Meet the game makers

Ever wonder what the people who make games look and sound like? What they actually think about video games? What they think about anything? You've probably seen a thousand interviews with movie and TV directors and writers, music producers, actors and singers -- but how many real interviews and profiles have you seen of game creators?

I know I haven't seen very many. Certainly video game magazines never run the kinds of profiles and interviews that New Yorker or Vanity Fair or Entertainment Weekly or Rolling Stone do.

All of which makes this video on MTV Overdrive that much more interesting. (Hat tip: Kotaku) MTV's Gideon Yago, who's slightly less of a tool than a lot of MTV personalities, sat down with Will Wright (creator of SimCity/The Sims/Spore), Harvey Smith (Deus Ex), David Jaffe (God of War) and CliffyB (Unreal, Gears of War) at E3 for a very intelligent roundtable discussion. There's enough packed into the six segments for a month's worth of postings and essays. But if you have any interest in the larger issues about games or in the people who make them, check out the video. The guys are funny, thoughtful and, well, normal. Because I'm so used to the PR-driven celebrity profile and the well-coached, don't-reveal-too-much interview, their forthrightness and total lack of pretension and guardedness is refreshing. Good stuff.