Epic Wins Advantage in Too Human Lawsuit

[WhiteTigerShiro]

The consequent delay, according to Silicon Knights, "caused decreased sales of Too Human, caused Microsoft to end negotiations to develop two sequels... damaged Silicon Knights reputation, and impaired Silicon Knights' ability to secure future development projects."

Yeah, because I'm sure that Too Human being a shitty game that received too much "It's going to be awesome" hype had nothing to do with any of that misfortune.

I still feel bad because Silicon Knights had a pretty good resume right until Too Human. They gave us Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, Eternal Darkness, and Twin Snakes, and I loved all of those.

I'll give you Blood Omen and Eternal Darkness, but Twin Snakes was basically just a graphical remake. The fact that the game wasn't buggy is the only thing that SK can take credit for with that one.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

lol, Silicon Knights. 10+ Billion dollars lost for two sequels? The first one, being an utter cock slap in the face towards anything epic about the Norse gods and their mythology, was hardly worth the $60 I spent on it when it first came out. Maybe $15, if I'm being extremely generous..

..That said, I do want a remake of the game. Just, that is, by a far more competent company.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I kind of wish SK win this case you know, at least they brought a little variety into their games, which is a lot more than can be said for EPIC. Plus I wanted DLC and sequels for Too Human, a few tweaks and it would have been a very good game in my opinion.

Am I the only one that liked this game? I guess I really wanted to like this game as it was based on Norse mythology. But even though the gameplay was clunky I did think it was a pretty game and the customiztion of character and armor was good as well. I kind of hope they can eventually make a sequel and fix what was wrong with the first game.

Don't worry dude, I feel exactly the same way. My only gripe with Too Human was the horribly long winded and unskippable death sequence, but there was a solution to that, don't suck at the game and avoid dying. Everything else they got at least good in my opinion.

 

[samsonguy920]

I am really confused at Silicon Knight's argument here, as with their effort to rebuild an engine that is already solid, they pretty much voided the warranty right there.
Seriously, how many cases go forward when someone is electrocuted by a product that they obviously rebuilt themselves and they try to sue the manufacturer for damages?

"This toaster burnt my house down! I want money!" "Would that be because you added zippo lighters inside the mechanism in order to 'toast the bread better?'"

I kind of wish SK win this case you know, at least they brought a little variety into their games, which is a lot more than can be said for EPIC. Plus I wanted DLC and sequels for Too Human, a few tweaks and it would have been a very good game in my opinion.

In Epic's defense, the main part of their business has always been their game engines that they are making money hand-over-fist from licensing. Their ability to make an actual fun game fell into question when they released Unreal Tournament 3. Silicon Knights, on the other hand, screwed things up on themselves when they decided to tinker with the engine. I honestly don't see how the case got this far. Maybe Epic didn't get as good a lawyer from most of their budget going to "Making CliffyB a Badass."

If you are going to add 2 years to development in order to rebuild an already made engine, you may as well just develop your own.

 

[Scrustle]

How the hell do you even begin to estimate how much money you have "lost" from a game that doesn't and never did exist?

 

[jago107]

The delay had nothing to do with the game selling poorly. It sold poorly because it was a shitty game. Yahtzee himself crapped all over it in his review. I played it, and I can tell you, it sucked! Honestly, those tards at Silicon Knights better be glad I'm not on the jury in this case. I'd tell them this flat out.

They wanna make up for lost money? Make an Eternal Darkness sequel. Or just re-release the original in HD.

 

[Mangue Surfer]

Incompetents, always using the same litany.

 

[ultratog1028]

It was a terrible game. Sillicon nights just need to put distance between them and thier game. They were too attached to it and didn't see the games problems when they were testing it.

Make a better game, nothing can undo a game sucking.

 

[Fusioncode9]

Silicon, Too Human didn't suck because of your engine problems, it sucked because you guys made some of the worst design choices ever. Stop trying to blame others because you made a terrible game.

