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Author Topic: Useless gaming news & chatter  (Read 1341171 times)
calapine
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Reply #1435 on: February 15, 2014, 05:41:42 AM

Giantbomb took a look at the South Park RPG from Obisidian and it looks surprisingly good. I hadn't really followed this game much since I watch maybe one episode of South Park a year at most and all the footage I had seen before pretty much just looked like an episode of South Park with no gameplay really being shown. It seems like it actually has some solid RPGness to it though, which I guess shouldn't be shocking since it's Obsidian even though they don't have exactly have a perfect track record. Actually looking forward to this now although unfortunately Dark Souls II and Infamous: Second Son both come out next month as well.

Hah. I like Cartman in this. And the mocking of RPG mechanics.  Heart

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calapine
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Reply #1436 on: February 17, 2014, 05:51:06 PM

Divine Divinity Official Re-Release Trailer  why so serious?

Edit: Oh. That announcement is almost 2 years old.  swamp poop I am sorry!
« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 05:58:12 PM by calapine »

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Jeff Kelly
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Reply #1437 on: February 18, 2014, 09:59:24 AM

In the 'things completely coming out of left field' department: Ken Levine is shutting down irrational games.
murdoc
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Reply #1438 on: February 18, 2014, 10:21:56 AM

In the 'things completely coming out of left field' department: Ken Levine is shutting down irrational games.

http://www.irrationalgames.com/

Have you tried the internet? It's made out of millions of people missing the point of everything and then getting angry about it
Fabricated
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Reply #1439 on: February 18, 2014, 10:36:34 AM

RIP, the Citizen Kane of game studios.

"The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist." - George Bernard Shaw
Goreschach
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Reply #1440 on: February 18, 2014, 11:15:33 AM

That is just stupid as hell.
Sky
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Reply #1441 on: February 18, 2014, 11:24:42 AM

Here's hope to the end of 'Cinematic' games and a return to making good Games.

Maybe he can KS Freedom Force 3. Or make a system shock style game that includes the fun of system shock without the bloviating of bioshock.

Either way, I'm ok with it. Irrational got too big and too far away from what I liked about their games.

edit: Read the last bit about "so our new venture can focus entirely on replayable narrative" This does sounds like 'less scripted' or is that me?
« Last Edit: February 18, 2014, 11:26:30 AM by Sky »
Goreschach
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Reply #1442 on: February 18, 2014, 11:25:27 AM

No, you know what? I'm not just doing a one line reply. Fuck you, Ken Levine.

You do not just shut off a company you started two decades ago and fire everyone in it because of your fucking mid-life crisis. Fuck you.

You are a worthless, self absorbed, entitled piece of shit. Fuck you.

Fuck you.
Paelos
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Reply #1443 on: February 18, 2014, 11:32:20 AM

Why not? He's probably been pushed into making nothing but Bioshock stuff ad naseum because it sells. It takes a lot of balls to take the most popular thing off your menu because you're going to be type-cast by it.

The only way games are going to innovate is if people do shit like this, instead of making Bioshock 5 through 10.

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Goreschach
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Reply #1444 on: February 18, 2014, 11:43:52 AM

Did f13 suddenly become infested with morons?

You don't just show up to work one day and fire everyone, you fucking ingrates.

I don't give two fucks if Ken Levine spent the last half decade wanking off while reading the codex, and now wants to go to a small company and make old school core games. Any normal, well adjusted human being that isn't completely up their own ass realizes that when you're sick of running a company that involves dozens, if not hundreds of people, you fucking step down and put someone else in charge, or sell it, or just slack off all day while the younger people actually do everything.
Rasix
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Reply #1445 on: February 18, 2014, 11:58:15 AM

Well, at least he didn't call them out to a meeting in the parking lot.

Yeah, this seems like a shitty way to go about it. There's plenty of crappy ways to lose your job in the industry without having to lose it to someone's whim after making wildly successful games.  At least they have nice resumes.   Why not just put someone else in charge and spin off your new venture?


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Reply #1446 on: February 18, 2014, 12:20:25 PM

"I'm not 'firing everyone because I don't wanna do bioshock anymore', I am merely...slimming down the staff by a huge amount to go make...indie games for...take two? That makes sense right?"

"The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist." - George Bernard Shaw
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Reply #1447 on: February 18, 2014, 12:51:47 PM

Did f13 suddenly become infested with morons?

You don't just show up to work one day and fire everyone, you fucking ingrates.

