This past Wednesday, I was supposed to catch classic ’80s synth-poppers Depeche Mode in their only Bay Area appearance on this year’s Sounds of the Universe tour. But DM frontman Dave Gahan had to give his vocal cords a rest — doctor’s orders, apparently — and the show had to be canceled on only a few hours’ notice.
It’s been a rough year for Gahan, who’s also suffered from gastroenteritis, a bladder tumor, and a torn calf muscle on this tour — all of which isn’t too surprising, given Gahan’s intense stage presence combined with his fortysomething vintage. This isn’t the first time this year an aging English rocker has bailed on the Bay Area at the last minute, though — fellow ’80s alternative legend Morrissey canceled his April show in Oakland, complaining of illness. And while Blur performed as advertised when I saw them in London’s Hyde Park last month, it was clear that it took a whole lot more effort than when the quintessential ’90s Britpop quartet were in their 20s — Damon Albarn couldn’t bound around stage anymore without perspiring profusely and stopping between songs to catch his breath.
Musically, they can still bring it, and I certainly wouldn’t say any of these performers have “lost it” — it just takes a little more effort for them to get there these days. And that got me thinking — sure, rock musicians face more physically demanding conditions than most entertainers, but does aging affect them all the same way?
George Lucas is the obvious example when it comes to moviemaking — I don’t think anyone can argue that he simply doesn’t have “it” anymore — and Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson are clearly way past their prime on the acting side. But with gaming’s founding fathers nearing the traditional retirement age, have we seen any drop-off in creativity and production?
After all, I realized the other day that Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto is practically as old as my parents, and I can’t imagine them putting up with the rigors and stress of the gaming industry. Is Peter Molyneux’s overpromising and underdelivering partly due to his age? And while Gears of War mastermind Cliff Bleszinski is still relatively young, will he still have that same intensity for chainsaw carnage when he’s, say, Warren Spector’s age?
The first time I remember this issue coming up in the gaming industry was when the Virtual Boy hit in the mid-’90s. Sure, creator Gunpei Yokoi had crafted a gaming icon with the Game Boy, but all it took was the massive failure of Nintendo’s ill-fated VR headset for pundits to declare that he’d “lost it” — and, unfortunately, due to Yokoi’s premature death, we’ll never know if he would’ve been able to redeem himself.
But as gaming fans, have you noticed any of your favorite developers slipping with age, or do you think that with experience, they’re better now than they’ve ever been?