bonesmccoy
Banned
Gawker Media, ahem.
I do think the Kotaku article is probably way too sensationalist and distorted facts*
* For example, the whole thing about them leaving Nintendo because of the Wii name... come on. Dyack probably just said "lol what a silly name" at some point and then an offhand comment turned into some sort of official policy/decision.
Yeah, sorry. I had already edited my post about this, btw.Except that's not in the Kotaku article. Speaking of distorted facts...
Sounds like he should have responded immediately after the article was published. I don't think the Kotaku article ever claimed that they had anything other than 8 anonymous sources. If Activision would back him up on some of these claims about extra money and audits, I would probably believe him.
Considering the way he managed SK, I still don't think it's a good look for Precursor to have him on this project. Whether he is just on the creative side or not.
I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between, but denying absolutely everything when suddenly they have a fairly rich in graphical content demo for their Kickstarter that would have had to have been underway presumably during X-Men or whatever surely directly corroborates some stuff?
So 8 employees were all lying about everything?
I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between, but denying absolutely everything when suddenly they have a fairly rich in graphical content demo for their Kickstarter that would have had to have been underway presumably during X-Men or whatever surely directly corroborates some stuff?
If people are prepared to pay money for this game I don't see the problem. I wouldn't myself but I'm not going to embark on a smear campaign against it either. Besides under delivering on some games I wasn't really interested in they've done nothing to hurt me.Then let them move on with investor cash instead of fans' cash. Of all the devs to preorder from before the game is done, SK with a new name has to be towards the bottom of the list. Maybe only Derek Smart doing a solo endeavor could be dumber to hand cash to.
I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between, but denying absolutely everything when suddenly they have a fairly rich in graphical content demo for their Kickstarter that would have had to have been underway presumably during X-Men or whatever surely directly corroborates some stuff?
Denis Closing Thoughts
- Focuses on creative design now
Lazy? I'm not a fucking reporter. It's just an observation that disgruntled sources and a sociopath like Dennis Dyack are both untrustworthy. It's up to the pros to figure out exactly where the truth lies. Noting that there are likely exaggerations on both ends unless further proof is presented is the definition of skeptical.
Well published then, but it on the website and there for Gawker/Kotaku approved it.Except that's not in the Kotaku article. Speaking of distorted facts...
Would love a synopsis later though from someone
Interesting to note:
Several media outlets, such as Wired, turned this article down as they believed it was not credible. McMillen contacted SK several times and said the article was coming soon, but then it didn't because there was no-one going to publish it.
Someone says you have syphilis. You say you don't. Does the truth lie somewhere in-between? Or is it a matter of the evidence available? That's my only point.
Someone says they weren't taking X-Men Destiny seriously, describes a 2-level church interior demo taking a longer time to work on that it should in an article published last year and oh will you look at that first Kickstarter footage, my word. Its just way too easy to paint everyone that leaks as disgruntled liars, but then right there is really rather inconvenient nugget of truth.
Unlike where you either do or don't have syphillis. A dumb comparison/desperate defence.
That article struck me as transparently opportunistic hatchet job against a very soft target.
Honestly, what offends me the most is that the premise that if a game turns out less than well, its somehow in the public's interest to find someone to blame. Ridiculous.
As long as he stands by this statement, I see no reason to be worried.
I made a similar comment on the thread for the original Kotaku story: As a game designer the man knows his stuff, and he'd probably be much more valuable to the industry if he were freed of the burdens of upper management.
I get what you're saying, but there 8 people at the company, it's nearly impossible for him not to have some involvement in the final say of the project.In order to satisfy my worries they would have to remove him from any management responsibilities altogether. He shouldn't be "chief creative officer". He should not be directing any priorities, employee time or company resources. He should be simply an idea man with someone else ultimately in charge of the creative side.
Except that's not in the Kotaku article. Speaking of distorted facts...