 

[LorienvArden]

Am I the only one that liked this game? I guess I really wanted to like this game as it was based on Norse mythology. But even though the gameplay was clunky I did think it was a pretty game and the customiztion of character and armor was good as well. I kind of hope they can eventually make a sequel and fix what was wrong with the first game.

It was one of my first 360 games as well, I chose it because I kinda liked the demo and the setting appealed to me. The game however is so full of bad design and flawed execution that the chances of a sequel are roughly 0, bordering on the side of the unreal numbers.

If you want epic smashing & gunplay, get Spacemarine and pretend you're a viking.

So they rebuilt the Unreal 3 engine to do WHAT ? There is nothing in this game that most demos couldn't do. Iirc, the team around the "Angels fall first" project did get much more out of the engine unalterd then Silicon Knights did.

Those demands are a bad joke - unless someone at epic wrote and signed them a document "If you use our unreal 3 engine, even your three interns can do the required coding for your whole project." I see no possibility of epic falsly advertising the capabilities of their engine.

 

[utopaline]

I think SK should be paying Epic for keeping them from losing millions on a sequel that would have lost money.

 

[Frostwhisper21]

I bet you anything if they made the judge/jury/everyone play the game they'd dismiss the case as "Your game simply sucked" instead of "We lost time which lost us money".

Noticed how in the article Silicon Knights made no mention of how terrible the game ended up (Well, disappointing at least). That's why they lost sales... because silicon knights is a mediocre developer. None of their games are very good after looking it up... Twin Snakes doesnt count it's a remake.


Anyone else remember I believe EGM having it as a cover story years ago? lolol. Would never have predicted this...

 

[Frostwhisper21]

It was a terrible game. Sillicon nights just need to put distance between them and thier game. They were too attached to it and didn't see the games problems when they were testing it.

Make a better game, nothing can undo a game sucking.

I think X-men destiny was supposed to be a spiritual successor now that I think about it.. similar gameplay from what i've seen. And they're both equally panned!

I guess you're right- they're really attached to that game.

Edit: I just found out they get Government Funding... so if you're Canadian, remember that you're paying for their games.. even if you don't buy them.

 

[duchaked]

they gonna blame anyone else for the mediocre reviews to X-Men Destiny?
given I do wanna try the game and it's only said to be meh rather than the bashing Too Human got (wonder how much the X-Men license cost them lol)

 

[WhatHityou]

I'm not sure how to take the whole thing....

On one hand, they have made previous very good games. Before then had shown they had plenty of potential, skill and creativity.

On the other

I buy too human and It's pritty bad, overall.

The argument is that the engine and all the previous content they worked so hard on needed to be scrapped, a valid argument. But there were some very bad design choices (re-spawn system and targeting anyone?) Can these be blamed on the rush to re-build the product? Maybe, but the world doesn't run on maybes.

It's very, very sad. This though doesn't help there case. I could see those figures, if it were successful, but at best can only be marketing estimations or a blatant cash grab. If this guy was an expert he would have seen this outcome. I agree with the choice, but epic shouldn't so quickly dismiss these numbers when the game took 7+ years of previous work.

lol, Silicon Knights. 10+ Billion dollars lost for two sequels? The first one, being an utter cock slap in the face towards anything epic about the Norse gods and their mythology, was hardly worth the $60 I spent on it when it first came out. Maybe $15, if I'm being extremely generous..

..That said, I do want a remake of the game. Just, that is, by a far more competent company.

Well that wont happen, they are not going to push out another game, if there going to fold anyways. They will cut there losses and close the company. Pay off what they have and not risk deeper debt.

 

[thiosk]

I never like to see a developer crash and burn, but you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

I hate lawyers.

 

[LazyAza]

Does anyone else think SK might as well just say "we suck at making games so give us money!" Makes about as much sense. Idiots, if your game is shit that's no ones fault but your own. Just looking at how many unbelievably high quality titles are made using UE3 (batman, mass effect, bioshock to name a few) and the fact the very reason the engine is used by so many is because of its ease of use disproves any argument they could make claiming it is somehow Epics tech at fault.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

The game sucked, although the concept behind it was good.