Should we feel sorry for Tim Schafer?

 It's no big secret that Tim Schafer has always had a slightly tragic side to his games.  Grim Fandango and Psychonauts are two of the great adventure games of all time, but you probably didn't play them (if you did, good for you).
 
Now Brutal Legend is up against Uncharted 2, the game that Jesus descended from the heavens to produce glorious reviews only to ascend again and whip the gaming populace into a frenzy.  No matter how much marketing EA throws behind the title, it ain't going to get the same buzz amongst the "enthusiast" gamers.
 
So should we feel sorry for Timmy?

 It's no big secret that Tim Schafer has always had a slightly tragic side to his games.  Grim Fandango and Psychonauts are two of the great adventure games of all time, but you probably didn't play them (if you did, good for you).
 
Now Brutal Legend is up against Uncharted 2, the game that Jesus descended from the heavens to produce glorious reviews only to ascend again and whip the gaming populace into a frenzy.  No matter how much marketing EA throws behind the title, it ain't going to get the same buzz amongst the "enthusiast" gamers.
 
So should we feel sorry for Timmy?

I already have years ago when Grim Fandango came out. I'm going to cherish my copy.

Those same "Enthusiast" gamers have probably heard of and gotten behind Tim Schafer from hearing about his old games though.
Plus for 360 owning and PS3 not having folk like myself, only one game out of those two we can get.

Maybe you heartless schmos that keep ignoring all his games should, I'm just going to keep supporting him. Putting Uncharted on hold for now, fully committed to Brutal Legend.

That's an interesting question. I've been behind Brutal Legend for awhile and just saw the QL for Uncharted 2. I have to say that I am interested in playing Uncharted 2, but seeing as it's not multi-platform and I can not afford to buy another console right now, I just can't buy it. Considering the economy is still not doing so well right now and the PS3 has only recently gone down in price, the only thing I can say for certain is that Uncharted 2 will drive PS3 sales.

I kinda doubt Brutal Legend is not gonna do decently. I mean come on, did Psychonauts get its own Late Night mention? Or Grim? Nope. Brutal Legend did, AND it's got Jack Black, so that's gotta mean something for the peasants*.  
 
*peasants: casual or softcore gamers.

Both Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend should be arriving at my doorstep on Tuesday.

If anything, this is one of the titles that could go against Uncharted 2. Brutal Legend is multi-plat, it's music oriented, it's got Jack Black and it's had a mad marketing campaign--bigger than Uncharted 2. Commercially speaking, Brutal Legends should be his best selling game. I wouldn't feel bad for the man.

I preordered both games, go Tim!

I'll be behind Tim as I've always been.  
The man is a genius in my eyes.  
And I've pre-ordered both games. 

Sure Uncharted 2 is a big deal, 
But Tim's got A LOT of fans. 
 
I think that's all you really need. :P

No. Consider that the typical games buyer is a retard who just wants to shoot things or virtually play a sport, a game like Psychonauts or Grim Fandango isn't going to see the shitloads we all want it to.

Umm, Im getting both, Ive already pre-ordered Brutal Legend and Im sure as hell not missing out on Uncharted 2 so no, I dont really feel sorry for him

 
And also, Psychonauts was awesome

Who gives a shit about enthusiast gamers? How much of the gaming population do people who consider themselves "enthusiast gamers" even make up? Not enough to do jack shit. Especially given that Uncharted 2 is a PS3 exclusive and Brutal Legend is multi-platform.  And most of them are fuckwads anyway.

Uncharted 2 is a PS3 exclusive and Brutal Legend is multi-platform.  And most of them are fuckwads anyway.

kinda, im gonna help him out by purchasing Brutal Legend. i was a huge fan of psychonauts, i cant believe it didnt sell more than half a million :(

I think Brutal Legend has a lot more mainstream appeal than the majority of his previous games, so it should do very well commercially compared to Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, etc. Also, this one has had a lot more coverage (talk shows, advertising, etc.) and is being published by EA. I reckon even though it's coming out with Uncharted 2, it'll do decently. I've got both pre-ordered :)

Hell no, they're two distinctly different games that appeal to their individual audiences very well. PS3 owners will likely get Uncharted 2 now and get Brutal Legend later at Christmas.  
 
