Shiny Founder Quits To Aid Sale 61
Gamasutra reports that Dave Perry, the founder of Shiny Entertainment, quit his role with the company to aid its sale from floundering Atari. From the article: "Shiny Entertainment was founded in 1993 by Dave Perry, and produced the hit Earthworm Jim series, as well as the financially successful Enter The Matrix. It is also noted for more esoteric titles such as MDK, Messiah and Sacrifice. The studio was sold to French publisher Infogrames by Interplay in 2002 for an estimated $47 million, before the company bought the rights to the Atari name and logo." Sacrifice was a unique and under-rated strategy title. It was flawed, to be sure, but the immediacy of summoning your troops in the field was a lot of fun.
Re:Another great game that didn't sell. (Score:3, Interesting)
Sadly, Giants got all the press, even though it wasn't nearly as good a game. People liked the idea of playing the Giant more than they liked the idea of a really good game. And Walmart didn't like it.
Sacrifice would have been better if the multiplayer were stronger... the battles ended up mostly being "my clump of critters versus your clump of critters". It was very difficult to figure out just what was going on, or why you'd won or lost, because there was so much happening in such a small space... not to mention your limited perspective, stuck down in the world itself.
As a single-player game, though, it was truly excellent, with great replay value. It's a classic game in the old sense... with many paths to follow, many things to see, and a great deal of gameplay, but with the graphics of a fairly modern game.
Sacrifice also woke gaming up to the power of Wal-Mart. They refused to carry this game because it involved sacrificing souls on altars. (that's how you gain power: you kill your enemies' creatures, and convert their souls to your cause, bringing them back as your own creature types afterward.) And that, as far as I know, killed its sales. There have been no further games involving sacrifices, if you'll notice.
If you're tired of the latest trend, '8 hours of gameplay on rails for $50' (ie, F.E.A.R), and you're willing to invest some time learning a real classic, hunt down Sacrifice on EBay.
Re:Another great game that didn't sell. (Score:3, Interesting)
I play SS2 and sacrifice when the newer games start getting boring. Both are still very playworthy!