Game company screwups

[Ambience]

Given the latest economic conditions, what game companies (or hardware related to gaming) can you think of that screwed up in a huge way? So much so, in fact, that their reputation got screwed because of it.

I have two, let's see how many you guys can all add to this list.

Sega -- I could write forever on it, but this isn't one of my picks. I'll let someone else beat it to death.

Electronic Arts Fired the entire Ultima Online 2 team after they spent numerous months and promotions to get the word of mouth spread, and the team working together. I mean they had Todd Mcfarlane for crying out loud! Their top selling game Ultima Online, wasn't/isn't even listed on their ea.com web site. WTF?

Sierra They screwed up big time many ways. Half-Life Dreamcast cancelled -- It was completed. Sierra cancelled the game so that they could claim a loss on the books. Bad Pool old man. Tribes 2 team -- you are the weakest link goodbye. They just dropped Dynamix like a rabbit in a cage. I understand about cutting costs, but the Tribes community was huge. RIP *sniff*

[Drakkenfyre]

I still hate Sierra for cancelling the Dreamcast version of Half-Life, the response I got to my scathing letter to them?, nothing,

-Drakk )))

[DUKE HARDKNOCK]

LucasArts:

Releasing, post-Jedi Knight, mostly average titles (The Phantom Menace and Rebellion spring to mind) along with a few really bad ones (the PC version of Battle for Naboo, for instance). The few good games (Monkey Island 4, Racer, X-Wing: Alliance) weren't enough to make up for the many console-oriented, cash-cow milking games that left the PC-users in particular out in the cold.

[Crawurm]

My response to SEGA: I don't care ( oh wait thats their response to us my bad :P )

[Dengin]

You forgot releasing Force Commander, and NOT releasing Obi Wan. I actually love Rebellion ;)

Originally posted by Blidd
LucasArts:

Releasing, post-Jedi Knight, mostly average titles (The Phantom Menace and Rebellion spring to mind) along with a few really bad ones (the PC version of Battle for Naboo, for instance). The few good games (Monkey Island 4, Racer, X-Wing: Alliance) weren't enough to make up for the many console-oriented, cash-cow milking games that left the PC-users in particular out in the cold.

[Cop]

True, Blidd... I have TPM, but only it cost me next to nothing...

Even Rogue Squadron sucked IMHO...

[DUKE HARDKNOCK]

Originally posted by Dengin
You forgot releasing Force Commander, and NOT releasing Obi Wan. I actually love Rebellion ;)



I've always liked Rebellion - it's fun to play, IF you're a real Star Wars fan (if you haven't read the books, you'll have NO idea who 80% of the characters are). I think most people were just disappointed, and I understand that, but I don't think it deserved all the bad ratings; it's a very reasonable game in its own right, but it's nothing special when you strip the Star Wars license away from it.

Same thing with Force Commander, in my opinion. The graphics never were very good, but they did the job well enough and I really did enjoy playing through the game. It's actually one of the few RTSs that doesn't put me off really quick, but everyone just had really high expectations and slammed the game because it didn't live up to them.

I think the sad thing is that while few games were 'bad' as such, most just didn't rise above the level of 'okay' as opposed to 'fab', like the older point-'n-clickers, action/platform games, the X-Wing series and of course Jedi Knight.

As for Obi-Wan, I've come to terms with it and think it was actually for the best that they didn't release a PC-version. I think it would not have lived up to the high expectations by far, especially since everyone compared it to JK. I *am* glad that Raven's currently developing the sequel to Dark Forces 2, however, as I have great trust in them and everything looks ace so far. With Knights of the Old Republic and Galaxies also being made by some of the most respected teams in the business, LucasArts may finally redeem themselves in 2002. I certainly hope so, because it's been ages since we saw a REALLY good Star Wars game on the PC. :)

[Drakkenfyre]

Originally posted by Cop
True, Blidd... I have TPM, but only it cost me next to nothing...

Even Rogue Squadron sucked IMHO...

It sucked for the pc because it was meant to be a console game, and when it was ported to the pc, it retained it's console origins,

-Drakk )))