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| [Dec 08, 2003, 10:32 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
More bad news at Black Isle Studios, where lead designer J.E. Sawyer resigned
just last month ( story), as Farewell,
but not goodbye on the Interplay Entertainment Forums (thanks Nels Nelson)
is a post from Damien "Puuk" Foletto that indicates that the studio is
now shut down, referring to today as his "last day at the (former) BIS."
This follows suit with a note sent along by designer John Deiley: Today
marks the end of an era. Black Isle Studios is no more. In yet
another sweeping layoff of employees, Interplay has officially let go the last
of it's Black Isle employees (save two that I know of) and dissolved the
division. Also, the non-announced title that the division was working on,
Fallout 3, has been "shelved" to quote management.
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| 101. |
Franchises are bad for you |
Dec 10, 2003, 14:55 |
Troll |
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Let me start with the obligatory
"NOOOOOOOOO".
The Fallouts and PS:Torment were my favorite CRPGs too.
However: You guys have to realize that besides the just discussed problem that the industry is increasingly going after consoles in an attempt to make a profit, it is also putting out more sequels and franchise / license based games than ever before. This too is a bad thing because game developers are forced to work on an endless stream of remakes rather than trying to create truly original, eventually experimental games. I may have a hard case proving my point here, because I'm willing to bet that all upcoming games most of you are eagerly anticipating are sequels or franchises. This is only in part your falult because very few original titles have been announced over the last few years. On the other hand, the reason you all like sequels is because you expect that the sequel will be more of your last favorite game, only better. On the other hand, a new game that you have no clue about (someone just mentioned he initially steered clear of Torment because the PS universe was **an uncommon franchise** and he was unfamiliar with it.) is not neccesarily so attractive. However -- in reality, there is no reason a developer can't screw up a sequel if they try to be innovative (see DX:IW). Alternatively some developers have no probem re-releasing exactly the same game in the form of sequels countless times. So remember: Developers make sequels because Publishers tell them to, and they will do so as long as you keep putting them first. I'm certain that a lot of people just bought DX:IW because they loved the predecessor, and even more have bought that sad matrix game because they liked the movie (and part 3 was not out yet!).
I for one would be happier to see something fresh and new rather than a Fallout 3, even though, as I said, the fallouts were favorites. Fortunately there were several recent attempts at original crpgs (Morrowind, ArxFatalis, Arcanum, etc), unfortunately none of them were very good.
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