Topic: Tommy Tallarico: New (not really) Target of the Nintendo Fans

[ruby_onix]

Tommy Tallarico is back in the news again, if you're a Nintendo fan.

In case you don't know, he's apparently never been much of a Nintendo fan, and co-hosts The Electric Playground videogame TV show, along with a former (N64-era) Nintendo fan, Victor Lucas. They earned some infamy a while back by being the only two reporters in the videogame industry to give SSBM a 2 (from Tommy) and a 3 (from Vic) out of 10 (IIRC).

Anyways, apparently in the latest episode of his other TV show, he gave Nintendo's E3 booth this year a "5.5 out of 10", saying that it was "barely above average", and that's a generous score, since he seriously judged it on it's own merits, and if he had actually compared it to the other "great shows" of E3, it would've scored even lower than that.

Also just recently, a particularly ugly video interview with Tommy from E3 has surfaced, in which he rants about how Nintendo fanboys are the worst part of the entire videogame industry (and he honestly has no clue that there's such a thing as an XBox fanboy, seriously), and how he wishes they would all just shut up and stop trying tell people like him what they think of things when he says that Nintendo sucks.

After some dissent popped up in his own show's forums he went on a bit of a rant about how he's allowed to have his own opinion, and that he thinks that all the other reporters out there think like he does too, but they just say what Nintendo fans want to hear, to avoid their wrath, and he's the only one with the balls to speak the truth about Nintendo. And that he must be right, because the PS2's sales numbers back him up.


Personally, I consider myself a fan of The Electric Playground (I haven't seen his other show), and usually don't mind Tommy or his (often absurd) opinions, but sometimes he just seems like an %#&@. So yeah, I guess I'm doing a bit of muckraking by pointing this out. I guess I like it that his position as "enemy of the Nintendo fans" is getting solidified. Because that'll make it all the more entertaining, watching him eat his words when the numbers back Nintendo up instead of Sony. Have some rope Tommy! All the rope you want!

[Ocarina Blue]

Bleh. The videogame media is largely screwed, bar from one or two websites like PCG and Penny-Arcade. I'm being serious here: bar their humour oriented content, GameSpy and IGN are rubbish; nothing more than adverisements... and yet they're so popular! Most of the others are just ametuer wesites - not that that makes them automatically bad, just that they lack the quality/quantity of content provided by professional sites.

These guys claim to base a show on personal opinions only, which is okay in my book I guess. He does, however, seem to think that he can use this to stand up to any criticism what so ever towards his work. If all this latent support for his view exists, as he so claims, where the hell is it? The only thing wrong here is how his crappy journalism gets any respect. Even the guy at GameSpy made an attempt to justify his rating of Nintendo's booth. His seeming paranoia, conspiracy theories and inability to come to a logical conclusion when faced with lucid evidence indicate symptoms of schizophrenia.

Nintendo gave the all-out this year, I couldn't think of two titles that Nintendo could display that would capture the 'mainstream' audience more than RE4 and a 'mature' Zelda.  

[The Omen]

Well, i've actually met TT, and let me tell you, he is a blowhard, plain and simple.  He is the biggest pompous ass I've ever met.  He had the gall to use the "You don't know who I am?" BS on a bouncer down here in Florida a few years back because they wouldn't let him in with no shoes on.  He does in fact have a huge bias against Nintendo.  One of the reasons?  He got his start on the Sega Genesis.(Or, at least his first major work).  He's been spouting off on Nintendo since back then.  He came to my school a few years ago, and from all accounts, he basically was blowing MS the whole lecture.  And I use Lecture loosely.  It was more propaganda for the upcoming Xbox than anything else that may prove to be insightful to people who are going into the industry.   That is where part if my disdain for the Xbox comes from, admittedly.  He actually said "Fable is the best RPG ever " months before the Xbox was launched.  How insightful.

I have a few other horror stories about Mr. Tallarico from my teachers here, but I think you get the point.  I despise him.  More for being pompous than anything else.

[Ian Sane]

I've never quite understood why some members of the media have such a hatred for Nintendo.  What the hell has Nintendo ever done to earn this hatred?  I can understand hatred for MS because they have a bad reputation for monopolising tactics in the PC industry.  I can understand hatred for Sony because they introduced casual gamers to the industry which upsets some hardcore gamers.  But Nintendo?  The only negative thing they're known for is their past treatment with third parties which doesn't really affect us gamers at all.  In fact the NES was a better console to own because of those policies.

It's like because the N64 didn't live up the success of the SNES suddenly Nintendo was blacklisted like sticking with cartridges was some horrible sin that can't be forgiven.  How often do you see people say stupid sh!t like "Nintendo screwed me because I bought an N64 and had like no games and it was a total ripoff"?  Maybe next time you should do some f*cking market research before buying a console.  The fact that they make games that are suitable for all ages gets a lot of flack too as if all games must be dark and only suitable for adults.  If you're a "professional" that sort of thing is not supposed to affect your opinion.  Imagine how stupid it would be if Roger Ebert bashed Finding Nemo because it was a kid's movie.

[The Omen]

Ian Sane, once again words of wisdom.  If only I let the real cat out of the bag about T.T.  But it is funny that the copmopany that gave you the oppurtunity to even play video games at home is now the enemy.  Its this kind of mentality that brings out fanboys from all sides.  Perhaps thats the way the competitors want it?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Lock this guy in a room with Reggie.

Reggie's ass-kick-of-justice will have a field day.

[Mario]

Not only did he give SSBM 2/10, i think he gave Animal Crossing a similar score, and i can bet he had lots of nice things to say about it's graphics.

Attention whore.  