Of course people are going to take the Kotaku article to heart, it totally feeds into the persona he's created for himself.
He should have gotten out in front of the whole thing when the article came out. Doing so now because nobody is donating, only comes across as pathetic. Yet another in a long line of very public mistakes.
Even if he's being absolutely truthful, I think it's too late. Watching that video is just depressing.
There is a massive difference between a smear campaign and making sure people are aware of the shady past and possibly present of a company. I liked Eternal Darkness quite a bit and if I wasn't familiar with the business end I'd be funding this.
TheBaronOfNA said:X-Men Destiny turned to be way bellow than "Less than well"
Typical, cynical click-baiting from Kotaku.
The situation here isn't, "is Dyack a liar?" It's, "here's a set of accusations and defenses. Where is the truth in each of them, individually?"
If Dyack's standing with Nintendo is still good, I sure as hell am not giving a single dime to the Shadow sof the Eternals fundraiser. He gets to get his head out of his ass, realize that he hasn't made a good game in years without Nintendo, and approach Nintendo about collaborating on an Eternal Darkness 2 already.
No matter how good Shadows of the Eternals might turn out to be, its not going to satiate Eternal Darkness fans want for a sequel.
It's just being silly on a forum. We know he's nutty. Obviously I'm not a doctor, it's not a diagnosis.
This whole tale is driving me bonkers, because I do know stuff, and feel compelled to not contribute.
Here is an obvious bit of truth, but truth none the less....
Our industry is TINY... and as such, people in less than secure positions cannot feel empowered to speak out. If I didn't want to get an industry reputation for causing problems, airing dirty bits, etc... i'd have a few choice stories to tell about Denis Dyack... and I never even ended up working for him.
I guess i'm just another anonymous hater, or whatnot... but i'll say this, I will never, ever trust a production DD is involved with, and warn anyone contributing that they should allow for the very, very, real possibility that their money will go "poof".
Here's what I don't understand about peoples' reservations about the SotE project: let's say Dyack is a thief, out to steal our money if he can. I don't believe that at all, but let's assume it's true.
- Dyack isn't making any business decisions at Precursor Games, so how is his involvement in SotE a threat?
- If Precursor Games has a scheme to take the money and run-- and not from a faceless, monolithic publisher but directly from actual gamers--what do you think is going to happen to them? They'll never work in the industry again. No company will trust any of them. Nobody will ever give them a dime for any reason.
How does this make any sense? What, they're gonna divvy up the $1.5 million 8 ways and live off of it forever?
Here's what I don't understand about peoples' reservations about the SotE project: let's say Dyack is a thief, out to steal our money if he can. I don't believe that at all, but let's assume it's true.
- Dyack isn't making any business decisions at Precursor Games, so how is his involvement in SotE a threat?
- If Precursor Games has a scheme to take the money and run-- and not from a faceless, monolithic publisher but directly from actual gamers--what do you think is going to happen to them? They'll never work in the industry again. No company will trust any of them. Nobody will ever give them a dime for any reason.
How does this make any sense? What, they're gonna divvy up the $1.5 million 8 ways and live off of it forever?
Since you're here, Jason. Where do you stand on this? Is it fair to publish unverifiable anonymous sources like this? Would you / have you personally done it?
It's pretty obvious at this point that SotE was ED2 at some point, so that would point to Nintendo not being particularly interested in taking on whatever SK or Precursor was working on for themselves.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the Kotaku article. I'm sure disgruntled employees were more than willing to exaggerate details, but many of Dyack's explanations here lack detail and we all know he has a history of erratic, egotistical behavior.
The Epic lawsuit speaks for itself. Mod teams gone professional like Torn Banner and Tripwire made games just fine with UE3, yet he tries to blame his own veteran professional studio's issues on Epic's poor engine? And then doesn't show up in court? Come the fuck on. Normal people, normal businessmen aware that they hold jobs in their hands, do not behave that way, and it can't be limited to just that public moment.