Brutal Legend will sell just fine with a good marketing campaign, which is already in effect by my reckoning. Good advertising in the music press in magazines like Kerrang and NME should rake in ample sales among fans of Heavy Metal and Rock.  On the flip-side, Jack Black, the figure head to this campaign, has mass market appeal among a broad section of gamers young and old, his films and his ties to rock music will bring the game to the attention of many.  That's why he was chosen!

I'll be getting Uncharted 2 at Christmas, if ever. I'll be getting Brutal Legend day one.

Uncharted 2 sounds awesome but like a lot of people I don't own a PS3. Brutal Legend for me! Though I have a feeling that part of the reason people like Tim is because they seem him as a tragic character. Like when a band gets main stream success people think they sold out.

Personally, I would love to play Grim Fandago but as far as I know, it's only been released on the PC. I think if it were released on the XBL Arcade then it would see a surge of new sales. 
 
I think Brutal Legend will do far better than his previous games, it's gotten a lot of mainstream coverage. I wouldn't feel sorry for him yet. 

No.  I think if they advertised Brutal Legend smartly and heavily it would have the potential to end up in similar sales territory as Uncharted 2*. 
 
Uncharted 2 is, apparently, an extremely high quality product, but Brutal Legend is "That game with Jack Black and Ozzyyyyy!! ZOMG!", and it's the uneducated purchaser season so shit like that counts for a lot.  Their marketing department should be hammering that 'Jack Black + Ozzy' angle at every opportunity, but they aren't really from what I've seen.  Why is 'Tim Schafer' on the box?  There are about 10 people that care who Tim Schafer is, all of us already know he made Brutal Legend and none of us will buy it as a result of the box art - so it's just a wasted opportunity imo.
 
*Say around 3 or 4 mil - I don't think Uncharted 2 breaks 5 mil, even with the reviews.

Brutal Legend on 360 will sell bad, Brutal Legend sells on PS3 will probably be nonexistent.  
 
P.S. If you want to play Psychonauts, play it here for free.

I am buying both!!! And, don't worry. Brutal Legend is on the 360, and the 360 crowd will most likely react very kindly to it.

I'm just as interested in Brutal Legend as I am in Uncharted 2, and chances are that I'll end up buying both.

No I don't feel sorry for him at all. I mean he's got his dream job of making games for a living & by all accounts made a nice egg for himself doing that at Lucasarts. The story of the tragic artist this or the poor working class songwriter doesn't apply here. Game Designers are only celebrities to a small fraction of game players. The majority of the public knows not of their existence. And when these guys & gals do well for themselves, they drive Ferrari's & live in swank mansions. Not the pitiful digs you & I call home!
 
As for the games just get both. That's what I'm doing.  They both look like they will be great. Uncharted 2 will be fanatstic as will Brutal Legend. I personally want to see Brutal Legend do well to stick it to Activision like Ghostbusters did.

Well yeah, you can feel sorry for him.  But yeah, gonna pass on brutal legend because even though it might play well, the story and characters are not going to draw me in.  It could be the greatest game of all time, but it would not be because of Timmy's decisions.  Look at Psychonauts.  You could write a movie on the level of Citizen Kane or the Godfather, but it wont mean a damn if the characters are little caricatures.  He needs to stop trying to make his own little art style or theme, whatever and make a game that grab people's attention and plays well.  Making a game that people can look at and say, ok i want to play that is also important.  You cant just be proud of your game and then have it be all obscure and not approachable.

Frankly no, this is the first game he's made that I had any interest in.  I'm here for the metal.

" Frankly no, this is the first game he's made that I had any interest in.  I'm here for the metal. "

Feel sorry for Tim Schafer? No, don't be silly. It's not like anyone forced him to abstain from developing first person shooters about space marines fighting in World War 2.

