More From Spector On Deus Ex, Thief Sequels 37
Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Ion Storm's studio director Warren Spector, discussing "design, his excitement over the new Thief title, and past mistakes." He comments on the optional third-person mode in the forthcoming Thief: Deadly Shadows, suggesting: "It really does provide a kind of tactical awareness you don't get in a first-person mode", and goes on to further discuss the controversial fan reaction to Deus Ex: Invisible War, admitting: "We made a really bad, bad decision... by not supporting drag and drop in the interface on the PC version of Invisible War, and that was unforgivable." However, he doesn't comment on recent rumors that have him "aiding in the design of the next Tomb Raider game", currently in development at fellow Eidos-owned studio Crystal Dynamics.
Re:I just hope (Score:2)
The two things that scared me as I read through the interview, and the previous preview:
1. There is going to be a console version, and from the previous games that Ion has released, it sounds like the don't localize each version. e.g. have functional differences betweem the Xbox and PC versions. And, at the risk of insulting console zelots, console FPS just don't come close to an FPS on the PC, not enough buttons, and looking with an analog stick is a PITA compared to mouse look.
2. in the original
Re:I just hope (Score:2)
missed chance... (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh well. I suppose the interviewer was afraid that if he really grilled Spector, then Sector wouldn't do any more interviews with gamespy.
I guess we can only hope that Thief benifits from the lessons learned in makeing Deus Ex 2
Re:missed chance... (Score:4, Interesting)
Problems with DX2 (Score:2)
Problems in DX2 that were bigger than the menu issue:
- PERFORMANCE: I have seen it chug on a high end system with a Radeon 9800XT, mainly due to poor default configuration
- Radeon support: deals with manufacturers are bs
- Bugmaggedon: so many bits from the XBox version polluting the PC version it's a wonde
Re:missed chance... (Score:3, Interesting)
Since he recognizes only this error and then says that they didnt have to dumb down the game to make it a console one, i think that this hope relies on the fact that all he said in this article was just plain commercail talking and not the expression of truth. Otherwise, no, he didnt realize that.
Excuse me but we're talking about GameSpy... (Score:1)
Didn't GS do a pretty rosey review of DX:IW?
DX2 (Score:4, Insightful)
Biggest error in DX2 I think was over-fiddling the rendering engine for unrequired lighting tricks. The Unreal engine was perfectly apt to make their game world before they "improved" on it - which largely ended up doing two things: capping the top end performance at mediocre and ruining any chance for a level editor or mod community.
Re:DX2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:DX2 (Score:2)
Re:DX2 (Score:2)
That constant loading was the most annoying part. Because that completely ruined the 'pacing' of the game for me. I never felt that things flowed, and I was afraid to go through certain doors, elevators, etc because I knew it would hit a load point.
Re:DX2 (Score:3, Insightful)
And the small level size was a direct result of the limitations imposed by the new/complex/expensive lighting model.
Re:DX2 (Score:2)
Re:DX2 (Score:2)
Re:DX2 (Score:1)
Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Spector is delusional (Score:1)
KOTOR is Deus Ex-like? Come again? In what way? If he's talking about the fact that KOTOR doesn't suck, then it's nothing like Deus Ex IW. I love the man's games, they are true classics- from Origin on to Ion Storm, but Spector should really just quit while he's ahead.
Deus Ex 1 was a start. You solidify the legacy, justify all the hype with a GREAT sequel. That opportunity has been missed. If I had a nickel for all the "emergent-gamplay" and various other hype-like crap that Spector spewed over DX:IW (
Next Tomb-Raider game? (Score:2)
Spector is a nut (Score:3, Insightful)
He thinks the worst thing he did in the game was not having drag-and-drop inventory? Trust me, that's pretty bad, but FAR FAR FAR from the worst problem.
And his comments on the demo don't touch on the fact that they released it with the Xbox settings activated.
Either he is in denial that he released a crappy game or he is crazy.
Forums are Important (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Forums are Important (Score:2)
How many person would at his job pass along the kind of information that are available here:
-They believe spector is either a terrible liar or completly delusional and finished. They havent decided yet.
-We released crap and they know it. They firmly know that our next release is going to be crap.
-they fart in our general direction.
Re:Forums are Important (Score:2)
Forums and getting e-mails from users are nice and all, but face it, most of them are just complaints. There are four main types of people.
One is the guy who likes your game. However, instead of writing an e-mail/posting on the forum saying "DIS GAME IS TEH R0X0RZ!111!!!", he says to himself and/or to his friends "Yeah its a good game and I showed my support by buying their game." This is generally consitutes the majority. Next we have the same type of guy, only he actually
Re:Forums are Important (Score:2)
I would have controversial reaction (Score:3, Funny)
That was a very impressive lighting effect, and I could tell that the engine had been improved.
Missed chances and the gaming media (Score:5, Insightful)
Basically, the gaming media blows chunks. Not only should the issue be, "Where are the grilling questions to Spector" but extended, "Where are the grilling questions TO ANYONE." I have yet to really see some nice "journalism" in gaming. When we do have it, it is from the lower level gaming sites, such as the work by HardOCP on Infinium (kudos to them). EGM was all over Enter the Matrix and Dave Perry like prom night before the game came out, spilling their orgasmic spew of screenshots and quote-y blurbs throughout the centerfold of that issue. But when the game bombed, EGM resorted only to cowardly making scattered funnies here and there throughout the issues that followed. What they should have done is sent one of their writers to the doors of Shiny and camped outside with a pen and notepad like Harry Knowles for Obscure-Comic-Book-Superhero-Movie until they could "grill" Perry, instead of taking lame-ass joke-shots at him from the safety of their own pages.
