cacky-news-meter overload. papyrus were greats of driving games, proper games, not like some other things that are around. I hope they somehow end up somewhere doing something. Nascar the sport, not my bag. Nascar2003 the game, something else completely. Nascar, indy, gpl...evil news. Good luck lads.

Does anyone remember the horribly failed experiment that was Mattel Interactive? VUG's heading that way and they deserve it.

Parallax Abstraction
Technical Consultant, Hardcore Modern and Retro Gamer, Video Game Historian
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Actually it is a really solid racing game with great physics and an emphasis on realism that surpasses most racing games ever created.

Sure its not everyones cup of tea, but to call it a horrid game is just acting ignorant.

This comment was edited on May 9, 16:16.

Nascar was horrid, dull and boring. Who cares.

As a large corporation I sometimes have to make hard decisions which will be unpopular. If I can save money by moving production overseas, allowing me to close expensive factories at home, I will. I have shareholders to answer to.

...now I'm not saying that is a bad thing. But does this mean that game developers will eventually boil down to a money guy and a creative director who tells the programmers in Indian what he wants? I think so. Indeed, if it was possible for a game designer to get his game made in half the time for a fifth of what it costs in the US would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

This is precisely why I stopped beleiving in the "trickle down economy" theory.

RE: Outsourcing

do you notice how "outsourcing" was considered just a part of business after the NAFTA agreement was signed but now that white collar jobs are being recently affected its a major issue?

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Currently Playing - Soldner Beta, Joint Ops, UT2004.

As a large corporation I sometimes have to make hard decisions which will be unpopular. If I can save money by moving production overseas, allowing me to close expensive factories at home, I will. I have shareholders to answer to.

...now I'm not saying that is a bad thing. But does this mean that game developers will eventually boil down to a money guy and a creative director who tells the programmers in Indian what he wants? I think so. Indeed, if it was possible for a game designer to get his game made in half the time for a fifth of what it costs in the US would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

Case in point, Sierra is owned by Vivendi. Now Vivendi is essentially a global corporation but when you get right down to it, they're French. They also own Blizzard obviously. If you were sitting on a golden throne in Paris, looking out over your empire and you saw one of your little companies treading water, wouldn't you say to yourself "Zut alors! Dis companee she makes ze bon jou, ze good games, mais ou est les Euros? Where's ze money? I will translocate the production facility to an area with lower fixed costs..uh...vive la belle France!"

Yeah the nascar games are top notch, one minor mistake in your driving and bam you crash and they have some spectacular crash's in that game.

Its also fun to try and get the worst crash possible, then you get to watch it over again with replay

I've been playing this game for a few months now - it's almost frighteningly realistic. I gotta say, watching NASCAR is like watching paint dry, but playing this game is a blast.

It really gives me a bit of respect for the NASCAR drivers - I'm a huge racing sim fan, and these cars are MASSIVELY unstable. Running the two road courses they have in the game is a total blast. If there is anybody on here who likes hyper-realistic racing sims, this is for you - it's only like $8, so you can pick it up cheap.

So many mullets will be disappointed...

No need for a question mark in the title, Papyrus is definitely gone -- some of the Papy devs posted in the thread linked in the story. VUG only asked the moderators to not try to explain the closure until they released an "official" announcement on it but said it was okay to confirm it.

Impressions (the studio behind the Caesar games, among others) was also closed.

This just continues VUG's consolidation, basically folding up every shop that doesn't exist outside its Los Angeles offices. The difference between them doing this and, say, EA (closing Westwood) is that EA generates record revenue, VUG generates record losses.

I hope sim racing doesn't fall into what the flight sims market did a few years ago. GPL, ICR2 were great games!!!

It sort of baffles me why EA just didn't continue using Papyrus even in an advisory given their experience with the series.

A good racer is always a popular seller so it sucks to see one as talented as this develoment house go.

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Currently Playing - Soldner Beta, Joint Ops, UT2004.

Yeah and just when the 65 mod was finally released for GPL. Dammit. It'll be a long time before anyone can do a simulation like Papyrus ESPECIALLY when it comes to multiplayer. GPL was released 5 years ago but it STILL has the BEST mutliplayer gaming experience of any racing game, arcade or sim.

I don't think GTR will come close as it still uses EA's F1C engine and Racing Legends is still a bit off. Sad day for the sim racing community.

When vivendi initially bought into the interactive market it was a top 3 publisher in terms of marketshare. Now it is a lucky month if they are in the top 10. If not for Blizzard, they would be a total joke. Great examnple of corporate merager and acquissition gone totally bad.

Papyrus has only done Nascar crap recently, but they have done some awesome titels over the year. Ask any driving sim lover about Grand Prix Legends.

As boring as NASCAR is (unless driving backwards), it's still a shame to see what was once among the most respected developers close shop.

Publishers have no one to blame but themselves. Looking Glass, Dynamix, Bullfrog, Maxis and Papyrus were all very successful before too much interference. Then again, Maxis is still very successful, though I doubt it will be a brand name in 2 years. Not after having its doors closed and operations moved.

I still want my damn feather back!

Thinking today will be "Reinstall Thief 2" day :D,
Ray

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http://www.thief3.org/
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.guzzlefish.com/collection.php?username=ray_marden
I love you, mom.

all racing is except for mario kart

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Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3

NASCAR is the most boring racing ever.

I'm quite happy playing F1, GP, and NFS games, and hopefully GTR real soon.

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“The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client. The knife, for example, is the last thing you learn. Ok?"

...I already though Papyrus had closed after the fiasco over the license and the continuation of the series.

Or was I correct and this is just the "official" announcement?

Saluting another fallen company,
Ray

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http://www.thief3.org/
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.guzzlefish.com/collection.php?username=ray_marden
I love you, mom.