Gamespot once again took a moment to stand still at the departure of a great gaming studio. Here's the mail they sent out:
<blockquote>News
Black Isle Studios Shut Down
Sometimes, you realize things in hindsight. "Wow, that really was a great game," you might think, months or even years after you played and enjoyed the game you're thinking about. That wasn't the case for me and Fallout. I played Fallout just as soon as it came out in 1997, and despite a few bugs in the retail version (which were subsequently fixed by patches), it instantly became one of my all-time favorite games. A sequel a few years later provided more of the same, but by now, Fallout is such a legendary game in my mind that I can't imagine anything surpassing it.
Actually, though, Planescape: Torment came awfully close. Arguably it's an even better game, and certainly, its storyline is at least as compelling. It's another Black Isle classic, and unlike Fallout, I had the privilege of reviewing that one myself. Reviewers rarely are able to know with any certainty when the game they're playing is an instant classic, and rarer still do they actually turn out to be right, but by the time I finished Planescape: Torment for my review, there was no doubt left in my mind that the game was destined for classic status. I still remember the game vividly, even though my review was posted four years ago.
Black Isle also published the Baldur's Gate series and produced the great Icewind Dale games. What an incredibly amazing track record. So, I, like many others, was genuinely sad to learn that Black Isle was shut down. Its closure seems to mark the end of an era in PC gaming. Who's to say whether next year's carrot-on-a-stick releases like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 will live up to our incredibly high expectations? Truthfully, I think PC gaming is in a rut right now--but I'm confident it'll recover. Someone's going to be the next Black Isle, and I don't mean by shutting down.</blockquote>
Thanks to Pope_Viper for notifying us of this in this thread. And cheers, Gamespot.
<blockquote>News
Black Isle Studios Shut Down
Sometimes, you realize things in hindsight. "Wow, that really was a great game," you might think, months or even years after you played and enjoyed the game you're thinking about. That wasn't the case for me and Fallout. I played Fallout just as soon as it came out in 1997, and despite a few bugs in the retail version (which were subsequently fixed by patches), it instantly became one of my all-time favorite games. A sequel a few years later provided more of the same, but by now, Fallout is such a legendary game in my mind that I can't imagine anything surpassing it.
Actually, though, Planescape: Torment came awfully close. Arguably it's an even better game, and certainly, its storyline is at least as compelling. It's another Black Isle classic, and unlike Fallout, I had the privilege of reviewing that one myself. Reviewers rarely are able to know with any certainty when the game they're playing is an instant classic, and rarer still do they actually turn out to be right, but by the time I finished Planescape: Torment for my review, there was no doubt left in my mind that the game was destined for classic status. I still remember the game vividly, even though my review was posted four years ago.
Black Isle also published the Baldur's Gate series and produced the great Icewind Dale games. What an incredibly amazing track record. So, I, like many others, was genuinely sad to learn that Black Isle was shut down. Its closure seems to mark the end of an era in PC gaming. Who's to say whether next year's carrot-on-a-stick releases like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 will live up to our incredibly high expectations? Truthfully, I think PC gaming is in a rut right now--but I'm confident it'll recover. Someone's going to be the next Black Isle, and I don't mean by shutting down.</blockquote>
Thanks to Pope_Viper for notifying us of this in this thread. And cheers, Gamespot.
