Interview by Travis Meacham.
 
While at GDC we sat down with Epic Games' Vice President Mark Rein to talk about the future of PC gaming, the dangers of piracy and how the Unreal Engine is leading the charge in dancing games.
 
http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2008/0 [...] interview/

 
Too bad he couldn't have stopped to get a clue as well.  
 
What a tool! I think....you know... he's an idiot. He should have just turned down the interview if he didn't having anything meaningful to say. With guys like this working for Epic, it's no wonder they can't get the code base for their Unreal III engine straight.
 
Certainly he didn't just publicly insult his customers as well... He's talking about the lack of savvy-ness among the American public when he doesn't even know the difference between Gears of War and UT3.

Agreed. The fact that he couldn't give an answer to the Gears of War on PC questions (did he even know it is available on PC?) kind of made him sound like a dope. If he'd given a real answer or at least acted like he cared I may have considered giving GoW on PC a try where as I previously hadn't given it much thought. But if he doesn't care why should I? Then he has the gall to bash gamers as not being very savy. What an idiot.

Typo:  raison d'entre
 
should read: Raison d'être
 
(if you can't apply the accent, atleast get the 'n' out of there)

 
In Mark's defense I think this needs clarification.  Here's the exchange in question:
 
TG:  The mainstream media loves to beat up on video games. Do you think that because games are so prevalent now that people know when the media is getting it completely wrong? Do you think that people are savvy enough to know that by now?
 
Mark Rein: Nope.
 
TG: No?
 
Mark Rein: Nope. Never underestimate the lack of "savvy-ness" of the American public.
 
My impression as the interviewer was that Mark was talking about the American public of non-gamers.  I wanted to know if he thought that gaming had penetrated our culture so much that even non-gamers could tell when news outlets were going after gaming with innaccurate facts and his response was that it hasn't.
 
I really don't think he meant it as a slight against gamers.  After all, we're his customers.
 
 
 
RE: hixbot
 
I fixed it, thanks.

That exchange wouldn't have really bothered me, except that he didn't really seem to care much about answering other questions. Most of the interview seems he seems to have a "who cares" attitude to issues that matter to his customers. Almost like he really thinks gamers are too dumb to care.

I think it's funny he thinks console games aren't pirated as much as PC games are.

Well I don't think they are pirated "as much", but the threat is there and it will definetly grow as more games become console exclusive. I think as the market for pirated console games increases they will prove to be easier to pirate and probably even more in demand than pirated PC games.

WTF was going on in this interview?  Man, not exactly hopeful for PC gaming - he sounded like he could not give a crap.

Maybe he got caught up in the event? Was looking towards his fun n games? He does sound waaaay too laid back and non compliat

What a terrible interview on the interviewees (sp?) part.  I was immediately put off when he couldn't answer questions about GoW on PC and then just blew off so many questions or gave "joke" answers.  I'm sorry TG, but he didn't take you guys or the interview seriously.

 
Yes, I definitely think Travis should have beat Mark Rein over the head for not giving us more info on Gears of War PC. That would have helped the situation.
 
Personally, I don't think Rein meant any disrespect to Travis or Tom's in general. I just think his answers are indicative of a larger issue.  

I agree, but what also made this interview very disapointing is that it lead by mentioning the PC Gaming Alliance and gave me the impression that Mr. Rein was a part of it. Then to hear his responses was pretty discouraging if that is how members of this "Alliance" really feel about PC gaming. Honestly I don't think that's the case. I just hope future reference to the PC Gaming Alliance come through in a little better light.

Mark Rein has been with Epic from the early days. He has always been pretty laid back in most cases. If you google up some history and statements though you will find much from him about his love for the PC. Epic in general have been very PC-centric. Their PC games have been solid additions to us all. I personally love the original Unreal as well as all things UT. Even the new UT3 is great.
 
They have tried to get in on the console crowd before but Gears was certainly their pinnacle. Regardless of platform, it is a fun well made game.
 
Having said all that, I hear much remorse in their latest interviews. (mainly Mark and CliffyB) It is truly heartbreaking if you are a builder that creates something with sweat and passion only to have it stolen, kicked around or worse yet... unnoticed.
 
Example: Gears of War and UT3. Both are great games in their genre. Both had a ton of dev time. Both have minor quibbles about small things but still fared well impression-wise. Both are solid and devoid of the controversy like GTA/Doom/mass effect violence/sex and have no issues with DRM like bioshock... one made it big, one has yet to realize sales even close to the other. I think it is beyond coincidence that the platform that succeeded was NOT the PC and it hurts when the heart of what you are started there.
 
The PC is what MADE Epic... and they know it.
 
What I hear in the interview is a great angst that they WANT to make great PC games but are struggling against so many things beyond their control and trying to find a solution for (most of) them.
 
