Company News Interplay = fuct

[Briosafreak]

I wanted to say all around production values, and the story had some bumps, it could be reworked. Ironside rules, i agree

 

[Voss]

I'd like to see him play something other than a bitter, angry, gun-happy nut though.

Wait... did he have a brief stint in a Highlander debacle as a bitter, angry sword-happy nut?
I forget.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Ok, time out. Clueless pointer. Are we talking about the same thing here? Did "V for Vendetta" had a TV show? :shock:

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I'd like to see him play something other than a bitter, angry, gun-happy nut though.

Wait... did he have a brief stint in a Highlander debacle as a bitter, angry sword-happy nut?
I forget.

Yeah. That piece of crap known as Highlander II: The Fuck Up. He's had other roles in his life that were more uptone, but he just got stereotypecast. He's doing voice acting now though and that works for me. His voice kicks ass. I think he's a big part of the reason I liked Splinter Cell so much.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Ok, time out. Clueless pointer. Are we talking about the same thing here? Did "V for Vendetta" had a TV show? :shock:

LOL... No, it was a miniseries back in the late 70's about an alien invasion of earth and the resistance fighters who fought it. It was simply called "V" and the V was for Victory, as depicted in a scene where a jewish man is telling kids what to spray paint on a poster of the aliens and telling them the signifigance of it.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Ok, time out. Clueless pointer. Are we talking about the same thing here? Did "V for Vendetta" had a TV show? :shock:

LOL... No, it was a miniseries back in the late 70's about an alien invasion of earth and the resistance fighters who fought it. It was simply called "V" and the V was for Victory, as depicted in a scene where a jewish man is telling kids what to spray paint on a poster of the aliens and telling them the signifigance of it.

Ah. I thought the V remark somewhat strange but when people mentioned TV i was finding it weird. The spraying of the letter V, apparently, goes both ways Yeah i remember that series. Good fun, it was.

 

[Voss]

Whoah. Mid-80s, not late 70s.
Spawned a couple of TV movies and a TV series as well, briefly.
The alien baby birth took up far too much screen time as I recall.
I miss the laser sound effects though- a nice zap/whoosh effect.

Ah yes, Highlander II, The First Bad Revision. I'm glad I don't remember that film all that clearly.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Wal-Mart has a reputation of trying to make companies bow down to their will in order to get the cheapest prices they can. Even if it's only a couple of cents. I worked at a Wal-Mart for almost a year and, while I didn't get to see alot of the internal workings, I heard alot about them. If you ever go into a Wal-Mart and not see the game or cd you want, then it's because the company making said product didn't bow down to the almighty Wally World and instead gave them the finger.

Worse than that, they move in to areas like small towns where many independently owned businesses run, like hardware stores, pharmacies, groceries, etc. are and then shut them down because those stores can't afford to keep prices as low or operate 24 hours a day. Those independently operated stores typically had people who worked there for years, making decent money. However, when those stores close, those people are forced to go to Wal-Mart because of their experience in that field, only to make significantly less money.

That's a huge problem because a free market system relies on having a stable middle class in order to thrive, and Wal-Marts wipe that out - especially in rural areas. There was a neat article in the local paper about the income gap widenning in America, and now Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the United States with 1.3 million workers. A free market economy is basically built on the idea that people have money to spend, so with less and less people having disposable incomes, that's less goods and services they can afford. It's basically creating a problem with the Demand Side of the economic structure.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Whoah. Mid-80s, not late 70s.
Spawned a couple of TV movies and a TV series as well, briefly.
The alien baby birth took up far too much screen time as I recall.
I miss the laser sound effects though- a nice zap/whoosh effect.

Ah yes, Highlander II, The First Bad Revision. I'm glad I don't remember that film all that clearly.

Okay, made a slight error on the time part. Pulled out my V dvd and checked the date. 1983. My bad. I just remembered still being in school when it came out and thought it was earlier.

Yes, the alien birth was something we could have done without. Reminded me of a cheesy 'B' horror movie I saw once about these gill-men fish creature thingies that were terrorizing this city or something like that.

