So occasionally David Jaffe will stream from his PS4. I'm not sure many people know about it, but follow his Twitter and you'll know when he goes live. Anyway, he was playing/streaming Towerfall with his kids earlier and he only had about 10 viewers besides me so he was able to talk a bit more intimately with everyone. We started discussing his new game and how it seems people were dead set on not liking it no matter how it was eventually revealed or how good it ended up being.

I brought up that I was unaware he did ghost investigations until I heard about it on the Bombcast. He kind of laughed and then mentioned that he had no problems with the guys on the Bombcast but he never really felt like Jeff ever liked him and that most people at Giant Bomb (staff wise) never really seemed to ever say much nice about him. I said that I felt that several of the guys could largely come off as extremely jaded at times, especially given some of the stuff they rave about, and he agreed. He only had great things to say about Ryan and said they had pleasurable interactions in the past.

Was an interesting conversation. Jaffe has always interested me because of how honest he is. I never really got the flack he received from many people, especially with how slavish people are to rush to the defense of certain genuinely toxic people in the industry.

He did say he loved many of the IGN podcasts and I had to agree with him. Just an interesting interaction I thought I'd share. His kids were cute, hyperactive, and everything else kids can be. He seems like a great dad and a guy I'd generally like to hang with and chat about anything. I can't always say that about anyone I see in the public eye.

He also really likes Velocity 2X and I agree that it is a great game.

I have no problems with David Jaffe as a person, I just find the style of his games incredibly abrasive.

His games aren't really my cup of tea, but good to hear that their are no super harsh feelings between them.

@naoiko: He felt more bummed about the stuff he's heard from the staff than anything else. He could have went full Phil Fish and totally did not, which I respected. I did feel like he felt like some people went out of their way to be overtly harsh in their criticisms of him. Honestly, looking at how fond people are of things like Doom (and similar games) it does feel out of place for people to rag on him for certain things.

David Jaffe is one of the best and most interesting guests when GB do their E3 podcasts, I hope he's still willing to come on a drop some truth bombs, even If he isn't the best friends with the crew.

Jaffe never seemed like a guy who was out to make friends and that's probably why I really like him.

Edit: I think the biggest problem with the reveal wasn't actually the game itself, but that Sony chose to it to end the conference like it was some kind of "mega bomb". I think the looks fun, but an arena shooter just isn't a game you end a conferrence on. It was kind of weird, because Sony got kinda the same reception from the press acouple of years ago, when they ended a E3 conference with Twisted Metal ps3 (with an ice cream truck and Sweet Tooth on stage!)

That's kind of what I expected the relationship to be like, but Jaffe has always seemed like the kind of dude who can brush things off very easily. I know that there are some people who say he swears too much, or that his games are too angsty or whatever, but it always seems to me like he's just a super-genuine dude who does what he loves. I mean, he talks candidly and is all-in on every project he's involved with. He's one of the few people, along with our own Jeff Gerstmann and Hello Games' Sean Murray, who I really enjoy listening to when they talk at other people.

I love Jaffe. I really liked the new Twisted Metal actually but Sony left it out to die. Maybe I don't know the full story but I was following every update seeing when the multiplayer would be patched and fixed and it just seemed like they'd submit patches and hear nothing for days and days and days. It was a bummer because I played it a ton but the community kept dwindling because not everyone could play and it was a chore to get into a game if you could.

@spraynardtatum: yeah, Sony seemed to be doing that a lot with many of the games in that time of the PS3's life. I heard that Playstation All Stars was the same (minus being great). TM should have been much better but it didn't feel like Sony put much weight behind it for whatever reason.

Completely. It was so weird because Twisted Metal used to be THE Playstation franchise. They moved on I guess. Anyways, that was around the time when I started hearing about David Jaffe, I think he showed up on a gamefaqs message board that I was on. He was answering peoples questions and I thought that was pretty cool of him to get so involved. It was evident that he loved what he did and cared about what he did.

@spraynardtatum: Yeah, he's one of the few truly open and honest devs about every facet of the process. Honestly, my favorite game of his is Calling All Cars. Was one of the early downloadable games for the PS3 that my friends and I had tons of fun playing together. I wish the online community didn't die out as fast as it did, but oh well.

@sammo21: That's the trouble with online games. They're dependent on an online community sticking around. I never played Calling All Cars but I remember hearing about it. I don't think I had a PS3 when it came out. I really want a good new car battle game though. I think a Twisted Metal on PS4 sounds incredible! Honestly....and I can't believe I'm saying this....but I'd play a F2P Twisted Metal game. I almost think that F2P is kind of a good fit for a game like that. Or the worst fit. It could go sour really easily like with anything that is F2P.

