The director of Hellboy dropped a few F*Bombs in his support for videogames and what they mean in our culture.
Last week, The Escapist reported that Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican film director and writer, was making a videogame for THQ. At a book signing in Portland, Oregon, Guillermo del Toro was asked what he intended to accomplish in the videogame industry and what some of his favorite titles were. He responded emphatically, “What a great fucking question!” The f-bombs continued from there.
“Videogames are the comic books of our time,” del Toro said. It’s a medium that gains no respect among the intelligentsia. They say ‘oh, videogames.’ And most people that complain about videogames have never fucking played them. Videogames have proven to be incredibly immersive experiences.”
del Toro then went on to talk about some games that he loves to play. “I love shooters, by the way. I’m entirely anti-war but I’ve spent hours in Left 4 Dead 1 and 2,” he said to applause from the crowd. “To me, there a few great videogames: Shadow of the Colossus, masterpiece; Ico, masterpiece. Back in the era of the CD-rom, there was a great game which influenced a slew of filmmakers called Gadget. Fantastic CD-rom game.” I believe that del Toro is referencing the 1993 interactive film directed by Haruhiko Shono for Synergy Interactive, which he previously said influenced the directors of Dark City and The Matrix.
Even though he said he loves the Halo franchise, he is not a devotee of the multiplayer component. “I’m not an online guy, I never go online. The only time I got online, they were so insulting. ‘I’ll kill you you piece of shit Mexican!’ I got angry, I got really angry. I don’t need this, I have enough with the message boards,” del Toro said.
del Toro said that he plays a lot of games, but that he doesn’t always finish games. “I’ve played most everything, but I don’t finish everything. My rule is, with a book, a movie or a game, if it doesn’t engage me then I leave it. I do not do homework with my life. I do not feel the compulsion to finish something that didn’t engage me.”
He then encourages anyone in the crowd who doesn’t like videogames to take another look. “If you don’t like, or if you think you don’t like videogames, I urge you to get Shadow of the Colossus, BioShock and try them for real. You will see that they are an art form and anyone saying differently is a little out of touch. They are a narrative art form.”
del Toro then compared the response to videogames to the criticism leveled at earlier forms of media. “The way that people say that horror movies ‘Ah, they make the kids delinquent’ or that horror comics ‘They make the kids criminals.’ Now it’s videogames, but it’s all adult bullshit.”
via Shacknews
