Grand Theft Ping Pong?

#21 It must be a way to joke with everyone. Ping pong has got to be the starkest contrast to GTA.

They can't be doing it to make profit. I don't see how they'll sell enough copies to make it worthwhile. But who knows, maybe they'll add some adult-themed secrets in there to make it interesting ;)

#22 Maybe it will be an adult themed Ping pong game. There will be a radio with gangsta rap playing, hot strippers trying to distract you from hitting the ball, and if you dont like your opponent you can smash his hands with your paddle. It will be a ping pong game with so many levels and will be so challenging that it will seem to go on forever and ever. You will get more bang for your buck and will be worth well more than the $50 you spend on it.

#23 I dunno. It makes perfect sense to me, frankly. It must be damn hard to get rid of the GTA-stigma. I mean, whenever speculation ensues about what Rockstar is going to do next, you hear "GTA in Tokyo", "no, GTA in future, man!", Well, they slapped everyone in face in typical Rockstar fashion with this announcement. I have no great interest in sports games and table tennis, but I actually expect them to revitalize the sports genre which has become quite exhausted lately.

And yeh, making good table tennis game would make perfect sense for indie, the thing is, though, no indie has done it. Why? It sure wouldnt be easy undertaking because of the speed of the game, I`m actually mildly interested in how they are going about the controls of the thing.

I think we simply have started thinking about Rockstar as that "pimp-killing-sims" developer and they are trying to distance themselves and show that they are *game* developers foremost which means they can undertake whatever the hell they want. I`d also guess that their plans of table tennis game threw marketing suits into cardiac arrest. All *they* would want is GTA-in-Tokyo. No! GTA-in-future!

#24 Well, one thing to think about is... do we really want big companies making indie(type) ( or even casual-type) of games taking business and space away from true indie/small comapnies?

(went to visit the ign page)
Actually looking at those screenshots, it doen't look like they are making an indie-type of game... you can still make yourown indie version... no problem :)

#25 Well, Hokuto, its doesnt really matter what we want , does it? If bigger player decides he wants to play in your playground, you just have to come up with something new and more interesting. That`s your Tao of Indie, so to speak :)
What you going to do- lobby laws that force big companies to stick to tired FPS and RTS genres? They`re pretty good at it as it is :)

#26 never mind..

#27 Table Tennis .... Rockstar .... he he he ......

#28 I would just have to say that money is money and market is market. I came to GG just over a year ago, and when I purchased my first Torque license I remember reading somewhere that 2D games would not be accepted. Can't remember the exact verbage, but something about them being old style and inferior. This is a 3D world.

And now we have TGB. Why? Because it works, there seems to be a market for it, and it appears to be fun. Primarily, it sells and creates a revenue stream. As much as we like to tout the word "Indie", most of us would still like to make a buck. Now 2D is a good thing. I'm not sure about "revisionist history", but I'll try to produce and sell whatever might be hot at the time. Or what I hope might be.

50 years ago a lot of people laughed at hula-hoops, and a few years later snickering people said who would pay money for a plain old rock with a name. We still laugh, but those people were in the right place at the right time with the right idea (product). Which, I think, is precisely why GG is here at this point in time. I'm going to wait to call it an odd move for RockStar until I see where it goes. If they sell a million, it makes it damned hard to laugh...

#29 I'm with Jeff, this is a really stupid move by Rockstar. When I think of Rockstar I think mature extreme games which like both Jeff and Scott Miller mention as being good for branding. Yes, people can have a knee jerk reaction to Rockstar but do you think those are the people who would buy Rockstar games in the first place? They should be using the bad boy rep to their advantage, they always have in the past. This is just spoiling their brand.

#30 I agree with Terry, really good point.

#31 Although I understand the branding argument, im still take Terry's pov on this whole thing.

#32 @Terry: Just to make it VERY clear. GarageGames never said it wanted only 3D games. As a matter of fact, I personally, have never liked 3D games as much as 2D games. You can look at our publishing page, but here is a quote:

Quote:
Our standards are simple: we are looking for FUN games.

In fact, one of the first games we published was 2D. We did have harsh words about knock offs, but not 2D.

@All: I am surprised that so many of you don't understand the irony of this move by Rockstar. One thing that I need to clear up: I don't care if Rockstar or any other company wants to make a game that is normally in the indie space. Our success does not depend on what they do or don't do. They have a perfect right to make money. But, will the money they make replace the loss of brand image? Just take a quick look at their web page and tell me where the Ping Pong game fits in. Do they put it next to the hooker or the Gansta? Hmm... maybe the trained killer or the bounty hunter.

