Edge's Interview with Jenova Chen

I stopped paying attention to their reviews a long time ago, but they have really interesting interviews, news and previews, often of people and events the rest of the media doesn't cover.

The Edge with the PS3 on the cover (which is a couple weeks old in the US and probably very old in England) has a fascinating interview with Jenova Chen. He is an avid game who re-named himself after FF7's Jenova, but he takes pains to try to be different than the rest of the industry when designing games (at one point one could customize the petals in Flower, but he realized he was just doing that because customization is currently popular, and thus discarded the idea).

He was negotiating with Sony and Nintendo for a contract, but NoA had to seek approval from Japan for every move they made, while SCEA had broad leeway to make deals.

On a similar note, he stated that once the deal was done, Sony didn't try to interfere with him and offered him more money and time than he wanted (he wanted to keep his team really small).

He's one of the few designers who has made good use of the Dual Shock 3's motion controls and during the interview he express his enthusiasm for MS's Natal.

During his (pre-pricecut) interview, he stated that he hadn't bought his parents a PS3 because they are too expensive.

'I stopped paying attention to their reviews a long time ago, but they have really interesting reviews'

-that was a quote. ;p

he named himself after jenova... in FFVII..? ....how pretentious and downright silly can you get? hmm, i think i'm going to rename myself 'okami smith', after 'okami'.

compared to the truckloads of bad/mediocre designers out there, the guy is alright as far as i'm concerned, but creatively dull compared to what other artists are doing in other 'industries', or just by themselves.

he named himself after jenova... in FFVII..? ....how pretentious and downright silly can you get? hmm, i think i'm going to rename myself 'okami smith', after 'okami'.

compared to the truckloads of bad/mediocre designers out there, the guy is alright as far as i'm concerned, but creatively dull compared to what other artists are doing in other 'industries', or just by themselves.

just_nonplussed

*Shrugs* No idea what other industries you are referring to, but Jenova Chen's games arereally unique and fun. Most developers base what they are making on what's popular, so guys who create risky original games (all original games are risky because one doesn't know that there is a market for say, guiding petals blowing through the wind until the game is actually released) and executes them well (sorry, Lifeline)are the type of guys I pay special attention to, though I won't buy a game if the concept leaves me cold (I thought Mirror's Edge was original and well done, I just didn't fall in love with the demo).

Of course, I respect guys who make conventional games too (yes, first person shooters are currently 'safe', but doing the AI/physics/level design/enemy design/enemy placement/weapon design right is hard).

Last but not least, while its more than a little weird, I don't think naming oneself after a videogame character is pretentious (if he called himself Mozart Chen or Einstein Chen, then I'd agree with you).

He changed his name to something from Final Fantasy 7? My God... Sorry, it's just after that, anything else he says is irrelevant.

He changed his name to something from Final Fantasy 7? My God... Sorry, it's just after that, anything else he says is irrelevant.

AtomicTangerine

Being an uber dork isn't a crime. What if it were Solid Snake Chen?

He changed his name to something from Final Fantasy 7? My God... Sorry, it's just after that, anything else he says is irrelevant.

AtomicTangerine

He changed his name to something from Final Fantasy 7? My God... Sorry, it's just after that, anything else he says is irrelevant.

AtomicTangerine

That's just ignorant. You really shouldn't judge people based on what they like/dislike.

[QUOTE="just_nonplussed"]

he named himself after jenova... in FFVII..? ....how pretentious and downright silly can you get? hmm, i think i'm going to rename myself 'okami smith', after 'okami'.

compared to the truckloads of bad/mediocre designers out there, the guy is alright as far as i'm concerned, but creatively dull compared to what other artists are doing in other 'industries', or just by themselves.

