I'm a big fan of <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/">The Escapist</a>, a weekly online magazine covering "gaming and gamer culture". This week's issue publishes two RPG-related articles, focusing on Bethesda Softworks and Ion Storm's Anachronox.
The <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/83/11">Bethesda article</a> is essentially a puff piece; there's only effusive praise for the company's most recent titles (with a brief mention of fan backlash against the horse armor micromod), accompanied by optimism for Fallout 3. Despite this lack of critical perspective and little focus on questions of game design, the article is still an interesting account of the company's origins and history, including the company's early sports titles and the creation of The Elder Scrolls franchise under Chris Weaver:<blockquote>When Weaver set out to design Arena, the first The Elder Scrolls installment, in 1992, Bethesda had been primarily working the sports game angle: In the six years since Gridiron debuted, six of the 10 games they developed were sports sims, and the other four were adaptations from other media. And throughout the company's life, TES has been their only ongoing in-house, non-sports or original franchise. If Weaver had a baby, Arena was it, and it showed.</blockquote>The article summarizes Weaver's ongoing legal wranglings with Zenimax, which bought (er, bailed out) Bethesda in '99, and the transition to current-day Bethesda under Todd Howard.
The <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/83/4">Anachronox piece</a> also focuses on history - in this case, the historical moment in the gaming industry when hype-heavy powerhouse developer Ion Storm collapsed, pushing Anachronox out the door as its last act. The Escapist offers plenty of perspective from lead Tom Hall on the game's development and post-development:<blockquote>Most of the reviews at the time of Anachronox's release praised the game for its storyline and characters, but reviewers and players docked points for the number of bugs found within the game. Hall says "it wasn't insanely buggy compared to some titles, but it was rushed out the door. Eidos wanted to ship it. If we'd shipped Joey [Liaw]'s final build, it would have been very stable." Bugs alone may not explain Anachronox's commercial failure, however. "I think most people didn't know the game was out. ... I sing the praises of Eidos for sticking with us through all the craziness - they were amazing. But they spent millions on the game, and in the tens of thousands on advertising. I think it could have found a pretty strong audience. But with all the craziness that had gone on, I feel fortunate that people got to experience it at all."</blockquote>Anachronox, Hall makes clear, was one of those genuine labors of love in the industry. Look for a retrospective Codex review in the coming months.
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.escapistmagazine.com">The Escapist</A>
The <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/83/11">Bethesda article</a> is essentially a puff piece; there's only effusive praise for the company's most recent titles (with a brief mention of fan backlash against the horse armor micromod), accompanied by optimism for Fallout 3. Despite this lack of critical perspective and little focus on questions of game design, the article is still an interesting account of the company's origins and history, including the company's early sports titles and the creation of The Elder Scrolls franchise under Chris Weaver:<blockquote>When Weaver set out to design Arena, the first The Elder Scrolls installment, in 1992, Bethesda had been primarily working the sports game angle: In the six years since Gridiron debuted, six of the 10 games they developed were sports sims, and the other four were adaptations from other media. And throughout the company's life, TES has been their only ongoing in-house, non-sports or original franchise. If Weaver had a baby, Arena was it, and it showed.</blockquote>The article summarizes Weaver's ongoing legal wranglings with Zenimax, which bought (er, bailed out) Bethesda in '99, and the transition to current-day Bethesda under Todd Howard.
The <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/83/4">Anachronox piece</a> also focuses on history - in this case, the historical moment in the gaming industry when hype-heavy powerhouse developer Ion Storm collapsed, pushing Anachronox out the door as its last act. The Escapist offers plenty of perspective from lead Tom Hall on the game's development and post-development:<blockquote>Most of the reviews at the time of Anachronox's release praised the game for its storyline and characters, but reviewers and players docked points for the number of bugs found within the game. Hall says "it wasn't insanely buggy compared to some titles, but it was rushed out the door. Eidos wanted to ship it. If we'd shipped Joey [Liaw]'s final build, it would have been very stable." Bugs alone may not explain Anachronox's commercial failure, however. "I think most people didn't know the game was out. ... I sing the praises of Eidos for sticking with us through all the craziness - they were amazing. But they spent millions on the game, and in the tens of thousands on advertising. I think it could have found a pretty strong audience. But with all the craziness that had gone on, I feel fortunate that people got to experience it at all."</blockquote>Anachronox, Hall makes clear, was one of those genuine labors of love in the industry. Look for a retrospective Codex review in the coming months.
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.escapistmagazine.com">The Escapist</A>
(I mean, c'mon - that's not even clever...)
