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StarCraft Ghost Developer Dropped From Project? 27

Posted by simoniker from the trouble-in-paradise dept.
Thanks to HomeLAN Fed for its news story revealing StarCraft: Ghost developer Nihilistic is no longer attached to the still-in-development tactical action game. According to an official Blizzard statement: "Nihilistic has completed its contribution on StarCraft: Ghost. They are contracted to begin work on another project in the months ahead. Due to the requirements of that obligation and the delay of StarCraft, it was mutually determined that now would be the best time for them to complete their work." The PS2/Xbox/GameCube title was announced as delayed late last week, at which point Blizzard simply stated: "We plan to build additional time into the schedule to polish the game."
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StarCraft Ghost Developer Dropped From Project? More

StarCraft Ghost Developer Dropped From Project?

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  • Don't forget the gamecube! (Score:5, Informative)

    by fireduck ( 197000 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @05:57AM (#9493305)
    from the faq [blizzard.com]:
    Q: On what platforms will StarCraft: Ghost be available?
    A: A: StarCraft: Ghost will be available on the Xbox(TM), GameCube(TM) and Playstation® 2.

    unless of course that has changed as well without notice...

  • This is actually a good precedent. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Deliveranc3 ( 629997 ) <deliverance.level4@org> on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @06:10AM (#9493345) Journal
    Getting more people in on the content side will likely flesh out the storyline and make for some more interesting gameplay.

    Sides talented engineers should be kept working on new engines, SC:G was planned back in the days of DX 8.1 so it'll be good to get these guys working on something new, which will hopefully be a contender with the big three.

  • No Real Surprise (Score:5, Insightful)

    by th1ckasabr1ck ( 752151 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @07:11AM (#9493567)
    Blizzard and Id have always had the same "It's done when it's done, and not a second earlier" attitude. Obviously not many companies can afford to do this, but it HAS allowed the aforementioned two companies to produce some of the best games of all time.
    • Contrast this to EA.

      EA:"It will be ready in six months, three months, two weeks. Actually here it is now. That'll be 60 euro"
      EA Junkie:"But this won't even start up. I.. I don't think it's even compiled?"
      EA:"It's got classy pictures on the front and a cool CG intro. That'll be 60 euro"
      EA Junkie:"The controls don't respond, wait there are no controls, it's just a rolling cutscence."
      EA:"The graphics are state of the art polyres, reflective,raytaced 3D with rasterised flipflop and EA's (EA)award winning Mujag

    • They're not the only ones (Score:5, Insightful)

      by *weasel ( 174362 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @09:31AM (#9494685)
      Blizzard and Id have always had the same "It's done when it's done, and not a second earlier" attitude.

      3d Realms and Ion Storm (Romero) also have/had such a policy.

      It isn't necessarily a mark of quality. Sometimes the attitude just leads to bad games in bad situations lingering in near-perpetuity. IIRC (and I admit it's a foggy memory) Blizzard's ill-fated Adventure game was also in dev limbo shortly before it was cancelled.

      I wouldn't necessarily assume that this is a positive development. Particularly not if they're concerned about the game not being fun enough (as was their primary concern with Thrall's quest or whatever it was).
    • Yes, but Blizzard has had prior example of "pulling" a game - meaning it ends up "never done".

      See Also:
      Warcraft Adventures

  • Ghost Developer Dropped (Score:3, Funny)

    by leoboiko ( 462141 ) <leoboiko@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @08:01AM (#9493872) Homepage
    No wonder he was fired, ghost developers tend to be outdated. They kinda stop in time. And they scare co-workers...

    *ducks*

  • Your Mission, Should you Choose to Accept it.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RaisinBread ( 315323 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @08:04AM (#9493893) Homepage
    Put 'em to work on StarCraft II!

    Maybe they wanted to focus all their RTS grey matter on the Warcraft games, but dang, SC was a great game.

    Pretty Please?
    • Dear Mr. Blizzard,

      You have proven your point that you are not all about the dollars. Rather than take one of the best-selling, most awarded games (Starcraft) of all time and simply churn out a crappy sequel a year later to make money, you have waited patiently. It's been 6 years, you've been so patient.

      We believe you. It is not about the money!

      Now, having said that, when can we expect a highly updated, super-fun, Starcraft II?

      Sincerely,

      A Believer

  • Bottom Line Translation, Blizzard PoV? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @09:23AM (#9494599) Homepage
    "Nihilistic isn't getting the job done at all. We're bringing Ghost back in house to see if we can save the game before it goes the way of Warcraft Adventures. Nihilistic better have good lawyers because we're not paying a dime over the barest minimum for this dreck."

    But maybe I'm too cynical. :)

    • Re:Bottom Line Translation, Blizzard PoV? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Godeke ( 32895 ) * on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @10:02AM (#9494998)
      No, I don't think you are too cynical, I had the same impression. You don't pull a project from the developers to give them a head start on their next project, a project that *isn't* for your firm! These guys at Nihilistic are the only ones who know the code from top to bottom: pulling them can only damage the schedule and quality of the product. Knowing that Blizzard produces high quality games (to the point of cancelling those that don't meet standards) I can only conclude that Nihilistic was creating code on the order of the Matrix in terms of sheer bug ridden nightmareishness, and they want to pull it in house to try to salvage something.

      • Re:Bottom Line Translation, Blizzard PoV? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by startled ( 144833 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @12:27PM (#9496865)
        "I can only conclude that Nihilistic was creating code on the order of the Matrix in terms of sheer bug ridden nightmareishness, and they want to pull it in house to try to salvage something."

        That's far from the only conclusion. Here's another one you could draw: the game's more or less done, but the art and level design suck. The engine's excellent, so Blizz is pulling it in-house to redo some content. That means they barely have to touch the engine code at all.

        There are quite a few other conclusions you could draw, and not all of them are dire.

      • Re:Bottom Line Translation, Blizzard PoV? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Black Mage Balthazar ( 708812 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @01:36PM (#9497719)
        That and the fact that it says that Nihilistic has a contract to take up another game. Rather than give Blizz a half done job that is all over, they're gonna wrap up what they have and hand it back in a nice little package. Blizz can then use this as a platform to complete the game.

        Which would be worse? Having Blizz take the game back, polish it up and release it, or having Nihilistic trying to BS their way through it while concurrently working on another game that they are contractually obligated to start work on?

  • SC:G evolution @ E3 for the past two years (Score:4, Insightful)

    by stryck9 ( 670369 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @04:47PM (#9500157)
    Two years ago at E3 Starcraft Ghost, looked great and played great. This year at E3 it still looked great, but the game play had been significantly dumbed down, and made more "accessible". All of the multiple path ways to defeat enemies, stealth, psi, run and gun, had been removed in favor of one solution..., use psi here, use gun here, etc... I don't know what conclusion to draw from that in regards to this news, but thought it worth mentioning.
    • Offering 8 different ways to solve a given game problem is great from the player point of view, but it creates huge problems on the QA end of the game.

      How so? Glad you asked.

      If your game is meant to have some sort of storyline, its nice to know that "If player has reached this point, he has done X, Y, and Z". If you can stealth your way past an enemy rather then kill him, then the revenge subplot no longer works, since you did not kill some guys brother.

      Also, providing 8 different solutions to a proble
  • Blizzard give them a chance to prove their worth, and in someway they have. Now its time to hand it over for AAA polishing, they planned it all. Good news for blizzard fans.

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