it at the movies lol
(i get all geeky after have seen a good movie lol(good thing i traded it the next day lol))
i think i borrow sonic from work 2day just 4 the Ts lol
GamingExcellence: "If all you saw from Hail to the Chimp was some cut scenes and graphics for the game you'd think it had some promise and that's one of the problems, it does. It's plenty obvious that a lot of work was put into crafting the cut scenes and doing all of the voice work but not as much time was put into the game itself. Honestly if this game were taken back and reworked into a cartoon then I'm sure it would be plenty of fun for kids and adults alike due to all the double entendres but as it stands it's an amusing cartoon interrupted by bland game segments."
Kyle Orland writes:
"0:00 I'm a fan of politics, games and humor, so something that combines all three should be a slam dunk. Still, the general reception the game got has me less than optimistic.
0:01 Oh, what a shock, version 1.02 of the software has to be downloaded. At least it's only a 24 MB update, so it should take too long.
0:04 Three minutes of downloading and we're done. That has to be a record for the PS3...
0:05 Cut to a deserted island with a large yellow, mustachioed clam. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... let me introduce Hail to the Chimp," says the high-voiced clam. He goes on about how clams have been abused. "Power to the clams ... kneel, things with knees! Kneel before your true masters!" Then, "from the GRR newsroom, it's ... the news." Woodchuck Chumley talks about a democratic election to replace the king of the animals.
0:07 Cut to a commercial for "Just for Gorillas" fur color. "Now silverback is just an honorary title." Heh. Then a stylish ad for Spanish armadillo Santo."
Ratchet & Clank was pretty funny, GTA4 had some crude humor.
I think it's possible, but difficult. So much of humor is in the timing of it, and so being funny outside of a cutscene is difficult. Within cutscenes, it all just comes down to script. As stated, Ratchet has plenty of humor in it, but most devs either don't lean toward it, try but can't pull it off, or just go for "cheesy" instead. I'm hoping Rat Race is funny; I did chuckle at a few of the news feeds at the beginning menu of Hail to the Chimp though.