royceclemens wrote...
BioWare sold out?
Really?
You mean the same company that had no original IPs between 1996 and 2005 because they were busy making licensed games and sequels? THAT BioWare? And when they finally did get a new IP it was Jade Empire? Y'know, the kung fu game? The one that made the stripped down ME2 look like Ultima IV? Two years before the EA buyout that brought along the convenient scapegoat?
Wow. BioWare sold out. I had no idea. If I had a hankie I'd wring it right now. I am late to the party. A full decade and a half late.
Jade Empire was actually pretty deep. It has a very good storyline with fun plot twists, complex and interesting characters that were heavily differentiated from one another, and an original setting for an RPG. I can't really remember any other oriental RPG titles.
Yes, it had fighting elements instead of turn-based gameplay, but it wasn't nearly as stripped down as, for example, Dragon Age 2. It had tons of different martial arts styles you could choose from ranging from unarmed, to melee, to magic based and the gameplay was very different based on that.
And your decisions had real impact in how the game ended. Contrast that to Dragon Age 2.
But more to the point is this: Bioware sold itself to a company that doesn't make RPGs. Is selling your company to another company that makes games completely different than the ones you make not the textbook definition of selling out?
From wikipedia entry on Electronic Arts. Let me know if any of it sounds familiar to the current trend with Bioware:
"During its period of fastest growth, EA was often criticized for
buying smaller development studios primarily for their intellectual
property assets, and then producing drastically changed games of their
franchises. For example,
Origin-produced
Ultima VIII: Pagan and
Ultima IX: Ascension were developed quickly under EA's ownership, over the protests of Ultima creator
Richard Garriott,
[41] and these two are widely considered
[42] to be subpar compared to the rest of the series.
[43][44]In early 2008, current CEO John Riccitiello acknowledged that this
practice by EA was wrong and that the company now gives acquired studios
greater autonomy without "meddling" in their corporate culture.
[16]In 2008,
John D. Carmack of
id Software said that EA is no longer the "Evil Empire".
[45] id decided to go with EA Partners, despite having a poor opinion of the publisher's past record.
"I'll admit that, if you asked me years ago, I still had thoughts
that EA was the Evil Empire, the company that crushes the small
studios...I'd have been surprised, if you told me a year ago that we'd
end up with EA as a publisher. When we went out and talked to people,
especially EA Partners people like Valve, we got almost uniformly positive responses from them."
Like other EA Partners, such as Harmonix/MTV Games, Carmack stressed
that EA Partners deal "isn't really a publishing arrangement. Instead,
they really offer a menu of services—Valve takes one set of things,
Crytek takes a different set, and we're probably taking a third set".
[45]EA was criticized for shutting down some of its acquired studios
after they released poorly performing games (for instance, Origin).
[46] Though, in some of the cases, the shutdown was merely a reformation of
teams working at different small studios into a single studio.
[47][48] The historical pattern of poor sales and ratings of the first game
shipped after acquisition suggests EA's control and direction as being
primarily responsible for the game's failure rather than the studio. In
the past,
Magic Carpet 2 was rushed to completion over the objections of designer
Peter Molyneux and it shipped during the holiday season with several major bugs. Studios such as Origin and
Bullfrog Productions had previously produced games attracting significant fanbases. Many
fans also became annoyed that their favorite developers were closed
down, but some developers, for example the EALA studio, have stated that
they try to carry on the legacy of the old studio (
Westwood Studios).
Modifié par BeefoTheBold, 06 juin 2011 - 05:27 .
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They extended development several months to ensure a quality project. This is a big investment and I doubt Bioware would rush out the epic climax and ****** off their fan base.
