How EA killed another interesting project

[Wirdschowerdn]

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.off ... Id=3182177

Worth a read.

 

[Suchy]

a relationship-focused action title

That was not an interesting project.

 

[Fens]

tl;rd: EA canceled a mirror's edge clone with a lot of emo and spielberg involvement after failing to change it to an uncharted clone with less emo and more tits

Here's my proposal: let's make two- or three-hour games the new standard. Games that we will actually finish. Games befitting a mature, adult media consumption habit.

not a friend of strategy games i presume... you know... games enjoyed by actual mature audiences and not braindead morons who would be even more entertained if someone dangled some keys in front of their faces and whispered "here shiny shiny" into their unwashed ears

 

[SuicideBunny]

eh... if your main focus is escape from overwhelming odds, what's the point of having a progress mechanic that unlocks combat moves?

 

[MetalCraze]

a relationship-focused action title

That was not an interesting project.

Why? Sounds like a generic modern Bioware/Obsidian game.

 

[Roguey]

Here's my proposal: let's make two- or three-hour games the new standard. Games that we will actually finish. Games befitting a mature, adult media consumption habit.

not a friend of strategy games i presume... you know... games enjoyed by actual mature audiences and not braindead morons who would be even more entertained if someone dangled some keys in front of their faces and whispered "here shiny shiny" into their unwashed ears

I like how he was a designer on Thief, Thief 2, and System Shock 2. Everyone in the old guard has lost/is losing their marbles.

He's right though about how a lot of glorified tech demos have 2-3 hours of content stretched to 12 or more. Or 20-30 stretched to 40-60. Shame he didn't mention anything about his ideal "new standard's" price-point.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Spielberg made lots of great games.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

tl;rd: EA canceled a mirror's edge clone with a lot of emo and spielberg involvement after failing to change it to an uncharted clone with less emo and more tits

Don't forget that the Mirror's Edge clone was competing with Mirror's Edge, and when MEdge got released in 2008, the other project was pretty much killed off immediately.

 

[SuicideBunny]

a short game with actual c&c that affect gameplay, several endings, non-standard character archetypes, tons of replayability and without a shitty save the world from teh ultimate evuhl story sure sounds shitty.

 

[Fens]

I like how he was a designer on Thief, Thief 2, and System Shock 2. Everyone in the old guard has lost/is losing their marbles.

He's right though about how a lot of glorified tech demos have 2-3 hours of content stretched to 12 or more. Or 20-30 stretched to 40-60. Shame he didn't mention anything about his ideal "new standard's" price-point.

true... but at least he mentions the awesome and new concept of choices in games which should increase replayability

i keep hearing "somebody put something in my drink" by the ramones in my head when i read stuff like that

Don't forget that the Mirror's Edge clone was competing with Mirror's Edge, and when MEdge got released in 2008, the other project was pretty much killed off immediately.

awesomely downplayed in the article... i might not agree with a lot of what dice does (some bf2 anger residue probably) but staying away from this 'project' and finishing mirror's edge as fast as possible was the right thing to do

a short game with actual c&c that affect gameplay, several endings, non-standard character archetypes, tons of replayability and without a shitty save the world from teh ultimate evuhl story sure sounds shitty.

we're talking about EA and spielberg here

 

[MetalCraze]

EA is evil lol guise I'll go preorder DA2

 

[SuicideBunny]

we're talking about EA and spielberg here

you are talking about a game that ea didn't want to publish because it didn't fit their money making formulas and where spielberg didn't have enough of a say to prevent it from becoming an uncharted clone in the second phase.

too exotic for ea and spielberg as consultant throwing around ideas filtered by people who have a high chance of knowing how to make a good game are two strong points speaking for it, imo, but of course even the most stinking turd usually starts out as a project with really ambitious and interesting ideas that get cut more and more during production.

 

[Fens]

too exotic for ea and spielberg as consultant throwing around ideas filtered by people who have a high chance of knowing how to make a good game are two strong points speaking for it, imo, but of course even the most stinking turd usually starts out as a project with really ambitious and interesting ideas that get cut more and more during production.

full ack on the production process ruining good ideas

 

[kris]

a relationship-focused action title

That was not an interesting project.

Why? Sounds like a generic modern Bioware/Obsidian game.

Talking out your ass again?

I read the whole article. It was a interesting game concept with possibly over-ambitious AI on the level of black and white. But if they somehow would have been able to make it work, then it would have been both innovative and great.

Then EA went into their "EA mode" and decided...

Without Young, Church, and the original design team, LMNO's second phase transformed into what many describe as a more "traditional" game, under the leadership of executive producer Matt Sentell -- an EA and Namco veteran who had previously worked on games like Medal of Honor: Airborne.

As part of this shift to a more traditional game, Eve also transformed from more of a quirky, weird character into a more over-the-top attractive "Megan Fox-type," according to one former team member. "Like an alien version of Megan Fox."

so in the end we could see another interesting concept for a game be shelved and the great "innovators" EA trying to push it out as something generic without any soul whatsoever.

 

[Fens]

so in the end we could see another interesting concept for a game be shelved and the great "innovators" EA trying to push it out as something generic without any soul whatsoever.

madden... madden never changes

 

[J1M]

The concept for this sounds like they used a dart board with a bunch of high-level concepts on it. Then added a movie producer for publicity.

I skimmed the first page of the article, and the only reason it appears to exist is to pump up the hype machine for the next game EA wants to do with director man. ie. The following phrase rattles through your brain as you enter gamestop: "They cancelled that last game that sounded good, so since they are releasing this one it must be AMAZING"

In reality what this combo has given us is Boom Blox. An xbox live game sold as a full product.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Nothing of value is lost.

 

[poocolator]

a relationship-focused action title

That was not an interesting project.

Sounds Japanese.

 

[Norfleet]

I see no actual evidence this "project" existed in the first place, so it seems perfectly reasonable to sack a bunch of people who had managed to produce absolutely nothing.

 

[kingcomrade]

a relationship-focused action title

That was not an interesting project.

Why? Sounds like a generic modern Bioware/Obsidian game.

I like how Obsidian is now mentioned. New Vegas's popularity is bothering skyway.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

LMNO visual target video: http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/32068

 

[Crooked Bee]

a relationship-focused action title

That was not an interesting project.

Why? Sounds like a generic modern Bioware/Obsidian game.

I like how Obsidian is now mentioned. New Vegas's popularity is bothering skyway.

NV isn't relationship-focused btw, which is refreshingly surprising.