VGW's Brian Shea: "These developers took what was thought to be the limits of game development and pushed them forward in ways nobody else had done before. Check out who we picked as a staff to make our list of the top 10 developers of this generation and let us know who you would have picked."
Former Rockstar Games Technical Director Obbe Vermeij has finally revealed why some planes would randomly crash in GTA: San Andreas.
This fly by feature was on the cutting room floor due to the random plane crashes and it's one of those things I'm so thankful made it into the final version as these random fly by and crashes make the world seem more alive on the extremely limited PS2 hardware you needed everything you could possibly get in a open world to convey that feeling.
And accross hundreds of hours of gameplay I probably died around 3 times as a result of these fly by failures but I loved every time it happened
It made the world feel more human, and honestly kinda insane that even today with all these open world games, almost no one can capture that like R* even when compared to their ps2 games
Lol, I remember those. I vaguely remember dying from one crashing into my car once too.
Earlier this year, BioWare was hit with layoffs as part of a downsizing of parent company Electronic Arts, but fans have been reassured that the next Mass Effect game hasn’t been impacted. Likewise, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf’s development is still churning along, with BioWare putting it at the forefront of its focus and rumors suggesting that it could launch sometime later this year. Fans might be getting another look at the long-in-development Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at the Summer Game Fest in June.
If the recently posted job offering for a temporary development manager is any indication, BioWare could have yet another surprise up its sleeve for when Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf are nearing completion. This mystery BioWare video game could truly be anything, from another spin-off of its two major properties to something entirely new. All there is to go on at the moment is a vague mention in the job posting, and it might still be some time before BioWare is ready to confirm any new games in its pipeline.
So a studio that spent years on anthem then this dragon age thing is now also working on another ip along with mass effect,
You think they would be worried that there brand has been on 3 major screw ups
Dragon age 3 launched broken with the frostbite engine yes its a good game but you can see in the late game how rough it was
anthem......
Mass effect 4 well that dev team was fired so yeah.....
They should make sure this new dragon age is a goat instead of putting more work on the table
Bioware today is like 150 poeple i dont see how they are seemingly working on all these projects at the same time.
Inquisition wasn't broken, it just had some flaws and on the contrary it also had some strengths. If you call inquisition a major screw up then idk what to say.
That said with what happened to the study since then and now, I'm not really confident that their next game will be any good.
If you played it fully to get plat like me back in its novemeber launch window you had that castle with empty area's endgame missions not there or working and a mp that was made around loot box grind like the mass effect mp.
Its hard to explain to those that played it years later after they tossed out the dlc/patch's
entitled much? I played it at launch too. Why you even platted it if it was a "major screw up"?
It was good enough for you to sink 100 hours in but also a complete fuckup at the same time, make up your mind.
So either you like shitty games or you're just talking out of your ass.
Well just wanna say, Archetype Entertainment is the new BioWare, composed of mainly ex-BioWare vets.
And they're developing Exodus (starring Matthew McConaughey), a new sci-fi RPG (spiritual successor to Mass Effect, dare I say?)
They're owned by EA. What makes you think that they wouldn't publish for PS5? Shoot, if your fridge could connect to your bank account EA would try to release it for that if they could!
How about they focus on those games and not over extend themselves? We don't need another Anthem.
Bioware died after Inquisition (some would even argue after ME3). They are no longer the same company.
Speaking on what’s coming next for Naughty Dog, which could be either their new IP or The Last Of Us Part III, Druckmann gave what he seems to feel are realities of the project he’s talking about. That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”
Neil Druckmann talks about Naughty Dog's Next Game which is really ambitious and parts of it are hard to make! pic.twitter.com/IqY2KEI1Gb
— DomTheBomb (@DomTheBombYT) March 1, 2024
"I’ve really surrendered to knowing it’s going to be really hard, knowing it’s going to stress members of the team out"
As if crunch wasn't stressing them enough
So the people who remained in a studio that had tons of workers quiting and others laid off said that they don't have to crunch, and you are just believing that
They absolutely will wind up having to crunch. Happens at the end of almost every software project development cycle, especially with release date pressures. It's part of the job. Obviously they aren't in a crunch when they aren't in that late phase. But it's wishful thinking if they think they won't see that stress again. Druckmann himself seems to be aware of that.
Yes I believe them. The people who want to crunch can do it. The people who mentally and physically can't, don't actually have to. Some have young babies at home. Things have changed since the Schreier report.
@helicoptergirl
It wishful thinking to think some workers can choose to crunch or not to do so. That’s akin to people you work with saying they don’t have to do work they don’t like and you’re the one that has to take up the slack. That’s not how things work. Especially if your the person assigned to a specific task that has to be completed for the development to move forward. It’s a team sport when it comes to making a game. As with most things in life. Now that they are a smaller group, it’s even more important for everyone to pull their weight. Peace
@rlow that was exactly the mentality before the exposure and it was talked about and reported on. It's different now. You know, sometimes things and attitudes just change for the better. They knew they needed to change and they have and they're not stopping trying to make the creative environment as good as it can be.
When someone pays another person to do a specific job in exchange for a certain rate of pay, it's called work.
They didn't sign to crunch and neither were they paid for it, people were hospitalized in Naughty Dog
Exactly most of these people wouldn’t last a season in the trades.