David Jaffe is awesome. He's always seemed to me like a deep-down sensitive soul. I appreciate that he always puts his heart into the games he makes, even if they're not perfect.

As much as i love GB, they really did slam Jaffe a bit too harshly....

....but Jaffe also made a tease video telling some members of the giantbomb community to go fuck themselves (it was a joke i know and the video is now private, but still a bit tasteless )

so i can see why people can hate him, but he's still one of my favorites in the industry.

David Jaffe is the realest game developer out there. I have immense respect for him.

God of War is one of the greatest games ever made and, so outside of being a serious criminal, jaffe can be an asshole and ill still respect him for that game

Jaffe's great, that's really all I got.

I like Jaffe but I don't think he's made good game's in a while, to be honest.

Jaffe has done solid work, and he was always a fantastic guest, I just don't think his newest game looks very good.

I always feel bad when people rag on him, because he does seem like a good person. Granted, he invites a lot of it by sticking his foot in his mouth, but still. I feel like he exemplifies the reality that games are made by Real Actual People, and all the strengths and weaknesses that implies.

Glad you had a good interaction with him, OP, I really liked that Top Games list he did a while back when his daughter came in the room and he just hung out with her on camera for a bit. Heartwarming stuff! If you pop in to read this Jaffe, I love you and I'm sorry I didn't play Twisted Metal.

I think he is dope.

Thanks for sharing this. I hope Jaffe knows there's an audience for him here, regardless of his thoughts on the staff and their perceptions of him. No matter my feeling on his games, I like the guy and appreciate his existence in the video game world. He doesn't seem afraid to fight for what he's passionate about. That's a great quality that GB and him both share.

I might not be as active now in gaming without Twisted Metal 1 & 2. Those were two games that had 100s of hours spent into them, as a young teen and with my brother. We never really got along too well back then. Both those Twisted Metals helped strengthen our relationship. Of course, they were also masterpieces of fun and carnage.

Doubt we'll see a Top 10 list on the site from David this year on GB :( . We didn't have one last year unfortunately. I always enjoyed those.

Jaffe's an irrelevant turd and Ryan was capable of being nice to almost anybody. I've listened to him be a stubborn old fart too many times to care what he thinks of Giant Bomb. I'm glad to know Jeff was always reserved with him because GB's affiliation with Jaffe always rubbed me the wrong way.

Jaffe is fine, but he just hasn't had much to offer game wise in quite a long time. If you look at Drawn to Death it seems to be headed down the same road as Calling all Cars and the Twisted Metal reboot. Both were decent, but extremely limited games. I just don't see a 4 player mulitplayer shooter based game being a huge draw in the era where shooters are delivering these massive battlefields. Maybe it will be great. Who knows? It certainly didn't help that it went on last during an event with so many really impressive looking titles.

The sooner people figure out that it's okay for people not to like everyone all the time, and to occasionally say cynical things about anything (even with a "PRE-ALPHA" tag attached to it), the better. Jaffe seems to have figured it out, and I don't think he needs anyone to come running to his defense (I am not saying the OP is doing that - this is a nice story you have shared and I thank you for it).

I personally find Jaffe's demeanor a bit grating, and that's OK. I don't mind saying it - I am not throwing insults at him and am just stating an opinion; and I am sure as sure can be that Jaffe does not give a shit about how I feel about his demeanor. You can't please everybody.

Whenever I see the kind of game he makes when he has full creative control I'm more convinced his rare successes were flukes mostly spurred by the talent of the rest of the team.

I don't know what Jaffe sees in these multiplayer games of his. Maybe if you were to make it free-to-play, then it would have some legs, but right now I don't see Drawn to Death bringing in the audience it needs.

Anyway, I think Jaffe is an alright dude. Abrasive at times, but he's hardly the only one to be like that at times.

Interesting story, thanks for sharing duder.

Jaffe largely seems like a smart, interesting guy, and Twisted Metal is an incredibly important series to me. That said the Drawn To Death footage didn't look very good, and much of the criticism brought against it has been fair. I don't believe the criticism (specifically on GB) serves as any reflection of how people feel about him on a personal level, and I trust that he would understand that it's solely got to do with the work. I think it's perfectly possible DtD ends up a fantastic game, and I hope it gets there.

Thanks for posting this, it's really nice to hear how matter-of-fact and mature he is about the whole thing.

A pleasantly 'feel good' story that could've been pretty depressing under different circumstances.

I don't have a problem with Jaffe but he can be obnoxious and abrasive at times so I can see why some people wouldn't like him. I would interested to see what a lot of people who like Jaffe have to say about Phil Fish because I think there's a definite double standard there.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, I don't think he's made a good game in a long time.

