Bethesda to Publish id's Rage

[Disparia]

^ For me is it's Bullfrog and the Dungeon Keeper series.

EA and I are blood enemies for life.

 

[Benetanegia]

^Indeed. Dungeon Keeper has never been one of my favourites, but it sure was amazing.

My memory is limited I had to look in the wikipedia and gamespot to remember the developers behind the franchises. It's there where I saw how many were related to the same developer.

 

[a_ump]

wait, so EA has "tried" or is "trying" to acquire Crytek and Valve? god i hope they never get either.

 

[Frick]

I'm not sure I can agree on any of the games you mention. IMO the later games failed because the entire concept doesn't work anymore. Like Delta Force. Any new DF game cannot have anything in common with the old games if it wants to suceed. Same with NFS. Gaming now has little in common with gaming ten years ago, sadly.

I can agree that it was a shame Westwood got gutted though. On the other hand they pretty much gave American McGee free hands with Alice, and since that is one of the best games ever I forgive them for that Westwood thing.

@Bullfrog: Peter left years before they were shut down to form Lionhead, so it wasn't all EA's fault.

 

[Benetanegia]

wait, so EA has "tried" or is "trying" to acquire Crytek and Valve? god i hope they never get either.

Well no, technically no. Both only have special publishing-distribution deals with EA Partners, an arm of EA and they are suposedly very far from being adquired. I don't see Valve being adquired anyway, they have Steam.

Even then I see worrying signs that I don't like. Ever since the deals started Valve has changed from making the superb HL1 and HL2 to making HL Episodes and crappy ports (we have to thank them the ports were from PC to consoles though, thanks god) and after that L4D and L4D2 have been released almost inmediately one after the other. On top of that, L4D are fun, but are far from being as good and "complete" as HL1 and HL2 and let's face it L4D2 is an expansion with full price.

Valve might not be adquired, but IMO they surely got infected with the EA virus. Soon after deals started Valve increased Steam prices to same as retail prices too, I see a patern.

Crytek on the other hand, decided to move to multi-platform although they previously said they wouldn't, because sales were low despite they sold a lot for a PC game. EA virus again?

I'm not sure I can agree on any of the games you mention. IMO the later games failed because the entire concept doesn't work anymore. Like Delta Force. Any new DF game cannot have anything in common with the old games if it wants to suceed. Same with NFS. Gaming now has little in common with gaming ten years ago, sadly.

For me it has nothing to do with the concept. It's the quality that has suffered more and a complete lack of imagination afterwards. Commnad&Conquer never evolved and quality decreased. NFS went from fantastic driving games to tune and paint your car games. Others where just killed when they were virtually on top or were killed after the first game released under EA name, because it was a flop. <- No wonder it was a flop, they got a full year (sarcasm) to make it.

Don't think it's a personal thing against EA, I'm starting to think the same about Ubisoft and Activision and TBH during the last couple years, they probably been worse than EA when it comes to the quality of games.

 

[Frick]

Even then I see worrying signs that I don't like. Ever since the deals started Valve has changed from making the superb HL1 and HL2 to making HL Episodes and crappy ports (we have to thank them the ports were from PC to consoles though, thanks god) and after that L4D and L4D2 have been released almost inmediately one after the other. On top of that, L4D are fun, but are far from being as good and "complete" as HL1 and HL2 and let's face it L4D2 is an expansion with full price.

Valve might not be adquired, but IMO they surely got infected with the EA virus. Soon after deals started Valve increased Steam prices to same as retail prices too, I see a patern.

This is what everyone is doing nowadays, it has nothing to do with EA.

 

[imperialreign]

The sad truth, IMHO, has more to do with the viral implications of consolitis that's been sweeping the gaming market . . .

From the PC market - gone are the days of innovative game developers. We no longer have any major developers that push the limits any more, or attempt to break ground with something completely different . . . everyone continues to follow the safe route, and keeps pumping out the same thing over and over.

Gone are Bullfrog - who, even though some may not like their titles, were extremelly innovative and put a fresh spin on things . . . and their spawn-company Lion Head is RIP, too. Gone are Looking Glass Studios, who literally flipped the FPS genre on its head, and gave it a keen spanking . . . Parallax Software are no more, known for creating the first true 100% 3D FPS (which, BTW, holds the true record for being the first FPS to use 3D polygonal models . . . not Quake) . . . MIA are Interplay, who had originally whipped out such breakers as Fallout and Battle Chess, amoung others . . .

