Video Game News and Miscellany
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
Most big banks offer throwaway numbers for online purchases ("virtual card numbers"), but that won't solve cases where you need periodic debit (phone bill, etc).
--Patrick
Well that came out of the blue, didn't it.
I ought to grab Bioshock Infinite some day soon.
I dunno, I think Bioshock Infinite is the latest victim of being successful (selling 5 million plus units) but not being successful enough to justify it's costs and Ken Levine is just owning it this way. Or Ken Levine could just be sick of big, high budget, massive crunch games. If that's the case, it's pretty shitty to fuck over so many people. You're not that important Ken.
This is my entire take on it. Half of those people aren't going to be able to get as prestigious or fulfilling work as they got at Irrational and I seriously doubt half of them will find comparable work.
Well, if Ken (and the 15 or so others going with him) aren't that important, the remaining folks can just start their own studio, can't they? That's how Irrational got started in the first place anyway, one studio closing, the folks leftover starting their own. If they can't/don't want to, how could Irrational Studios continue existing then?
Securing funding for a new studio isn't as easy as that and that's why I think it has a lot to do with BSI's performance. Take2 was probably ready to shut them down completely[DOUBLEPOST=1392748865,1392748586][/DOUBLEPOST]Man, there is no winning in AAA game development. Success means nothing. You're always on the verge of being laid off or relegated to making map packs for Call of Duty.
This is getting a lot of "WTF?!" reactions from the game community and rightly so. It's just so out of left field after they had JUST released a major, AAA game that not only sold well, but earned a plethora of Game of the Year awards.
Personally, I can't wait to see what Kickstarters the fired employees will come up with.
(Note: Only about 10% of that statement is meant to be taken seriously.)
Personally, I can't wait to see what Kickstarters the fired employees will come up with.
(Note: Only about 10% of that statement is meant to be taken seriously.)
Developers aren't really strangers to this as they tend to bounce from project to project, company to company. That's really just how it goes.
IMHO? Suits.
They became successful, have a greedy overlord that wants more and more Bioshock games, they have had their share, want to start anew. If I'm an industry vet like Ken and have the option of
A) Make another Bioshock game for the suits with a bloated budget/team
or
B) Start something anew with a small team "like it used to be" and one's own boss.
I'd probably pick B as well.[DOUBLEPOST=1392753093,1392752939][/DOUBLEPOST]To me, it seems like he had the freedom to create games how he wanted with Irrational so he went with this.
FUCK SUITS.
GL Ken.
IMHO? Suits.
They became successful, have a greedy overlord that wants more and more Bioshock games, they have had their share, want to start anew. If I'm an industry vet like Ken and have the option of
A) Make another Bioshock game for the suits with a bloated budget/team
or
B) Start something anew with a small team "like it used to be" and one's own boss.
I'd probably pick B as well.[DOUBLEPOST=1392753093,1392752939][/DOUBLEPOST]To me, it seems like he had the freedom to create games how he wanted with Irrational so he went with this.
FUCK SUITS.
GL Ken.
A lot of former staff (Irrational churned huge amounts of staff over the past 5 years) are shitting on Levine over this. Some calling him an egomaniac. Others pointing out that he could have restructured the company like Double Fine did and have teams working on smaller games, but Ken Levine made it about him.
That's exactly what I wondered. Why couldn't he have just done the Tim Schafer thing and split up the team into smaller teams to make their own games? Or hell, just do a total rip off (because it's a great idea) and do Amnesia Fortnight: Irrational Edition?
According to that letter, he's staying with Take2, so he can't be that annoyed at the "suits".
Ken leaving is one thing (he can do whatever he wants, and if he's creatively burned out from running a big studio and feels he can accomplish more with a lean team again, good for him).
It's the shuttering of Irrational that is really weird. I'm assuming they must have been having financial problems of some kind, because shuttering the studio just because you want to leave with your bros is an incredibly jerk move. I've heard that Ken Levine is an egomaniac, but that would really be something above and beyond that.
Speaking of Amnesia Fortnight, 2 Player Productions released the first video for the series. If you go to the Double Fine channel, you can watch separate videos for each of the ideas. Personally, I'm sad that the horror adventure game based on 70s and 80s movies didn't make the cut.
The studio shutdown is a pretty dick move. Granted, the folks that're now looking for employment have a few big titles under their belt now, but the game industry, much like the animation industry, is pretty ridiculous to get into and stay afloat in. I hope these folks can find some solid ground to land on.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Mine? They were lucky to even work with Ken. He's the one who sell the concept of Bioshock to a publisher with barely a tech demo working. From there, everything came into place.
While I don't have personal experiences in the game dev field, my wife certainly does and she has been working for a game publisher for a few years. From what I heard and discussed with her, nothing surprises me anymore.
I have to say, though, I'm not sold on the idea of Levine making a high-replay game.
I don't know about you all but BS1-Infinite are zero-replay games. The company could put a good story together, but I wonder how they can handle gameplay/collectibles/etc that would make me want to play their game more than once.
I don't know about you all but BS1-Infinite are zero-replay games. The company could put a good story together, but I wonder how they can handle gameplay/collectibles/etc that would make me want to play their game more than once.
I'm 100% it's the suits.
The more I think about it, the more I'm certain.
Think of the 6 years it took to make the last game, the huge bloat, the budgets, the problems they had. This was the easiest way to get rid of a lot of staff.
Why?
Because contrary to belief, the last Bioshock game was a success of sorts... but not exactly what the investors were hoping for.
Bioshock is a major replay game for me. It's like watching a favorite movie--I'm gonna do it more than once. So far I've played through Bioshock four times. Obviously I wouldn't replay it if it wasn't fun, but I love being immersed in Rapture and experiencing the story. I feel Bioshock Infinite will be the same, but I wanted to wait for all the DLC to be out before doing a replay. It'll be soon.
As for this, feels like a dick move. Why not just leave with the magic 15 and let the others stay or fall on their merits? Better than scattering them this way.
In 2006, a trio of rumors hinted that Electronic Arts was making System Shock 3. First came a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Then came a couple of unconfirmed reports in Shacknews and PC Gamer U.K., with the latter publication reporting that EA’s Redwood Shores studio was handling development.
But even if EA wanted to publish another System Shock, the company didn't have the rights to do so. Back when the original game was made, producer Warren Spector negotiated a deal in which EA got the trademark to the series, while the developers at Looking Glass Studios kept the rights. To create another System Shock game, you need both. "My thinking was it would force us to be married so it never would be that either party should be able to say we own that, we’re making the next game, screw you," Spector told the San Jose Mercury News last November.
In hindsight, the deal only jeopardized System Shock’s future. Looking Glass Studios closed in 2000, a year after System Shock 2's release, and the copyright to the series went into the hands of an insurance company. That left EA with only the System Shock name, but no actual development rights.
In 2007, the System Shock trademark went dead, abandoned by EA. The Redwood Shores studio went on to develop Dead Space, a game with some uncanny similarities to System Shock -- upgradeable attributes, scattered audio logs and a desolate space station overrun by monsters -- but no conclusive evidence that the two games are related.
Indeed, dead Space 1 was a solid game but it was no System Shock. Terribly predictable AI made damn sure about that.
Dang man, would it kill you to give some attribution?
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/713030/the-lost-history-of-system-shock/
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/713030/the-lost-history-of-system-shock/
Some guy at EA just read this and went, "Hmm... *scribble scribble*"