I have no attachment to his games since I always was a PC guy, so I never really played anything he was involved with. That said: I think he is a cool guy and I like that he (seemingly) says what he thinks.

When it comes to his new game: I am sure he is smart enough to know that some MP arena shooter (no matter the artstyle) wouldn't exactly set the world on fire. I feel like there is something he is not telling us yet about that game. And the crew ... yeah ... Jaded is sort of their default position and has been for quite a while now. Thats why I miss Vinny on the Bombcast. He was the one that seemed to be at least willing to give anything a chance. If he ended up not liking something I could be sure that there is probably something wrong with that game/thing.

That is why it is good to take a step back from the world every now and then and reflect on your choices. He's a game developer, and sadly that means a lot of people feel justified in their criticisms solely based off that. If it stopped there, that would be okay, but people tend to take an intimate approach with their criticisms, and they end up coming off extremely offensive/abrasive.

Good to hear he doesn't take the crew too seriously. I think we tend to take for granted what people like David Jaffe go through, and even though it "feels good" to see people we see as abrasive "get a taste of their own medicine," sometimes that really says something about ourselves, and human nature in general.

@2headedninja: I'm really just playing devil's advocate here, but I am curious what it is that makes Jaffe's approach of saying what's on his mind appear to you as him "[saying] what he thinks"; but when the GB crew gives their honest opinion on something, it comes off as them being "jaded"? Is it just because they do not mirror your own opinion, or is it their delivery, or something else?

I wish I knew he streamed earlier. Twisted Metal 2 was the first game I played on my PS1 and TM Black was the first game I played on my PS2. Was too poor around the time Twisted Metal 2012 came out, but I'm sure I'd have loved that one, too. One of my favorite series.

To this day the only cheat code I can never forget is up, down, left, right, right, left, down, up (while holding all shoulder buttons).

I suspect the double standard probably goes both ways, but I'm with you.

I don't really like the guy, he just sounds crass and it feels out of place.

@redefaulted said:

Kudos for the level headed post, that was nicely said. I always have to scratch my head when I see people on the internet berate someone for being a jerk, I mean aren't you just as guilty of the very thing you're complaining about at that point?

Turd? Harsh, dude.

I hope to see Jaffe on Giant Bomb sometime, seems like an honest guy and that's what GB staff likes.

I love Jaffe, he's always great on Twitter with responding and I love his games.

Jaffe is my favorite person in the industry. I love how authentic he is and how open he is to talking with fans. I used to love reading his blog, it is a shame he doesn't update it anymore :(

http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com

Too bad he doesn't think the GB guys like him that much but given his relationship with Leah Alexander and Stephen Totilo I can see his relationship with Patrick being a little awkward. He always seemed to come off well in the big E3 podcasts but maybe off-camera they just don't gel really well. Oh well, everybody won't like everybody.

http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com?

It was always davidjaffe.biz for me, but yeah, it's a shame he's stopped posting on it, I loved seeing behind the scenes on the TM game.

Even if someone doesn't like someone else's creative output I don't see why that should mean they can't get along personally.

I don't mind David Jaffe but he needs to stop swearing every 4 words. It's ridiculous.

Jaffe's one of the few elements of the industry I have any respect for anymore. So much seems to have rapidly approached the shitter everywhere else - both on the development side, and the critical side of things.

He just doesn't fit into the politically-correct hivemind mentality so many others worship these days, and I can't thank him enough for refusing the be a part of it

Wait... was 'pleasurable interactions' a euphemism?

Feel like a big man now?

Anyway, I've always liked Jaffe, even when he's an asshole. and it goes without saying God of War is a masterpiece.

So Jaffe is just disappointed that GB isn't thrilled about his game? I barely remember the discussion.

I don't have a problem with him and I would like to take him at his word, but I don't know what to say to someone who "senses" or "feels" like another person (especially a person who typically isn't mean or hostile) doesn't like them, when there could be dozens of reasons why that isn't the case. I don't know Jeff, but I doubt he has anything against Jaffe as a person.

They're on two different sides of the industry; they're not obligated to be anything more than a developer/press relationship.

David Jaffe seems like a decent person, yes. That said, the amount of positive reactions to him having "no filter" makes me uncomfortable. There's a difference between honesty and actually being unconscious of the words you're saying as you say them. I suspect that Jaffe himself recognizes it's something he struggles with.

@milkman: To be fair that double standard definitely goes both ways.

I'd argue the ways in which they are abrasive are usually different. With Phil being more abrasive towards people and Jaffe just being an abrasive speaker generally. But there is definitely enough similarity where if you forgive one you should probably forgive the other.