The PC market has been creamed, cropped, and led out to pasture . . . unless we get a couple more bulls into the yard willing to break the fence, the farmers will just keep milking their cash cows for all they're worth . . .

 

[AsRock]

The sad truth, IMHO, has more to do with the viral implications of consolitis that's been sweeping the gaming market . . .

From the PC market - gone are the days of innovative game developers. We no longer have any major developers that push the limits any more, or attempt to break ground with something completely different . . . everyone continues to follow the safe route, and keeps pumping out the same thing over and over.

Gone are Bullfrog - who, even though some may not like their titles, were extremelly innovative and put a fresh spin on things . . . and their spawn-company Lion Head is RIP, too. Gone are Looking Glass Studios, who literally flipped the FPS genre on its head, and gave it a keen spanking . . . Parallax Software are no more, known for creating the first true 100% 3D FPS (which, BTW, holds the true record for being the first FPS to use 3D polygonal models . . . not Quake) . . . MIA are Interplay, who had originally whipped out such breakers as Fallout and Battle Chess, amoung others . . .

Only liked Quake 1 im kinda like that with a few games.

The PC market has been creamed, cropped, and led out to pasture . . . unless we get a couple more bulls into the yard willing to break the fence, the farmers will just keep milking their cash cows for all they're worth . . .

I used to love syndicate wish some one make another already. Lion Head they had it coming as they pretty messed up B&W2.

One of my favorite were Microprose with their flight sims for the PC. Although do have 1C which seem to do there best in fact the only companys that do real sims are the europians and tend to make some of the better games..

 

[Benetanegia]

This is what everyone is doing nowadays, it has nothing to do with EA.

Yes and no. EA has been doing that for long, started much before the rest and we can say that they tought the rest how to make money while screwing the gamers at the same time. Valve was loyal to their PC fans until they joined EA. It might be just coincidence, but it can be two CEOs speaking how to make money. Developers like Valve, Epic, iD, etc etc are run by game architects, coders, engineers, and their natural believe is that in order to sell, a good product has to be made. EA is run by economists and it's been long since they decided the best way of making money was cutting down on costs and flood the market with jubk until something catches on. How Valve changed so fast and how that change happened exactly when the deal was done tells me a lot about what happened. It's a clear sign for me. But that's just my opinion.

And as to the fact that "this is what everyone does", the sad truth is that this is what most do, not everyone though and fact is that I hate all those. Like I said I I don't think Ubi or Activision are any better nowadays and just because "everybody" does something that doesn't mean I have to be OK with that anyway. But I'm optimistic with other smaller publishers and Bethsoft is one of my hopes.

EDIT: Oh, Microprose... I'm starting to feel nostalgic.

 

[TheMailMan78]

The sad truth, IMHO, has more to do with the viral implications of consolitis that's been sweeping the gaming market . . .

From the PC market - gone are the days of innovative game developers. We no longer have any major developers that push the limits any more, or attempt to break ground with something completely different . . . everyone continues to follow the safe route, and keeps pumping out the same thing over and over.

Gone are Bullfrog - who, even though some may not like their titles, were extremelly innovative and put a fresh spin on things . . . and their spawn-company Lion Head is RIP, too. Gone are Looking Glass Studios, who literally flipped the FPS genre on its head, and gave it a keen spanking . . . Parallax Software are no more, known for creating the first true 100% 3D FPS (which, BTW, holds the true record for being the first FPS to use 3D polygonal models . . . not Quake) . . . MIA are Interplay, who had originally whipped out such breakers as Fallout and Battle Chess, amoung others . . .

The PC market has been creamed, cropped, and led out to pasture . . . unless we get a couple more bulls into the yard willing to break the fence, the farmers will just keep milking their cash cows for all they're worth . . .

You forgot Kingpin! The first game with exit wounds!

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

You forgot Kingpin! The first game with exit wounds!

lol

 

[AsRock]

You forgot Kingpin! The first game with exit wounds!

And breathing motions. And to think there was never a second one .