Femmeworth
Banned
And the Canadian government is funding this mad man?
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Kotaku: What Went Wrong with Silicon Knights' X-Men Destiny? Also Eternal Darkness 2
- Thread starter ShockingAlberto
- Start date
Ein Bear
Member
The lesson here is to never break ties with Nintendo.
That, and if you do, making sure you have a great deal of demonstratable success prior to partnering with Nintendo before breaking off, as in the case of DMA Design and Angel Studios.
Pimpbaa
Member
Yes (or at least they used to). As a Canadian and a gamer, it angered me a great deal.
This is the last time I trust Wikipedia! (Until next time...this is actually the first time I've been misled by them for quite awhile)
Shining Sunshine
Banned
It's deeply depressing that Armature Studio have yet to amount to anything.The lesson here is to never break ties with Nintendo.
Those guys were heavily responsible for Prime, which I consider to be the best game Nintendo ever made, and then nothing.
EDIT: Holy shit, they've updated their website, maybe there is hope.
Not quite as depressing as what happened to the first studio that was created from the initial culling at Retro.
This was done by Top Heavy Studios, which was founded by Retro's original founder, Jeff Spanenberg. It was their first and only game.
yankeeforever2
Member
The lesson here is to never break ties with Nintendo.
It is also funny how often Nintendo finds shit developers and turn them good.
MrCookiepants
Member
Damn. I've been reading some of the rumours going around and was totally convinced Nintendo would be announcing Eternal Darkness 2 for Wii U sooner than later.
I guess it's never happening then. And from the sounds of it, I'm glad it isn't.
I guess it's never happening then. And from the sounds of it, I'm glad it isn't.
mattiewheels
And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Dyack has a degree in Physical Education?
I did not know that.
I did not know that.
Yeah, Silicon Knights should just die. They certainly don't have any of the talent anymore that was there for ED or even MGS:TTS. Heck, even one of their best assets in terms of Music, Steve Henifin, no longer is there.
If all that's left is just Denis, he should find himself a new line of work. I doubt anyone would want to be in business or work for him anymore after all that has happened with Epic and these whistle-blowers. And well, I doubt even a kickstarter would do him any good.
If all that's left is just Denis, he should find himself a new line of work. I doubt anyone would want to be in business or work for him anymore after all that has happened with Epic and these whistle-blowers. And well, I doubt even a kickstarter would do him any good.
CamHostage
Member
Yeah, and they got into the habit of burning bridges early and often. SK had a fight with Crystal Dynamics over the Legacy of Kain project despite CD investing heavily in the series and Blood Omen itself being a near-disaster that Soul Reaver retroactively redeemed (I think this game would have been entirely forgotten like other early SK works if not for the Blood Omen franchise continuing on successfully.) Even as late as 2008, Dyack wrote off Soul Reaver as a work divorced from its original author, yet that entirely negates the contributions of Amy Henning and other Crystal Dynamics staffers.
I will give the Silicon Knights team some credit, as I think there's some genius deep down in there. Dyack is a smart guy, and ED is flawed (and not as completely original as it's remembered for being) but good. However, connected to genius is often madness, and this company is stunted completely by its koo-koo craziness. In over 20 years of existence, only two publishers have ever worked with the company twice, Nintendo and SSI way back when. (Granted, it's tough to make friends when you've only shipped eight total products, but so many of their partnerships end in a flameout.) It's easy to admire the tortured genius when that spark first bursts out of them, but if one cannot overcome its issues and continues to defy that promise of a masterpiece, you've got to eventually accept that the potential does not overcome the disappointment.
Well, didn't Nintendo re-register the trademark for ED2 a couple of years ago?
I believe.
NullPointer
Member
Short version:
Wow. Great article. I've had bad days, months and weeks at work, but I can't imagine working under those conditions, creatively.
I also find it ironic that SK sued Epic partly for using time to work on Gears rather than engine modifications, when SK was using XMD resources for their own side project. But then again I do find that the people most paranoid about others taking advantage are the very ones who take advantage themselves.
Wow. Great article. I've had bad days, months and weeks at work, but I can't imagine working under those conditions, creatively.
