Gamespy, Resident Cynic Article

[Dark Jedi Master]

aha your a golf caddy.

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No I am in the US Navy, and we use golf carts to ride around base, to do our jobs. Although to tell you the truth, don't believe the US Navy commercials, it says accelerate your life, but heck I go around counting nuts and bolts for a living now!

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Go to Iraq then you wont be so bored.

 

:ph34r:

[DemonKing]

Although to tell you the truth, don't believe the US Navy commercials, it says accelerate your life, but heck I go around counting nuts and bolts for a living now!

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Didn't someone once say that war is 99% sheer boredom and 1% pure terror?

[Mosaic]

Agreed, he's pretty much been saying what I've and a lot of us have been saying all along. He got it right on what I think of the game, it's great but the ending was rushed. Could have been great, could have been a instant classic. Otherwise, it's a good game with a rushed ending.

[Falconhurst]

One hopes that Obsidian follows the path of Paradox entertainment in standing by their products. Paradox is a Swedish company that has developed some great titles like Europa Universalis II and Victoria: an Empire under the Sun. At the initial release, there were some unresolved bugs...perhaps the developers had been rushed at first, but they listened closely to player feedback and were still issuing patches and updates a full two years after the game had been released. Certainly they could have just taken the money and abandoned the product, like so many other developers. At two years after release, there was little money for them to be made. It was simply an issue of integrity. And what they accomplished was remarkable. With good patches, good listening to feedback, and continued support, turned EU2 and Victoria from good, slightly bugged games into outstanding, timeless classics that met their full potential.

 

I have to admit feeling a little cheated by Obsidian, who released a game that they *knew* wasn't complete. I paid $53 for this game sight unseen, as the author of the article says, because of the reputation of its predecessor. That's the most I've ever payed for a computer game since Ultima VII was hot off the shelves 12 or 13 years ago. Obsidian really owes me a complete game, not an unfinished work in progress. If they finish it six months or even a year from now, I can live with that, but not with product abandonment. Time will tell whether they will take the money and run, or whether they will finish what they started and follow through to make things right and deliver to customers what they paid for. If they don't both Obsidian and Lucas Arts will lose a huge amount of credibility with me and I will never buy one of their products again except on bargain-bin discount shelves.

[Mosaic]

Hang on Falconhurst, what is this thing you call integrity? I believe something like that was murdered several years ago by the all powerful god of captialism called Greed. All hail Greed!

[Meshugger]

Hang on Falconhurst, what is this thing you call integrity? I believe something like that was murdered several years ago by the all powerful god of captialism called Greed. All hail Greed!

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It's called "Maximizing your planning and profit within the boundries of customer service" in the industry.

 

I wonder when the gaming industry turned from a group of people wanting to make money of their vision of a good game, to an excel sheet with sales figues and capitalizing on trends. Maybe there never was such a time, just my wishful thinking.

[deganawida]

I only stand Watch 1 day a month, due to the high volume of sailors here in JAX.

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NAS Jax? My dad was stationed there.

[Drakron]

...

I wonder when the gaming industry turned from a group of people wanting to make money of their vision of a good game, to an excel sheet with sales figues and capitalizing on trends. Maybe there never was such a time, just my wishful thinking.

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When production costs became too high, in order to make a game these days its going to cost over 20 million.

 

Just look at how many publishers there was 10 years ago and look at how many there are now, the game industry is concentrated into main groups that just want to make a profit.

 

They are still some visionary people that are allowed to make their games as they want, like Hideo Kojima, but such people are rare these days since publishers want to rush out games as fast as they can so they can get a return of investment, the problem is they are afraid of inovative ideas and go into the "tried-and-tested" concepts that makes their games just another title in the market with no appeal.

[Meshugger]

...

I wonder when the gaming industry turned from a group of people wanting to make money of their vision of a good game, to an excel sheet with sales figues and capitalizing on trends. Maybe there never was such a time, just my wishful thinking.

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When production costs became too high, in order to make a game these days its going to cost over 20 million.

 

Just look at how many publishers there was 10 years ago and look at how many there are now, the game industry is concentrated into main groups that just want to make a profit.

 

They are still some visionary people that are allowed to make their games as they want, like Hideo Kojima, but such people are rare these days since publishers want to rush out games as fast as they can so they can get a return of investment, the problem is they are afraid of inovative ideas and go into the "tried-and-tested" concepts that makes their games just another title in the market with no appeal.

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Sounds like the movie industry, sad but true. Despite the community critizism about the rushed ending of TSL, Lucasarts don't have a reason to pay attention to the enthusiasts within the gaming community. TSL sold 500000 copies on the xbox in the US in december, and it's currently #1 in the UK, even selling more copies than World of Warcraft(probably due to it being multi-platform game).

[Darth Somethingorother]

Its a sad day when you wish a Russian multi-billionaire like Roman Abramovich will buy a games publisher to save himself from the Russian Government's clampdown on the Mafia because it would have the side effect of letting developers take the time they needed to actually finish a game...

[AromisTallion]

I only stand Watch 1 day a month, due to the high volume of sailors here in JAX.

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NAS Jax? My dad was stationed there.

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Yep NAS JAX, been here for over a year now.

[Dark Jedi Master]

Pff...why dont you people be useful and go to Iraq and fight like real soldiers?

[GarethCarrots]

i dont think that that article is cynical at all, your very optimistic thinking its cynical in fact, since a realist would accept that the article was merely making factual observations

 

Pff...why dont you people be useful and go to Iraq and fight like real soldiers?

 

when do people learn, dont make jokes about sensitive subjects

[Brannart]

One hopes that Obsidian follows the path of Paradox entertainment in standing by their products.  Paradox is a Swedish company that has developed some great titles like Europa Universalis II and Victoria: an Empire under the Sun.  At the initial release, there were some unresolved bugs...perhaps the developers had been rushed at first, but they listened closely to player feedback and were still issuing patches and updates a full two years after the game had been released.  Certainly they could have just taken the money and abandoned the product, like so many other developers.  At two years after release, there was little money for them to be made.  It was simply an issue of integrity.  And what they accomplished was remarkable.  With good patches, good listening to feedback, and continued support, turned EU2 and Victoria from good, slightly bugged games into outstanding, timeless classics that met their full potential.

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Paradox is a rare company indeed. I have never seen any business so devoted to its products or its customers. If only every developer were like them

[Xacharia]

One hopes that Obsidian follows the path of Paradox entertainment in standing by their products.  Paradox is a Swedish company that has developed some great titles like Europa Universalis II and Victoria: an Empire under the Sun.  At the initial release, there were some unresolved bugs...perhaps the developers had been rushed at first, but they listened closely to player feedback and were still issuing patches and updates a full two years after the game had been released.  Certainly they could have just taken the money and abandoned the product, like so many other developers.  At two years after release, there was little money for them to be made.  It was simply an issue of integrity.  And what they accomplished was remarkable.  With good patches, good listening to feedback, and continued support, turned EU2 and Victoria from good, slightly bugged games into outstanding, timeless classics that met their full potential.

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Paradox is a rare company indeed. I have never seen any business so devoted to its products or its customers. If only every developer were like them

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Yes, I also consider Paradox a last beacon of light in this dark times