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Game designer Will Wright leaves Electronic Arts to start Stupid Fun Club

26 points by peter123 18y ago

pxlpshr 18y ago
The Stupid Fun Club website is wonderfully cryptic, but ugly as sin. http://www.thestupidfunclub.com http://www.thestupidfunclub.com
- rudyfink 18y ago
  I kinda dig it, but it was, in the end, a let down. Here I am all ready to cowboy up and join a club for some stupid fun but there is neither club nor fun. It was a very "all flowers and no date" consumer experience.
sachinag 18y ago
You know what fuck you money looks like? THIS.
- sachinag 18y ago
  Downmod me if you want, but this is what SFC has been making: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o-g9ZjsZ-s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o-g9ZjsZ-s
  - Silentio 18y ago
    Looks like they've been making episodes for shows on Adult Swim...
Scriptor 18y ago
I think many of us were waiting for this.
wallflower 18y ago
I remember reading an article in Software Development magazine a while back about it. He's had this Stupid Fun Club for a while. Crazy stuff. I love the "Sad robot" "Wright: Are you running that … weapon? I don’t know if we want to sit here. [A dancing snowman on a wheeled platform with a circular saw mounted on its front bumper approaches a plastic toy-store robot.]" "Dr. Dobb's | Inside the Stupid Fun Club | March 1, 2004" http://www.ddj.com/architect/184415104 http://www.ddj.com/architect/184415104
electromagnetic 18y ago
I find myself checking the date, because this sounds like such a professionally stupid move (after looking at what the SFC has actually done... AKA a few unwatched youtube videos) it looks like 95% proof mid-life crisis.
- adamhowell 18y ago
  He sunk years and years of his life into Spore only to have EA sweep the legs out from under it at launch with horribly broken DRM. Instead of dealing with the corporate idiots he's moving on.
  - blasdel 18y ago
    Spore did plenty to suck all on it's own, by being a set of disjointed non-games that misrepresent evolution (your traits don't matter for survival!)
  - ensignavenger 18y ago
    Except that EA has invested in SFC, and it looks like EA will develop/publish video games based on their work- so it isn't like Wright is moving on from EA totally. I haven't heard Wright complain too loudly about the DRM, I bet if he had, EA would have done whatever was necessary to appease him.
    - adamhowell 18y ago
      He says in a Kotaku interview (can't link, on iPhone) that it was something he should have "tuned into more" and "a corporate decision."
  - ajkirwin 18y ago
    No, what broke Spore was the fact that all the really good, technical bits of evolution were ripped out at the last minute to make the game easier to EA could sell more copies to kids.
    - 18y ago
danbmil99 18y ago
I've met the Fun Club folk, primarily Mike Winter. They've done some very cool stuff. Will be interesting to see what comes of it.

26 points by peter123 18y ago

The Stupid Fun Club website is wonderfully cryptic, but ugly as sin. http://www.thestupidfunclub.com http://www.thestupidfunclub.com

rudyfink 18y ago
I kinda dig it, but it was, in the end, a let down. Here I am all ready to cowboy up and join a club for some stupid fun but there is neither club nor fun. It was a very "all flowers and no date" consumer experience.

sachinag 18y ago

You know what fuck you money looks like? THIS.

sachinag 18y ago
Downmod me if you want, but this is what SFC has been making: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o-g9ZjsZ-s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o-g9ZjsZ-s
- Silentio 18y ago
  Looks like they've been making episodes for shows on Adult Swim...

Scriptor 18y ago

I think many of us were waiting for this.

wallflower 18y ago

I remember reading an article in Software Development magazine a while back about it. He's had this Stupid Fun Club for a while. Crazy stuff. I love the "Sad robot" "Wright: Are you running that … weapon? I don’t know if we want to sit here. [A dancing snowman on a wheeled platform with a circular saw mounted on its front bumper approaches a plastic toy-store robot.]" "Dr. Dobb's | Inside the Stupid Fun Club | March 1, 2004" http://www.ddj.com/architect/184415104 http://www.ddj.com/architect/184415104

electromagnetic 18y ago

I find myself checking the date, because this sounds like such a professionally stupid move (after looking at what the SFC has actually done... AKA a few unwatched youtube videos) it looks like 95% proof mid-life crisis.

adamhowell 18y ago
He sunk years and years of his life into Spore only to have EA sweep the legs out from under it at launch with horribly broken DRM. Instead of dealing with the corporate idiots he's moving on.
- blasdel 18y ago
  Spore did plenty to suck all on it's own, by being a set of disjointed non-games that misrepresent evolution (your traits don't matter for survival!)
- ensignavenger 18y ago
  Except that EA has invested in SFC, and it looks like EA will develop/publish video games based on their work- so it isn't like Wright is moving on from EA totally. I haven't heard Wright complain too loudly about the DRM, I bet if he had, EA would have done whatever was necessary to appease him.
  - adamhowell 18y ago
    He says in a Kotaku interview (can't link, on iPhone) that it was something he should have "tuned into more" and "a corporate decision."
- ajkirwin 18y ago
  No, what broke Spore was the fact that all the really good, technical bits of evolution were ripped out at the last minute to make the game easier to EA could sell more copies to kids.
  - 18y ago

danbmil99 18y ago

I've met the Fun Club folk, primarily Mike Winter. They've done some very cool stuff. Will be interesting to see what comes of it.