You Ought to Be in Pixels

  • ELECTRONIC ARTS; J. KIMURA/GETTY

    GAMERS V. HOLLYWOOD: Lucy Bradshaw -- Sims scion; Sofia Coppola -- Tinseltown tyro

    (2 of 3)

    Naturally, it isn't the pizza that outraged parents and politicians. Senator Joseph Lieberman said the game caused "perverse antisocial behavior." Donovan, 31, was unapologetic — this, after all, was what the M (for mature) games rating was invented for, and besides, whatever you do in the game is your choice. Vice City has sold 11 million copies.

    But Donovan's output represents a trend in the industry that troubles even some insiders — namely, the lack of truly thoughtful games or any with emotional resonance. "Our plots are all power fantasies for 14-year-old boys," says Warren Spector, creator of the conspiracy-theory game Deus Ex. "Why is our business so firmly rooted in adolescent nonsense? Does every game have to be the equivalent of a Bruckheimer production? Where is our Lost in Translation?"

    Turns out that Donovan can create mood, if not emotion. The Fall of Max Payne, one of his 2003 releases, is the closest the games world has yet come to film noir. You can be Payne, a New York cop, or his femme fatale, Mona Sax. Yes, there is plenty of violence and gunplay, but there is also a tender and tragic love story. If Donovan is a part of the malaise of the industry, he may also be a cure.

    At the Top of his Game
    Shigeru Miyamoto, Shogun of Nintendo = Steven Spielberg, King of directors
    It's hard to beat being the guy who brought us Jaws, E.T. and Indiana Jones — unless you're the guy who created Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and Zelda. Ever since Shigeru Miyamoto first sicced that platform-climbing arcade monkey on us back in 1981, everything Nintendo's lead designer has touched has turned to gold. His games have sold in excess of 100 million copies. Practically all the under-35's in the games industry today — which is most of them — grew up influenced by his work. "Every Miyamoto title pushes game technology and creativity a little further," says Souris Hong-Poretta, co-president of New York City — based Invasiv Studios, a game developer. "Not one or the other. Always both."

    The bright colors, cute characters and music-box noises of a Miyamoto game may seem childish to the uninitiated. But try playing 15 minutes of a Legend of Zelda game, particularly 1998's Ocarina of Time. Next thing you know, it's 3 a.m. Miyamoto has an uncanny ability to come up with a puzzle whose difficulty keeps pace with a player's grasp of the game.

    Like Spielberg, Miyamoto presents a popular image of the boy who never grew up. His games, he says, are made entirely to please his inner child. He finds inspiration in unlikely places, like his garden (which gave us Pikmin, the tale of a spaceman who has to grow and harvest brightly colored flower people; Pikmin 2 is in the works). Miyamoto lives modestly in Kyoto with his wife and two kids (who don't play video games). He bicycles to work, is fond of Mickey Mouse ties and keeps a banjo by his desk.

    But that image hides a tougher, Hollywood-mogul side — especially in recent years, since Miyamoto, 51, has become more manager than creator. Eiji Aonuma, director of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, tells of Miyamoto's habit of coming in at the end of a game's gestation to "upend the tea table"--a phrase that harks back to what Japanese fathers used to do when they didn't like what was for dinner. The boy who never grew up is not afraid to make a mess if he doesn't get what he wants.

    Master of Doom
    John Carmack, Doom designer = Mel Gibson, Passion player
    If anyone can produce a piece of popular entertainment more blood-soaked than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, that person is John Carmack. The creator of two of the most violent game franchises in computer history, Doom and Quake, is a few months away from releasing Doom 3. It's a remake of the original, in which you play an Alien-esque space marine battling the ghostly spawn of hell down gloomy corridors of a futuristic Mars base. Not that the hokey plot matters much to hard-core gamers. "Doom 3 is just going to terrify the pants off people," says Rob Smith, editor of PC Gamer magazine.

    Like Gibson, Carmack is obsessed with the finer details of his production. He sees himself as an engineer of extreme realism, and has spent the past four years figuring out stuff like how to create the most realistic reflections in lightbulbs and what ominous splatters of blood look like on a tiled bathroom floor. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails will provide the ambient sound. It has been a tough project, as shown by the swelling of Carmack's tiny operation, based in Mesquite, Texas, from 14 staffers to 20. The phenomenally intelligent Carmack tends to hire only programmers who know something he can't learn from them — and that's not many.

    And just like Gibson, Carmack has an unlikely pet project. The millionaire, 33, is actively competing for the $10 million X Prize, an award to the first private entrepreneur who builds a fully functional rocket that can carry passengers to space. Hey, why not? Mel's dream came true.

    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3