Factor 5 Moves Away From GameCube Development 42
Thanks to IGN Cube for its article discussing Star Wars: Rebel Strike developer Factor 5's official confirmation that they won't develop any more GameCube titles - apparently, "The studio is currently creating software for other platforms", and, although formerly having very close ties to Nintendo, "at the Game Developers Conference 2004 [Factor 5 president Julian] Eggebrecht was spotlighted as one of the studio heads very keen on Sony PSP development."
Misleading headline (Score:4, Informative)
Re:It's Accurate (Score:4, Informative)
Uh... you are WRONG. From the Gamespot story about this - "According to Eggebrecht, the only reason Factor 5 has stopped making GameCube games was that they've abandoned current-generation hardware altogether. "It is simply because we have moved into next-generation development," he said."
Re:It's Accurate (Score:1)
Aww... my first trolling on Slashdot. I feel so honored. Thank you, you just made my day.
Guessing.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Guessing.. (Score:3, Informative)
So no more Gamecube games, but no PS2 or XBox ones either.
Real Story from Gamespot (Score:5, Informative)
Today, similar noises could be heard emanating from the offices of San Rafael, CA-based Factor 5. Word leaked today that the creator of the Rogue Squadron series--the GameCube's premiere Star Wars franchise--had ceased development for the console. Even though Factor 5 was technically not second-party developer--"We've never been a Nintendo shop," president Julian Eggebrecht told GameSpot--the studio was perceived as such. Its last non-Nintendo game was 1999's Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D for the PC.
However, Eggebrecht was quick to dispel any "doom" that might surround Factor 5's announcement. Echoing Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack, he emphasized his enthusiasm for Nintendo's future console efforts. "We are extremely excited about both DS and GCNext, so any talk of us abandoning Nintendo platforms altogether is just not true," he told GameSpot.
According to Eggebrecht, the only reason Factor 5 has stopped making GameCube games was that they've abandoned current-generation hardware altogether. "It is simply because we have moved into next-generation development," he said.
As for which future console Factor 5 was creating games for, Eggebrecht was unspecific, saying only "there might be a surprise [announcement] coming from us."
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Man, I hate the media spinning stuff like this into gloom-and-doom Nintendo stories.
Re:Real Story from Gamespot (Score:1)
If I had mod points, I'd mod you to the roof for posting this before the usual "death of Nintendo" thread appears (no doubt see below). So they've stopped making games for the GameCube (or any other platform) because they're concentrating on the next generation. And they expres
Re:Real Story from Gamespot (Score:1)
Perhaps they were taken onboard for work on another Metal Gear game.
Re:Real Story from Gamespot (Score:2)
Factor 5 has always seemed to me to be one of those groups that just wants to be on the cutting edge, all the time. Good for them! It means I may well have an extra high-quality title at-or-near launch time on consoles in the future.
Shocker! (Score:5, Informative)
According to Eggebrecht, the only reason Factor 5 has stopped making GameCube games was that they've abandoned current-generation hardware altogether. "It is simply because we have moved into next-generation development," he said.
Re:Shocker! (Score:1)
Sony and Microsoft only? (Score:1, Troll)
Only invested money matters?
Re:Sony and Microsoft only? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a little unfair to suggest that only invested money matters. Sure, Sony and Microsoft have been able to throw a lot of money behind their consoles and this has helped, but I don't think it's the only, or even the main reason. Sony and (to a lesser degree) Microsoft have been more successful at making use of the benefits of modern technology, taking the console market in new directions and branding themselves to fit a rapidly aging gaming audience. Nintendo, quite frankly, give me the impression that they'd much rather we'd never moved on from the SNES generation of consoles. They're still making essentially the same games, pitched at essentially the same audience (an audience which is perhaps beginning to move on to other things). They've failed to keep many of their second and third party developers interested, so the only big exclusive titles we can look forward to on the GC are basically remakes of 10 year old games.
