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[MYeager]

I still wish things would line up to allow them to make another Jak game. I never could get into their next gen games. Probably most of the people who made the ones I enjoyed aren't even with the company anymore.

 

[TrAcEr_x90]

That..is amazing

 

[Tagg9]

I still wish things would line up to allow them to make another Jak game. I never could get into their next gen games. Probably most of the people who made the ones I enjoyed aren't even with the company anymore.

Funny you should say that...

“There were a lot of people who started working at Naughty Dog because that was the game they wanted to make. They wanted to make Jak or Crash. So there was that faction of people who were disillusioned with the direction the studio was going in. There was a wave of people who left because of that…”

 

[MYeager]

Funny you should say that...

Huh, interesting. I'll have to read the rest of it sometime. It makes sense to try and keep reinventing and evolving a studio, but it's a shame they couldn't let those folks work as a separate team to continue to make Jak and Crash titles unless they just sold like garbage.

 

[Mercury Land-Snake]

I still wish things would line up to allow them to make another Jak game. I never could get into their next gen games. Probably most of the people who made the ones I enjoyed aren't even with the company anymore.

My opinion is the complete opposite of yours. It was this gen that I started to really love ND games. Prior to this gen I liked j&d but I hated the direction they went with 2 and 3 (thanks Jason Rubin for following industry trends). This gen I feel as if ND really came into their own, especially with the last of us which really elevates the medium IMO. None of their pre ps3 work has had that level of impact.

 

[Hellion]

This was a good read before bed.

Will be picking up The last us before I make the jump to ps4

 

[jacobeid]

Colin for President.


BEYOND!

 

[Loudninja]

So ND has atleast 200 people currently.

 

[jiggle]

good long read


with two mega franchises on their hands
they almost have to create a 3rd team now...

 

[Carl]

Just finished reading this. Really interesting. Awaiting part 5

 

[renegade_dewitt]

The stuff about TLOU development will be of most interest. Can't wait for part V. Great article by Moriarty.

 

[Jimmyfenix]

So do you guys think we will ever see Rubin and Gavin back at Naughty Dog?

 

[bigboss370]

So do you guys think we will ever see Rubin and Gavin back at Naughty Dog?

Rubin seems to have a hardon for tablets and mobile gaming these days. ND have been doing spectacular without him *shrug*

edit: don't mean the above as anything derogatory against Rubin, he was awesome while at ND.

 

[wondermega]

Read this last night, big thanks to OP for putting it on the radar. UC was one of the only games that raised my eyebrows last gen and I'll give TLOU a look as well.
Wish we could see similar insider reports about the rise (and fall) of places like Infinity Ward, Pandemic, Lucasarts, Sega of America, Lots of the rags-to-riches-to-rags stories of so many EA and Activision dev houses (never minding the gnarlier, interesting stuff that will only come out after a few drinks are flowing)
It's actually a very fascinating industry which is extremely unique, one which is still often forgotten to be constituted of real people with very human stories. I suppose that's the point when it is very much more of a product-oriented, than personality-oriented market (and nothing is wrong with that)

 

[SolidSnakex]

Wish we could see similar insider reports about the rise (and fall) of places like Infinity Ward, Pandemic, Lucasarts, Sega of America, Lots of the rags-to-riches-to-rags stories of so many EA and Activision dev houses (never minding the gnarlier, interesting stuff that will only come out after a few drinks are flowing)

I'm guessing that those would only happen if the person writing the story would let people comment on it anonymously. I doubt many those working in the industry want to be on record with saying very negative things about some of the more powerful companies in the industry. You can see that with that recent Wii U story that Digital Foundry posted.

 

[Bundy]

So do you guys think we will ever see Rubin and Gavin back at Naughty Dog?

Never!
Maybe with an own studio, but he won't return to Naughty Dog.

 

[Jonboy]

Everyone always wants to rail on video game journalism and the terrible state it's in...yet when we've have a quality piece like this, it barely gets any discussion on GAF at all. Amazing.

