Haze aside, everything they ever made was pure fucking gold.
Pretty sure I was the first.
I really wanna play Haze some day.
Don't bother. It taints that pristine catalogue of awesome that they had going. It was probably their death knell, it looked expensive to make but played like shit. That's what happens when someone shoehorns a developer out of their comfort zone. Sad because TS4 was probably going to be biblical.
Haze aside, everything they ever made was pure fucking gold.
Pretty sure I was the first.
I really wanna play Haze some day.
But...Crytek :winky: Of course, a lot of the Timesplitters people had already left by that point.
And also, on that note, someone mentioned Big Huge Games. Brian Reynolds and a couple dozen other people left, but they were bought up by some random other company, they didn't close
Totally Games - developers of the X-Wing/TIE Fighter series. Supremely awesome company headed by Lawrence Holland, one of the most talented people in the industry.
Last good game they made was Secret Weapons Over Normandy in 2003, but it wasn't great by any means. They were completely silent for 4 years until they released Alien Syndrome for Wii, which is a massive piece of shit.
The company still exists, but talk about a freaking waste of talent.
Cherrn on
All creature will die and all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai.
Westwood: They were responsible for two of my favorite games: Dune II and Blade Runner.
Bullfrog: Populus. Syndicate. Say no more.
Infocom: Where to even begin? Without Infocom the world of gaming would be so much different. I can rattle off a very long list of Infocom titles I played as a young chap that have made a lasting impression on me to this very day. Zork, for starters. And Trinity. And Wishbringer. And a whole lot of others.
Sir Tech: Again, where would gaming be without the foundations laid out by Wizardry?
Sierra Online: I mean Sierra Online as in the days of Roberta Williams and Al Lowe. I never really got into the Leisure Suit Larry games, but they were always a fun distraction when not playing a King's Quest or Police Quest game.
Red Storm: When I read that Tom Clancy was launching a game studio I was really skeptical that it was going to be anything more than low rent licenses of his books and movies. Then I played Rainbow Six and became a believer.
Origin: Wing Commander and Ultima. Again, nothing more to be said about that.
LucasArts: As in early 1990's LucasArts.
Dynamix: They were an arm of Sierra, but their games were different enough to stand out. I believe Rise of the Dragon was one of their titles.
These were studios that, when at their peak, were releasing games so good you could blindly purchase pretty much anything they made and come away satisfied.
The Logic Factory. Micromanagement hell aside, Ascendancy was fuckin' awesome, and I'd love to see what they might've cooked up for the sequal.
Logic Factory is still around. They're working on an MMORPG-ish thing called Seeker, and Ascendancy 2 will follow afterwards.
Though they've been completely insular for ages now. I'm wondering whether or not the company will survive to see the release of Seeker. And if it will be even a moderate success.
Cherrn on
All creature will die and all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai.
The guys who put out Freelancer haven't been mentioned?
This folks. I've been getting the urge lately to go back and do my seventh or eighth run through of Freelancer. All someone needs to do is fix the scale and make it an MMO and then I'd never leave my house again.
Like everybody else, most of my favorites have been mentioned - Black Isle, Troika, Bullfrog, Looking Glass, etc. To focus on one, though, it will forever be a mystery to me how anybody could make a Blade Runner game not suck, but Westwood pulled it off. One of my favorite adventure games of the era, no question.
I miss those guys. I miss old-school Command & Conquer in general, if nothing else for Frank Klepacki and the awesome jukeboxes.
I will always remember the old days of SUNSOFT. (I believe it's dead outside of Japan, but is still alive there)
Amazing graphics, great gameplay, and awesome music.
Blaster Master (My kingdom for an updated version of this!!)
Fester's Quest (fun)
Batman (awesome)
Gremlins 2 (fun)
Waku Waku 7 (I loved this fighter)
There's more, I just can't think of them right now.
I will always remember the old days of SUNSOFT. (I believe it's dead outside of Japan, but is still alive there)
Amazing graphics, great gameplay, and awesome music.
Blaster Master (My kingdom for an updated version of this!!)