After the original miniseries, another miniseries was spawned the next year: V-The Final Battle. It was fairly decent as well, but the regular tv series that followed was doomed from episode one. I think that's when they introduced another human/alien mix who was like some princess that was gonna save the galaxy or some tripe like that.

 

[Sharpei_Diem]

I lived in Tennessee for three years (until June 2000), for crying out loud. What did I miss?

Marrying kin is taboo, if not outlawed....

 

[Voss]

Actually the alien princess was the alien baby from the original miniseries. There was some accelerated growth thing, that was never adequately explained. It made for some serious squicky-ness, since half the male cast would be macking on her at any given moement. I kept thinking, she may look like a teenager, but guys, really stop, because shes actually 6.

83. Huh. I thought it was 85ish. Though admittedly my sense of time on it is rather screwed up since I caught most of it as replays on the US Armed Forces Network in Germany, and all the programming was a year or two old, at least.

 

[Azael]

It never made much sense how lizards and mammals could produce off-spring in the first place, nor why such a child would get special powers that neither of the species had. Pretty crappy series if you ask me, although I liked it as a kid.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Actually the alien princess was the alien baby from the original miniseries. There was some accelerated growth thing, that was never adequately explained. It made for some serious squicky-ness, since half the male cast would be macking on her at any given moement. I kept thinking, she may look like a teenager, but guys, really stop, because shes actually 6.

Heh. Well, I vaguely remember seeing one episode of it and thinking to myself "What kind of crap is this?!" and never watching it again after that. I loved the original two miniseries, but felt they totally fudged it all up with the series. So did the general populace considering it didn't even last an entire season.

As far as mammals and lizards producing offspring, yes that was a stretch and one of the reasons that part of the miniseries is messed up. But, they weren't ALL lizard. Beings as they were humanoid in shape, they obviously had some mammal in them as well. Apparently they had all the plumbing we do.

It wasn't the greatest story ever told by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still decent to a point. With a bigger budget and a better director, it could have kicked some major ass. The story, minus some parts, was pretty damn good and had potential were it done the justice it deserved.

 

[Voss]

I don't think theres anything that suggest a humanoid form must be partially mammalian. Its just how things have turned out. But I guess there must have been some commonality, given the premise in the show.

On another note, its amazing how far we've drifted from Interplay...
Shows we care.

Whenever there's an alien species which looks almost exactly like a human with a different hairstyle, it just shows how little creativity the designer has and how low the production values are. A good series would probably have aliens which resemble various different types of lifeforms (such as jellyfish, mantis insects, giant germs, domesticated rabbits, etc) if not entirely different creatures not found on earth.

 

[Sol Invictus]

That's a huge problem because a free market system relies on having a stable middle class in order to thrive, and Wal-Marts wipe that out - especially in rural areas. There was a neat article in the local paper about the income gap widenning in America, and now Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the United States with 1.3 million workers. A free market economy is basically built on the idea that people have money to spend, so with less and less people having disposable incomes, that's less goods and services they can afford. It's basically creating a problem with the Demand Side of the economic structure.

We almost ran into that problem here in Malaysia after a few Wally World wannabes already dominant in Asia and Australia like Tesco decided to open their shops here in the suburbs and small towns. To curb the mom and pop stores from losing their livelyhoods, the government enacted a special law:

From the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce: Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Dialogue 2002

There is no ban on the opening of hypermarkets. The government just imposed a new guideline for the hypermart operators. New applications will be considered according to this new guideline.

Early research by MDTCA showed that the existence of hypermarkets gave a negative impact to the small traders and retailers in this country. If the existence of hypermarkets is not controlled, it will lead to a reduction in the amount of small traders in the future. On top of that, all government projects to assist the small traders such as the Bumiputera Entrepreneur Project will be affected. The current number of hypermarkets is more than sufficient and all the large shopping complexes have also opened their branches in the bigger towns.

Pwned. I do hope that law doesn't change anytime soon or a lot of people I know will be screwed.

 

[Voss]

What... the.... hell?

I did not write that post just above exitium's. I wrote whats quoted (In response to Otaku's post above it), but not the main text about production values, rabbits and jellyfish. Whats going on?

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

What... the.... hell?

I did not write that post just above exitium's. I wrote whats quoted (In response to Otaku's post above it), but not the main text about production values, rabbits and jellyfish. Whats going on?

