Warren Spector Will Lead System Shock 3's Development

[Fanghawk]

Warren Spector Will Lead System Shock 3's Development

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1279/1279547.jpgDeus Ex's Warren Spector will take the lead on System Shock 3 with Otherside Entertainment.

What could make <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165375-System-Shock-3-Otherside-Entertainment-Tease-Reveal>the new System Shock sequel even more exciting? How about marking <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/warren%20spector?os=warren+spector>Warren Spector's return to full-time game design? It seems that Spector, best-known for his work on Deus Ex and the original System Shock, will lead development on System Shock 3 starting this year.

Spector has already been consulting Otherside on its <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/14773-Underworld-Ascendant-Ultima-Sequel-Kickstarter-RPG#&gid=gallery_4864&pid=1>Underworld Ascendant project while teaching game design at UT Austin. But when the possibility of taking the lead on System Shock 3 came up, he simply couldn't say no. Spector will complete his semester at UT Austin before joining Otherside full-time.

"Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career," Spector explains, "and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released."

System Shock is an cyberpunk RPG series where players face the horrific creations of a sociopathic AI named SHODAN. Spector produced the original release, which spawned a survival horror sequel that remains a classic today. While most gamers remember System Shock 2 more fondly, the first game certainly wasn't a slouch - it was a unique gem of its time <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/experienced-points/14742-Why-Play-System-Shock-Enhanced-Edition>that helped inspire the entire industry.

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That's not to say <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/experienced-points/15289-System-Shock-3-Already-Has-Precedent-Going-Against-It>System Shock 3 will be a guaranteed success with Spector on board. Yet all the same, it's certainly exciting that one of System Shock's original voices will take creative control of the sequel. Here's hoping the finished product measures up to the hype.

Source: Gamespot

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[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

My big concern is that the last couple of Spector projects didn't turn out quite as well as they should have. The Epic Mickey games had some interesting ideas, but rather noticeable and should-have-been-avoidable flaws.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I wonder if they're gonna pull a Mass effect Andromeda and just have the writers and directors quit almost a year from release...

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

It's pretty odd to see how Otherside just managed to collect all those Looking Glass employees that got scattered after the original company fell appart. The fact that they opted to become a low budget gaming studio is even more of an odd sight.

It's like the gaming equivalent of the Beatles reunion.

 

[Quellist]

Usually i try not to get excited about these kind of things, but Warren Spector has been there, seen it and done it all. I've been interested in his work ever since Martian Dreams (An Ultima game on Mars!), Loved Thief and Deus Ex and am probably one of the 10 people on the planet who enjoyed Invisible war too so yeah, i'm gonna allow myself to get hyped over this.

If anyone can pull this off its Spector

 

[Smooth Operator]

Ya sadly this does not sound like good news, he did good stuff in the past but that was 16 years ago. Stuff he did recently was bad and worse yet he ended up telling people "they just didn't get it", in other words he has no more gauge for shit going wrong.

Obviously a project like this never hangs on one name, but common sense does not suggest good things.

 

[Janaschi]

Usually i try not to get excited about these kind of things, but Warren Spector has been there, seen it and done it all. I've been interested in his work ever since Martian Dreams (An Ultima game on Mars!), Loved Thief and Deus Ex and am probably one of the 10 people on the planet who enjoyed Invisible war too so yeah, i'm gonna allow myself to get hyped over this.

If anyone can pull this off its Spector

Invisible War was the shit. I think that the only reason why people act so pissed off towards that game, is because of the endless issues with the Ion Loader on any rig even remotely modern (only really working properly on the console).

 

[broadbandmink]

In my humble estimation, I don't think having Spector onboard will neither make or break System Shock 3. Game development is, unless the game in question is developed by a single individual, a collaborative effort. While Spector arguably has received the lion's share of the credit for the realization of the various projects he's been involved in, it doesn't hurt to remember that during his tenure at Looking Glass and Ion Storm Austin he was flanked by other capable programmers, designers etc.

It is not my intent to rain on the man's parade with the above statement, rather to try to put this recent development into some perspective.

 

[Quellist]

Usually i try not to get excited about these kind of things, but Warren Spector has been there, seen it and done it all. I've been interested in his work ever since Martian Dreams (An Ultima game on Mars!), Loved Thief and Deus Ex and am probably one of the 10 people on the planet who enjoyed Invisible war too so yeah, i'm gonna allow myself to get hyped over this.

If anyone can pull this off its Spector

Ahh, that explains a lot. I had it on ps2, had no idea the PC version had such issues

Invisible War was the shit. I think that the only reason why people act so pissed off towards that game, is because of the endless issues with the Ion Loader on any rig even remotely modern (only really working properly on the console).

 

[SecondPrize]

I really want to believe the modern AAA industry can still create good games. Here's hoping they can pull this off.

 

[deleted+75193]

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[Dizchu]

I really want to believe the modern AAA industry can still create good games. Here's hoping they can pull this off.

This isn't the modern AAA industry, this is an indie company that will rely on online distribution rather than mass-marketed publishing. I've heard a lot of people fearing that OtherSide's projects will fall prey to trends seen in games with massive budgets and big publishers, but chances are these same people will probably be disappointed that OtherSide's games are too old-school in design.

I'm not expecting System Shock 3 to have the production value of Dead Space, I'm expecting it to be similar to System Shock 2 but with nicer graphics and tighter controls. In terms of the story I don't know what to expect, the cliffhanger at the end of SS2 wasn't great (even though the rest of the game was superb). I hope it doesn't end up being a contrived fanservicing mess, I just want some solid sci-fi survival horror with RPG and FPS elements that haven't been dumbed down for console audiences.

 

[Poetic Nova]

I really hope that SS3 will be atleast half as good as SS2, love that game.
Have no hype, and probably wont happen because it still can go either way, but if it ends up being good I will buy it.

 

[Callate]

Oh, the Epic Mickey guy?

No, seriously, I hope Spector can pull it off. I hope the team can pull it off. Especially since the odds of our ever getting another Bioshock seem to be pretty pale, and after the last one I'm not sure I'd even want to see it. (BS:"Choice in video games is an illusion." BSI: "Choice in video games is an illusion, even with an infinite number of possible worlds." BS3: "Choice is... You know what, why are you even doing this? Stop playing." *hard crash and reboot*)

But I don't hold the System Shock series as holy, let alone the name. The success of a new System Shock game depends on the ability to move the series forward, not just play to either nostalgia or some facile idea of what current market trends demand. And to do so, in this case, on a budget. That's not going to be easy, and I'm not simply going to assume success on the basis of the System Shock name or Spector's.