CarnageHeart

*Shrugs* No idea what other industries you are referring to, but Jenova Chen's games arereally unique and fun. Most developers base what they are making on what's popular, so guys who create risky original games (all original games are risky because one doesn't know that there is a market for say, guiding petals blowing through the wind until the game is actually released) and executes them well (sorry, Lifeline)are the type of guys I pay special attention to, though I won't buy a game if the concept leaves me cold (I thought Mirror's Edge was original and well done, I just didn't fall in love with the demo).

Of course, I respect guys who make conventional games too (yes, first person shooters are currently 'safe', but doing the AI/physics/level design/enemy design/enemy placement/weapon design right is hard).

Last but not least, while its more than a little weird, I don't think naming oneself after a videogame character is pretentious (if he called himself Mozart Chen or Einstein Chen, then I'd agree with you).

lol. mozart chen.

oh well, i'm all for original games, but blowing flowers around i think is a boring idea. to be fair, i haven't yet played the game so i may be shooting myself in the foot, but i just cringe whenever i see his words in interviews.

it doesn't matter. i like katamari and think rez is brilliant. many people don't like katamari and think rez is nothing special (of course, they're wrong! ;p).

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

[QUOTE="just_nonplussed"]

he named himself after jenova... in FFVII..? ....how pretentious and downright silly can you get? hmm, i think i'm going to rename myself 'okami smith', after 'okami'.

compared to the truckloads of bad/mediocre designers out there, the guy is alright as far as i'm concerned, but creatively dull compared to what other artists are doing in other 'industries', or just by themselves.

just_nonplussed

*Shrugs* No idea what other industries you are referring to, but Jenova Chen's games arereally unique and fun. Most developers base what they are making on what's popular, so guys who create risky original games (all original games are risky because one doesn't know that there is a market for say, guiding petals blowing through the wind until the game is actually released) and executes them well (sorry, Lifeline)are the type of guys I pay special attention to, though I won't buy a game if the concept leaves me cold (I thought Mirror's Edge was original and well done, I just didn't fall in love with the demo).

Of course, I respect guys who make conventional games too (yes, first person shooters are currently 'safe', but doing the AI/physics/level design/enemy design/enemy placement/weapon design right is hard).

Last but not least, while its more than a little weird, I don't think naming oneself after a videogame character is pretentious (if he called himself Mozart Chen or Einstein Chen, then I'd agree with you).

lol. mozart chen.

oh well, i'm all for original games, but blowing flowers around i think is a boring idea. to be fair, i haven't yet played the game so i may be shooting myself in the foot, but i just cringe whenever i see his words in interviews.

it doesn't matter. i like katamari and think rez is brilliant. many people don't like katamari and think rez is nothing special (of course, they're wrong! ;p).

Try Flower and get back to me. Its good stuff.

Funny thing is, Jenova from FF7 was female. lostn

I don't know man... I thought Jenova was the space alien thing Shinra was researching and was just an it. Then again, I haven't played that game in like a decade, so yeah...

He changed his name to something from Final Fantasy 7? My God... Sorry, it's just after that, anything else he says is irrelevant.

AtomicTangerine

[QUOTE="AtomicTangerine"]

He changed his name to something from Final Fantasy 7? My God... Sorry, it's just after that, anything else he says is irrelevant.

ViewtifulScott

Dude, the difference here is that mine is the name of a color from a box of pencils, and I only use it on a video game forum. He took a name from a lame video game character and used it to replace the name his parents gave him. It's not so much that it is Final Fantasy even, but that he would replace his name with one from a video game character. I would think it was just as dumb if he was Kratos Chen, Sam Fischer Chen, or even Super Mario Chen.

However, Flower was real good. I did like that a whole bunch. It's just that I don't want to talk about what he said, but instead what motivates a man to change his legal name like that...

... to change his legal name like that...

AtomicTangerine

[QUOTE="AtomicTangerine"]

... to change his legal name like that...

Skylock00

Oh, good for him then man. That's still a dumb nickname, but hey, which ones aren't?

It's just that if he actually changed his name to that... He might as well had a Sephiroth tattoo on his forehead.