 

[iNvid02]

Yeah I read this earlier today after catching up with it, big read but it's incredibly interesting. Can't wait for the last part, gimme dat tlou goodstuff.

The relationship with Sony seems almost too good to be true

 

[Teddified]

Pretty great story so far, looking forward to the rest.

 

[bigboss370]

Everyone always wants to rail on video game journalism and the terrible state it's in...yet when we've have a quality piece like this, it barely gets any discussion on GAF at all. Amazing.

yeah its quite depressing.

 

[Blackthorn]

Everyone always wants to rail on video game journalism and the terrible state it's in...yet when we've have a quality piece like this, it barely gets any discussion on GAF at all. Amazing.

They're all waiting for bullshit list articles they can pile on and argue about, showering it with clicks, simultaneously asking, "Why do these exist?"

 

[Comet]

Best thing I've read from IGN in years!

I'm happy to finally learn the origin of the Jak series' random move away from platforming, what a damn shame! Also, Uncharted 3 felt like the developers were just burnt out, these interviews seems to hint at that as well.

 

[OneUh8]

Thanks so much for posting this. I would have otherwise missed this amazing article. I never visit IGN.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I love how candid Naughty Dog is. It is refreshing to see how open they are about everything both positive and negative about the business and even their own games. This is a no bullshit studio.

 

[JaseC]

Huh, interesting. I'll have to read the rest of it sometime. It makes sense to try and keep reinventing and evolving a studio, but it's a shame they couldn't let those folks work as a separate team to continue to make Jak and Crash titles unless they just sold like garbage.

ND's narrative-driven, set piece-laden games sell very well and as a subsidiary the studio doesn't have much of a say on what it gets to work on -- sure, perhaps ND has more creative freedom than, say, Visceral (Dead Space began with strong survival horror leanings only to progress further into a third-person shooter whereas Uncharted -> The Last of Us represents an opposing example), but at the end of the day Sony gets what Sony wants.

 

[Mifune]

Read this last night, big thanks to OP for putting it on the radar. UC was one of the only games that raised my eyebrows last gen and I'll give TLOU a look as well.
Wish we could see similar insider reports about the rise (and fall) of places like Infinity Ward, Pandemic, Lucasarts, Sega of America, Lots of the rags-to-riches-to-rags stories of so many EA and Activision dev houses (never minding the gnarlier, interesting stuff that will only come out after a few drinks are flowing)
It's actually a very fascinating industry which is extremely unique, one which is still often forgotten to be constituted of real people with very human stories. I suppose that's the point when it is very much more of a product-oriented, than personality-oriented market (and nothing is wrong with that)

The newest Game Informer has a great piece on the recent history and fall of LucasArts. Some really good anecdotes in there.

 

[StoopKid]

“There’s also something about success painting a bigger target on your back,” Wells interjected. “Now it’s hip to hate on what’s successful. Once all those awards were given to the second one, now people are just going to look for reasons to pick on the next one that comes out. The gaming culture has a tendency to try to dog-pile on successful games.”


This is so true.

 

[Omnistalgic]

I need part 5! Great great write up by ign...

 

[illmatic22]

“There’s also something about success painting a bigger target on your back,” Wells interjected. “Now it’s hip to hate on what’s successful. Once all those awards were given to the second one, now people are just going to look for reasons to pick on the next one that comes out. The gaming culture has a tendency to try to dog-pile on successful games.”


This is so true.

It is. Happens in film, television, and music too.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

“There’s also something about success painting a bigger target on your back,” Wells interjected. “Now it’s hip to hate on what’s successful. Once all those awards were given to the second one, now people are just going to look for reasons to pick on the next one that comes out. The gaming culture has a tendency to try to dog-pile on successful games.”


This is so true.

I don't know about that. More like now people have higher expectations.

 

[HamsterPackage]

Everyone always wants to rail on video game journalism and the terrible state it's in...yet when we've have a quality piece like this, it barely gets any discussion on GAF at all. Amazing.

This. One of the best articles I've read on IGN or any gaming website in a long while.

 

[Nightengale]

but at the end of the day Sony gets what Sony wants.

