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[CHC]

It comes down to not having to agree with everything a content creator believes in. His opinions in many of those areas also don't necessarily compromise his ability to make good content consistent with his vision.

I agree with that idea generally, but the fact that he hasn't really made any good games since the original Deus Ex, in combination with the things he has said, makes it kind of easy for me roll my eyes and be like "oh that guy?"

But again, I would love nothing more than a return to form for him. DX is truly one of the most special games ever made, there really has not been anything quite like it since.

 

[Melon Husk]

The prodigal spector returns, after wasting time on mickey mouse games?

I am elated.

 

[epmode]

Yep, it's a digital renaissance for these type of games and I'm loving it.

Too bad about that Consortium 2 Kickstarter doing so poorly. As much as I love them, immersive sims are still incredibly rare.

 

[Necron]

Good things are happening...

 

[Trago]

The God returns!

 

[Kezen]

Best news of the year.

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Randy Smith's the same. They've both made great stuff (Magic Circle, Spider) too.

I hope everything works out for Randy Smith and Tiger Style Games. Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon didn't sell the way it needed to.

“The amount of attention and praise we’ve seen from players, critics, and press for Shrouded Moon is even more than our other games (both of which won Game of the Year awards, so that’s saying something), but the sales have been very disappointing and even alarming,” he reveals.

There's not just personal pressure on the core Tiger Style team at this stage, but more of a responsibility than ever before.

Smith refers back to the larger team of collaborators on the game, and talks of his desire for them to receive royalty payments befitting of their time investment: “Currently it doesn’t look like that has a chance of happening.”

http://gamesreviewer.net/interviews/randy-smith-tiger-style-games/

Spider is very well reviewed by critics and player alike, and we’re very grateful for that. However, it did much less in business than our prior games, so much so that the Tiger Style full-timers have had to take contract work. We’ll reconvene in a few months to discuss our next move, but the market for independent games is very bleak right now, so we’re currently not seeing how another medium-to-big sized game can make back what it costs to create. So who knows what the answer will be!

 

[Timeaisis]

Word's out - I'm joining Paul Neurath's Otherside Entertainment to make System Shock 3. I'm going to work part-time on my own until the end of the school year but come June I'll be building a studio in Austin. Start updating those resumes, System Shock fans!

Nice.

 

[mclem]

ohmygod

That is all.

 

[harSon]

hot damn

 

[Instro]

Nice.

Huh so he is forming a whole new studio as part of Otherside? Maybe they do have quite a bit of money.

 

[Bl@de]

Amazing news. Simply amazing news. System Shock 3 helmed by Warren Spector. What a time to be alive.

 

[Supernorn]

Warren Spector working on both a new System Shock and a spiritual successor to Ultima is kinda crazy. It's the ghost of videogames past come again.

A Spector spectre, if you will.

 

[ashecitism]

http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/17/w...tem-shock-by-joining-otherside-entertainment/

“Paul was the devil sitting me on my shoulder tempting me to come back and make games,” Spector said.

Spector said that the studio will be a reasonably big effort for an indie game company, with a relatively large budget. But he said it won’t be on the order of $40 million to $50 million, as he has done in past games.

“I’ve been there, done that,” he said.

 

[Gurgelhals]

So this is basically the same setup as in the old Looking Glass and Ion Storm Austin days: Spector independently heading his own Austin-based satellite studio under the auspices of another studio based elsewhere.

Let's hope that this will lead to equally brilliant results.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/17/w...tem-shock-by-joining-otherside-entertainment/

So...mid tier then? Which is good.

 

[Moff]

not a huge surprise I guess, after all he already did some support for them, but awesome news either way, I really hope they deliver

will SS3 be a kickstarter as well?

 

[Muskieratboi]

best RPG ever confirmed.

 

[Gurgelhals]

So...mid tier then? Which is good.

Sounds like it, which is indeed good. No word at all of a kickstarter though. Seems like they managed to get additional funding from elsewhere. I mean the Underworld kickstarter didn't exactly set the world on fire as well; they must have gotten other investors on board in the meantime, which now allows them to open another studio in Austin.

 

[epmode]

the Underworld kickstarter didn't exactly set the world on fire

It should have, though!

 

[Effect]

This very cool. Guess I should pay more attention to this now.

 

[DarkFlame]

Excellent news.

 

[Corto]

They've been vacuuming up staff from Irrational as well.

This is most interesting. Though who was still there?

 

[Robdraggoo]

Epic Mickey was oozing creativity. Its just a shame the gameplay was so poor.

This is great news. Welcome back Mr Spector!

 

[Cave Johnson]

http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/17/w...tem-shock-by-joining-otherside-entertainment/

Epic Mickey couldn't have cost that much. But then again... it's Disney.

 

[Diancecht]

HOLY SHIT

 

[dr_rus]

Best news this year so far. My hopes for SS3 just went through the roof.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

It comes down to not having to agree with everything a content creator believes in. His opinions in many of those areas also don't necessarily compromise his ability to make good content consistent with his vision.

Yup. As long as those opinions don't go against my principles (or become actions that do) I'm fine with it.

The prodigal spector returns, after wasting time on mickey mouse games?

I am elated.

I haven't got time for this Mickey Mouse bullshit!

 

[Moon_frogger]

Yeah I mean Epic Mickey was pretty stupid, and of course Invisible War was terrible. But he's also just talked a lot of nonsense like:

- VR is a fad because someone could "sneak up behind me with a baseball bat"
- The world doesn't need another Wolfenstein, it's an adolescent male fantasy (New Order was AMAZING)
- Bugged by Mankind Divided trailer for featuring too much action (on it's own fine, but silly in light of the fact that MD will iterate on Human Revolution)
- Juvenile games should not be made

As I said, DX is probably my favorite game of all time, and I don't say that lightly. So obviously I'm excited for this guy to be "coming home" as you put it, but that excitement is tempered by the fact that he's just kind of been a grumpy blowhard over the past 10 years, and has zero good games to show for that period of time.

