Company News Spector bails on Ion Storm

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Eidos; Warren Spector

Per <A href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/08/news_6112661.html">this article</a> on <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/">GameSpot</a>, <b>Warren Spector</b> has left <a href="http://www.ionstorm.com/">Ion Storm</a> to stare at large, polygonal breasts. Here's a clip:
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<blockquote>However, the same spokesperson was eager to emphasize that Spector will not sever his ties completely with Eidos. "Warren has chosen to pursue personal interests outside the company, but he will continue to work for Eidos as an IP consultant. His insight and expertise is highly valued by Eidos, and the company looks forward to continuing its relationship with Warren in his new role.”
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The "new role" mentioned by Edios' rep will likely be his further advice on the upcoming Tomb Raider game, the development for which he was reportedly overseeing at another Edios-owned studio, Crystal Dynamics. The new Tomb Raider, the seventh in the series, is due out next summer.</blockquote>
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I really don't think there's a punchline needed for this. It just doesn't get any funnier than that already.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.homelanfed.com">HomeLAN Fed</A>

 

[Nicolai]

The "new role" mentioned by Edios' rep will likely be his further advice on the upcoming Tomb Raider game, the development for which he was reportedly overseeing at another Edios-owned studio, Crystal Dynamics.

... That's comedy gold

 

[Spazmo]

Talk about karma. I guess there isn't anyone left to be disappointed by this crappy sequel.

 

[HanoverF]

Ion Storm is saving Spector from the Tyranny of Paychecks

 

[Reklar]

From Deus Ex and Thief to Tomb Raider? How the mighty have fallen. Next thing you'll know he'll be working for BioWare. :D

-Reklar
(a Fallout/RPG fan)

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I see it now...

Laura Croft botches a trap check while tomb raiding and gets trapped by a magical vortex that transports her to an alternate dimension where she meets, and falls in love with, Garrett. The two marry and begin a career of thiefing/tombraiding only to piss of an uberdemon who banishes them to another plane where cybernetic implants and evil corporations rule.

Yeah...

 

[Surlent]

Argh this is totally messed up ! What will happen Ion Storm now ?
Even if they're doing Deus Ex3 or Thief4, there's noone to make it.
Harvey Smith left Ion, then they kicked the Thief3 team and now Spector.

btw Ion Storm isn't doing Tomb Raider, it's Crystal Dynamics even though Spector seemed to work with them also.

 

[Fireblade]

Argh this is totally messed up ! What will happen Ion Storm now ?
Even if they're doing Deus Ex3 or Thief4, there's noone to make it.
Harvey Smith left Ion, then they kicked the Thief3 team and now Spector.

btw Ion Storm isn't doing Tomb Raider, it's Crystal Dynamics even though Spector seemed to work with them also.

Does anyone still care whether Deus Ex 3 is made?

 

[Seven]

Does any one care that the polar ice caps are melting?

 

[dojoteef]

Does anyone still care whether Deus Ex 3 is made?

After the debacle that was DX:IW I hope they never decide to continue that franchise. What's the point anyway it wasn't an interesting setting and didn't contain interesting people. The gameplay for the original was decent, but why does that mean they need to make sequels? Couldn't they just take the ideas that they learned from the first, expound on them and make a new game not in the same universe? Of course not, how else are they supposed to dick people over. Make a shitter game, call it a sequel and make easy money! YEAH!

As for Spector, what's up with these high profile designers? What's the point? Haven't we already seen that most if not all of them don't seem to have a clue nine times out of ten? Are developers so stupid that they need one of these guys to tell them how to make a game fun (as if Spector even knows what fun is anymore)? It always surprises me just how hit or miss his games are. System Shock was a great game, then how does he make the crap that he does now? Has he just lost touch or was he just getting lucky? Maybe it was the developers he was working with that made the difference. I don't know, but dedicated game designers in general seem way too overrated to me.

 

[Surlent]

Does anyone still care whether Deus Ex 3 is made?

Does any one care that the polar ice caps are melting?

Good comparison.

And dojoteef, fun is subjective value. Your post didn't have anything beyond your own opinions.
Some people like the stuff Warren makes.

 

[Dhruin]

System Shock was a great game, then how does he make the crap that he does now?

Simple. Not enough people bought Looking Glass' games coupled with some bad decisions, so they're history. Eidos ends up owning Ion Storm. Eidos tells Spector not to make it like Looking Glass' used to, because that model never made money.

It sucks but it's the way it is.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Simple. Not enough people bought Looking Glass' games coupled with some bad decisions, so they're history. Eidos ends up owning Ion Storm. Eidos tells Spector not to make it like Looking Glass' used to, because that model never made money.

