Warren Spector is amazing, and his team is as good as any in the business. Shame to see all the revenues from their game entangled with all the madness of the Dallas office.
Being a starving company isn't fun for anyone. Most that go away need to go away... but certainly not all.
Consolidation isn't new, though... it was a major factor in our rush to form the Gathering and place a stake in the ground to ensure that there is a solid path for developers who are willing to stay independent and build their own companies on their ...
I'm from Louisiana and live in Texas now.
KISS Psycho Circus is my current favorite. I'm not ashamed to say that I prefer the mindless fun of blasting hordes of creatures to exploration or adventure games.
RUNE is another one I'm really looking forward to.
I do NOT think that PC gaming is over... it will always be the choice of the gaming enthusiast who is willing to put in the extra effort for a richer, more rewarding experience.
I think that that multiplatform development is what's on the mind of most high-end PC developers now... this is really the first time in the industry's history that we've had console machines that can handle all that PC developers can deliver.
All we do is sign great teams, and stay out of the way. The rest will take care of itself.
Our developers will make great games for whatever high-end platforms exist.
Seems like it's going to be really hard to make money at it, and, therefore, really hard to get any great games done. Much like Flash games, the audience is huge, but the content isn't likely to be good enough to have people pay for it.
So I guess the complete lack of any new developments is what struck me. That and the fact that much of the good we had done for the artists' side of the industry with G.O.D. had been just as quickly undone by the big boys.
To think that we as a publisher (i.e. people who have never actually MADE a game) can have a realistic impact on a project that a team of experts is slaving away on full time for 2 years is a bit arrogant.
I had no idea until I joined the games industry and met some of the power players, particularly those running large public companies, that much of this world is run by complete clowns.
