The Mark of Quality

Have you ever went to buy a game, movie, album or book and wondered if it was an honest attempt to create art? Or, more likely, if it was just another product pushed onto shelves that, while may have had heartfelt effort behind it, and may even be entertaining, did not succeed in being special? How about a label that told you just that? One that said “Quality Book,” “Quality Album,” or the like? Well, Tadhg Kelly wants to give us that. And he wants to start with games. I recommend you read the article yourself here, where he’s quick to point out that “The label is not a ‘5 star’ seal. It’s a label that says ‘Discerning people might like this’.”

I was a bit curious about the boundaries of his tastes, so I asked what kinds of games he felt would be worthy of the mark. I offered a short list of mainstream stuff that I felt was all quality; GTA 3, Spider-Man 2, Max Payne, the recent Shadow of the Colossus, and the not-as-commercially-successful, but still excellent Psychonauts. He countered back with a list of games that he would offer for vote, “Killer 7, Ico, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, God of War, The Neverhood, Cannon Fodder, Worms, Zelda.”

Yeah, this is an idea I could get behind. Makes an interesting compliment to David Jaffe’s recent critique of Games Journalism, as well.