Posted by: Drew Sikora at March 19, 2009 3:15:27 PM
I was obviously smoking something last week when I mentioned the "fact" that news slows down just before GDC. There is no such thing as a calm before this storm. Most of it though has already been covered in separate news releases here (Unity 2.5 yay!) and past Dailys this week so let's dig into the rest so far.
The THQ axe continues to chop. Recently it was beloved Ensemble that was forced to close by Microsoft, and now THQ has announced the potential closure of Big Huge Games and the spin off of two additional studios, in line with their reduction plans. I've been a fan of BHG since it was first founded, was inspired by their great GDC lecture in 2002 on their startup story, have visited their offices and know personally several of the developers on the team, including Brian Reynolds and Tim Train. If the company cannot complete a sale in the near future, THQ will be forced to shut them down. While I hate to see a well-known name die, as always it's very likely that much of the team will stick together and open up some new studios, and it's also a chance for the developers to try new things. BHG was kind of pigeon-holing itself similar to Ensemble within the RTS (or at least Strategy) space. Whichever happens, the vision will survive and as Brian himself put it in a recent Facebook status update, he "rides the whirlwind once again!"
New studios popping up like spring daises. In addition to the previously alluded to Windstorm Studios, the third studio to emerge from Ensemble's remains, there was also the announcement of Titmouse Games being founded by the creators of Metalocalypse. I though there was one more, but the headlines tricked me and two stories were actually the same one. Either way, new studios == new jobs so if you're in the area, check em out. If anyone knows of any more new studios, hit up the comments.
Fable "destroyed lives" during development. Lionhead leader Peter Molyneux sat down with Develop for an interview and revealed several things regarding the development of Fable, Fable 2 and Black & White 2. He's openly honest throughout the interview, attributing the flaws and failures of the development process for Fable largely upon himself: "The truth is, I think I’m famously awful at developing games. Before, I’d walk into the office, wave my arms and say ‘I’ve just had a cool thought’ – usually after severe alcohol abuse – and that lead us to spending a lot of money very foolishly on things that weren’t going to get anywhere." While the honesty is refreshing, the more interesting insight from the interview is how Molyneux has been working hard to turn both himself and the company around, with greater success coming from Fable 2: "If you asked me what I was most proud of in Fable 2, it’s not actually any of those: I’m most proud of the process. If I’m honest, on Fable we just burnt people’s lives; we destroyed the team. Week after week, month after month, they worked 50, 60, 70, 80 hour weeks. It destroyed their lives and destroyed their marriages. You just can’t do that anymore. You can’t do it." Part 2 was supposed to be posted yesterday.
For your distraction of the day, check out The Sims 3 on iPhone. Oh man. Potential awesomeness. I love the SimCity port so here's hoping Maxis has found an equally suitable developer for this game as well. If you're not up to speed yet on all the cool new iPhone OS 3.0 features that they're talking about in the post, Gizmodo has the deets.
Original post by Servant of the Lord
Nope, the link is just wrong.
Quote:
The THQ axe continues to chop. Recently it was beloved Ensemble,
Ensemble is owned by Microsoft, not THQ.
Whoops! Totally forgot to include that link :P
I re-worded the start of the BHG story - I didn't realize it read as if I was saying Ensemble had been chopped by THQ until you pointed it out. I was just referring to Ensemble as another favorite studio of mine that was forced to close. Thanks for the insight
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deadstar
Member since: 12/5/2007 From: Manchester, United Kingdom
Posted - 3/19/2009 3:54:00 PM
Posted - 3/19/2009 4:09:01 PM
Posted - 3/20/2009 12:10:05 AM
I've been a fan of BHG since it was first founded, was inspired by their 
