PixlBit

I just bought Fez. If I had known about that tweet I probably wouldn't have. What an ass. I saw Indie Game The Movie and kinda know what he went through while making Fez. At one point it looked he was gonna kill himself over that damn game. So it doesn't really surprise me that he decided to quit. Nice tags on your article lol.

Yeah... Look. Don't judge Fez based off this. Don't even judge Phil based off this. I mean he could be going through some shit right now we don't know about. We can judge his actions though. Also, Fez is a phenomenal game and it's damn near perfect imo. You need to play it asap! I felt like I was going to cry just because of how beautiful it all was, the music, the art, the exploration - the game is a work of art and you owe it to yourself to play it!

I still kind of wonder if this is some publicity stunt for Fez 2 that's building off of Fish's reputation for being an arrogant asshole.

I can't say it is. I sort of get Phil. I'm judging his actions here, but I suffer with depression and I do the same thing all the time. I don't react in the way he does, but I take the tiniest things to heart and let them dwell until they get too much. I kind of think that's what's happening here, and I also think eventually he'll get out of this rut, apologise, and realise how harshly he acted. 

I can understand about depression, but one of the things you have to deal with if you're selling yourself in public is that the world isn't always a nice place, and you have to be somewhat thick-skinned. Trust me when I say that from experience. And Fish didn't do himself any favors with his public behavior. Nobody's stopping him from having his opinions, but he's got to be able to take it as well as dish it out. When you're combative on a public forum like Twitter, you're going to have plenty of people to take up that gauntlet you've thrown down.

Yeah man I agree. That's exactly what I said in my article. He gives it out all the time, and now he's getting a taste of his own medicine and he quits? His response was disgraceful, telling someone to kill themselves, he should be ashamed of himself. I was just looking at both sides of the coin is all.

Phil Fish is a hipster bitch.. Fuck 'im

My thoughts exactly lol.

yeah, I don't like Fish very much, and I even haven't played Fez, because I think he is too much of an asshole.  I know we shouldn't judge art by it creators -- for instance, I love Wagner's music, but he was a misogynistic, anti-semitic asshole.  But for one reason or the other, Fish really pissed me off. 

But I still think the other guy was an unprofessional ass, and makes game journalists ( like I guess I sort of am now) look bad.  Would a real reporter act like that because Obama refused an interview?  MAybe off the record, but never on the record. 

I think it's just a horrible situation of two unprofessional immature assholes clashing on twitter. 

And I know, I should play Fez, but I have such a hard time separating Fish from the game.  I just don't like that guy. 

 Play Fez. I've never liked Phil, but Fez is something you need to experience. I just feel happy when I play that game.

 Also, this was said in a podcast. It's not from a massive website, it wasn't in publication, and it wasn't in one of Marcus' videos. He wasn't that mean realistically. He said he was a hipster and that he shouldn't be mean to journalists who are the reason he actually has a job to begin with. That's it.

 Also, can I point out that PHIL SAYS THIS SHIT ALL THE FUCKING TIME! A taste of his own medicine and he responds like this? Phil says cruel shit about other game developers and journalists, so why can't they about him?

that thing he said about Japanese developers was the worst!  What an ass!

I actually didn't like Fez. This kind of junk actually makes me happy I didn't like it.

To each his own. I think it was more the music I loved, and the exploration... but mainly the music. Damn that game had a good soundtrack. Almost as good as Thomas Was Alone.

You know, I don't dislike Phil Fish. I'm not sure he's the kind of guy I could hang out with, but I can see why he is the way he is. I think he's got a lot going on in his head and quite frankly, I think he's a bit unstable. It could've just been the editing, but Indie Game: The Movie really showcased a man that was unsure of himself, his creation, and in some ways, his reason for living.

I think his constant bullshit spouting is a defense mechanism and I also think he uses it as a tool. Like I said, I don't see someone with confidence there and I think in his mind if he diverts attention to himself and away from his game, people won't see all of the "flaws" that he can see. Just a theory, but I think it makes some sense.

Also (last point, I swear), I think this latest stunt is a means for him to work on Fez II in peace and outside of the eye of the media. He can avoid talking about it (because it's not in production ) and the upcoming consoles (because he's not developing games anymore ).

Yeah I mentioned that in my follow up article (which is going up tomorrow). I think he suffers with depression from the sounds of it. However, that is no excuse to tell a specific individual to kill themselves. I mean what was said was so fucking small too. He was called a hipster and told not to bite the hand that feeds, essentially, and he acted like a three year old.