Whoa. That's freaky. I don't think I've ever had someone claim that to happen in a forum I've been on. Talk about ghosts in the machine.

The Codex has been really laggy for me lately though. I have noticed that.

 

[Grifman]

You know, I've never understood someone that takes pleasure in someone else's misfortunes. Whether you like IP or not, they have done nothing to you. Taking joy in other's misfortune is just piss poor, and says more about you than you'd like to be known, frankly.

What the fuck are you talking about Grif?

Do you have some problem with English? I think I was pretty clear in what I said.

Some chump-ass company that's outlived it's relevance by three years goes down the crapper before they can finish wringing the dignity out of the best game francise ever conceved--you bet your sorry ass I'm rolling in the schadenfreude!

Good for you. And actually they're going under while in the midst of producing the third installment of one of the greatest series which people have been screaming for for years. You seem to be missing that. As for FO: BOS, I don't care for it, it's their property, they can do what they want. It's just a stupid game. They don't owe you or me a thing other than for anything we pay for.

Grifman

 

[Grifman]

Grifman, first of all you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

And you do, LOL!

None of us are feeling particularly happy that our developer friends at IPLY are getting shoved around like goods in a marketplace as they are reshuffled from one canceled project to another just because top brass (or should I say tin?) can't make up their minds on what's best for the company and make decisions which dig Interplay in a deeper hole than it already is in.

I'm sorry, but you must be not reading any posts here. I see alot of people taking joy in this without any qualifications whatsoever about caring for anyone at Interplay as you assert - some have even responded to me in this thread. Perhaps you are the one who doesn't know what the hell they are talking about.

I also don't feel any particular need to respect the Caen brothers for all of their disasterous decisions or sympathize with them after what they've done to talented people like JE Sawyer and everybody else who's worked on Jefferson and Van Buren.

I don't know the Caen brothers personally or otherwise, but you don't have really much to cry about. It's IP investors who have lost far more than you or anyone else, other than perhaps the employees.

Besides, we're having a little moment of schadenfreude here towards a company which deliberately misleads the fans of its franchises, insults them in published interviews, refuses to take suggestions, and cheats them.

Hmm, seems like most of the insults started with the fans from what I've seen. IP was never obligated to take your suggestions - you aren't in management nor are you an owner - and I'm not certain how they've cheated you.

Grifman

 

[Grifman]

You know, I've never understood someone that takes pleasure in someone else's misfortunes. Whether you like IP or not, they have done nothing to you. Taking joy in other's misfortune is just piss poor, and says more about you than you'd like to be known, frankly.

I was pretty stoked when Western Communism failed, too. Guess I should feel guilty about that.

LOL, Proverbius - is that the best you can do? Comparing the financial collapse of a PC/video game company to the fall of an oppressive govt/system that killed millions and oppressed hundreds of millions through the years is pretty weak. Communism was evil - are you calling IP evil? Surely you can do better than that, can't you?

Grifman

 

[Spazmo]

Good for you. And actually they're going under while in the midst of producing the third installment of one of the greatest series which people have been screaming for for years. You seem to be missing that. As for FO: BOS, I don't care for it, it's their property, they can do what they want. It's just a stupid game. They don't owe you or me a thing other than for anything we pay for.

Oh, yeah, because FO3 was looking real good, too. Even if it didn't have IPLY's faliure looming over its head, it'll still probably have turned out crappy. Why? Because BIS just isn't good enough to make a game as good as Fallout was. Add on top of that all the utter crap IPLY would force into FO3 (we already know about the RT combat, how about a (un)healthy dose of thong lovin'?) and it was starting to look pretty damned terrible. In recent years, Interplay has managed to drive off any lingering scraps of talent it had as well as completely discredit or outright ignore all of its franchises. Frankly, I don't know why we should grieve for Interplay now. The time for that was four or five years ago. At this stage, given the state of IPLY, I'd say a large bonfire on Von Karman Avenue is more appropriate than a wake.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Good for you. And actually they're going under while in the midst of producing the third installment of one of the greatest series which people have been screaming for for years. You seem to be missing that. As for FO: BOS, I don't care for it, it's their property, they can do what they want. It's just a stupid game. They don't owe you or me a thing other than for anything we pay for.

