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[epmode]

But the point of Bioshock 1 IS the lack of choice. The game specifically makes you do horrible things to progress on Fort Frolic level and on the last level where you become what you fight the whole game. For me the game was the epithome of life where people think that they have a choice but they really don't as they do what they are programmed to do with very few exceptions.. Like in Bioshock. The price of complete freedom is what Andrew Ryan did. You play as a slave the whole game, not a man. That was the point.

Considering that you don't get an opportunity to deviate from the game's narrative for even a second, I always thought the big reveal in Bioshock was rather trite. Not to mention how [Bioshock/System Shock 2 spoiler]

Spoiler

I fully expected Atlas to be an enemy from minute one thanks to System Shock 2

 

[HigherLevel]

MS must have more new internal studios then we already know about. I can't wait to see what the outcome is. Because if these games look even close to as good as Halo 4 does we're in for some great games.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

Well this is fantastic news.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

So much for microsoft "abandoning core gamers". I'm ready for Xbox 8 now microsoft.

I have a feeling they're prepping for some huge next gen reveals.
Xbox 3 could be Xbox 1 all over again!

I also think they will simultaneously re-launch the 360 as a Wii-U competitor and keep the casual stuff on there.
Kind of like how Sony kept the PS2 going as a budget machine while PS3 was starting out.

 

[Proelite]

I have a feeling they're prepping for some huge next gen reveals.
Xbox 3 could be Xbox 1 all over again!

I also think they will simultaneously re-launch the 360 as a Wii-U competitor and keep the casual stuff on there.
Kind of like how Sony kept the PS2 going as a budget machine while PS3 was starting out.

One tidbit that I can share that is people are really excited about the future here at MS.

 

[Eurocult]

Could just be that contracts were up and top talent is being poached by companies with deeper pockets.

OR

Bioshock Infinite worst game ever!

Spoiler

doubtful

 

[Randolph Freelander]

So guys left one job and went to another. What's the big deal?

 

[ArynCrinn]

Combined with the delay, lack of any real news or gameplay shown, and now herds of top guys leaving means all is not well at Irrational. Still holding out hope for Infinite, but the lights dim slowly.

Strange though, Irrational always seems to be a pretty tight knit and great studio.

 

[taoofjord]

Wasn't there talk that Ken Levine is a hard guy to work with during Bioshock 1's development? I'm pretty sure that was the case and I'm not surprised to see this happen with Infinite too.

I want everyone on the team to be happy with their work and the work they're doing and I'm sorry to see these guys leave if that was the case... but on the other hand, visionaries are very rarely easy to work with. They can be demanding, stubborn, unfair, and they may live for their work while expecting everyone else to do the same. It sucks, but in some cases that's how it has to be or you wouldn't end up with a product so unique.

 

[Globox_82]

Bioshock 1 and 2 were such a mediocre games (I finished both) so overrated, especially the first one. Of course this is my opinion. But hopefully Infinite turns out well.

When it comes to MS, I give them props for really trying to finally compete with Sony when it comes to first party. The only reason I never cared for MS consoles is because they had few exclusives and HALO is not my thing. Gears was not enough, and besides Gears 1 (played it on PC) was trash. Maybe MS can change that next gen, I hope. If they show some amazing new IPs I will buy their next console as well.

BTW Sony has also been hirring a lot of devs. Naughty Dog alone hired 70 people (or more) in last year. SP, GG, MM all are hirring/have hired. Next gen will either kill these two (MS and Sony) or we will have the most glorious gen ever.

I am aware that Nintendo seems to be doing similar thing, with Retro expanding and if that Iwata leak is true, even better.

Bring VGAs, and then GDC, finally E3.

 

[element]

this thread is funny to read.

Judging from public twitter and facebook posts, the game is not done and the team is crunching now.

For anyone that hasn't worked in games before, the most difficult time of development is the months leading up to certification. Tons of changes happen in these months before a game ship. Developers will fix bugs until the LAST possible minute.

 

[gaming_noob]

One tidbit that I can share that is people are really excited about the future here at MS.

that's a hunch feeling I'm getting about MS. They are going to surprise a lot of people in a good way. The last positive hunch I
had was Killzone 2 before any ingame shots/videos were revealed - many people doubted and many were proven wrong!