Agreed. I'm not really condoning his behavior, I just think I understand why, and as a result I'm giving him more of a pass than others are. I also hate most of the game media and I think they act like a bunch of entitled cocks, so part of the pass I'm giving Phil is due to my general hatred of "game journalists."

I very much agree with your point, but I do wonder how much attention he was really getting from game journalists beyond when he put himself out there. I think this stunt really shows a lot of insecurity. I'm no doctor, but I play one from my couch and there are hints towards being bipolar with the way he treats people at different times. Although if he really wanted to not get bugged by the media then publicly making a pitty party may not be the best way.

 I'd argue more depression than bipolar. He seems to take small things to heart and perceive them as larger than they actually are, and a direct attack on him. 

I'm just thinking of the extremes he is clearly going through. I've seen that in bipolar folks I know. Again, couch doctor so grain of salt with my comments.

If he actually cancled Fez II, I think that he is an idiot.  I do not pay too much attention to Mr. Fish, but from what I can tell, he sounds like an ass.  

First off, nice article; I finished reading it on plus10. Second, I don't like this guy. Mostly because I know someone exactly like this, and I've called him out before...and he starts whining and gets veeeeeery defensive and mean. He's mean to me constantly, and as a result, I'm just not very fond of him.

Nick makes a good point though, which I hadn't considered previously. And, I understand the need for privacy, but no need to be an ass. 

I'm still going to play Fez, because I've heard nothing but good things about it, but I'll have to pretend its someone else's game.

Also! The picture of the tweet you had on the full article where he said "compare your life to mine and kill yourself"? Too far. 

 Telling Marcus to kill himself was when I actually got annoyed. Before I thought it was a little on the pathetic side, but a grown man telling someone to kill themselves in an argument this significant? It's ridiculous. 

 The biggest problem with Phil in this issue is that he says stuff like this ALL THE TIME! In fact, he says far worse things than what Marcus said about him. He's called every modern japanese developer untalented, he's been known to belittle other peoples work, and he's quite arrogant and obnoxious. The difference between him and Marcus is that Marcus is putting on a personality for entertainment, he curates what he says and he pushes just far enough to get a response but not far enough to (usually) hurt anyone. Phil Fish is Phil Fish. He says these nasty things because that's the way he thinks. That is really sad.

 I'm glad you're still going to play Fez. I mean, if we judged art by it's creators, we'd have a lot less of it. Elvis and Charlie Chaplin were pedophiles, so hey, Phil Fish is nothing comparitively speaking. And fez... Fez makes me feel happy when I play it. I think it's a beautiful work of art that came from a broken man, as Nick said. I had thought of it before actually, as my discussion with San Andreas lead me to that opinion.

 Also, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

I played Fez. Didn't like it. Didn't strike me as being a very good game, or even much of a game at all, really. Doesn't mean that I think that folks who do like it are wrong or anything, it just wasn't my cup 'o joe is all.

As for Fish, I feel like if someone spends nearly all of his time in the public eye acting like a prick, he needs to steel himself against the blowback he'll invariably receive for doing it. He can't waltz around acting like a dick and tactlessly express his opinions like a socially-inept child and expect that folks won't react to it. Of course they will! Even folks with no great personal investment in whatever he's said will line up to put him in his place for saying it, because that's what people do to assholes!

Now I'm not saying that two wrongs make a right, but that you get out of this world what you put into it. If you go through life acting like an asshole, you're going to be treated like one. It sucks, but if we didn't have a system of checks and balances in place to keep assholes in line, we'd all be worse off for it.

As a semi-related aside, I'm really absolutely disgusted by the handful of journalists who have tried to make a martyr out of Fish. People didn't just decide to start picking on him. He had a hand in that. Yeah, some of us could stand to grow up, but so could Fish.

Exactly. He said he quit because of "all of the abuse, not just this guy." Gee, I wonder why you're abused?

 I loved Fez. It's just about exploration early in the game but after a few hours it becomes one of the hardest puzzle games I've ever played. Serious brain power is needed to complete that game!

Which is probably why I don't like it. I mean, if brains were dynamite, I wouldn't have enough to blow my nose! :D

Dang you with your bait-n-hook journalistic practices, cowman! Only giving me half an article and then wanting me to click for more! You cad! 

Sorry man, gotta get views somehow :p

I don't know Phil Fish, I don't know what makes him tick, not sure of his stance on sensitive political issues or what his favourite pasta dish is...... but I know that he harbors some serious eye brows, look at them! they even make those thick rim glasses look insignificant.

I agree, his eyebrows are thick.