What planet do you come from?

First off, a company owes their customer base a decent game anytime they pump one out. At least that better be their think if they wish to make any money off of it. So, while they may not owe any one individual anything personal, they still owe it to you and me to put out a decent game. Because whether we pay for it or not will depend on it's quality.

Second, with a game series like Fallout, which most of the gaming public is familiar with, the company should KNOW that the people are gonna expect a quality title. With FO:BOS they didn't really have that concern since it wasn't labelled a true sequel to one of the most popular RPG series of all time. It was just a game that took place in the same setting.

Thirdly, who cares if they are making it. The company is crap and that's all there is to it. If they do a good job, well then that's a well done for them. Question is, will they do a good job? Or even better, will the damn thing even get finished?

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

You know, I've never understood someone that takes pleasure in someone else's misfortunes. Whether you like IP or not, they have done nothing to you. Taking joy in other's misfortune is just piss poor, and says more about you than you'd like to be known, frankly.

I was pretty stoked when Western Communism failed, too. Guess I should feel guilty about that.

LOL, Proverbius - is that the best you can do? Comparing the financial collapse of a PC/video game company to the fall of an oppressive govt/system that killed millions and oppressed hundreds of millions through the years is pretty weak. Communism was evil - are you calling IP evil? Surely you can do better than that, can't you?

Grifman

I do believe that was sarcasm, moron.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

You know, I've never understood someone that takes pleasure in someone else's misfortunes. Whether you like IP or not, they have done nothing to you. Taking joy in other's misfortune is just piss poor, and says more about you than you'd like to be known, frankly.

I was pretty stoked when Western Communism failed, too. Guess I should feel guilty about that.

LOL, Proverbius - is that the best you can do? Comparing the financial collapse of a PC/video game company to the fall of an oppressive govt/system that killed millions and oppressed hundreds of millions through the years is pretty weak. Communism was evil - are you calling IP evil? Surely you can do better than that, can't you?

The fall of Communism did cause misfortune to a lot of people, I was rebutting your all-inclusive statement. But really, is saying, "This the best you can do?" over and over again isn't exactly as clever and brilliant a comeback as you might think it is, especially when you miss the point.

However, since you brought it up, IPLY collapsing isn't a bad thing either. Lord knows they've made enough stupid decisions to put themselves in this position, with more stupid decisions in the works. Let me illustrate.

Right now, Interplay is out of money, they have very little equity, and very little to sell or offer anyone. The only game they'll have ready to release by the end of this quarter is a disaster waiting to happen, Fallout Enforcer. Had they not decided to pay to extend the BG:DA license through 2008 and paid for the BG for the PC license through 2005.. Baldur's Gate 3 would be ready for release by now. Do you honestly think BG3 wouldn't have made lots of money?

So, there you are. Interplay's death is the result of the company being poorly run. Given their track record on a number of things, I can't really say I'm sorry to see them go.

But, while we're on the subject of how IPLY's death will cause misfortune for some people, why not look at their track record with Independently contracted, small developers? There's not too many people who have dealt with IPLY over the course of the years who are satisfied with them as a company, and IPLY's done a great deal of harm to those they've contracted with, so..

Let's also not forget all the lay offs and forced resignations from the company. They've done their fair share of unemploying people that worked for them over the course of the last few years.

Then there's the people who lost a hell of a lot of money investing in IPLY due to their poor choices. When you go public at $6/share and you're now floating at $0.10/share, that's a lot of lost investment there.

So, I'd argue that while operating, IPLY's done a lot of damage to a lot of people.

 

[Voss]

Let's also not forget all the lay offs and forced resignations from the company. They've done their fair share of unemploying people that worked for them over the course of the last few years.

Just to back this one up a bit-
According to the report: The decrease is due to a $1.2 million decrease in personnel costs and general expenses. Though $.1 million was added back in other areas of personnel costs and general expenses in other areas
For a net cut of $1.1 million.

How many jobs is that?

Sympathy for a company is a bizarre thing. Particularly when their problems are their own creation- costs are too high, and short term scrambling seems to win out over intelligent, well thought out plans every time.