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[DaBuddaDa]

That's EA's IP.

I still want to see it happen *folds arms*

My worst fear is for EA to can the Dead Space franchise and try to revive System Shock, and have SS3 end up basically just being Dead Space 3.

Yes that is literally my worst fear.

 

[kayos90]

I just want to see Thief 4 soon....

 

[survivor]

Awesome. Montreal is 2 hours drive away. I hope they are still hiring by time I graduate.

 

[Allonym]

Man this can only mean good things for the future. Deus Ex; Human Revolution has managed to become my game of the year (though Resistance 3 is upon us) thus far and if Thief 4 is crafted by the same team with the same emphasis on player choice and story/characters then they have another happy customer. Only thing I desire are sharper graphics but DXHR remained easy on the eyes throughout so that's no biggie. Looking forward to big things from this team in the near future.

 

[Nirolak]

I still want to see it happen *folds arms*

My worst fear is for EA to can the Dead Space franchise and try to revive System Shock, and have SS3 end up basically just being Dead Space 3.

That actually happened the other way around.

EA does give a sh-t about System Shock 3, says PC Gamer UK

by Christopher Grant on Aug 7th 2006 9:45AM

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/07/ea-does-give-a-sh-t-about-system-shock-3-says-pc-gamer-uk/

Dead Space Announced
16:24 September 24th, 2007 - 1523 Views
To be released during Fall 2008

Electronic Arts today announced Dead Space for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a third-person sci-fi survival horror game currently under development at EA Redwood Shores and scheduled to be released during Fall 2008. The game follows Isaac Clarke, an ordinary man on a routine mission to fix the communications systems aboard a deep space mining ship. Isaac soon realizes that the ship’s crew has been ravaged by an alien infestation, so he must fight through the dead silence and darkness of deep space to stay alive.

Source: http://www.gamershell.com/news_41904.html

 

[DaBuddaDa]

You're breakin' my heart here...

 

[kayos90]

That actually happened the other way around.


Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/07/ea-does-give-a-sh-t-about-system-shock-3-says-pc-gamer-uk/


Source: http://www.gamershell.com/news_41904.html

Man, that's sort of hysterical

 

[Salaadin]

Good for Eidos Montreal. Deus Ex HR is awesome so far. They put a lot of good work into it.

Its still weird for me to get excited about games with the Eidos name tagged on them again but I am. Between Just Cause 2, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and now Thief. Theres a lot good coming from that company.

 

[Mrbob]

Guess this means Deus Ex must have been a big success. Wouldn't surprise me if Eidos Montreal becomes the crown jewel of Square Enix over the next couple years.

They should just name the new Thief game, Thief. It has been so long since the other Thief games calling this one part 4 doesn't really mean much. Might as well reboot at this point.

Good for Eidos Montreal. Deus Ex HR is awesome so far. They put a lot of good work into it.

Its still weird for me to get excited about games with the Eidos name tagged on them again but I am. Between Just Cause 2, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and now Thief. Theres a lot good coming from that company.

To think almost all of us laughed when Square Enix decided to expand West by investing into Eidos. Looks like this move well be paying off big time, with the IPs they now have and the quality that is coming out.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Its still weird for me to get excited about games with the Eidos name tagged on them again but I am. Between Just Cause 2, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and now Thief. Theres a lot good coming from that company.

What they're doing to the Hitman franchise though is awful, and the new Tomb Raider has a lot to prove still. I trust Eidos' Montreal studio after Deus Ex:HR, but the other studios are questionable.

 

[angular graphics]

The third team is working on a new IP.

 

[Raitosaito]

I must be the only one who hated HR. This just seems all bad. Now they can make twice the amount of mediocre products as before!

 

[angular graphics]

Guess this means Deus Ex must have been a big success. Wouldn't surprise me if Eidos Montreal becomes the crown jewel of Square Enix over the next couple years.

They should just name the new Thief game, Thief. It has been so long since the other Thief games calling this one part 4 doesn't really mean much. Might as well reboot at this point.




To think almost all of us laughed when Square Enix decided to expand West by investing into Eidos. Looks like this move well be paying off big time, with the IPs they now have and the quality that is coming out.

It won't be called "4" because the third was never called "3". Also since the Thief games are largely unknown to console gamers of this generation, they will prefer to call it "Thief: Enter Subtitle Here".

 

[JaxJag]

Nice, maybe they can release a title with A.I. and voice acting that isn't some of the worst of this generation.

 

[kayos90]

I must be the only one who hated HR. This just seems all bad. Now they can make twice the amount of mediocre products as before!

May I ask why you hated HR?