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Yikes, I really hope Infinite delivers.. The game looks like it could be a blast if it is done right.

I thought this was a bit suprising: Alex Liu left for Microsoft in May too. He was a game designer over at Naughty Dog and worked on Uncharted 3 (He did the levels Rough Seas and Caravan) and The Last of Us.

All these talented folk just don't go there for a reason, something must be brewing.

I really, really hope MS has some epic non FPS new IP brewing. Let Halo and Gears be the shooters, MS needs something else. Too bad Rare isn't developing 'real' games still. =/

 

[FairXchange]

I'm just slightly disheartened with how MS has handled first party development since the original Xbox has launched.

They seem to have dropped much of their internal talent midway through 360's life cycle after building up a pretty strong stable of devs.

Now with the launch of next gen hardware, I question what their long term 1st party support will look like midway through that console's time on the market.

Gamers care about quality and selection of games available at launch, as well as when that console is 4 years old.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Massive coup for MS.

Because Bioshock's combat and AI were so impressive?

 

[TimeEffect]

There must be a rational explanation for this

 

[FStop7]

this thread is funny to read.

Judging from public twitter and facebook posts, the game is not done and the team is crunching now.

For anyone that hasn't worked in games before, the most difficult time of development is the months leading up to certification. Tons of changes happen in these months before a game ship. Developers will fix bugs until the LAST possible minute.

Losing 7 - 8 leads with months to go before release doesn't sound good no matter how you look at it.

 

[element]

Because Bioshock's combat and AI were so impressive?

Neither of those guys worked on BioShock 1.

Losing 7 - 8 leads with months to go before release doesn't sound good no matter how you look at it.

Which is why I think this thread is funny (and sad). I understand people want to be positive (and I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic), but developers don't 'finish' a game and spin their wheels for five or six months making small changes here and there.

 

[DocSeuss]

I'm just slightly disheartened with how MS has handled first party development since the original Xbox has launched.

They seem to have dropped much of their internal talent midway through 360's life cycle after building up a pretty strong stable of devs.

Now with the launch of next gen hardware, I question what their long term 1st party support will look like midway through that console's time on the market.

Gamers care about quality and selection of games available at launch, as well as when that console is 4 years old.

Microsoft lost a lot of money with the Red Ring and Vista issues, and struggled briefly. As a result, they cut a lot of their devs and started working with third parties. About two years ago, it seems, they started building up other studios and rehiring for existing ones.

Basically, we're seeing a significant lag from effects that happened a few years ago, and it all gets back to money.

Yikes, I really hope Infinite delivers.. The game looks like it could be a blast if it is done right.



I really, really hope MS has some epic non FPS new IP brewing. Let Halo and Gears be the shooters, MS needs something else. Too bad Rare isn't developing 'real' games still. =/

Rare is developing real games--they're hiring for people with FPS or Adventure game experience. Their new bossman is the guy who did Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, one of my favorite games.

When it comes to MS, I give them props for really trying to finally compete with Sony when it comes to first party. The only reason I never cared for MS consoles is because they had few exclusives and HALO is not my thing.

I am confused with this. Microsoft has no need to compete with Sony on a first-party front. They average higher when it comes to metascore and sales. They don't need to compete with Sony.

Maybe you're just saying you're happier that they're making more games?

That said, saying that MS consoles had few exclusives is kinda rewriting history. This weekend, I was at an old-school game store. It had a ton of last-gen games, and a shit ton of last-gen Xbox exclusives. Microsoft had a lot more than you might think. If the Xbox I picked up didn't smell like cigarette smoke, I'd be playing it right now. As it stands, I've got to sell it and pick up a better one, sadly.

 

[Proelite]

The year when MS shut down a lot of studios is also the year when they had layoffs, hiring / promotion freeze. It wasn't a MGS specific thing.

 

[FairXchange]

Microsoft lost a lot of money with the Red Ring and Vista issues, and struggled briefly. As a result, they cut a lot of their devs and started working with third parties. About two years ago, it seems, they started building up other studios and rehiring for existing ones.

Basically, we're seeing a significant lag from effects that happened a few years ago, and it all gets back to money.

