EA Removes Blog Post Containing Negative Gears of War Comments
In response to a huge influx of attention on the net, Electronic Arts has taken down a blog post in which Chuck Beaver, Story Producer for Dead Space, hurled some negative comments towards the Gears of War series. The entire post has been removed, and the comments along with it. Beaver’s throes within the post, however, stuck out enough for people to notice.
In an interview for the “Breaking Into The Industry” series that’s run by EA, Beaver made claims that the Gears series “contains atrocious, offensive violations of story basics. Yet it doesn’t seem to ruin it for many, many people. It’s literally the worst writing in games, but seems to have no ill effects.” The bullets fired from his gun made an upsetting splash within the community, and plenty of fans were distraught.
Beaver has made comments on writing before this situation, speaking to IGN back in January. Now I’m both a fan of Dead Space and Gears of War, and generally don’t see a problem with the story/writing in either. EA has taken down the original article, though Beaver has made an official response statement about his comments:
“I just wanted to jump in and clarify some of my comments that were taken out of context about Gears of War. First, let me say that I’m a huge fan. It is an epic franchise that has trail-blazed more than a few industry-leading player experiences and mechanics. It is deservedly recognized as a top-tier title. Its success as a property is evidenced by its giant sales and rabid fan base. The industry is far better for Epic’s contributions, and we all owe a great deal of inspiration to their work.”
Though this seems to me as a response in attempts to rinse salt from the wound, at least it’s something. We’d still like to know why the original post was removed, and EA has yet to respond. This brings a question to my mind, though, and I wonder what the community thinks about the story in the Gears series. Is it as bad as Beaver makes it out to be?