" Feel sorry for Tim Schafer? No, don't be silly. It's not like anyone forced him to abstain from developing first person shooters about space marines fighting in World War 2. "

Well I'm buying Brutal Legend only next week and not Uncharted to support these original and awesome games. I absolutely adored the first Uncharted but I feel I can wait a few more weeks to play it.

I think that Brutal Legend looks absolutely awesome and I completely intend to buy it... at some point. The GOTY edition of Fallout 3 also comes out on that day, and as a PS3 owner, I've been waiting for the GOTY edition to buy it. I want all my extra content on one disc. 
 
But I will buy Brutal Legend and I will buy it new, just probably some time shortly after Christmas when I've got a little bit of exra money to my name.

i will be getting both 

  @Teirdome said:

"  It's no big secret that Tim Schafer has always had a slightly tragic side to his games.  Grim Fandango and Psychonauts are two of the great adventure games of all time, but you probably didn't play them (if you did, good for you). Now Brutal Legend is up against Uncharted 2, the game that Jesus descended from the heavens to produce glorious reviews only to ascend again and whip the gaming populace into a frenzy.  No matter how much marketing EA throws behind the title, it ain't going to get the same buzz amongst the "enthusiast" gamers.  So should we feel sorry for Timmy? "

I really was digging into Brutal Legend, up to about a week ago, I was dead set about buying it. But after seeing some of the reviews for Uncharted 2, and the QL here, im getting Uncharted 2 intsead, right now, to me, it just looks alot more appealing than Brutal Legend... Sorry Tim.

I'm getting loads of games this month. Tim should be happy that his is one of them and that I'm going without food to do so 

" Both Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend should be arriving at my doorstep on Tuesday. "

Yeah, I feel kinda bad that his games didn't do as well as they deserved to. But do I truly feel sorry for a dude running his own company that makes the kinds of games he wants to play? Uh, I think 'envy' is the more the word I'd use.

Lots of good games sell like crap, so in a way, it's sort of an honor. A weird, backhanded honor.

They guy is doing what he loves. He owns his own development studio. He got to make a game with Jack Black, Ozy Ozbourne, Lemmy Kilmister etc etc etc. Why the hell would we need to feel sorry for him?
 
Tim Schafer essentially pwns us all at the greatest videogame of all. Life.

Let's look at this complex formula that I've worked out: 
 
Tim Schafer(heavy metal) + Ozzy(Rob+Lita) - √Jack Black x gore(humor)²
 
Even when you factor in the square root of Jack Black's shittiness, the game is still going to be pretty fucking awesome.

Yes, we should, but not for Brutal Legend. As a long time follower of Tim Shafer, I have complete faith that this game is going to sell just fine.
None of the issues that plagued previous projects he had done are appearing, EA is throwing gobs of money at it, Uncharted 2 is going to be awesome: But it's PS3 exclusive.  
The consumer install base is simply not there for it to overshadow Brutal Legend by an amount that would be over-the-top. Sure, they will be competing products, but it's not going to be a case where a significant dent is given.  
 
I've always had the impression that Brutal Legend has been his most... commercial...game to date. This isn't a complaint by at all, it's just an observation, and even though it's most certainly a game with a wider appeal: It still is clearly a Shafer project, which shows that his team hasn't lost it's identity in their pursuit of this project: Which is a very good thing.
 
Personally: I'm going to be picking up both on launch day.

no, i don't think i have played any of his games that he has made. i have heard that psychonauts was a good game. it is something that i never got to play. i don't know how i will like brutal legend. i never played the demo yet.

i think this game will slowly but surely sell well,I will pick up both uncharted2 and Brutal legend! who says you cant have both!

I am fully supporting Brutal Legend... I will probably get Uncharted 2, but only when it goes down in price. As I've said before, the game will be short, linear, and not worth the price tag. Brutal Legend actually has some unique gameplay elements to it.