I'm pretty optimistic, at least in the short term, considering just how good Halo 4 looks alone. They even have a pretty awesome show to go along with the launch of the game! It definitely seems like MS is in a position to do stuff with first party IPs that many others simply cannot do.

Also, Sony's strategy on 1st party games is a bit chaotic. It's hard to think about just how many games got sent out to market with little advertising and ultimately poor sales this generation.

Anyhow, I'm pretty excited to see can come out of this new focus from Microsoft.

 

[Corto]

Well, this is worrisome. Never saw such an high profile turnover of employees in such a short period of time. Would love to listen to an Irrational Podcast about this afterwards.

Edit: Hope there is an Irrational Games afterwards.

 

[HigherLevel]

Yikes, I really hope Infinite delivers.. The game looks like it could be a blast if it is done right.



I really, really hope MS has some epic non FPS new IP brewing. Let Halo and Gears be the shooters, MS needs something else. Too bad Rare isn't developing 'real' games still. =/

Rumors are Rare is working on a FPS and an action/adventure game.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

This is pure conjecture but I feel like I read somewhere that Ken is uh....difficult to work with/for. Any truth to that?

Love the guy though, seriously.

 

[element]

This is pure conjecture but I feel like I read somewhere that Ken is uh....difficult to work with/for. Any truth to that?

Love the guy though, seriously.

Spoiler

look up surfergirl

 

[Nirolak]

Rumors are Rare is working on a FPS and an action/adventure game.

I'm looking at their job postings and seeing things for Windows 8 phones/tablets and new forms of input recognition, but not really anything to suggest an FPS or action/adventure game.

Edit:

I see some free 2 play postings in here too.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

Spoiler

look up surfergirl

Ahhh is that where I got that from? Well then.

 

[HigherLevel]

I'm looking at their job postings and seeing things for Windows 8 phones/tablets and new forms of input recognition, but not really anything to suggest an FPS or action/adventure game.

I don't follow this stuff closely but I remember a thread on here about it a while back.

 

[Derrick01]

So much for microsoft "abandoning core gamers". I'm ready for Xbox 8 now microsoft.

I'm not getting too excited.

Core games to them might mean more shooters. Or games with a lot of forced Kinect garbage, even though the masses and core gamers have rejected it. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[jbug617]

I'm looking at their job postings and seeing things for Windows 8 phones/tablets and new forms of input recognition, but not really anything to suggest an FPS or action/adventure game.

Edit:

I see some free 2 play postings in here too.

Here is one looking for Online Engineer. It's for a AAA game and needs help with match making.

http://www.microsoft-careers.com/jo...tudios-Vancouver-(803733)-Job-Job-BC/2179403/

edit: you were talking about Rare.

 

[Deleted member 102362]

Would you kindly release BioShock Infinite, Mr. Levine?

 

[HigherLevel]

Here is one looking for Online Engineer. It's for a AAA game and needs help with match making.

http://www.microsoft-careers.com/jo...tudios-Vancouver-(803733)-Job-Job-BC/2179403/

That's MGS Vancouver not Rare. We already know they're working on a online sci-fi FPS.

 

[Nirolak]

Here is one looking for Online Engineer. It's for a AAA game and needs help with match making.

http://www.microsoft-careers.com/jo...tudios-Vancouver-(803733)-Job-Job-BC/2179403/

That's for Vancouver though, not Rare.

Edit:

Beaten.

 

[jbug617]

That's for Vancouver though, not Rare.

Edit:

Beaten.

Here is the story from Eurogamer saying Rare was hiring for multiple AAA games.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-17-rare-hiring-for-multiple-aaa-future-console-releases

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

damn so many have left

 

[funkystudent]

Cant wait to see if the new trailer even hints at a release date.

Losing large chunks of your key staff probably isnt helping what was already a pretty troubled development.

Maybe its getting pushed to next gen and 2014 or later.

 

[ZSeba]

Wow. I'm surprised at the ammount of people liking Bioshock 2 more than the original.

I finished both games, and I thought Bioshock 2 was never really a game that needed to be made, it's level sructure was far too rigid (every single level follows the exact same structure), the big sister encounters were all scripted, and it took away all the novelty factor of exploring Rapture (Wich is a big part of the original) and it felt too retcon-ish (adding a character like Lamb who was supposed to be important, even though she was never even mentioned in the first game).