Part of the reason I even bring this up has to do with the tremendous amount of hubris Rockstar had when GTA was first flying high. They made huge accusations towards the rest of the industry about how clueless everybody in the game industry was. Many of you are not understanding the irony, but I love it.

One last parting comment from me. Some of you may not understand this, but if you are running huge studio who's mission in life is to do make hard edged, adult products, the industry is turning rough, and you wake up one day and the best shot you can take is Ping Pong, then you screwed up somewhere along the way.

-Jeff Tunnell, GG

edit: sp

#33 Hmm, it makes you wonder if its going to end up as XXX extreme table tennis!

Man, that is some freaky decision making going on there. I think someone at the top of the company has been given too much of a free reign there somehow. If I were an investor in that company, I'd have been chewing the guy a new one right about now.

I was in a position to watch this happen about 10 years ago when Team17 were in a very good position, having gotten a bunch of cash for Worms 1. We were in a new department (online games) and were casting around for "the" online game to create. Our MD suggested "milk race" because he was interested in that sport. Of course if you analyse it, its a completely stupid idea for Team17's audience. But if you were not a good manager, you'd have just done it "because the MD said so". I think maybe this is the case?

I see it that basically Sam or whoever has taken a shine to doing his favourite sport as a game and somehow people have caved in and gone with it.

Frankly, whoever greenlighted this baby should be shot. Good game or no, you just dont mess with your market that much. They would have been better just selling it under the take two banner as another property rather than selling it as an R* game.

But its a bizarre old business aint it. :)

BTW: EA sacks its bottom 5% everytime they get a profits warning. Not exactly a rarity.

#34 Just some random thoughts:
1. I guess it would be like a rockstar, like Ozzy, one day wants to make a pop song? Its kinda silly.

2. If EA and every other AAA publisher is going to move in on the 'arcade' themed games, is it more foolish to not get in on the action?

3. Of all the games? Wasnt ping pong the FIRST digital game. Weird/Strange decision. Sounds fishy, like does rockstar really mean it or they just making a statement about all the publishers getting into the arcade scene. I dont know.

@ Jeff: What is the reference point(link) for rockstar doing ping pong? thanks.

- john

#35 Since this seems to be so popular, I thought I would add a little fresh meat to the pot.

Here is an Indi doing something cool with an old idea he calls it "PLASMA PONG"

www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=378340

#36 What`s with the forceful branding? By that logic Origin should have sticked to fantasy RPGs and never made a space sim. Or...err...Dynamix stuck to sci-fi robot simulators and never done The Incredible Machine or Trophy Bass.
Personally I`d hate to make the same game all over again all my life.

#37 I see the irony of the situation. There's nothing inherently wrong with them making any game they want. However, it's a bit ironic that they jacked the industry up so high ... and let's face it GTA is part of the reason development costs (among other issues like social concerns) began to soar with all it's content, big name voice acting, and grandiose theme.

Now because they've pushed the industry and players up against a wall ... it's ironic that the direction they are pushing next is the subtle, small, and fun direction. Nothing wrong with it ... just a far cry from where they were pushing everyone a few years ago. I think Jeff is somewhat excited about this because he was able to see this trend coming well before GTA 3 was even released. Now, he sits poised to dominate this new era of more subtle, small, and plain old fun titles. Perhaps the cynicism comes because it's annoying that a larger company like Rockstar could come in and sweep the space that Jeff's been working so hard to create for the past 6 years.

#38 To be perfectly fair, GTA3 and up did make boatloads of money.

Further, I don't believe there is a ping pong game out there that actually resembles a real game of ping pong.

#39 I remember Jeff or someone from the garage that in one of your posts when dynamix made the tribes engine you also used the same engine for different games like the fishing/hunting games witch helped greatly in the funding of dynamix and did sell quite well so it could be just rockstar is just trying a diffrent avenue, On a side note I work at a retail store and I notice that there are more people buying fun short games like the popcap games.

#40 Ping Pong by Rockstar. Yeah. And Maria Carey really wanted to make art when she posed nude. ;) I gotcha.

I can see it now:

Quote:
Terror erupted in a middle school in Vermont when a 13 year old and a 14 year old snuck ping pong paddles into the lunch room and using a home made ball of wadded paper plate the student played 6 rounds of ping pong on the top of a lunch table while dozens of fellow students stood immobilized in shock. The attack ended abrubtly when a janitor at the school jumped in front of the ping pong ball stopping the game. Security guards then tackled the student ping pong players and held them until the police arrived.

When asked, one of the ping pong players stated that he had learned to play ping pong at home with his parents. The parents of the student denied teaching their child ping pong but admitted to allowing the child to purchase the Ping Pong video game. The parents of many of the students trapped in the lunch room during the attack are forming a class action lawsuit against the Ping Pong game developers, Rockstar.