Harlan Ellison - 1995 game interview

[sihplak]

Why arnt there more games where you can't "win"? It fristrates you in a good way, it makes you think 'at least I lost with dignity' or however you want your character to be. Most games you play you're a hero who saves the world by drilling a hole in someones head or slitting their throat, rather than showing a more realistic depressing loss.

[Curttehmurt]

Ellison is an asshole and I love him

[khaghgoo]

Backwards billed cap shields your neck from the sun while you are plowing

[HexxHK]

I don't necessarily agree with Harlan's take on video games, but the passion he feels for his beliefs is part of what makes him a great author.

Now, I'm gonna go waste my time blasting holes in virtual Nazis for no real intellectual purpose, and I don't have to justify that to anyone.

[Zellig]

1:45 genius. Too bad there aren't more people like him around making games nowadays. : /

[MrArmageddon666]

Ethical choices and games that make you think have become more prevalent in recent years, although they certainly haven't become the modus operandi.

[mentalkitty789]

@MrArmageddon666 Look at Rpgs like the Shin Megami Tensei games. There are plenty of games with Ethical choices that make you think. The mainstream though is still brainless kill them all kind of games. They're fun though, you don't need talent or to think to play them.

I still hold games with roleplaying and making moral choices over any first person shooter.

That is just me though, and I have to go read his short story now. While some might call him rude, I call him awesome. :P

[Zellig]

@mentalkitty789 I am a big Shin fan. : ) AM reminds me in many ways of Nyarlathotep's incarnation in Persona 2.

[mentalkitty789]

@Zellig That is the only one I haven't been able to actually play, or seen a let's play of. I've played all of the ones for the PS2, the DS, the PSP, even played Roms of the first two SMT games. That one though, I haven't played. It is on my list though! Afterall it was just recently released for the PSP.

[Zellig]

@mentalkitty789 P2 is arguably the best, IMO. Definitely the most dark and serious of the P2-P4 era. Heavilly Lovecraftian.

[Zellig]

@mentalkitty789 I would at the least, definitely advice you to follow through some of the online material ^^ Got AIM by any chance?

[SupaMetalYo]

Wow, Harlan Ellison is kind of a douche.

Waiting to be sued.

[COBRARocky]

@SupaMetalYo Harlon knows his shit, hes allowed to be a douche.

[pfliegaphonic]

Harlan, I love you but Yogi Berra invented the backwards cap, and you can't not love Yogi Berra.

[Nagneto]

I love Harlan

[raichu315]

lmao i like this guy. he trolls on everyone.

[jonnymagal]

Dude this man is a legend!

[thegorillasnake]

I wonder if Ellison ever learned about the Oddworld games.

[akumacornflakes]

Harlan did get his wish for an impossible game, in a way. In the German version of 'I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream,' one of the scenarios which takes place in a concentration camp was completely omitted. Since you need to complete all five scenarios to finish the game, this version is impossible to win.

[giovannibulgari]

this guy gives me the shits

[supafly345]

What a butchered editing job.

[nightman117]

what do you think of the Oj simpson trial?... off topic? overall good interview.

[Nonamearisto]

If he and Roberta Williams teamed up... that would be one epic, disturbing game.

[DragonFly122]

"Parents' groups exist to be alarmed"

Parents' groups are mostly moms.

[beketaten]

LMFAO what a crotchety fellow. But he's right

[ShadowSoldior]

Ha! He did the voice for AM, that must've been cool.

[JBHutto]

That lady sounded way too happy doing the intro.

[decimated550]

Him and Alex Cox (director of Repo Man) shoulda made a movie together. About what, i don't know,

but i do know it would have been one of my favorites

[lerox22]

real si-fi horror

[EloquentiaSerpentis]

Shame all of his answers were cut short...

[dumbasspauldentonkin]

This guy may be a grumpy git, however kudos to him for understanding that videos games do have artistic potential - unlike a certain Mr Ebert - and kudos to him for creating one of the most thought provoking, well written and atmospheric examples of the point and click genre.

[edwlee78]

@6:18.. Someone send that remark about art to George Lucas as commentary on his Star Wars prequels... thanks!

