Gamespot doesn't get it!

[Montez]

Anyway, this is the same guy who rescently admitted that the orignal Fallout is his all-time favorite game, and he then went on to educate us all on how the game takes place in the 50s.

Yeah, I always thought he was one reviewer who's opinion I could somewhat trust but this is just stupid. Either he's writing this because they don't want to lose Interplay's ad money or he's just kinda clueless. Either way he just lost a lot of credibility with me.

 

[Montez]

Re: i think some of you are missing the point

with regards to the choice of producing console games over pc games, i am worried for pc rpgs. the main reason is piracy. console gamers are less sophisticated (and their rpgs suck in my opinion) and are actually much more likely to pay for their games. pc games have much higher rates of piracy, due to several reasons (file-sharing networks, ability to crack games after install, more savvy users, fewer physical barriers to copying) and this means that the complex pc rpg is in danger. these games are a lot more expensive to write for less returns. its no wonder they prefer to make a console version, because its going to make more money - and if you think any company in any industry on earth isnt going to put $$$ up at no 1 priority then you are dreaming.

Software piracy has been around for over 20 years now, with game piracy is about the same age. The internet might have expanded it a bit, but it also expanded the base of people who play these games. Piracy isn't a new issue, and if it hasn't hindered game development so far it doesn't really have any relavance here. It's just a buzzword that people use to hide away the fact that game companies think that they can make more profit with less effort by making console games, and thus from a business standpoint have no reason to make any other types of games.

 

[nethead]

i think you guys are overestimating what was said. they basically said:

1. fallout 3 is gone and that sucks
2. at least the console title looks ok (for a console title)

both of which are reasonable thing to say. all the rest is based on extreme interpretation by you guys. im not saying your points are wrong, im just saying i think you are railing against something that wasnt said.

and i dont blame you... this is a bitter day.

And funny how Fallout3 got to be number1 in requests for informations on their rank, IN ALL GAMES CATEGORY, and i didn`t saw that happening to Fobos...

fallout fans are more hardcore fans, thats for sure. and theres lots of obvious reasons why pc gamers will respond more than console gamers... but you will find that the companies dont care how much you love a game, the factor that defines whether it goes ahead or not is how many people will buy it. and fallout 1 & 2 didnt exactly set the games charts on fire.

Piracy isn't a new issue, and if it hasn't hindered game development so far it doesn't really have any relavance here. It's just a buzzword that people use to hide away the fact that game companies think that they can make more profit with less effort by making console games, and thus from a business standpoint have no reason to make any other types of games.

if it affects sales then it is relevant. im not sure what your point it... COMPANIES WRITE SOFTWARE TO SELL UNITS AND THEREFORE MAKE PROFIT. the fact is that pc gaming is hit a lot harder by piracy than console gaming. im not some conservative, string-all-pirates-up kind of guy, but you have to recognise that these people who pull the strings are there to make money. (and yes that sucks)


im not trolling you guys. im pretty shattered that fallout 3 is possibly gone, especially because the fallouts are at the top of my best ever list. i just think that the attack on what was said by gamespot was unreasonable.

i also think if we want to REALLY get this ball rolling, we have to understand the true motives behind the companies decisions. they arent twirling their handlbar moustaches and laughing, they are having meetings and making cost/benefit analysis. if you want fallout 3 to go ahead, it needs to be profitable in its own right. theres no use focusing on this console game. the fact is that the console games are more profitable, and chances are this one is going to stand in its own right and make a profit.

no company is going to invest millions of dollars to build a game if they arent sure about its returns. this is reality. the only way fallout 3 is going to be completed is if a profit can be made. so contact interplay. BE LOUD. make a lot of noise and convince them that there is a market out there for this game. i guess its all we can really do.

 

[Briosafreak]

no company is going to invest millions of dollars to build a game if they arent sure about its returns.