 

[Lostconfused]

I must be the only one who hated HR. This just seems all bad. Now they can make twice the amount of mediocre products as before!

Not every game is for everyone. But you should be prepaired for the negative reaction that people might have to your posts.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Not every game is for everyone. But you should be prepaired for the negative reaction that people might have to your posts.

A person who posts in that tone is welcoming conflict.

 

[Raitosaito]

May I ask why you hated HR?

I can't put my finger on a single main point. It's probably the accumulation of subpar presentation, and the crappy enviroments.

Also none of the key decisions in the game are made by you. I retried a conversation with Sarif and the results were mostly the same. For a game that revels in choices, it was unexpectedly linear.

 

[wutwutwut]

I can't put my finger on a single main point. It's probably the accumulation of subpar presentation, and the crappy enviroments.

Also none of the key decisions in the game are made by you. I retried a conversation with Sarif and the results were mostly the same. For a game that revels in choices, it was unexpectedly linear.

Deus Ex choice is fundamentally different from e.g. Oblivion choice. Deus Ex has been roughly linear in the large, non-linear in the small. Oblivion is mostly the opposite.

(edit: Oblivion's a better example.)

 

[AlphaTwo00]

Don't count on anything happening anywhere else in Canada.

I'm honestly getting worried about Montreal's size, counting all the major studios around there, I don't know if it's actual growth, or are they just cannibalizing staff from each other.

 

[ctrayne]

I respect your opinion, but,

crappy enviroments.

I can't fathom this. The environments are spectacular compared to the repeated texture hallways of many other games. HR has some of the smartest artistic direction I've seen and it shows in the locales. Everywhere had a sense of place, which is a huge step forward for games. Presentation was great too, aside from ugly NPCs.

Also none of the key decisions in the game are made by you. I retried a conversation with Sarif and the results were mostly the same. For a game that revels in choices, it was unexpectedly linear.

I think the choices in HR aren't in the storyline so much as they are in the game design. One has nearly limitless ways to overcome obstacles. I don't think they were going for choice as a major theme in the story - after all, it has to link up to DX1.

Anyway, this is the wrong thread for this, but the game scratched an itch for me that no other developers have been even close to hitting.

 

[wutwutwut]

I think the choices in HR aren't in the storyline so much as they are in the game design. One has nearly limitless ways to overcome obstacles. I don't think they were going for choice as a major theme in the story - after all, it has to link up to DX1.

Exactly. DX1 has a very linear storyline too.

 

[Salaadin]

To think almost all of us laughed when Square Enix decided to expand West by investing into Eidos. Looks like this move well be paying off big time, with the IPs they now have and the quality that is coming out.

I remember when the announcement came, I sat there thinking "Square Enix.....Eidos.....what?!?" It made no sense to me. Seems to be working out though.

What they're doing to the Hitman franchise though is awful, and the new Tomb Raider has a lot to prove still. I trust Eidos' Montreal studio after Deus Ex:HR, but the other studios are questionable.

Im cautiously optimistic about new Tomb Raider. It looks like itll be a good game in its own right but my biggest worry is that it will lose the Tomb Raider-eque gameplay that can only be found in a Tomb Raider game, effectively wiping it from existence.

My previous mention of TR is mainly pointed at Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld. They were the first signs for me that showed a return to greatness for TR as well as Eidos.

I dont know enough about Hitman to judge what theyre doing with it.

I do agree with you though. Im pointing at Eidos as a whole when the bulk of the praise should go to Montreal for Deus EX HR and Avalanche Studios (who isnt even Eidos) for Just Cause 2 (still one of my favorite games this generation).

Can someone clue me in on who Nixxes is? I see their name pop up in TR threads as them being the ones who handle the awesome PC ports of those games. Did they do Deus Ex HR as well?

 

[wutwutwut]

Can someone clue me in on who Nixxes is? I see their name pop up in TR threads as them being the ones who handle the awesome PC ports of those games. Did they do Deus Ex HR as well?

Yep. I was surprised at how native HR felt on the PC, even though Eidos Montreal wasn't focusing on it.

Nixxes also did the great Lara Croft PC port.

 

[ctrayne]

Can someone clue me in on who Nixxes is? I see their name pop up in TR threads as them being the ones who handle the awesome PC ports of those games. Did they do Deus Ex HR as well?

Yep, they did. Based in Netherlands, I believe.

 

[kayos90]

I can't put my finger on a single main point. It's probably the accumulation of subpar presentation, and the crappy enviroments.

Also none of the key decisions in the game are made by you. I retried a conversation with Sarif and the results were mostly the same. For a game that revels in choices, it was unexpectedly linear.