[hanshotfirst1138]

I may disagree with Ellison more often than not, I may sometimes not even like him, but I'm glad that in today's day and age, there are people like him around. It's nice that there's someone still living who actually has that much passion for things that are important in life and for having some sort of intellectual standards. Granted, he's pretty cantankerous and I'd probably not want to be around him, but hey, at least he's passionate and intelligent.

[marshall2465]

I love how he is the voice of AM in the game :)

[Paool3107]

kind of annoying that alot of his answers get cut short.

[FlowerMoonBeamUnit]

Men who age to look like Old Lesbians are creepier than any Science Fiction story. Also, is homeslice on speed?

[Acidpunk101]

this guy is just INTENSE. And also strangely clever in the fact that he understood the artist side of video games and he wasnt afraid to form a definite opinion

[LordNeanderthal]

This man is scary.

[stevensonbak]

@LordNeanderthal He's not scary, he's just more emotive and energetic than most people you probably know.

And wouldn't you be excited if a work of yours was being turned into a video game?

[fdgdssghgh]

You know, this guy sometimes just sounds like an old guy bitching and moaning about everything.

But every time I hear his voice it scares the shit out of me.

[Branoram]

Wow this guy is totaly me, Except for the effort of making books and games.

[dadadaJOE]

but sir there are such games that teach and make you think, by the way you don't just put on form of media in to one genre and last time i check "most" of the people that play such are mature i havn't played wolfeinstein or any shooter games, but i'm shore that the game you help make is just as or to most more disturbing.

[dadadaJOE]

@Corvin26 yeah i don't know about you but what do puzzle games and games that make you think as well strategic , what do they turn you in to crazy senile man that hurt him/her self in order to make art yeah what about games like

dr.mario

tetris

yoshi (egg game)

wario's woods

wreaking crew 98'

practically every adventure game

kings quest series

proffesor Layton series

and the list goes on.

[dadadaJOE]

@Corvin26 uh yeah he is a bit frightning great writer; bad role model, well i geuss he's not trying to be one but yeah

[Nonamearisto]

Wolfenstein was a classic. If there was no Wolfenstain, there would be no Halo.

[aherhaerherhae]

HAH "THIS INTERVIEW FEATURES LEGENDARY SCIENCE FICT...." at which point I have already closed the video...

[hcvang]

@aherhaerherhae you what? you contest that Harlan Ellison is a legendary amerian author?????

what side of your brain doesnt work properly?

[aherhaerherhae]

@hcvang no you dumbass - harlan hated being called a science fiction author.

[just4joebob]

Haha that was a subject changer..game, game, books, game..OJ SIMPSON!

[DumbWhiteGuy27]

what do you think about the OJ Simpson trial?

[eveningtsar]

Holy shit, would they let him finish a thought! It cuts him off just when it gets interesting. . .

[Larrylarp]

TURN THE HAT AROUND, MORON!

Yeah. I laughed.

[Larrylarp]

I wouldn't probably stand to be around Mr. Ellison for longer than five minutes. This guy certainly loves himself...

Doesn't still change the fact that he's a great writer and certainly a smart and witty man. And he's definetely right about games in general. I mean, I'm a gamer myself, and yet I still believe that some of the solutions in No Mouth are excellent and very original. If only games like that would still appear...

[GoddessAstrola]

@Larrylarp Anyone who knows about Ellison realizes this is par for the course for him. We KNOW he's an over opinionated, misanthropic, flat out jerk, but like the crazy uncle at the end of the table, we just enjoy his rants, nod and smile, and take nothing else he says seriously.

[mdm5995]

8:53 LOLWUT

[Aristocles2]

comparing himself to Kafka... doesn't suffer from false modesty old Harls

[fotakatos]

@Aristocles2

He is not comparing himself to Kafka, he is saying that No Mouth (which is a product of a whole team, not just his own) is the kind of game Kafka would have written and in my opinion he is totally right. The game is absolutely kafkaesque, incredibly many aspects of the game are kept in the style of Kafka's creations - the distortion of reality, the ethical questions, the general atmosphere...