Well Interplay is making FOBOS2 without knowing how well the other will sell, and given the Hunter:The Reckoning series and Run Like Hell tracks, games that didn`t put the charts on fire, i would say that Interplay does just that, and likes to do it. You`re treating them like rational businessmen, when just in the last year they`ve removed 5.000.000 dollars from the company to other parts of the Titus group, some of that money no one really knows why it was moved...I´ve been talking to former investors, shame i can`t show what they say about Interplay management. For now...

COMPANIES WRITE SOFTWARE TO SELL UNITS AND THEREFORE MAKE PROFIT.

Just look at their reports, the only money they are getting is from selling licenses and writting-off canceled games, so i don`t think you know how Interplay operates very much...

they arent twirling their handlbar moustaches and laughing

A few are, believe me. Just remember that the same year their president got a monstruous raise, it`s the same year they fired or lost over 45 employees.

the fact is that the console games are more
profitable

Actually they aren`t, since the console companies that make the hardware, Sony , Microsoft and Nintendo, go get their profits not from the sale of the consoles, that they have to sell at cost or even lower, for competitive reasons, but to royalties that come from every unit sold, wich is taken from the distributors, publishers and developers. It`s like a cake, in the PCgames you can have a bigger share of the cake, in consoles more will eat it, making the slices smaller. That`s the reason given by Microsoft to continue to produce PCgames, when they could have focused on the X-Box.

The games are easier to produce, and there are more marketing opurtunities, that`s why they try to go to the console market, not that in the end they are more profitable per se.

In the case of Interplay, well, we can`t just treat that company as a rational entity, although there is a rationality in the behaviour of several board members and diorectors, it is one that doesn`t have anything to do with making a better company or create games and make money out of them, they simply have personal agendas.

And read my post again, you`ll find i talked of other things.
And don`t be naive please, we know them and how they work too well for that.

 

[Elissar]

Interplay has been going steadily down hill for some time now due to horrible business practices..

 

[wyatt]

A couple of quick bullets

They spent money on a PC engine......

They already spent money on Fo3, it was as some say 50% done

It would have sold well, many PC games do sell well, and Fo3 had lots of interest

Piracy? The great part about having a "DIEHARD HARDCORE" fanbass is that they are less likely to pirate

Make FO BOS 2 before FO BOS even sells is just a dumn decision

I myself have no idea why the created an engine, produced half a game.........wasted all that money and then just fired everyone two weeks before xmas.

Even if the profit would have been less on FO3, there still would have been a profit for sure.

 

[dipdipdip0]

Re: i think some of you are missing the point

also, if you read the articles at gamespot its clear that kasavin actually loves fallout and is aware that it isnt actually set in the 50's, but in a world which has remnants of much 50's culture.

I was going to pull up quotes from their rescent induction of Fallout in their "Greatest Games of All Time" list to prove you wrong, but it seems that the article Kasavin wrote has since been updated/corrected. Somebody must've e-mailed him. Honest.

 

[nethead]

i still think you read more into the gamespot quote than was intended...

...but ill accept your points about the company, you guys obviously follow the twists and turns. (maybe i am too used to some pretty stupid things being said in fanboy forums about game companies, and i havent checked these forums out till now so i didt realise you guys folloowed it so closely)

though from the outside it might not be obvious the pressures and reasons behind decisions. it can also be suprising where a companies profit comes from. ive worked for several software companies where the worst products generated the most profit by a mile. they dumped seemingly talented departments to keep useless ones, and it seemed crazy - till you look at the numbers.


anyway, enough of this! i must weep for fallout 3. damn sad terrible business, that.

 

[Montez]

if it affects sales then it is relevant. im not sure what your point it...

I didn't really have a point I guess, I was just making a comment. But I'll make a point now - I doubt piracy is relevant to whether or not PC games get made. Why? Because I don't think there is any rational way to gauge "profits lost" by piracy - the current way, if I understand it, is to make an estimate of how many pirated copies are out there, multiply that by the retail cost of the software, then say "OMG! Look at how much money we're losing!!!!". There's no way of telling how many, if any, of those people would have bought the software if they had no other option. Take Photoshop - people pirate it because they want to play around with it, but have no interest in paying $500 for something that they're only going to use to mess around with a picture or edit a crackpipe into a picture of their boss. Yes, it's wrong to "steal" it, but it isn't lost profits for Adobe because they had no intention of ever buying it. Show me some valid information that explains how exactly piracy affects revenue, and I'll change my mind. More to the point, show me how this has affected any BIS project. Like I said, there have been huge communities of pirates since the days of the Apple II, and it hasn't kept any great games from being made or making profits.

