Former LucasArts Employee Doubts Battlefront III Claim

[Lunar Templar]

*shrugs*

I don't trust any statement give by some one lacking the stones to put their name on it

 

[Auron]

What I read -> Lucasarts wanted battlefront 3 to come out unfinished like fucking kotor 2 which they destroyed halfway through because it had no ending and missed more than one important sequence due to their glorious deadlines. So screw them, should have been a decent publisher and allowed the game to be finished.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

One source is standing tall and proud while the other cowers behind anonymity. Who are people more likely to trust I wonder?

Sorry but I will believe the developers more than an anonymous source any day. Let's hope that maybe someday it will see the light of day. Hell I guarantee that if they somehow released it for the PS2 it would still be a huge hit. Of course that's just me being optimistic and wanting another PS2 game. Man I love my PS2.

Perhaps you two are not aware of how much of the gaming industry runs on Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Pretty much anything you work on as a developer now, you have to sign an NDA before the publisher will give you any money to develop anything. These mean that if you say anything about a game outside of production that the publisher doesn't want you to, they can successfully take you to court.

It's the reason why no-one within the industry is addressing the current working conditions that have become standard among publishers, the practise of hiring and firing staff, the shitty hours, etc etc. It's also why this guy is probably hiding anonymity. He probably signed an NDA back in the day, and if he started running his mouth off now without anonymity, he'd currently be facing a lengthy court battle from Lucasarts.

At least, that's my reckoning. Because what I've seen of Battlefront 3, while it looked good, did not look anywhere near finished.

And yet Steve Ellis is talking about it? Your logic, me no know? Is he simply willing to take an unnecessary risk?

 

[Darmy647]

i remember reading all the reports about this. Battlefront 3 was destined to be a HUGE game. To be MASSIVE and STRAIGHT from ground combat to space. But no console could pull it off.

 

[Agayek]

I will believe the dev over the anonymous lucas arts employee thanks, Lucas Arts has a tendency to be assholes.

This, but not because the anonymous guy works for LucasArts.

I find it far more palatable to believe the guy who's willing to put his name next to his statement. Anonymity, especially in a situation like this where the guy wouldn't be facing censure from his boss/company, just takes away from his credibility.

 

[Agayek]

Perhaps you two are not aware of how much of the gaming industry runs on Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Pretty much anything you work on as a developer now, you have to sign an NDA before the publisher will give you any money to develop anything. These mean that if you say anything about a game outside of production that the publisher doesn't want you to, they can successfully take you to court.

It's the reason why no-one within the industry is addressing the current working conditions that have become standard among publishers, the practise of hiring and firing staff, the shitty hours, etc etc. It's also why this guy is probably hiding anonymity. He probably signed an NDA back in the day, and if he started running his mouth off now without anonymity, he'd currently be facing a lengthy court battle from Lucasarts.

At least, that's my reckoning. Because what I've seen of Battlefront 3, while it looked good, did not look anywhere near finished.

You'd have a point here, except for two things:

1) This kind of statement is never covered by NDAs. There's no reason to, and there's actually legislature in place to prevent such. There are several laws in place to protect whistle-blowers, if necessary.

2) The anonymous source is supporting LucasArts. What kind of retribution would he really have to fear for speaking up in defense of the company he works for? Even if he did violate some incredibly obtuse and ridiculous NDA, he'd be getting sued for defending his company. There's a term for that: "PR Shitstorm". LucasArts would lose massive amounts of face, and a similar loss of revenue. No one in a decision making position would be stupid enough to pull that.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Named, reputable source from Free Radical: "99%"
Anonymous source from LucasArts: "75%"

Now how did that second guy expect to be taken seriously.

(The only reason I would doubt Ellis' claims is that pulling the plug on a 99% complete game with a clearly eager fanbase is beyond a dick move, that's stupidity in one of its purer forms).

 

[crimson sickle2]

Named, reputable source from Free Radical: "99%"
Anonymous source from LucasArts: "75%"

Now how did that second guy expect to be taken seriously.

(The only reason I would doubt Ellis' claims is that pulling the plug on a 99% complete game with a clearly eager fanbase is beyond a dick move, that's stupidity in one of its purer forms).

I can't recall anything intelligently done by LucasArts within the last five years. Even the wikipedia check came back negative. So Ellis is probably right, LucasArts is run by simians?