The fact is, Spector has given dozens of interviews since the release of DE:IW, but no one has the balls to really ask him the hard questions. When these magazines interview someone from a dev house that puts out a bug-infested game, the first question on the lips of the media should not be, "Ooo what goody goody game is coming out next tell us more give us screen shots! Mmmmm...screenshotss......" It should be holding the gaming houses accountable, the first question should be, "Why did your game crash computers? Did you know it would?." Etc. They might rely on people like Spector for interviews and advertising, but at the bottom of the structure supporting the gaming meda are the readers and it's to us that they ought to be directly serving.
That's not even taking into account some of the more culturally relevant issues that are largely going ignored, like the treatment of war and Vietnam or Iraq by gaming publishers, for example. Why hasn't someone done a printed piece on why minorities are all but ignored in anything save sports video games? Why aren't our magazine writers playing the role press and critics are supposed to play and holding the publishers to the wall?
Video gaming is, by and large, still infant and immature, and part of this is because our gaming media is more immature than the audience. Gaming isn't taken seriously by overall culture as is the case with film, writing, or visual arts, because our representatives, the gaming media, don't act seriously. If they're not big nerds (the bad kind), they're acting like them when, for example, they allow events like E3 to parade around objectified women to advertise games. We've never really advanced beyond the Nintendo Power stage of writing. There is a place for this kind of amateurism, sure, as there is in any viable medium, be it books or film or otherwise. But we have nothing else to speak of save that. That's sad, and it bodes poorly for the maturation of an industry and an artform.
Someone really needs to smack these writers in the head with a large, heavy, and basic journalism textbook so that maybe, maybe!, they'll snap out of their adolescent obsession with ratings and screenshots and start acting like journalists and writers. That is to say, as journalists quote-unquote, they have a legacy behind them of cultural accountability that they have all but ignored because a sequel to Game X is coming out and just looks so AWESOME DUDE. It's time to start thinking about the games we're playing, and it's in the hands of the gaming media that the initiative lies. They've all but ignored it, as sadly demonstrated by the mentioned interview with Spector.
Just one print magazine or website is all I ask for. Here's hoping.
Re:Missed chances and the gaming media (Score:4, Insightful)
When a newspaper or magazine does an article about Topic X, even if for some reason it really raked X over the coals, they know they have an almost indefinite source of advertising that they can draw from. Hell, it's why much of the time these days, "advertiser boycotts" don't work as well as they could. One drops out, another takes its place. In addition, since there are a zillion potential stories for a magazine, if one company doesn't like you, there are others you can interview, etc.
However, in the gaming realm, there are what, five, six, seven major publishing houses that are giving you most of your ads. Look through your average magazine and count the number of game ads that are for EA-published games. Or Activision. Or Sony. etc. Which means two things:
1. If these companies decide they don't want to advertise with you anymore, there's no one else to take their place.
2. If these companies decide they hate you, you don't get your interviews/previews/extra copies/what have you, and everyone else (that is still kissing butt) does.
Look at Deus Ex II - I remember when the demo came out and everyone was talking about the problems, the word from On High was "It's just the demo." I even remember a few articles at various places (Gamespy for one) talking about these problems...the performance (due to the lighting), the "dumbing down" of the interface, the loss of the broad XP system the original had, many other things. But then, the game comes out, and lo and behold, all these places give great reviews and barely gloss over the problems that *they themselves talked about not weeks before*. Or, if they do mention them, it doesn't seem to affect the score they give the game.
So everyone's happy except the gamer that goes out and buys the game. The site keeps getting ad money, the company got a good review.
It would be great to ask Mr. Spector questions like "Now that you've seen the reaction DX2 got, what would you have done differently?" or "Why did you focus so much on lighting effects few people care about (and that many turn off) and sacrifice the large, interactive areas that the original DX had?" and such. I just don't see that happening, though. After all, one bad question and suddenly your Thief 3 exclusive is in the competitor's magazine, and your boss is showing you the door.
Re:Missed chances and the gaming media (Score:2)
I cant remember the last time I read an article about a game online or in a magazine and was sold on it.
Re:Missed chances and the gaming media (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Missed chances and the gaming media (Score:2)
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard
Athlon 2.0Ghz
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
1 gigabyte of PC2100 (Crucial)
nForce digital SP/DIF audio
-- Video is horribly slow, especially when going into "Focus" mode (try playing with 1 FPS.) Audio drops out randomly, or starts to screech super loud and I have to hurry and turn down my speakers, even with EAX/3d audio disabled. You can see through certain walls, and during cutscenes, entire charact
Re:Missed chances and the gaming media (Score:1)
They are still largely trying to compete for the same kiddie-teen demographic, and therefore the interviews are not going to be cutting, sharp or insightful, they're going to be "So how many explosions, how many whizz-bangs?" etc.
As you rightly pointed out, the industry is still young, and the age range of users is still (falsely) perceived as being young. For instance, in the UK there is only one dedicated games magaz
Deus Ex - I liked it (Score:2)
I think I will wait (Score:1)