I respect your opinion like the other users on this board, however, I disagree. I think that the presentation of the game is great. Sure the technical graphics aren't great but the artistic design is really amazing. I definitely feel the difference between Hensha and Detroit. As for the choice, I think the game isn't for storyline choice but rather gameplay choice. Not only this but the choices you make aren't binary like the ones in ME2. This game is smart. The choies that you make affect gameplay and how you approach missions. For this I think this game is much more RPG than ME2. The storyline may be linear however the gameplay itself is not.

 

[ScionOfTheRisingSun]

I'd forward my resume, but I think I would prefer to fester into obscurity in my current brainless cozy occupation.

A flatlined soul sure makes things a lot simpler.

 

[shintoki]

What they're doing to the Hitman franchise though is awful, and the new Tomb Raider has a lot to prove still. I trust Eidos' Montreal studio after Deus Ex:HR, but the other studios are questionable.

Sadly, Crystal Dymanics and IQ are both fantastic studios.

Tomb Raider since it went to CD went on a pretty great rebound. Played both Legends and Underworld. While it did have some streamlining, terrible gunplay, and a bit unpolished. The platforming and exploration were fantastic. Now they seem to be trying to match the god awful "Cinematic" platforming from Uncharted while trying to up it. The video they showed for E3 was one of nightmares. QTE, Scripted event, linear path, QTE, Scripted event, linear path. While trying to make it as gritty and personal(More like Jarring) as possible.

And it seems like the Hitman franchise is heading down the same exact route as Splinter Cell. After the tremendous last efforts of Chaos Theory and Blood Money from both studios. Each put into the same category as Deus Ex or Thief. Now seems to be heading in the same exact direction. Massive streamlining, more linear, watered down gameplay for the COD masses, etc.

I'm really hoping these are just bad first impressions of the game. That they still retain the spirit of the predecessors and actually produce some provide a unique experience in this day. Similar to what Deus Ex:HR was. It definitely had less ambition than the first, but the polished mechanics really made up for a lot of that. While they still left enough choice in your actions, decisions, and so forth. To really give it that touch.

 

[angular graphics]

Can someone clue me in on who Nixxes is? I see their name pop up in TR threads as them being the ones who handle the awesome PC ports of those games. Did they do Deus Ex HR as well?

Sure, straight from an employee:

Tomb Raider: Legend uses a custom made engine. Or should I say engines, because they're technically custom made for each platform. We have a generalized rendering interface and a scene-management/culling system, but the next-gen PC path is the only one utilizing it - the engines for PC prevgen and all the other platforms (except for the handhelds, I don't know anything about them) were manually handcrafted, so to say. I wouldn't even call it an engine, it's too down to earth for that.

While this isn't a very efficient approach in terms of labour, it very much was in terms of performance. It does what it has to do and nothing else, so it can be completely optimized for the game and the platform. However, this isn't the long-term approach we're heading as I'm currently porting our general next-gen engine from PC to Xbox360 (a quite joyful experience I might add, it's a great platform to develop for - but that's a previous PC fanboy talking, haven't got any experience on any of the other consoles ).

As for the yankee part, the game was indeed developed by Crystal Dynamics (Menlo Park, California). But the company has a long history with the Dutch Nixxes Software BV (where I work), which originally had porting of games as it's core business. But nowadays we're more like a co-developer, focussing on both tech and tools.

Almost correct, I work at Nixxes, which is a close partner of Crystal. Our core business was porting, but nowadays we're basically just part of their tech and tools programming teams.

We have a weekly videoconference with the guys at Crystal Dynamics in California, we send out daily updates at the end of each day containing information on what you have been doing (also a great spot to put in some rants about software or whatever ) to all the members, leads and producer(s) of the subteam and we have a tasklist that keeps track of our accomplishments. It's not too much of a hassle, it only takes me 15 to 30 minutes of a day. Of course it's boring, but it's not that whole lot so I'm pretty ok with it . I can do what I like to do the rest of the day.

What I like most is researching and optimizing. They both give you some sense of freedom in what you're doing, and they're less time constrainted.

Also, since we're situated in different countries (us Nixxes in The Netherlands, and Crystal in the US), we have frequent IRL visits every few months. Either some of us fly to the US or some of them fly here. That's pretty cool to, as it often means company paid lunches, dinners and drinking at local joints for a week (well ok the drinking part only the final day)

They're basically "Eidos Netherlands" although officially they aren't owned by them.

 

[C.T.]

It wouldn't be better if it was streamlined and more accessible

that was his whole point...

 

[Oneself]

Montréal GAF represent. I'm actually putting the finishing touches on my portfolio this week... good timing. =)

 

[Im_So_Pringles]

That's a ton of employees for a videogame company haha