Chris Hecker, a team member of Maxis, called the Wii "a piece of s***" during a special session earlier this week where developers could rant about anything they wanted. Many observers were amused and entertained with his over-the-top comments. But apparently, not everyone in the industry was laughing because Hecker has offered an apology for his remarks. In addition, he also referred to the Wii as a weakly powered machine and described it as nothing more than a couple of GameCubes stuck together with duct tape. We can’t imagine why Nintendo would take offense to these statements.
Hecker downplayed his comments by saying that he simply wanted to have some fun with the opportunity to spout off, but later realized that his outspoken remarks crossed the line and upset people. "I was trying to be thought provoking and entertaining and fun, and a lot of the stuff went too far over the top on the entertaining and fun side, so that it was no longer thought provoking, just inflammatory. And in the process I hurt a bunch of people I care about. And so, I want to apologize now."
In continuing his retreat, he stated, "I do not think that the Wii is a piece of s***." But his previous declaration seemed to suggest anything but that. Lest we forget, the Spore developer stated that Nintendo needed to "make a game console that doesn’t suck a**."
We’re unsure if Hecker’s job security is hanging on his apology, but there have been similar incidents of employees getting into trouble after spouting off. This was the case with a Sony graphics artist who criticized the PS3 during the early days of its development.
In any event, while Hecker’s comments were hard-hitting, he did articulate how some feel about the game console. Some might even say that Hecker should be commended for his honesty. But his bad fortune was that he spoke his mind as a Maxis/Electronic Arts employee in a public forum, and he may now be in some deep you-know-what of his own.