I don't give two fucks if Ken Levine spent the last half decade wanking off while reading the codex, and now wants to go to a small company and make old school core games. Any normal, well adjusted human being that isn't completely up their own ass realizes that when you're sick of running a company that involves dozens, if not hundreds of people, you fucking step down and put someone else in charge, or sell it, or just slack off all day while the younger people actually do everything.
Yes, this is very odd, especially since Take Two owns (or owned, I guess) Irrational. It's unclear why they would allow Ken to just close up a money making studio of theirs. Normally what happens is the founders and some key people leave to start a new studio and the rest of the team stays behind feeding the goose laying the golden eggs.
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Reply #1448 on: February 18, 2014, 01:01:06 PM

It seems a tremendous dick move, although I am hearing some muttering that Irrational was still in the red because Infinite took forever. Still, it sure looks like 150 people lost their jobs because of a mid-life crisis.

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Paelos
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Reply #1449 on: February 18, 2014, 01:13:38 PM

It seems a tremendous dick move, although I am hearing some muttering that Irrational was still in the red because Infinite took forever. Still, it sure looks like 150 people lost their jobs because of a mid-life crisis.

While many game companies aren't run like businesses, there has be more to it than this since TTWO is a traded entity. They would have the authority to just step in and keep the staff even if Ken wanted to shut it down. Frankly, I question even if he has the power to shut it down if he wanted to.

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Sky
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Reply #1450 on: February 18, 2014, 01:26:39 PM

Did f13 suddenly become infested with morons?
You mean like the kind of moron who takes one open letter and fabricates a story to go with it?

He may or may not be a dick, but do you have some kind of info not yet posted here about it? Like "Ken Levine fired everyone on the spot with no warning or severance"? Because the game industry seems to close studios pretty regularly and he does give contact info to solicit placement for the team at the end of the letter.
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Reply #1451 on: February 18, 2014, 02:13:53 PM

I have no context except the blog post, but my immediate reaction was "wow, guy just fired everyone but his favorite 15 people, that's a pretty shitty reward for everyone else who's been working for him however many years."  Yeah, it seems totally typical for the gamesdev industry where they think "ship, lay everyone off, then maybe hire some of them for a new project" is a reasonable way to treat your employees.  It'd be nice if people knew this was coming and had some time to plan, but I'd be shocked to learn that was what happened (again, games industry being what it is).

Giving people some severance and a career fair is a far cry from handing over the reigns to new management and giving the company (or team or whatnot) a chance to continue with everyone's jobs intact.
Margalis
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Reply #1452 on: February 18, 2014, 02:30:22 PM

In the 'things completely coming out of left field' department: Ken Levine is shutting down irrational games.

They took forever making a game that didn't sell very well. This was very predictable, and had the studio been successful it wouldn't be closed in this fashion just because one guy got bored. I don't think Ken Levine actually has the power to shut down Irrational, if it's closing it's because Take Two wants it to close.

Quote
It's unclear why they would allow Ken to just close up a money making studio of theirs.

Back-of-the-envelope math indicates to me that the game lost a fair bit of money.

I suspect what happened here is Take Two wanted to close Irrational and considers Levine to be a bit of a brand, or at least a decent promoter, so instead of pitching it as "we're closing a money-losing studio but keeping Levine around" they tried to pitch it as "get ready for some exciting new creative stuff from Ken Levine" but it came out as "Ken Levine is kind of a dick and is firing everybody because reasons."
« Last Edit: February 18, 2014, 02:37:34 PM by Margalis »

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Paelos
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Reply #1453 on: February 18, 2014, 02:45:38 PM

The more that I think about it, the more I'm sure Ken doesn't have the power to shut anything down.

Irrational is a subsidiary of 2K games, which is a subsidiary of Take-Two. He's so low on the totem pole, I doubt his actual authority extended beyond day to day management and reporting to his next level superiors.

This letter looks more to me like a guy who is doing PR speak for the fact his segment is getting downsized. I don't think he was the force behind this at all, the mid-life stuff is just window dressing.

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Margalis
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Reply #1454 on: February 18, 2014, 03:10:24 PM

It's possible he genuinely did lose interest and wanted to leave, but studios don't close because one dude leaves. There's also no way he could take 15 employees with him as he left - that would be poaching and against whatever contracts those guys have signed.

vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
Rasix
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Reply #1455 on: February 18, 2014, 03:49:43 PM

I didn't know Bioshock: Infinite lost money.  I suppose I could have looked that up. That changes everything. 

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Reply #1456 on: February 18, 2014, 04:05:05 PM

I'm not sure we know for sure, but it sold only 'pretty well' and took a really long time to make, so it's certainly not unlikely.

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Margalis
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Reply #1457 on: February 18, 2014, 04:19:27 PM

I didn't know Bioshock: Infinite lost money.  I suppose I could have looked that up. That changes everything. 