It sucks but it's the way it is.

That's not exactly true. Eidos didn't make Warren Spector write several articles on why developers shouldn't waste their time on making multiple paths through a CRPG. That's just what Warren Spector thinks, and that kind of thinking is one huge reason why Spector's games have gone downhill.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I see it now...

Laura Croft botches a trap check while tomb raiding and gets trapped by a magical vortex that transports her to an alternate dimension where she meets, and falls in love with, Garrett. The two marry and begin a career of thiefing/tombraiding only to piss of an uberdemon who banishes them to another plane where cybernetic implants and evil corporations rule.

Yeah...

But before that, she'll have to crawl through 20+ ventilation shafts to save the world.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Simple. Not enough people bought Looking Glass' games coupled with some bad decisions, so they're history. Eidos ends up owning Ion Storm. Eidos tells Spector not to make it like Looking Glass' used to, because that model never made money.

It sucks but it's the way it is.

No.

Eidos never told Ion Storm to fuck up like they did. Most, if not all of the PR and game developer conference statements were made by Spector and Harvey themselves without any coercion from Eidos to do so. It was their choice, as they believed they were revolutionizing the game industry by dumbing their products down to the level that would even make a 9 year old blush.

I was playing Colonization and Master of Magic at that age, as were many of my friends, and a game like Deus Ex 2 would have been completely off-putting. Though, at the time, the 3d graphics would have probably wowed us to some extent before the boredom kicked in.

Looking Glass did good with their games, and that was one of the reasons Eidos published their games. Deus Ex sold relatively well and Eidos wasn't ashamed to invest a lot of money into Ion Storm's products.

Amidst the development of DX2, Spector and Harvey refused to listen to input from the fans and their publishers, citing that they as veteran game developers knew what they were doing, and stated repeatedly that their efforts would revolutionize gaming as it is. I'm sure that you'll remember the 'emergence AI' debacle in a game that turned out to have AI worse than Serious Sam.

After most of their employees were sacked when the new CEO from Crave took over, all he had to say about it was that the developers refused to listen to input from the fans who wanted a more Deus Ex-like experience than what was delivered with DX2. It hardly mattered that the game received good ratings from a variety of rags, because it didn't actually sell well beyond the first weeks of release. It certainly lost the franchise any appeal it had left and even drove the CEO to cancel the development of Deus Ex 3 and give that game its own identity (Project Snowblind) as Deus Ex had little remaining appeal.

 

[Dhruin]

Yes, Spector wrote several wanky articles and no doubt he got carried away with himself - I'm not trying to elevate Spector above some of his stupid comments entirely - and I've never liked Witchboy.

But...I do know staff from the DX:IW team and it's my underrstanding Eidos did want the title more mainstreamed. I'll agree it's Spector's fault that his version of that failed but I don't agree Eidos had no input whatsoever. If you've got something other than speculation Rex, dig it out.

Edit: Shouldn't have said "simple" in the original post, though, because Spector and Harvey certainly had contributions to the failure.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Kinda makes me laugh and feel sorry for the guy at the same time.

 

[Sol Invictus]

But...I do know staff from the DX:IW team and it's my underrstanding Eidos did want the title more mainstreamed. I'll agree it's Spector's fault that his version of that failed but I don't agree Eidos had no input whatsoever. If you've got something other than speculation Rex, dig it out.

It's not speculation. It's something Eidos's new CEO commented on about in that interview where he talked about how the medieval setting is over and done with. He said something to the measure of 'Ion Storm didn't want to listen to the fans."

 

[LlamaGod]

The reason why System Shock was good and Deus Ex sucked is because of the team. Warren Spector has always been crap, but Looking Glass was a bajillion times better than Ion Storm. Then after EA screwed over Looking Glass, Spector joined Ion Storm and went to making crap games.

Some people like the stuff Warren makes.

Yeah, and people like NWN too.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'd say Warren is definitely to blame for most of the shit that went wrong with Ion Storm Austin.

That said, I'll look forward to what Looking Glass's remnants can pull off with BioShock.

 

[Spazmo]

SS2 was largely developed by Irrational, who in 1998 were a just-formed company of ex-Looking Glass people. The SS2 team is virtually intact at Irraional and is now working on BioShock. It's not remnants of anything. It's the real deal.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

The SS2 team is virtually intact at Irraional and is now working on BioShock. It's not remnants of anything. It's the real deal.

Yeah. And believe me, it was a glorious day when I found this out. Definitely an eagerly aniticipated thing for me. System Shock 2 still remains the finest horror FPS ever made, IMO. I'll never forget the first time I heard "We seeeeeeek........".

WHOO!! Good stuff! :D