I also find it ironic that SK sued Epic partly for using time to work on Gears rather than engine modifications, when SK was using XMD resources for their own side project. But then again I do find that the people most paranoid about others taking advantage are the very ones who take advantage themselves.
Sammy Samusu
Member
Silicon Knights, Factor 5, Rare, Armature... I got my names crossed, lol. I was talking about Silicon Knights in my last post, obviously.
So many flop companies, and all those guys left Nintendo to try something elsewhere. What kinda Yamauchi curse?
So many flop companies, and all those guys left Nintendo to try something elsewhere. What kinda Yamauchi curse?
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
As somebody who owns Too Human, I can say that Dyack's assessment of SK's artists is spot on. Christ it is one bland looking game, and that xmen shitfest they made recently isn't doing anything to change my mind here.
Jake Tower
Banned
Spiders are not insects.
Criminal Upper
Banned
No.
this is a surprisin article from Kotaku. One with actual news, i mean
I would kickstart the hiring of actual talents at SK first, then we talk about games
I would kickstart the hiring of actual talents at SK first, then we talk about games
NullPointer
Member
Yes.
SniperHunter
Banned
Dennis is crazy IMO. I revisited the podcast he did with EGM and Mark McDonald, after Mark bashed Too human's e3 2006 build. Dennis kept spouting so much bull shit about the Too Human, banning previews, Mark's opinion etc etc and at the end, the game looked like shit and played like shit.
chertipros
Member
Well, to be fair, Sakurai is doing alright but Im not sure if HAL counts as nintendo
Ninjas. They're called ninjas.
Not to mention that since leaving Hal, Sakurai has not yet made a game that didn't come out on a Nintendo system.
Youtube "Kevin Smith Superman"; you can thank me later.
I wouldn't dog the artists for that game. Considering Dennis messed with Epic and they had to move everything to a new engine under probably already awful scenarios. You can even see in some areas textures that don't belong slapped on surfaces and all I can think is that they must have had to hit some bogus deadlines. SK has many talented artists some of which were recently there and have since moved onto other companies like Digital Extremes, EA and other big projects from canadian studios.
I have heard things for awhile about these guys through friends who have both worked and have had friends work there and it was always negative (I thought about applying to them several times but what I heard turned me right off). I imagine working under some of those conditions was awful and although many artists push through it as it's their name on the project there has to hit a point where it becomes uninspiring and dreaded work.
It is a shame because SK could have easily been a strong prominent studio in that area but it just seems like Dennis is just out of touch and dragged it all down.This picture always makes me laugh from the Brock University site
AlphaTwo00
Member
Don't quote me on the details, but the money was basically earmarked for certain conditions, like the "opening a secondary studio/office in association with McMaster University in Hamilton" and the one that required them to keep/hire to a staff of 100 people.
None of which is happening right now, as far as we know.
chertipros
Member
Holy freaking shit I don't know how I missed the fact that THERE ARE ONLY 5 PEOPLE WORKING THERE RIGHT NOW. Man that destroy's all hope! There is no way they could ever make another game
bigboss370
Member
but, Too Human was awesome >_>
Pimpbaa
Member
No, it was mediocre at best.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Dyack's wife is the HR person?
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Criminal Upper
Banned
This small, but vocal misconception needs to stop.
So the fact that I had fun playing Too Human is a misconception. Hmm.
In the book he torches the Shire at the end...
He sounds like the idiot boss I had right out of College. I'd bring him some cost projections or financial whatever and he'd spend 20 minutes complaining about the font and telling me the red title was 'the wrong red'. He wouldn't spend a minute reviewing the content before getting a phone call from his masseus and telling me to 'fix the fucking font!' before excusing me.
The title was yellow fwiw.
The title was yellow fwiw.
ShockingAlberto
Member
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
You shouldn't be doing cost projections in comic sans.
They were calibri!
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Dont worry, im pretty sure a better super hero game with that RPG premise will come along someday, from DC, Marvel or invented super heroes.
The idea is too good to let it past.
Clay Davis
Member
Does this mean we won't get too human 2 and 3? Aww, I want to know how the story ends. You wait nearly a decade for a game and then they don't bother finishing the story. It's advent rising all over again.