So why wasn't TLoU Jak & Dakster? Since that was what Sony wants.

We felt like we weren't doing service to what the fans of this franchise really liked. ... So we went to our boss and said, 'Do we have to do this?' And he said, 'No. I thought it would just be easier for you guys if you started with something, but if you want to do something else, come up with something else.'

 

[Remf]

Great read. They were very honest with their assessment on how their games turned out and how it all got started. Look forward to reading part 5 when it comes out.

 

[stryke]

......where did lego Joel come from?

 

[soul creator]

Why he gotta shit on NiGHTS tho

 

[maverick40]

Incredible stuff from Colin as usual. His comments in the game of the year video were perfect too. This man understands the industry

 

[ChrisW]

Anyone else think that this May lead to some Uncharted 4 information at the end of it?

This article could infact be an advertisement for their new game to drop some hints about development I mean it has nearly 2,000 comments and I bet a hell of a lot of people have read it, just seems so perfectly timed with U4 to not do something with it.

 

[PirateKing]

Damn 16 pages? I'm only on the third page. Thanks for the link OP.

 

[IndustryX]

Excellent read, Colin did an excellent job on this article. Best part of IGN bar none, and the best article I've read in a long time from them. Can't wait for Part V !!!

 

[Atruvius]

Funny you should say that...

I wish that those who left would've formed a new studio and made a spiritual successor to Jak and Crash.

Haven't read the article yet, but it seems to be pretty good.

 

[Crimsonlink]

Everyone always wants to rail on video game journalism and the terrible state it's in...yet when we've have a quality piece like this, it barely gets any discussion on GAF at all. Amazing.

Maybe its because we see so few of these types of articles/features?

GAF has become cynical of Game Journalism for a reason with Detective GAF quickly ripping apart false information and us gamers disliking when things are put under the rug in things such as reviews and information after the game releases.

You can see that people are already thanking Colin for his wonderful work. Just don't expect 200 pages for this thread alone like a good gaming controversy would generate because as you know, bad news gets more eyes on them,

 

[Neff]

"...The thing that makes Mario 64, from a consumer standpoint, perhaps not as competitive, is that visually it was nowhere near what Crash was. That was because as soon as you open up, you have a lot more polygons to draw in the distance. Just visually, it was never where Crash was.”

I know ND's heads are up their asses, but this is a new one.

 

[ChrisW]

I know ND's heads are up their asses, but this is a new one.

Why? They're speaking the truth, crash did look visually better than 64

 

[Dragon1893]

Thanks for the heads up. This is great.

 

[OceansAndEarth]

I know ND's heads are up their asses, but this is a new one.

They are correct.

Read the article last night. Pretty good stuff!

 

[MYE]

I know ND's heads are up their asses, but this is a new one.

Haha OMG I need to read this now!

 

[AKingNamedPaul]

You know you've done well when you become your own competition and people compare you to your old self. This goes for musicians, directors, developers and everything else.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Haha OMG I need to read this now!

What exactly is wrong with what he said? He's talking about the details that they were able to add to Crash because of it being more of a linear platformer. The textures, lighting etc. are better than in M64, but that's also because Nintendo went with a much more open platformer (as Rubin noted). It's very much like comparing an open world game now to a more linear experience. Which looks better between TLoU and GTAV? TLoU's individual aspects almost all look better, but GTAV is having to draw an open world.

 

[li bur]

I have to really wrap my head around the fact that the same company made Way of the Warrior, Crash Bandicoot and The Last of Us.

Not really a good comparison, but early Bioware games were not RPG.

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

I am not surpirsed. Some of the hyperbole comments regarding U3 on this board can get out of hand.

It surprising that ND is making another Uncharted after they felt let down by U3 critical performance. That tells me that either is a "Sony" thing or, they want to redeem themselves and blow us away.

I think that they always wanted to continue a franchise on a new console, but they couldn't.
I suppose they wanted to continue Crash, but they left Universal and made Jak.
They wanted to make a new Jak, but in the end the left it to High Moon Studios.
Now, if they wanted to make another Uncharted, they can.