Fester's Quest (fun)
Batman (awesome)
Gremlins 2 (fun)
Waku Waku 7 (I loved this fighter)
There's more, I just can't think of them right now.
You may want to put Grapple Buggy on your radar based on your yearning for a proper Blaster Master update. Looks like an awesome mash-up of Metroid-vania, Bionic Commando, and Blaster Master.
acidlacedpenguinInstitutionalizedSafe in jail.Registered Userregular
edited July 2009
I came into this thread specifically to complain that bullfrog wasn't on the first page and was pleasently surprised when I discovered the second post. kudos.
Posts
Don't bother. It taints that pristine catalogue of awesome that they had going. It was probably their death knell, it looked expensive to make but played like shit. That's what happens when someone shoehorns a developer out of their comfort zone. Sad because TS4 was probably going to be biblical.
But...Crytek :winky: Of course, a lot of the Timesplitters people had already left by that point.
And also, on that note, someone mentioned Big Huge Games. Brian Reynolds and a couple dozen other people left, but they were bought up by some random other company, they didn't close
Last good game they made was Secret Weapons Over Normandy in 2003, but it wasn't great by any means. They were completely silent for 4 years until they released Alien Syndrome for Wii, which is a massive piece of shit.
The company still exists, but talk about a freaking waste of talent.
The guys who put out Freelancer haven't been mentioned?
Bullfrog: Populus. Syndicate. Say no more.
Infocom: Where to even begin? Without Infocom the world of gaming would be so much different. I can rattle off a very long list of Infocom titles I played as a young chap that have made a lasting impression on me to this very day. Zork, for starters. And Trinity. And Wishbringer. And a whole lot of others.
Sir Tech: Again, where would gaming be without the foundations laid out by Wizardry?
Sierra Online: I mean Sierra Online as in the days of Roberta Williams and Al Lowe. I never really got into the Leisure Suit Larry games, but they were always a fun distraction when not playing a King's Quest or Police Quest game.
Red Storm: When I read that Tom Clancy was launching a game studio I was really skeptical that it was going to be anything more than low rent licenses of his books and movies. Then I played Rainbow Six and became a believer.
Origin: Wing Commander and Ultima. Again, nothing more to be said about that.
LucasArts: As in early 1990's LucasArts.
Dynamix: They were an arm of Sierra, but their games were different enough to stand out. I believe Rise of the Dragon was one of their titles.
These were studios that, when at their peak, were releasing games so good you could blindly purchase pretty much anything they made and come away satisfied.
I remember the first time I encountered the Sardaukar when playing a campaign as the Atreides. Dirty fucking Emperor.
Logic Factory is still around. They're working on an MMORPG-ish thing called Seeker, and Ascendancy 2 will follow afterwards.
Though they've been completely insular for ages now. I'm wondering whether or not the company will survive to see the release of Seeker. And if it will be even a moderate success.
I was those Harkonnens. Atreides I didn't like initially so I swapped over to them.
Devastators and rocket turret walls that stretched across the goddamn horizon.
This folks. I've been getting the urge lately to go back and do my seventh or eighth run through of Freelancer. All someone needs to do is fix the scale and make it an MMO and then I'd never leave my house again.
Is there any place to still purchase the old games? I'm a huge fan of the book series, but never actually played any of the games before.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
That said, always looking forward to another Ascendancy.
I also miss Westwood Studios.
I miss those guys. I miss old-school Command & Conquer in general, if nothing else for Frank Klepacki and the awesome jukeboxes.
Amazing graphics, great gameplay, and awesome music.
Blaster Master (My kingdom for an updated version of this!!)
Fester's Quest (fun)
Batman (awesome)
Gremlins 2 (fun)
Waku Waku 7 (I loved this fighter)
There's more, I just can't think of them right now.
Seriously. I'm still waiting for Apogee to join up and release Raptor: Call of the Shadows.
You may want to put Grapple Buggy on your radar based on your yearning for a proper Blaster Master update. Looks like an awesome mash-up of Metroid-vania, Bionic Commando, and Blaster Master.
http://kotaku.com/5278854/