I agree with you about the Kasavin article, I'm over-reacting a bit. I know reviewers have to stay objective, it's just irritating to have to read a review of that crap game which says fans are looking forward to it. The only people looking forward to it a casual gamers who want something new to play, and who could really care less if it were called "Fallout" or "Death Mutants of the Apocalypse".

 

[StillLife]

Should be noted that in all the previews I've seen from IGN or Gamespot, they always make them sound fairly positive. Even for games they later rip to shreds in the real review.

His comments were just stupid though, no way of getting around that.

 

[spadger]

Ok you guys can go ahead making out interplay as a villian because thats what there are. IT's true interplay dont care about their gamers anymore and is bend towards console games now. But lets not forget to the original interplay who brought us these great games. What i meant by original? Well you see about a year ago before interplay startted producing console sh*ts. They was Brian Fargo. The guy that brought in black isle studios and theres no doubt that black isle is certainly one of interplays top division at that time. Now that Interplay was bought over by (i forgot the name) Brian Fargo the Ceo of interplay resigns and a new person would lead. So before you hate interplay which is founded by the great Brian Fargo, a person who loves the games and its fans, know who is the main culprit behind the recent events. It is not Interplay but the company that bought their shares over, (i will try to find out the name). As of now i would say interplay demise came long before black isle, and what escalated is not of interplays doing but some f*gs that is still using its name in vain. It's sad however that no one gave particular mention or tribute to interplay and Fargo because without him they would be no black isle in the first place. As of now, the name interplay doesnt apply anymore, as the concept of gamers for gamers is dead. The fake interplay is all about profit now ,and what pisses me off is that they still have the cheat to hold on to that name. A name which doesnt originally belongs to them but was bought over for the purpose of profit making. It is quite obvious where the direction the current Interplay is heading. So next time you guys want to diss interplay, lets use other names like intergay or something like that because interplay to me doesnt exist anymore and thats a fact. And if you are wondering, no Fargo did not sell his shares over. It was Bought over by force.

 

[spadger]

lol lol i see you guys borrowed that advertisement idea from gamespot...you know that flash thing when you log on to a webpage. I must say i am quite impress, this just shows that lots of people are visiting your page now. YOu should thanks gamespot largely for informing us about fallout 3 cancellation and redirecting us to your page though. They actually openly mentioned you guys in one of their articles, and this is how i got to be a member in the first place. Happy success guys and embrace gamespot as your brothers now!

 

[Odin]

erm..Gamespot didn't inform us, we knew before they knew..

I've got no problem with Gamespot, BUT statements like this only shows us the true face of their "journalist" and Gamespots true spirit...

 

[thorsen-ink]

I've got no problem with Gamespot, BUT statements like this only shows us the true face of their "journalist" and Gamespots true spirit...

I'm Tor Thorsen, the news editor at GameSpot and would just like say we LOVE Fallout and are as heartbroken as anyone about BIS getting whacked and FO3 getting cancelled. I've been trying to cover the story as much as possible (got another article going up today). I'd also like to point you the following pages:

Greg Kasavin's article praising Fallout as one of the greatest games ever made:
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/fallout.html

My own piece mourning the probable cancellation of FO3 over a week before BIS got the chop and spectulating what might have been:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6084158/p-2.html

RE: BOS, while it sucks beyond all measure that Interplay nixed FO3, from what I've seen of BOS, it doesn't look half-bad--although it isn't half as good as FO3 would have been (especially with the online co-op mode the startup page promised...). I am still looking forward to BOS b/c it is now the only game that will let me go back to the Fallout world. I know that seems like heresy, but something is better than nothing. My $0.02.

BTW, the review guys don't take a dime from anybody.