[vudu]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I've never quite understood why some members of the media have such a hatred for Nintendo.  What the hell has Nintendo ever done to earn this hatred?  I can understand hatred for MS because they have a bad reputation for monopolising tactics in the PC industry.

by the same token, doesn't nintendo have a bad reputation for monopolising tactics in the handheld industry?  or even in the console industry back in the days of the NES?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I don't think us happy gaming customers were greatly affected by those tactics in the NES days.  If anything, we got a lot of awesome games back then, and I can't see the bad in that.

[Ian Sane]

"by the same token, doesn't nintendo have a bad reputation for monopolising tactics in the handheld industry?"

Nintendo's handheld "monopoly" was created because the Gameboy was a high quality system that had long battery life and one of the greatest system sellers of all time in Pokemon.  It also had the advantage that none of the competition "got" how to do a handheld right and as a result nothing really sold well enough to provide a serious challenge.  Therefore the portable monopoly Nintendo has is well earned and wasn't obtained by shady business tactics.  Nintendo has to my knowledge not done anything to prevent competition in the portable industry.

[KDR_11k]

MS somehow got their way to the top with popularity, as well.

[Infernal Monkey]

When I saw the title of this thread, I was all 'What's the dude who composed Earthworm Jim's music doin' this side of town?'. Then I noticed their names are pretty different. Then I was all 'Who's this tosser?', and I read the thread, and I was all 'No way, girlfriend, this guy gave SSB: M a 2/10?'

I'll put this Tommy Rugrats guy on the ignore list in my head, then. THERE'S NO WAY SMASH BROS. CAN BE SCORED WORSE THAN ASTEROIDS HYPER 64 OR SOUTH PARK RALLY. IT DOESN'T COMPUTER.

[Deguello]

I seem to remember that way back when... Tallarico said something about helping out with Metroid Prime's music.  Now I looked for his name in the credits of this wonderful game...  He's nowhere.  And I also think something about Metroid Prime's music all being done by some guys in NCL.  However on his G4tv profile he still says he made it, or at least some of it.

With these facts, I believe it is quite easy to figure out Tommy's hatred for Nintendo.

A hypothetical situation, if you will.

Tommy sent some music to Retro+Nintendo.  They, upon listen to his material, realize he is quite mediocre, and send him a "thanks, but no thanks" style response, possibly at the same time they discovered that it would be cheaper to just make it themselves.  Tommy, feeling slighted that somebody didn't require the services of such a revolutionary video game icon, decides to do what mediocre men do when slighted.  That is, rag on them any chance they get to get some kind of retalliation.

Unfortunately for Tommy Tallarico, the only person who takes Tommy Tallarico seriously is Tommy Tallarico.

Is he a new target?  I am actually glad he might be.  Used to be the targets for Nintendo Fans were game execs and producers who spouted stupid crap to cover their own asses about things.  It's would be refreshing that the new target be a man who overestimates himself and his contribution to the industry he ostensibly knows all about when he asserts to unsuspecting (I'd also wager uncaring) people that he is, in fact, Tommy Tallarico.  

[The Omen]

Now that was one enjoyable read!

Seems to me that he's had a negative feeling towards Nintendo since the early 90's though, when he first started on the competing console.  At least I seem to recall something happening.  Either way you look at it, T.T. thinks hes a big fish, and hes not.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Reggie Vs. Tommy, in a no-holds-barred Xtreme ultimate fighting matchup.

It almost sounds like a Rugrats episode.

[King of Twitch]

"I've been in this industry MAKING games for over 12 years! I've worked on over 200 titles including games like... Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Spider-Man, Bond, Time Crisis, Unreal, Blitz, Pac-Man, Twisted Metal, Test Drive, Knockout Kings, Maximo, WWF, Munch's Oddysee, Earthworm Jim, Mortal Kombat, Aladdin... Convinced yet?? Cause I could keep going. I think I know what it takes to make a great game"

"YOU NINTENDO FANBOYS ARE ON CRACK!!!!"

"BUT DON'T YOU DARE try to tell me that my opinions and tastes are wrong... especially when the worldwide numbers back up how I personally think."

etc etc

The Reg will set you free

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Making games and playing them are different things.

[Ian Sane]

"I've been in this industry MAKING games for over 12 years!"

Wait, isn't this guy a COMPOSER?  What the hell does that have to do with the actual process of MAKING a game?  Elton John wrote songs for the Lion King but that doesn't mean he knows anything about making movies.

[Syl]

oh my god, that thread you linked me too almost made me sick.

/me goes and runs back to ocremix forums.

[Infernal Monkey]

Oh, so this is the same guy that did the Earthworm Jim music? .... ;_;

"What happened to you Tommy, you used to be cool"

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Tommy needs to attend anger management classes....

[King of Twitch]

MORE LIKE CAPS LOCK MANAGEMENT m i right

[Oldskool]

Go sleep with your lovely Xbox and PS2 friends, Tommy! Your "mature" friends!

[GoldShadow1]

Ignore G4.  Aside from one very good show (Icons) it's pure crap.  Tommy and Victor rate games much like the random people on GameFAQ's, handing out both ten's and two's with no discretion whatsoever, and having little justification of the score.

[Deguello]

Also screwed up about Tommy Tallarico reviewing games is the fact that he doesn't seem to realize the conflict of interest therein.  If he or his company worked on "X" game, would he not benefit from a positive review of a game he worked on?  Even if he says he's honest and whatnot, the possibility for abuse is still present, and as such all of his reviews should really be meaningless.

Well after  Earthworm Jim I believe he used 2 minutes, and by ignorantly attacking fans (professionalism is overrated) with words and "opinions" created with inflammatory intent and base purpose, he used up another 3 minutes.

I wonder how he'll spend the next 10.