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Named, reputable source from Free Radical: "99%"
Anonymous source from LucasArts: "75%"

Now how did that second guy expect to be taken seriously.

(The only reason I would doubt Ellis' claims is that pulling the plug on a 99% complete game with a clearly eager fanbase is beyond a dick move, that's stupidity in one of its purer forms).

I can't recall anything intelligently done by LucasArts within the last five years. Even the wikipedia check came back negative. So Ellis is probably right, LucasArts is run by simians?

That's as good an explanation as any. I mean...we've all seen the videos. It would take simian intelligence to look past that.

 

[hermes]

99% means nothing. 99% is days away from being gold. I don't know any of the people involved into this discussion, but I don't trust someone whose public opinion is "99% done".

Three quarters done seems far more likely...

I have a feeling that it's a matter of interpretation. A beta version of a game could arguably be "99%" done, you just haven't ironed out everything or added ALL of the content nad shiz yet. An Alpha version could likewise be considered this way, as normally by the alpha your story, level design, etc. is all complete and you may even have the vast majority of your content done, but it's all the polishing and extras that you probably haven't completed yet (as well as editional play testing and shiz). Meanwhile, someone else could also equally consider that 75%, because while the game itself is more or less complete, the total development of it is not. It's like, I could say that I "finished" writing a book because I just complete ALL of my first rough draft, but anyone who's actually written something considered for serious publication knows that what you end up publishing is usually NOTHING like the final project, with entire chapters often omitted and added by the end.

That's how I view this argument.

Either way, it's odd to me that LucasArts didn't try to keep going anyways.

Everything is up to interpretation; but most of the replies on this thread seems to support Ellis and antagonize the LucasArts representative just because they wanted the game, and antagonizing LucasArts is the de facto thing to do.

I have no love for LucasArts since they stopped making anything but Star Wars (like 15 years ago), but Radical argument about 99% makes little sense. No one would pull the trigger after spending years in the production of a game if it really was 99% complete. That number is a buzz word. In project management, it means nothing. Even if the game was in beta, there is a lot more work to do to get to gold than "1%" (and even more if it was alpha).

Gameplay videos means little. How many games have we seen videos or played E3 demos that were months away from release? How about Prey 2? Or the playable demo of God of War 3, nine months before release? I bet that Final Fantasy 13 Versus gameplay looked pretty much done, right? Where did all that work went? Those are just vertical slides of a presentation running on beastly hardware. In a controlled environment, they can make everything look as final as they want...

I am just saying, if I have to guess which percentage was more realistic, 75% seems a lot more down to earth.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I will believe the dev over the anonymous lucas arts employee thanks, Lucas Arts has a tendency to be assholes.

Yes, and...

the main reason Haze sucked is because the publishers of that game wouldn't leave it alone.

It was originally meant to be a deconstruction of military shooters... a bit like Spec Ops: The Line...

but the executives had the writers rewrite everything until the message was gone and the game's story resembled nothing like what was shown in trailers.

 

[RJ 17]

My question is "why now"? Why'd this guy come out of the woodwork just to bash Free Radical over an issue that's effectively been dead for years now? I've seen some posts saying this guy is likely doing a PR move for LucasArts...what, has anti-LA sentiment over BFIII been bubbling up again? What's the purpose for any of this? The vast majority of gamers seem willing to take the developer's word over the publisher's, and even if you remove BFIII from the equation most people still think LA is just a giant bag of dicks.

So yeah, why bother with coming out with a PR cover-up (if that's what this is) for this now?

 

[SonicWaffle]

Is it weird I don't like COD or Battlefield, but would play another Battlefront game?

Um...no? They were very different games.

CoD and Battlefield are modern military FPS, Battlefront was a third-person capture-the-flag game where you could play as robots or drive an AT-AT. I'm not really seeing any similarities there beyond "shooting stuff" and, in the case of Battlefield, the use of vehicles.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I've seen the gameplay videos, it was nearly finished.

The guy won't even leave his name, assuming he's from Lucas Arts at all he clearly knows that any claims he made as a person would be taken apart on seconds. Oh well, desperation moves from the PR department...

Captcha: minced oaths, haha, has Captcha achieved sentience or something?

I decided a few months ago that one of the (many) reasons I believe in a God is thanks to Captcha.

It's just irrefutable.

Earlier, while posting something a tiny bit aggressive in the 'Reasons to Oppose Gay Marriage' thread, Captcha told me to "be nice" :-/