The way companies obscure their information about specific titles it's hard to be sure, but it certainly either lost money or made a very modest amount.

vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
Outlawedprod
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Reply #1458 on: February 18, 2014, 05:13:51 PM

It's possible he genuinely did lose interest and wanted to leave, but studios don't close because one dude leaves. There's also no way he could take 15 employees with him as he left - that would be poaching and against whatever contracts those guys have signed.

Didn't the Infinity Ward dudes effectively write the playbook on this?  Sell company and take the talent you like with you when you are ready to start the next big company. Repeat.
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Reply #1459 on: February 18, 2014, 05:23:34 PM

Internet assholes and trolls have broken TotalBiscuit

tl;dr TotalBiscuit no longer enjoys playing the games he makes videos for because of all the comments Internet assholes and trolls leave

Not the first time he's done this, and I doubt it'll be the last. Blaming it on trolls is just an excuse - his actual problem starts when preppie call him out on something he's said or done and it turns out that actually...they're right & he's wrong. So he goes off in a sulk and looks for a new place to call home.

First time I remember seeing it  was when he "retired" from Whineplay when someone pointed out that his ideas for game balance in Planetside (1) were dumb as hell.

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Reply #1460 on: February 18, 2014, 05:27:27 PM

It's possible he genuinely did lose interest and wanted to leave, but studios don't close because one dude leaves. There's also no way he could take 15 employees with him as he left - that would be poaching and against whatever contracts those guys have signed.
Didn't the Infinity Ward dudes effectively write the playbook on this?  Sell company and take the talent you like with you when you are ready to start the next big company. Repeat.
Kind of. Vince Zampella and Jason West were the designers of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault but they weren't the cofounders of 2015, Inc. which developed the game for EA. They left to form Infinity Ward and then later left that to form Respawn Entertainment.
rk47
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Reply #1461 on: February 18, 2014, 05:49:47 PM



You don't just show up to work one day and fire everyone, you fucking ingrates.

You can say that decision was a little... Irrational....
Yeahhhhh.

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rk47
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Reply #1462 on: February 18, 2014, 05:51:44 PM

I didn't know Bioshock: Infinite lost money.  I suppose I could have looked that up. That changes everything.  

The way companies obscure their information about specific titles it's hard to be sure, but it certainly either lost money or made a very modest amount.

B-but... Citizen Khan Moment!
« Last Edit: February 18, 2014, 06:03:26 PM by rk47 »

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Margalis
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Reply #1463 on: February 18, 2014, 06:04:07 PM

Infinity Ward situation was totally different. The two founders were fired, then a lot of employees resigned. Then there were lawsuits.

There's no evidence of bad blood here. Levine is still at Take Two. If Levine tried to break up the company, take his ball and go home, and poach 15 top employees there would be lawsuits here too.

vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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Reply #1464 on: February 18, 2014, 07:20:06 PM

You can say that decision was a little... Irrational....
Yeahhhhh.
Win.
MrHat
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Reply #1465 on: February 18, 2014, 07:54:26 PM

What was the consensus on Kingdoms of Amalur?

It's $5 on Amazon right now, $10 for all the DLC.
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Reply #1466 on: February 18, 2014, 08:06:54 PM

I have not heard people say Levine is a fun person to work with or for. He's been good at managing public perception of himself, that's for sure.
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Reply #1467 on: February 18, 2014, 08:12:35 PM

What was the consensus on Kingdoms of Amalur?

It's $5 on Amazon right now, $10 for all the DLC.


The first 20 hours were a lot of fun.  I put it on hold to wait for a patch to balance things out.  They pushed 2 DLCs, never patched and then shuttered.

It's good.  It's not great.  for $10, I'd have to imagine you'd get your money out of it.

It's 50% Skyrim, 20% arcade game, 30% Eurojank like Divinity or Risen.
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Reply #1468 on: February 18, 2014, 08:20:14 PM

What was the consensus on Kingdoms of Amalur?

It's $5 on Amazon right now, $10 for all the DLC.

Worth $5. Didn't play any of the DLC but the main game was a fun hack and slash RPG.

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Reply #1469 on: February 18, 2014, 08:20:54 PM

No, you know what? I'm not just doing a one line reply. Fuck you, Ken Levine.

You do not just shut off a company you started two decades ago and fire everyone in it because of your fucking mid-life crisis. Fuck you.

You are a worthless, self absorbed, entitled piece of shit. Fuck you.

Fuck you.

This.

HEY LET'S LAY OFF AN ENTIRE STUDIO BECAUSE OF MY MID-LIFE CRISIS.

Fuck him.

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