Of course, competition is a good thing and it'd be sad if the number of major console hardware players was reduced from 3 to 2. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 3rd contender appear. I suspect that when Sony are eventually dethroned, it might come from an unexpected direction (who, at the height of the SNES generation, would have believed that Sony would be the company to smash Nintendo's dominance?). Microsoft will probably establish their console family as moderately strong competitors to the Playstation series (the X-Box's first couple of years haven't been great, but MS are learning... and FAST), but I don't see them unseating the PS brand.
Re:Sony and Microsoft only? (Score:1)
And before anyone goes on about how Nintendo's first-party games are for kids, let's analyze that for a sec. What do you want Nintendo to do - Grand Theft Mario? Mos
Re:Sony and Microsoft only? (Score:2, Insightful)
What I want to know is where are the Gamecube's answers to Gran Turismo, the "proper" Final Fantasy games, KOTOR, MechAssault etc? Excluding remakes (Resident Evil, MGS), the only two
...so? (Score:2)
Headline is highly misleading... (Score:2)
They're still doing development for Nintendo, they've simply ceased dev on all current hardware, Nintendo or otherwise.
The anti-Nintendo fanboyism gets
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:2)
Are you serious? I find the pro-Nintendo fanboyism is about 100x thicker. "Nintendo makes the best games, gamecube is the best console, Xbox sucks, etc."
Everytime I've posted about the GameCube, I've been modded as troll or flamebait by fanboy mods.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nintendo may make good games and have good hardware but the Gamecube's current rep is looking a lot like the Sega Dreamcast.
I realize that in this c
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:1, Insightful)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a good example of what I suspect is Nintendo not knowing when to leave a project around. Of course, for all I know, it might be that SquareEnix really, really fouled up on this one, but I find it implausible. What I do know is that we ended up with a kiddified game, stripped on pretty much any depth and with the exact same graphical look as 99% of other games on the GC (with the honorable exception of Eternal Darkness and a very small number of other 2nd/3rd
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:2)
They put a lot of time into their projects. IGN [even though it was the IGNCube channel] is horribly swayed against Nintendo. They think every decision they make is a bad one. They view every story negatively.
Please
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:2)
But, dear lord, there were some great games for the dreamcast. It's the only system I own!
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:1)
Re:Headline is highly misleading... (Score:2)
Are you joking? Please tell me you're joking!
Slashdot.org is about the most PRO-Nintendo website I've ever seen in my life by far. I don't know who submitted that story but, hell, if you make a single comment that *maybe* Nintendo made a mistake by doing X, or that the "double screen" sounds like a dumb idea, and you get modded into the basement.
And God-forbid you post something about the XBox having a good game, or the XBox contro
Mod parent up (Score:2)
I'll be the first to admit that I have a bit of an anti-Nintendo bias, mainly because of how badly I got screwed by the N64. But I realize that I have a bias and try to moderate my comments accordingly. I don't think most of the Nintendo fanboys on
Astroturfing.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft is known for paying people to try to sway public opionion: info here
It this why, in the last 6-months, Slashdot has had a rash of "Nintendo is Dying" stories?
I'll really know we've been astroturfed if I see a "poor beleagured Nintendo" story.
Oh, I'm sorry, you must have meant (Score:5, Insightful)
"We're excited about future Nintendo consoles," says CEO.
Re:Oh, I'm sorry, you must have meant (Score:1)
No Thornado? (Score:1)
Re:No Thornado? (Score:1)
Re:No Thornado? (Score:2)
Welcome to 2004.
developers leave after poor gamecube sales (Score:2)
Re:developers leave after poor gamecube sales (Score:1)
I seriously was wondering what IGN was smoking.. (Score:3, Informative)
Silicon Knights went 3rd party, and Factor 5 has halted production for all three current generation consoles (They did say they were working on games for the other systems a couple of months back). It doesn't take a genius to see it: Factor 5 is shifting it's focus to next-generation hardware development, not abandoning Nintendo.
It's no wonder Nintendo has a bad image, with the media slanting press releases and news articles the way they've been doing it, I'm amazed they even call themselves GC news sites.
I wish the media would get off of Nintendo's backs. Maybe then, the gaming community would, too.