But you're still right: Elision definitely isn't suffering from false modesty. ;D

[5210to444]

Gotta agree that he's definitely a little aloof with a hint of extremist sadism/masochism eg. his beliefs that to avoid mediocrity in art requires self sacrifice, that shocking people is a noble cause?

My first impressions upon reading the story & playing the game were that the author had to be kinda twisted and this interview does support it lol. Not to say that it lowers the quality of the works, they're fantastic

[uhfnutbar1]

he old he knows things you dont know and he speks his mind what your fucking problom

[HardWarUK]

No pain in big multi-national game companies releasing games - hence mediocrity in today's games versus the past, when this great game was released!

[SmashBrosBrawl]

so im guessing OJ simpson played a huge role in the game while wearing a backwards baseball cap?

[ancalites]

lol, he rags on wolfenstein. That was one of my first PC games

[gryphonshire]

I bought this game when it was first released. It is still my favorite game, since the choices you make as you play will change the outcome of the game. Some of the puzzles and tasks are twisted as only Ellison could imagine. Harlan Ellison was a Mad Genius, indeed.

[goodguycraig]

damn thats AM speaking lol

[zoetropez]

I'd rather listen to Elliison bitch and moan than some hack like Toni Morrison wax mornic over Sonya Sotamayor on NPR.

[gilgamess]

I haven't written anything that has been published in paper, however, I have read roughly 75% of Toni Morrison's writing and if you don't like it, you don't like it, but she is by no means a hack. She is highly literate and has won a Pulitzer Prize. There are writers who I enjoy even though their politics are different from mine, i.e. Larry Niven.

Incidentally, I believe that the word you are looking for is "moronic", not "mornic". What did she say that was so offensive to you?

[zoetropez]

Yeah, so I missed an "o." How many "o"s have you missed wasting your time reading Oprah's conscious? Tony Morrison should be serving lunch on a local train somewhere in LaLa Land. She sucks. I'm sorry. You're obviously a sad woman, as no other creature would defend such a crappy writer. O. O. O. O. O. O. O. O. O. O. Is that enough for you yet, you bitter wannabe literate nobody? F off with a rusty shovel.

[gilgamess]

I iterate, "What did Toni Morrison say that was so offensive to you"?

[zoetropez]

Also, no HACKS ever win the f'ing Pulitzer, so your argument is valid beyond...F...you're really stoooooopid, ain't you? I write for a living, but you're totally smarter and more sophisticated than I'll ever be. Go F yourself with that rusty shovel again...

[SpookeyR]

@zoe: "I'd rather listen to Elliison bitch and moan than some hack like Toni Morrison wax mornic over Sonya Sotamayor on NPR."

If you don't like Toni Morrison then you should berate her for what you don't like about her. If you don't like Sonia Sotomayor then you should berate her about what you don't like about her. But, to wax "mornic" with some ad hominem bullshit only proves that, in the word's of the immortal Harlan Ellison, "... you are fucking retarded!"

[flashmiller]

people that speak the truth are considered pricks? i guess it's not what the popular opinion wants to hear.

[RandyPrincePhilip]

I have no hair but I'm a walking wig.

[hihiman]

I wanna sock this guy in the throat so he can't be a prick anymore

[Quakepunk]

8:27

Way to just drive completely off topic?

[Gwanja1819]

haha just slightly

[Rimsa]

Incredible man.

[flibber123]

He's awesome. Says what he says, damn the torpedos.

[jaylemmingleader]

I'm sorry but this guy acts like an asshole.

[lejwocky]

seems like the quintessential elitist

[tkhushrenada]

yeah, he's a prick. A genius, but a prink

[NPZwar]

"Features legendary science fiction author Harlan Ellison"? How'd they get away with that? He hates being called a "science fiction author".

[AlkoTanko]

Didn't he once left a studio when his interviewer made that mistake?

[NPZwar]

Yes, he did.

[mack89464]

Actually not totally correct. He hates the "Sci Fi" label but does not have an issue with being called a science fiction writer / author.

[NPZwar]

Well, I've seen him in an interview where he specifically had an issue with him personally being called a "science fiction writer", not with the label "Sci Fi" per se.