Even without putting those quotes in their proper context I agree with everything that was said here. Every last thing. Is something wrong with me?

 

[Funyarinpa]

HOLY SHIT

You OK? lol

I know SS2 is your GOAT, so I am very happy for you right now.

 

[Englebert3rd]

I've originally thought that Otherside was his company and was disapponted when I found out it wasn't.
Now I'm just more than happy!

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Too bad about that Consortium 2 Kickstarter doing so poorly. As much as I love them, immersive sims are still incredibly rare.

That's the first time I've seen that, thanks for sharing!

 

[Gurgelhals]

Epic Mickey couldn't have cost that much. But then again... it's Disney.

Epic Mickey reportedly had a huge team behind it. There's one article where Spector states that they started with 13 people and ended with 180 and, with Epic Mickey 2, they ended up with 700(!) people all over the world. Must have cost a shitload of money, but, yes, you wouldn't know that by looking at the end result.

It is really weird though, because Epic Mickey didn't come across like your typical glossy-but-mediocre AAA title you'd expect from such a massive project at all. It really seemed more like your average second-tier title developed by a chronically underfunded and understaffed B-team.

 

[Diancecht]

You OK? lol

I know SS2 is your GOAT, so I am very happy for you right now.

I am dying over here! Warren is GOAT but I hope Ken was involved in some way too. But it's ok, I am sure SS3 will be an AMAZING game.

 

[CHC]

Even without putting those quotes in their proper context I agree with everything that was said here. Every last thing. Is something wrong with me?

Yes, you're a fool, obviously.

Spoiler

Nah it's cool man.

 

[Mivey]

Even without putting those quotes in their proper context I agree with everything that was said here. Every last thing. Is something wrong with me?

I think it's also that the media picks up on it and makes it seem like Spector has some sort of agenda in criticizing such games, when he is just voicing his immediate thoughts on social media. I was also disappointed in the MD trailer for one, it makes the HR reveal trailer seem downright cerebral in comparison. Doesn't mean the game's gonna suck, though. The whole media campaign for Mankind Divided was terrible, but that's just Square Enix, they can't help themselves. They really cannot.

The idea of new games from Warren Spector, with his own studio that could become Ion Storm 2.0, is incredible. In fact, unless I here about a specific new IP from him, I will just assume this is some sort of elaborate early April fools joke.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

I cannot possibly be any more hyped for this game.

So there won't be any skateboarding in SS3?

Nope, just jet-powered roller skating.

 

[TheSeks]

System Shock 3: It'shappeningisn'tit?.gif

But for Specter: Do not want. :/ Everything he's done post Deus Ex has left a bunch of to be desired.

 

[Azzanadra]

Wasn't this guy complaining about violence in games a few years back?

Don;t get me wrong, I love Deus Ex, its probably my favorite game of all time but...I am just a little skeptical after Epic Mickey

 

[AgentOtaku]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!


YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!


he has fucking returned!!!!!

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Seems to be happening often lately. See also: Beamdog's recent hires.

Beamdog has released products though and presumably has positive cashflow. I'm surprised a startup with no released products AFAIK can pay for so many veterans.

 

[BBboy20]

So, with him back, does that turn SS3 into the second coming?

 

[Vibranium]

System Shock 3: It'shappeningisn'tit?.gif

But for Specter: Do not want. :/ Everything he's done post Deus Ex has left a bunch of to be desired.

I think we should give Spector one more chance, post-Epic Mickey and Invisible War. SS3 is something way different.

 

[duckroll]

I think we should give Spector one more chance, post-Epic Mickey and Invisible War. SS3 is something way different.

I dunno. 3 commercial games with big franchises involved isn't enough?

 

[Shaanyboi]

Here's hoping for the best

 

[Gurgelhals]

I dunno. 3 commercial games with big franchises involved isn't enough?

All of his mediocre games were the result of stifling AAA development and publishing environments: Invisible War was one of the first console dumb-downs (and still remains one of the most disappointing ones). The Epic Mickey series seems to be a case where potentially interesting and clever design ideas clashed with a "stupid" big budget / big team mentality. Epic Mickey would probably have turned out much better with a Nintendo-like approach (i.e. mid-sized teams with mid-sized budgets, but also very clear design goals and strict and competent oversight). Thief 3, though, was surprisingly alright despite not holding a candle to Thief 2; the game had the freaking Shalebridge Cradle, after all.

Before that, at Origin and Looking Glass, he consistently delivered high-quality games. So I'm quite optimistic about him returning to his roots with a small- or mid-sized development team as part of an independent studio.

 

[Ithil]

He makes good games and has an awesome surname. Everybody wins.

 

[Unmoses]

I feel like a kid again. UU, SS.. how about throwing in Terra Nova too while I'm being greedy.

 

[DarkFlame]

When you are able to deliver a Deus Ex game,i doubt you lose the ability to create another masterpiece..The fact that he didn't deliver in the last games involved could be due to various other factors,but not his incapability of producing quality games.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Sounds like it, which is indeed good. No word at all of a kickstarter though. Seems like they managed to get additional funding from elsewhere. I mean the Underworld kickstarter didn't exactly set the world on fire as well; they must have gotten other investors on board in the meantime, which now allows them to open another studio in Austin.

I'd imagine all of the mid tier publishers like Deep Silver will be wanting to jump on this. With IPs like those, they will no doubt get support one way or another.