I admit Bio 2 corrected some of the fault the original had (specially regarding gameplay), and I loved the fact that I could turn vsync off (I played both games on xbox), but it just wasn't enough in my opinion.

 

[Shrennin]

Indeed. Hopefully good things for next-gen. Invest that damn money like they have for 343.

Yeah, I think Microsoft's first party could easily rival Sony's with Turn10 and 343i being examples. I would love for another studio focusing on another major Xbox ip from Microsoft Game Studios.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

this is the only irrational game where I'm not gagging to play it in the lead up to release, but this is still disappointing. obviously I'm not expecting another ss2 from them ever again, but I still expect that whatever they make will be better than 99% of the shooters released in any given year.

 

[Nirolak]

Here is the story from Eurogamer saying Rare was hiring for multiple AAA games.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-17-rare-hiring-for-multiple-aaa-future-console-releases

Okay that's fair. The job posting listed them explicitly, implying they're at least making one title like that.

 

[JasonUresti]

Wow. I'm surprised at the ammount of people liking Bioshock 2 more than the original.

I finished both games, and I thought Bioshock 2 was never really a game that needed to be made, it's level sructure was far too rigid (every single level follows the exact same structure), the big sister encounters were all scripted, and it took away all the novelty factor of exploring Rapture (Wich is a big part of the original) and it felt too retcon-ish (adding a character like Lamb who was supposed to be important, even though she was never even mentioned in the first game).

I admit Bio 2 corrected some of the fault the original had (specially regarding gameplay), and I loved the fact that I could turn vsync off (I played both games on xbox), but it just wasn't enough in my opinion.

Bioshock 2 took the promise and atmosphere of the first game, and then actually put a good story, characters, level design, and combat around it.

 

[szaromir]

Bioshock 2 took the promise and atmosphere of the first game, and then actually put a good story, characters, level design, and combat around it.

And Bioshock 2 had a great ending both from gameplay and story perspective. I disagree about level design, I preferred the more open levels of Bioshock 1, though BS2 was not bad in that regard either.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Just because a few people left doesn't mean the game will be bad, they can always bring in new talent.

the new talent is too busy working on next gen and wii U games

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Bioshock 2 took the promise and atmosphere of the first game, and then actually put a good story, characters, level design, and combat around it.

haha, man the joke-posts today are killing me

 

[Chuck Norris]

Massive coup for MS.

I dunno if I'd call getting the combat and AI designers from Bioshock a coup

 

[Gorillaz]

I never understood why people hated Bioshock 2. Even if it lacked the "atmosphere" of the first the end game of it all was WAAAAAY better then Bioshock 1

 

[Scrabble]

Minerva's Den was far and away better than both the original and Bioshock 2.

 

[jbug617]

I dunno if I'd call getting the combat and AI designers from Bioshock a coup

The combat director also worked on Red Faction Guerilla and Saints Row The Third. The AI lead seems to be taking a management role with Microsoft. He is in charge of finding core games.

 

[ZSeba]

Bioshock 2 took the promise and atmosphere of the first game, and then actually put a good story, characters, level design, and combat around it.

I only agree with the "combat" part. It was nice to have a gun in one hand and the plasmids in the other, and thank god they got rid of that stupid hacking minigame.

The story and characters were forgettable. Level design was OK (Not superior, nor inferior).

And the atmosphere is definitively not the same since it loses the novelty factor from the first.

 

[Black_Stride]

So Microsoft is stacking up first party devs for something next gen, then? I assume something exclusive to ramp up interest in the 720.

This is what im thinking.
It seems like MS might have some serious first party support next gen....towards the mid end of current gen MSs first party stuff was nigh nonexistent.

Recent acquisitions and studios formed.

Microsoft Studios Victoria
Microsoft Studios Vancouver
Connected Experience
Good Science Studios
Microsoft Playful Learning
Twisted Pixel Studios
Press Play
Skybox Sports
MSMG
Platform Next Studios

Phil Harrison - stolen from Sony
Don Norbury - stolen from Irrational
Clint Bundrick - stolen from Irrational