[mack89464]

Actually - you are correct - he did bitch about being called a "Sci Fi" writer but he also doesn't like being labeled at all - I had to go back and look at the DVD of interviews I had :-) Sorry.

[Bluehawk2008]

He mimes typing with only two fingers....

[MekaGabe]

Is he alive?

[valcaron]

"The Marios"?

Oh, Harlan...

[NartSaga]

He really should have played system shock 1

[loszhor]

I'd like this much better if he wasn't interuppted so much. They cut him off right when he starts getting into a good though. Does anyone know where the full interview is?

[FinalGamerJames]

This dude is so awesome <3

[miyako333]

I love how they just cut him off ALL the time... XD *sarcasm*

[wolvebuck]

Seriously. Sometimes he's actually in the middle of a word. Editor of the year?

[Ginrummy33]

It wasn't me (the video's poster) who cut him off. I pieced together a bunch of individual video files to make this, using the complete clips, but adding the title cards for the questsions which were just links to the video in it's original form. These video files are small, short, and compressed heavily to fit (along with lots of other stuff) onto a regular CD and space restrictions made the original creators cut him off quickly.

[wah13vt]

I was the managing editor of IE, where this interview was taken from. We got the interview from the game publisher. However, I quickly learned that Ellison wasn't aware of this when he made an angry phone call after we released the issue. Fortunately, I convinced him that it wasn't our fault, and got to spend a very entertaining 10 minutes or so listening to him bitch about the game publisher.

[harleykman]

@Ginrummy33 Good point. 700 megabytes isn't a lot of space to squeeze both a PC game and these videos. The game makers were likely pressed to make the interview as short as possible.

[karthan]

This fellow would enjoy Knights of the Old Republic 1/2.

Great video. Thanks for posting it.

[loveupskirts]

thansk for posting this, lol, vintage harlen ranting.

[Barbabapan]

Just realized, he wrote "A BOY AND HIS DOG". Just bought that one, not knowing better. Still gotta see it. You gotta love the end of civilisation!

[randolphtd1]

His ideas are often really good, but his style is laughably hit and miss. I'm still looking forward to playing this game, however.

[visceralgristle]

Hope you still have DOS.

[kerVelfarre]

You don't have to have DOS to play it.

[Barbabapan]

Really? I got the game still, on Vista it won't run. Ok, it says "Full screen not supported" and I can only close the session. So, what's the solution, kerVelfarre?

[kerVelfarre]

Try running it with Scummvm or Dosbox (either one). I'm not really an expert on either, so I can't really help beyond that, but I know at least Scummvm has forums where you could ask for more help.

It should be playable, it just might take a bit of work to get there.

[Barbabapan]

Thanks a lot! I'm totally no expert, but this should help. Cool... got so many other games I will want to run. BIOFORGE for example...

[conatcha]

Download DOSBOX for free. It's very easy and the game works very well.

[keytoothed]

Thanks for excavating this artifact and displaying here.

[anton1990]

Harlan is the best writer who ever lived.

The game "I have no mouth and I must scream" is a real masterpiece. I have played it several times, and it is still amazing. It's wonderful to hear Harlan play AM.

[Xenu]

Really? Better than Shakespeare? Sophocles? Blake? Keats? Shelley? Borges? Frederick Douglass? Philip Roth, even?

[anton1990]

Yep.

[Xenu]

lol Cute

[Barbabapan]

Shakespeare surely copied Ellison! Nah, I love the guy's ideas. The John Carpenter of books, in a way.

[myboomstick]

harlan >>>>> all. philip roth? wtf u on?! O.o

[MekaGabe]

why not?

[picturepainter]

"I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" was the first Harlan Ellison story I read. I'm currently working my way through "The Essential Ellison", a massive tome that covers 50 years of his writing. Holding the book is good exercise for my arms.

[Zen444]

Thanks for the video.

[Ginrummy33]

Harlan has loud and passionate opionions. Fascinating guy. Love the backwards hat rant.

[PompadourSamurai]

Hah, I loved it too.

[MrJuico1337]

@Ginrummy33 Onions.