I know some of you are thinking, “Isn’t this piece sort of late?” Actually, no. Just recently, website VentureBeat made Dean Takahashi’s Doom: Eternal gameplay private, essentially “wiping” the footage off the web. However, this further underlines the obvious truth regarding Takahashi and developers that work with him when he can’t even get through a Cuphead or Doom: Eternal level.
In case you are unaware of Takahashi, he’s a writer for VentureBeat and a supposed “gamer.” Nevertheless, like any other SJW out in the wild, he advocates for censorship and can’t play video games even if his life were to depend on it.
With that said, here’s his first blunder that put him on everyone’s radar, which took place on August 24th, 2017:
Despite spawning many memes, Takahashi would continue walking around without honing his skills and technique as a gamer while representing VentureBeat as the lead writer.
And while being a clueless gamer, Takahashi somehow managed to get invited to Activision’s private showing of last year’s Call of Duty, which goes by the familiar moniker of “Modern Warfare.”
Here’s an excerpt from his write-up on what he had to say about one of the “controversial” missions in Activision and Infinity Ward’s chart-topping behemoth when he was at the closed viewing:
“My reaction is not that the developers should censor themselves or someone else should censor them. My question is about choices. We can make this kind of game, but should we? But should this kind of content, which we can see in movies or books, be in a video game? Should they be depicted in a form of art where we have so much agency? It’s going to be a Mature-rated game that kids shouldn’t play, but I had a conversation with an Uber driver who told me he lets his 6-year-old play Call of Duty.”
When a user called Takahashi out on his drivel, the lead writer at VentureBeat had this to say:
I am not a book burner. Or a game burner. In 30 years of writing about games, I have never said something like this. I am raising the question for this one. And I am saying they should drop these scenes. I am flagging this for parents to be aware of another “No Russian.”
— Dean Takahashi (@deantak) May 30, 2019
Exposing that he’s not concerned about the purpose of an age rating or how a game functions on the gameplay spectrum, the conversation between the user and Takahashi reveals that the latter is more concerned about politics and censorship than anything — much like any other SJW.
Fast forward by a year, and Takahashi still can’t clear a single level without embarrassing himself, or for that matter, anyone watching. We see this manifest in id Software and Bethesda Softworks’ Doom: Eternal gameplay as archived by YouTuber ACE1918:
So this begs the question, why do developers like Techland pay any attention to someone like Takahashi when he adds nothing to the gameplay conversation?
Not too long ago, we reported on Techland’s Tymon Smektała sending VentureBeat a letter after the website’s article on diversity and the lack thereof in Dying Light 2 went up. Smektała’s response regarding the studio being diverse sits below:
“As you [VentureBeat] pointed out in your article, Poland is a very homogeneous society in general. However, this in no way affects our perception of the rest of the world. The Techland team consists of people from all around the world – we have devs from the US, Mexico, Italy, France, Brazil and Russia, amongst others. They all bring something to the table when it comes to diversity and experience.
We can assure you that Dying Light 2’s main protagonist will not simply be a “white guy in Europe” – we will have more to reveal regarding character customization as well as the overall story in the months ahead, so stay tuned! On top of that, the world of Dying Light 2, has been created with Chris Avellone, one of the top narrative game designers of our time, who is known for creating very diverse worlds and complex, unique characters.”
Smektała also added:
“In the final version of the game, players will definitely see people of different ethnic backgrounds, religions, members of LGBTQ community represented. At Techland we find it very important to be inclusive, and we find diversity important and necessary.”
Lastly, for those of you thinking, “Well, what does this all mean?” It means that if you see a company kowtowing to something on the line of the above, know that that company likely promotes stuff like Takahashi’s Doom: Eternal gameplay, which in turn underlines the obvious truth about said developer and the like.
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