I f******* love how many people are doing a complete 180 on their views of crunch culture despite the awful stories reported on over the many years just because we’re talking about NaughtyDog
You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about
“They signed a contract…it’s called work…that’s life…it’s a job”
I mean really guys, if this was EA you’d be having a field day
I bet you any money if any of these guys regardless of studio went in and said to their superior “Listen, don’t feel like the over time tonight, I’ll just stick to my normal contracted hours if that’s alright” I highly doubt they’d be given a warm response
@Tristan1982: The problem is crunch is because of the inefficient management and sudden changes in projects. ND made major story changes based on some feedback, that results in months of rework, redesign, etc. And none of those changes were built into the project from the get-go, so they still have to meet a deadline.
@H9: One person. And they did sign up for crunch, ND is notorious for hiring people who don't mind it. That's the problem, they tell you who they are, people just aren't listening. And, they did get paid, just their QA level of people are paid shit, which is an industry issue for something so freaking important. And people wonder why we have such broken games at launch. Because companies don't want to pay to deliver as long as people will buy enough to get them past first few months of patches and then re-release a major patch with an expansion to get people to come back.
@-Foxtrot " You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about " -- N4G home of 'hold my beer' on that alone.
The kindda guy to guilt trip others into overwork or tell them to be better slaves ('employees'). Exactly what corps like. How does it taste?
Assuming you have a job, how would you feel working 80 hours a week for the same pay? You’ve not experienced crunch otherwise you wouldn’t be speaking like this.
As somebody who has crunched before. No, it wasn't my choice, no, you couldn't handle it, and no, you don't work in a better industry than I do.
exactly, get the game out before PS6 and if it takes crunch, or over time which you get paid for, get on with it
"Assuming you have a job"
Assuming I haven't worked more for less, I suppose. And yes, I do.
"Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people."
I feel awful for the people that fought for the workers and got stuck holding the bag and lost everything.
"no, you couldn't handle it, "
You mean "I"
I really hope this isn't management BS stress. I get wanting to put the best out, finding the best new ways and concepts, and ensuring your design is just top notch and not wasteful and fulfilling, but when I hear some manager talking about this my first thought is "Are these jerks changing paradigms on a regular basis that's making people play catch up and redo work to meet their new goals?"
That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”
Not 'is' but 'will be', kinda suggests that they haven't started yet, hope not.
Come on ND, a game PLEAAAAASSSSEEEE. Desperate this gen.
From the article:
“Working on this new game, it’s really ambitious, parts of it are really hard,…”
That is the actual quote. They are already working on it.
Yeah, a lot of people push fake narratives about NaughtyDog and misquote things. That quote is very straightforward.
https://twitter.com/MitchyD...
Above is the complete debunking of a false story that still gets spread around all the time. And the bad faith actors doing it also only pin it on Druckmann for some reason and ignore Straley. They want to portray Druckmann as an evil schemer, even when the false story they're spreading doesn't align with their narrative. They don't care about reality ...
SuckerPunch doesn't get even 1% of this criticism and they haven't provided any update whatsoever on their next game, and it's a sequel not a new IP, so turnaround would be quicker. That's not logical.
Also, just off-topic slightly but..
Does anyone think that layoffs now may well be making space for AI integration of game development, and 'crunch-time', 'unsustainable', 'big budget' are all terms been used to butter us up to receiving the news that AI integration will help and maintain the level of AAA games that were accustomed to? Perhaps the layoffs were the devs that didn't join a union quick enough and if only they had the smarts of SAG members and strike while the time is right, before its too late?! Imagine DEV's on strike at a time like this, there's already a game drought.
I work in manufacturing. Layoffs here to. Especially people with no skill. I feel bad for them more then anything.
I work in advertisement, Im being laid off in may despite being the 3rd best on my team of 15 just under the team lead and assistant team lead, and the assistant team lead is out next week. Yet the last two years we've all been congratulated for record numbers. Times are weird.
Game drought. Lol what. I can't keep up. There's so many dope games releasing. I gotta ask what do you play
Not Naughty Dog games, not this gen. You know, Naughty Dog? Who the article is about?
Is this supposed to be a big gotcha after Microsoft laid off 1,900 and we're ignoring that? Let alone the over 16,000 other layoffs from Microsoft in 2023?
This is an article talking about Sony, no one said anything about Microsoft
And we should always be reminded of it like people are doing with Microsoft, Sony shouldn't get a free pass either
Yes, and this article is 100% about Sony firing people.
ND says new game is ambitious - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony publishes new gameplay video - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony announces weekend sale deals - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
1. BioWare??? srs? really? The one everyone hated on for the ending of ME3? Over Naughty Dog whom you didn't even put 2nd? Who will win yet their 2nd Game of the Year with The Last of Us?
Heck, I would have put Konami over BioWare and Konami didn't even make the list, lol... MGS/MGS4 is elite status which influenced every other game it's type. With Silent Hill, Castlevania.
Awful list, Get rid of Harmonix Music Systems for a start
Bioware should be number 10, Ubisoft should be Number 9, Rockstar at Number 2 with Valve at Number 3 and NaughtyDog should be number 1 in my opinion.
After how much Bioware screwed up one of the best new IP's of this gen....I don't think so. Mass Effect 2 was a fantastic game but it went against what made the first one so unique, it put the third person shooter elements before the RPG goodness and introduced thermal clips which was just a bad idea to begin with. Then you have Mass Effect 3 which ended up like a massive action game...as for the ending, well thats another story completely
I'd think the developer of the Super Mario Galaxy games should get a mention...
Funny thing is, all of the games mentioned for Bioware, they messed up one way or another. Especially SWTOR, which was more of a SP game than an MMO.
I know everyone has opinions, but ugh, this leaves a bad taste.