BioWare co-founder wishes Jade Empire had been a 360 launch title

It's one of the few things Greg Zeschuk would like to have done differently with BioWare

[RuleofOne343]

What is stopping you from doing it now, get a meeting w/ those at MS & Peter Moore(EA)to bring JE, JE2 to next Xbox as an exclusives. I would buy them day one.

[Agent Smith]

He doesn't work there anymore.

[RuleofOne343]

Minor detail, if allowed to make this game his way he would come back while a deal is worked out for his return.

[Persistantthug]

as far as the business side of things, they're about as adept as a couple of turnips.

It doesn't surprise me that they made a mistake with the launch window of Jade Empire, because they made dumb mistakes all through out....basically.

I mean, you had the PS2 which was the uber dominate platform for the 6th generation, and yet, they made NO games for it. Why? They would have sold double the units of Star Wars: KOTOR, minimum.

-Next, they gave/sold the IP of their game (Mass Effect) to Microsoft. Dumb move, especially for a high level, critically acclaimed developer like them. (Obviously EA bought it back later btw)

-They Sold shares of their business to an investment firm, and when the economy went south, EA had to come in and save them.

-Bioware pushed too hard with Star Wars: TOR, tried to copy WoW, and now....well, I guess EA gets to eat that bill.

Bioware just made mistake after mistake after mistake. Maybe next time around, if there is a next time, Greg Zeschuk and his buddy should just stay designing games and try to stay out of the "business" side of things.

[nukeitall]

"as far as the business side of things, they're about as adept as a couple of turnips."

I have to disagree with this. These guys build a company out of nothing with no *real* prior experience in the field prior. If you don't know business, you aren't going to get anywhere.

Sitting on the sidelines in your comfy armchair being critical of others is easy, but being there and making the choices under duress is all different.

"I mean, you had the PS2 which was the uber dominate platform for the 6th generation, and yet, they made NO games for it. Why? They would have sold double the units of Star Wars: KOTOR, minimum."

Maybe, maybe not. However, It would have likely cost Bioware far more to create the game as well. Remember, this was PC developers and back then console development was pretty foreign literally with Japanese documentation and everything. The original Xbox was very PC centric not just the architecture, but even down to the platform, tools and community.

There were also a lot more competition on the PS2 platform. It might not have gotten the proper attention, but as an Xbox exclusive it will get far more coverage.

"-Next, they gave/sold the IP of their game (Mass Effect) to Microsoft. Dumb move, especially for a high level, critically acclaimed developer like them. (Obviously EA bought it back later btw)"

Oddly, that turned out to be the right choice. The PS3 came out with a very very slow start and the Xbox 360 had plenty of momentum and platform adoption. In fact, you are contradicting yourself because this is almost the exact opposite situation of the original Xbox and PS3. Except the PS3 didn't have the benefit of having an easy to program platform and don't care about helping developers at the time.

Most business is done over relationships, not just cold hard profits. If you do that, there is little hope for future business or co-operation.

"-They Sold shares of their business to an investment firm, and when the economy went south, EA had to come in and save them."

That is just them cashing out a little to protect their investment. You don't want your company go bankrupt, especially in a hit driven business.

That is a smart move if anything.

"-Bioware pushed too hard with Star Wars: TOR, tried to copy WoW, and now....well, I guess EA gets to eat that bill."

That might very well be EA's doing, but what other games has really been successful in that space other than WoW. There really aren't any, so why fault Bioware for pushing it strong and failing. Would you rather have them "barely" push it and fail?

"Bioware just made mistake after mistake after mistake"

It's easy to point out mistakes, but have you taken a look at what they do right? Especially prior to EA?

Ideally I think they would stay independent, but as you have seen even John Carmack sells his company for security. These aren't small companies either....

[oof46]

There are some mistakes with your comment. They didn't give/buy back the Mass Effect series to Microsoft. Microsoft published the first game on the Xbox 360. EA wanted the sequels to go multiplatform and distributed 2 and 3 themselves.

KOTOR was on the Xbox because the system has similar architecture to a PC, which was Bioware's background. The ps2 was not a strong enough machine and difficult to develop for, so Bioware skipped Sony's system. Just like Mass Effect 1, Jade Empire was published by Microsoft.

It was not Bioware that wanted to make a MMO. It was EA. EA has been pulling it's hair out trying to take market share away from Activision. They had a two prong strategy: SW:TOR would compete against WoW and Battlefield would compete against CoD.

Bioware has a history of great games. I believe the doctors got burned out by all the mandates EA put on them. Look at what happened with the Dragon Age series.

If the doctors ever get tired of brewing beer and get the itch to develop new games, I can't wait to see what they have in store.

[BlackIceJoe]

I would enjoy a sequel to Jade Empire. So I hope it happens some day.

[Max-Zorin]

Me too. I loved the first one.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Now this is a game I can see them trying to add kinect to. ugh..

like this..
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[maniacmayhem]

How about a 720 sequel launch title?

[landog]

jade empire is by far, the best on pc

1920x1080p
120 frames

Customizable, intuitive controls including support for game-pads and keyboard/mouse.
■ Increased graphics resolutions and new visual effects.
■ New monsters and enemies.
■ New fighting styles.
■ Improved combat AI and difficulty levels.
■ New world map interface.
■ An added playable character, Monk Zeng.

As a special treat, the Special Edition also includes:
■ Full sized Jade Empire: Special Edition poster (18"x24").
■ Jade Empire art book.

pick this baby up for $15

http://www.amazon.com/Jade-...

(note, you do need to run it in compability mode for winxp on vista and later, works great on 7

[SageHonor]

I swear I thought this was spam at first lol

Does this game have controller input? Can I use a ps3 or 360 controller?

[landog]

360 controller yes, ps3 controller with motionjoy

http://www.motioninjoy.com/...

lol @ disagrees on my first comment...console only people are sooooo butthurt always...for what???

every game ever made is better on pc ...its always been that way and always will

ps4 is like a laptop from 2011 with TONS of drm and ZERO mods....don't cry about it, just get a pc

and baldurs gate 1 ans 2 are biowares best games, 100x better than mass effect

10x better than jade empire or kotor

[MadLad]

Thanks for the tip.
Recently built a nice rig and wanted to rebuy a lot of the games I've previously played on console.
Was going to grab this one once it went on sale through steam, though, considering all the extras, I will probably just get this.
Also agreed that Baldur's Gate was the best thing they've put out. Monstrous sized games with great characterization and narrative.
Origins was a great follow-up though. That one comes close, as far as I am concerned.

[SJPFTW]

Mass Effect and Dragon don't even come close to the awesomeness of Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. Last Gen Bioware > Current Bioware

[BigStef71]

I wish Microsoft would have just bought Bioware and made them a First Party Studio. They would have had allot more creative freedom than they do at EA and Jade Empire 2 would have been made. Plus they would've helped add more diversity to Xboxes First Party exclusives

At the disagrees:
I'm a Sony fan by the way and I personally believe Bioware would've benefited the best if they became a First Party for Microsoft

[Rezka]

Jade Empire was my game back in the day wish I could still play it

[DivineAssault]

make a sequel!!