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Tales of The Focus Group: Peter Moore Takes No Guff

Posted by John Constantine



I get latching onto game designers as personalities. It’s no different than the cult of personality that sprouts up around musicians, writers, and film directors. Gaming’s rich with characters too: from the robot-building eccentrics like Will Wright, frothing madmen like David Jaffe, and mean drunks like Tomonobu Itagaki. What mystifies me is the way gamers latch onto publishing executives and marketers. Seriously, who cares about Reggie Fils-Aime? The guy doesn’t make Nintendo’s games, he just makes sure they’re profitable. Or how about Peter Moore? When that wily Brit was in charge of Microsoft’s games division, there was no end of fanboy chatter about his antics. Oh, Peter Moore got a Grand Theft Auto IV tattoo! Take that, Sony! Once he moved on to EA Sports, the guy disappeared from the limelight, no longer a face for console war jibber-jabber.

Well, after today, I am forced to admit that I am interested in Peter Moore. Not because he’s starting some wild new business initiative to ramp up EA’s creative output or anything of the sort. No, I want to know more about Peter Moore because one of his last actions as president of Sega of America was to tell Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, to fuck off. Games Radar’s running a story that, during the Dreamcast’s final days, Moore ran a focus group that resulted in young consumers labeling Sega a "granddad with dementia who used to be cool but you couldn't remember why." Burn. When Moore had recordings of the focus group translated into Japanese for a meeting with Sega Japan, Naka accused Moore of doctoring the recordings. Moore’s response?

"I lost it. I turned to the interpreter and said, ‘Tell him, fuck you.’” Although the translator refused to convey Moore's feelings, he was pretty sure that his message got across. "Naka had lived in the US for three years, so I knew he understood. I walked out and never returned."


Why does this make Peter Moore interesting? Yuji Naka is responsible for Sonic’s shitty friends. Fuck that guy.

(Link: Games Radar, via NeoGAF)

Related links:

FMV H
ell: Sonic CD
Trailer Review: Sonic Unleashed
Do You Hold Any Hope For Sonic Unleashed?
Alternate Soundtrack: Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Ratatat
Sonic is for Porn


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Roto13 said:

He's also responsible for the good Sonic games, Shenmue, Nights, and a host of other awesome games. Maybe fuck Peter Moore.

September 5, 2008 2:22 PM

John Constantine said:

Agreed! Facetiousness aside, my love for Yuji Naka ended with the first Sonic Adventure. The levels are fantastic but the torrent of unskippable cutscenes and terrible dialogue are hard to get past. Not to mention Big the Cat. And Billy Hatcher is just... unsavory.

I wasn't aware that Yuji Naka played an active role in Shenmue's development actually. I mean, I know Sega had almost every internal team helping with it at one point or another but I thought Naka and the original Sonic Team were off on their own.

September 5, 2008 3:21 PM

Roto13 said:

That's because I apparently made that part up. :P Sorry. I'm thinking of Yu Suzuki.

Yeah, Sonic Adventure 1 was kind of the beginning of the end. I thought most of the game was pretty good if you ignore the cutscenes (or play the Game Cube version where I'm pretty sure you can skip them) but playing as Amy Rose or Big the Cat was just... ugh. Overall I thought it was pretty good at the time, but the thing is, those forgivable problems got a lot less forgivable (and worse) as the series went on.

Though I do like Sonic Adventure 2. None of that fishing bullcrap. And the camera actually behaved itself a lot of the time.

September 5, 2008 9:46 PM

Demaar said:

I now love Peter  Moore. Naka deserved that.

September 6, 2008 4:32 AM

Demaar said:

Roto: Yu Suzuki is responsible for Shen Mue, and Naka only programmed the good Sonic games, he didn't design the levels or characters or anything. NiGHTS I'm not sure on.

September 6, 2008 4:33 AM

Demaar said:

Oops, sorry about that roto, missed the part where you corrected yourself lol

September 6, 2008 4:35 AM

Roto13 said:

Argh, I tried to post a comment but something went wrong. (So if I post two comments saying basically the same thing, that's my excuse.)

From Wikipedia: "Naka has also produced several other titles like Nights into Dreams..., Burning Rangers and Phantasy Star Online."

He's also listed as a designer for Sonic 1 through Sonic Adventure 1 (but not Sonic Adventure 2, mysteriously) so he was more than just a code monkey.

He also produced Shadow the Hedgehog, apparently. Scary that he would have his name on such an awful game.

September 6, 2008 11:33 AM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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