 

[spadger]

hi torsen i read both your articles on fallout 3 and thought it was great.

 

[Brother None]

9got another article going up today)

ah, kewl beans. But don't steal any of our scoops

RE: BOS, while it sucks beyond all measure that Interplay nixed FO3, from what I've seen of BOS, it doesn't look half-bad--although it isn't half as good as FO3 would have been (especially with the online co-op mode the startup page promised...). I am still looking forward to BOS b/c it is now the only game that will let me go back to the Fallout world. I know that seems like heresy, but something is better than nothing. My $0.02.

It doesn't look half-bad, it looks whole-bad. Without a doubt it looks good enough to make a hit on the console gaming arena, though, and that's all you have to be concerned with. We, however, look at it from the other side.

BTW, the review guys don't take a dime from anybody.

A dime? Probably not, but if you burn a high-profile high-stake game into the ground because it sucks, how much chance do you have of coverage with that company from that point onwards? Almost all major gaming reviewers are corrupted up to one level or another by this consideration, the less corruption, the better the reviewer, and I'm sorry, but Gamespy doesn't rank high up in the uncorrupted list.

 

[spadger]

Oh by the way, i am not even going to touch the upcoming BOS, you see i dont support console gaming in any form. Ok i admit the only console port that i ever played on pc is ff7, thats just because it is good, not as good as the fallout series and planescape though(in case you guys wanna jump on me). Anyway what do you expect them to do? Not giving a fuck at all and just turn a blind eye on BOS as if it never exist just because its a console? BE reasonable guys, its all about being fair. Now if NMA were to write the kind of stuff gamespot did, then that would be sacrilegious, otherwise its just plain right. By the way, if you guys think i am somehow collaborating with gamespot, you can suck my ****. I am just a gamer who find the site very informative.

 

[thorsen-ink]

We're going to quote some of the posts, but we're to link back to you guys extensively and, more importantly, to the F3 petition. The article says all things were posted on your site first and that NMA is the source of all the information. The only thing I don't give you guys credit for is French's post b/c I saw that indepently. We were going to use the art, but Interplay refused us permission--the flack said the order came from Caen himself.

We've given a lot of high-profile games that were subpar their just deserts--XIII being the most recent example. When you got a million visitors a day they publishers have to do business with you, whether you dis their game or not.

I agree that BOS is no substiturte for FO3, and think, whith the BIG exception of KOTOR (and I hate the new Star Wars movies), that console RPGs stink. Dark Alliance was fun, but not epic like its PC counsins. The BIS closure is a tragic indicator of the direction the whole industry is headed in, and the interest in the FO3 story shows how concerned gamers are.

Anyway, I gotta get crackin'. I just want to say you guys do a great job I've been a fan of the site for years. Hopefully this story will have a happy ending and we can debate FO3 on these forums for years to come. Cheers _ TOR

 

[Brother None]

We're going to quote some of the posts, but we're to link back to you guys extensively and, more importantly, to the F3 petition. The article says all things were posted on your site first and that NMA is the source of all the information. The only thing I don't give you guys credit for is French's post b/c I saw that indepently. We were going to use the art, but Interplay refused us permission--the flack said the order came from Caen himself.

Fair enough and fine with me, as long as proper credit's given.

We've given a lot of high-profile games that were subpar their just deserts--XIII being the most recent example. When you got a million visitors a day they publishers have to do business with you, whether you dis their game or not.

*shrugs* but you're as dependant on them asthey are on you. Would you really want to alienate Microsoft? Or Atari? Or Nintendo?

Anyway, I gotta get crackin'. I just want to say you guys do a great job I've been a fan of the site for years. Hopefully this story will have a happy ending and we can debate FO3 on these forums for years to come. Cheers _ TOR

 

[pnutz]

By the way, if you guys think i am somehow collaborating with gamespot, you can suck my ****. I am just a gamer who find the site very informative.

It seems people are just responding to the points and rationale you bring up.

Where in this thread was the conspiracy theory implied?
The plot has been revealed. Exterminate the infidel. Red sparrow, out.