Honestly, how many of us have pirated games? It has been only in recent years that I have quit grabbing ANYTHING pirated. Yes, this means I buy/own less games. Yes, it means that overall if everyone did that there may be fewer games played overall by all gamers. But much like the decline of movie watching I think that has more to do with the quality of the crap that is put out rather than the industry health. In the case of Epic, they have yet to disappoint me with my purchases of their games. (one of the few developers that I always buy from)
 
Basically what I am saying is that don't bag on him for being sad or listless about the PC gaming outlook... it IS SAD! Also, don't complain about how bad it is if you are one of the contributors to the condition. Instead offer help and/or solutions instead of squeeky-wheel complaining.
 
/rant

 
Which answers do you think were joke answers?

I wish some of those answers were meant as jokes.  

lmao, this Mark Rein sounds like a total pothead, but in the best possible way.

Ok first off I do not have a single pirated edition of any game on my computer sojrner, so I get to bitch about whatever I want.  I bought Gears of War for PC and guess what IT DOESNT WORK! And here is the link to the Epic forums (http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=583169) with almost 1200 post over the game not running. The two patches released has done nothing to fix the problem and people wonder why the PC market is dying. I spent $60 on a game that now is no more than a book shelf piece.
 
I would say the problem with the PC gaming community is the developers.  I have bought very few PC games due to being burned by my purchases. Dont know if anyone remembers Iron Storm but that was another buggy game when released. The PC gaming industry very rarely releases new games, and I believe took there market for granted.  Now they develop games that have been beaten to death, Unreal, Quake, Half Life Episodes.  Seriously these are not new games but prettier rehashes of games that have been released.  I have turned to the mod community of games because there is damn good support for most mods and developers actually listen to what most players would like fixed or changed in games.  I do not steal games and do not mind paying for good games. However when I get burned by buying a **** game its hard for me to justifiy not just pirating the copy to see if the damn thing will run.  Him having no answers for GOW for PC is even more aggravating to me and shows the lack of care for PC Gamers that has been prevalent since 360 and PS3 were released.  
 
Developers need to develop better games and put some thought process into new titles.  I was completely excited about buying GOW even though it was not a new title and now it has turned me away from buying new PC titles period.  Epic will now be black balled by me because of the lack of support for the PC market they themselves express.

 
Bummer man that yours does not work. Does that automatically make it Epic's fault? I read a bunch of the posts there and it looks like alot of ppl ignored the list of issues w/ fixes on the starting post... others are just repeating (seemingly) the same issue. It is so similar with ANY software issue, ppl just don't understand that w/ all the possible configurations of a PC you can probably find one that was not tested. Not defending Epic on this, just saying that mine worked fine and I thought the experience was better than on a 360.
 

 
k, the fact that you have bought fewer games is the same thing I was saying... as for the games you listed, you just listed some of the more solid offerings. Relatively bug-free and fun to play. Sure, not "new"... but fun still. Like movie sequels, they sell b/c ppl recognize it and know what to expect. I am all for original games and love them, but original does not always sell well. (psyconauts anyone?) So in order to make money (to survive) you must make something that DOES sell, and until ppl are willing to risk the purchase it is prb gonna be sequels. Also, you seem to be implying that there are no bad games on the console. tbh, I think there are MORE crap games there as more devs are making for it... but that may just be me.
 

 
good for u, lots of good mods out there...  
 

 
Just b/c one dev makes a crap game or you get burned by buying one (or more) does not justify piracy IMO. As for "lack of care"... I personally don't think so. Granted, I have been wrong before. I just don't think it has anything to do w/ the 360 or the ps3. When the first xbox came out or even the first ps we had similar trends where the hardware resulted in similar looks to PC games and so many said "why go to PC?"... currently however the ease of piracy and the crap level of many games on all platforms is more the contributor than. This includes games that reviewers gush over but are really junk IMO. THAT is the really cause. Thus you must vote w/ your money. Don't pirate, but only buy good ones. If it sucks, take it back and fight. If the game does not work, fight for the return.
 
Honestly, we are the customers. WE pay THEIR salaries. If I bought a game that did not work I would take it back and fight for a return. The last time that happened to me was with Aquanox when it came out. Boy that game sucked. Tried to play it and was so pissed I took it back. Fought hard for that and they took it back. If enough games are returned or not bought (with NO piracy!!) they will get the message... lol.
 

 
Again, bummer that it did not work for you. Honestly though, you should not take it in the shorts and just "black ball" Epic. If it doesn't work, you were sold a faulty product and should get your money back. period. Saying all PC games suck b/c of one game that might be crashing on an "off-broadway" software app running on your system conflicting with it is a bit much though. That is like saying that you went to see Citizen Kane in the theater but the projector broke so now you will never see another movie b/c all the other movies are like "daddy day camp"... and you got screwed...
 
...uhh, get a refund and find a theater that has a working projector... and then still only see Citizen Kane...
 
my 2 bits man
 
rock on.