Oh Yoshiyuki Tomino. First, you kill everyone and everything you could when you were helming Gundam titles, and now you're decrying videogames as evil. Well, it sure as hell gets people to notice you. It also makes my life a lot easier now that I have something to grill you on while at New York Anime Fest.

His claims that videogames are evil and a waste of time are part of a challenge towards developers to make videogames mean something more than act as a pastime for those who enjoy them. Tomino is likely drawing on his experience with Gundam, where he had a very strong anti-war message within his titles -- he wants to see games develop something meaningful, like he feels Gundam did under his reign.

What I find interesting is that a lot of people, Gamasutra and Destructoid included, make sure to point out the merchandising sensation that Gundam has become. That's the work of Sunrise and Bandai, though. Sure, as the Gundam franchise has continued, it's become more about the products that can get pushed out and the story has generally sunk lower (from what I understand.)

So, do you think Tomino is right, or have games gotten more to a point where they carry strong messages within them? To an extent, I feel Tomino is right -- many of the titles out today don't really have a message or lesson behind them, and the ones that do are fairly weak about it. But I suppose the same could be said for the anime industry, right?