Squid of Man

Overnight at the Develop Conference in Brighton, Mark Rein, VP of Epic "Games", went on a little tirade against episodic gaming. Cue boos and howls of derision from the oh-so-cutting-edge developer set.

"But what of Steam?!" they wailed.

Mark Rein seems to be an outspoken dick. His comments about the Wii were way off the mark, and I think in general he may want to think before he speaks. But here? He's right on the money.

Episodic gaming is fucked. We will get bite-sized portions of a game months apart. I don't want that. I want to feast on a game. Developers keep comparing it to comics and television, but there's a key difference: I don't wait six fucking months between issues of Ex Machina or episodes of [insert television program here]. I get them weekly or at worst, every month or two.

I could also go into how it's ripping us off as consumers (Episode 1 was $35 for four hours of gameplay), but then i'd just be ranting.

So bravo, Mark Rein. Now shut your mouth before you ruin the moment.