Game Connect 08 - What Makes a Good Game - a critics perspective 4/4

Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw

Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw is a game reviewer who shot to fame with Zero Punctuation, a weekly series of video reviews for the Escapist online gaming magazine, which became widely viewed and beloved by players and developers alike for their quickfire, no-holds-barred approach to game criticism.

He has also worked in development as a writer for several local studios and as a designer with Brisbane indie developer Aberrant Entertainment, as well as his own personal game projects.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• GCAP
• Game
• Connect
• Asia
• Pacific
• 2008
• GDAA
• Ben
• Yahtzee
• Croshaw
• Zero
• Punctuation
• tsumea
• Australian
• game
• development

[PostcardMike]

I think educational games are a fine idea if done well. What I don't understand is why a room full of people would pose question after question to a game critic who has never shown any predilection for edu-tainment, or has even reviewed a single educational game. People who have a point to get across should post a blog and do their own speech. Not bludgeon a man with a cross-examination knowing full well he'll have limited insight.

[JosephPage]

This is the kind of Yahtzee that I'd like to see more of; a guy who takes time to make his point clear, and explain when it does and doesn't work. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these.

[FapMonster]

the thing about trying to make a game educational is that you're trying to make art into a tool, so the game kinda loses it's soul as a game.

[mjferroni]

@DalekHybrid

You have a good point there and I can vouch for the effectivity of just putting some educational facts in there, whithout making them too obvious. I practically did not have to pick up a history book until the age of 14 because I had played the 3 age of empires games by the time i was 8 and had simply learned the history by playing out the scenarios. And it actually helped my concentrate during history classes becuase I kept looking for facts I recognized from the games.

[DalekHybrid]

I love how people ask questions to Yahtzee about games as a tool to educate.

[EntaruThandin01]

I think he REALLY wanted to go when he "muzed" about it.

[DalekHybrid]

@LogSubmarine Tangental learning could work, games that facilitate learning but nothing that forces you to learn. An ordinary game with a some trivia or facts in the game. A game that relates things to real life. Educational games are annoying but games that are not educational but feature educational parts are a better prospect.

[D3mi4n]

Are they retarded or something? Yahtzee talks about games as art, and how they are diferent from tools... only to get asked about games as tools to educate...

[ManusCelerDei]

nice to see some people askign completely innapropriate questions

[shotgunjoe]

Yahtzee's presentation was very good, and the way he handled the questions was probably the best he could have done (he did seem like he was squirming a bit, it's understandable) but the people asking the questions just made watching this pretty awkward if I'm honest.

[thelexus]

a lot of these questions are retarded, well done to him anyway

[wpgme85]

I think there's a place for both Yahtzee's. For the short form rage rant that intelligently disects games to their basic failures there's Zero Punctuation. For the longer form in depth analysis and reasoning behind the argument there's More Punctuation, his weekly online article.