Know Your Gaming Roots
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
I am glad to be somewhat familiar with the overall history of the gaming industry but there's so many great companies that will be forgotten in due time. Luckily posts like this share the knowledge a bit.
It's actually funny that this post made me think of the old times when i was a kid and not even a proper gamer that how golden image i have of that time period. When there were numerous things to try and explore for game developers and infinite ways to get successfull and and fail. Nowadays it just seems more organised, and thats kinda sad.
It's actually funny that this post made me think of the old times when i was a kid and not even a proper gamer that how golden image i have of that time period. When there were numerous things to try and explore for game developers and infinite ways to get successfull and and fail. Nowadays it just seems more organised, and thats kinda sad.
Alas, I miss good ol' Westwood and 3DO, they knew how to make proper solid RTS games (and 3DO RPG's as well). Still plenty of great studios going strong though, Naughty dog, Bethesda, Insomniac and Rockstar for instance, so it's not all misery.
Remembering old development companies is well and good to a point; but I think it's important that many great developers started as hobbyists, not initially under the umbrella of a vast game-making company. Games built by a couple guys or just one person, what would today be an impossible feat, during the infancy of electronic entertainment. That's were the roots of gaming start: not with large studios and budgets and publishers, but with creative individuals who STARTED those companies.
Holy crap am I old?! Thanks Shamus for bringing this to my attention... not that the gray hair would have indicated that either.
You want old-school though? Where's Brøderbund (Galactic Empire, Prince of Persia and Myst), Trilobyte (7th Guest - the very first PC-CD ROM game and 11th Hour), Delphine Software (Another World, Flashback), Shiny Entertainment (Earthworm Jim I & II, MDK) Bullfrog (Populous, "Theme" Games) or the varied history of Sega would also have made an interesting read as well.
You want old-school though? Where's Brøderbund (Galactic Empire, Prince of Persia and Myst), Trilobyte (7th Guest - the very first PC-CD ROM game and 11th Hour), Delphine Software (Another World, Flashback), Shiny Entertainment (Earthworm Jim I & II, MDK) Bullfrog (Populous, "Theme" Games) or the varied history of Sega would also have made an interesting read as well.
Not to mention Will Wright left to form the stupid fun club.Fensfield said:
I was about to say that Shamus forgot the recently departed "Ensemble Studios" or "Totaly Games" of TIE Fighter fame, but there wouldnt be much to write about with them. Good article Mr Experienced Points, and thanks for remembering Microprose, Im going to go reinstall Call To Power now
Concerning Activision, two quotes come to mind.
Dear old Friedrich Nietzsche, font of quotable knowledge: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster."
And more recently, Harvey Dent (Arron Eckhart) in the Dark Knight: "You die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain."
Dear old Friedrich Nietzsche, font of quotable knowledge: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster."
And more recently, Harvey Dent (Arron Eckhart) in the Dark Knight: "You die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain."
When i first read the title i thought it was "Know your gaming robots" so i was like 
Then i re-read the title and realized its actually gaming roots not robots so i was like
After reading the article and finding out that Activision were good once i was like :O
OT: Great article i liked it, May i suggest making it into a series of articles telling the tales of other lost companies and developers we once knew and loved.
Then i re-read the title and realized its actually gaming roots not robots so i was like
After reading the article and finding out that Activision were good once i was like :O
OT: Great article i liked it, May i suggest making it into a series of articles telling the tales of other lost companies and developers we once knew and loved.
Micropose and Looking Glass (remember, System Shock fanboy here)... Ahhh, those were the days. I have fond memories of Maxis and ID Software (SimCity and Doom respectively) as well.
Good read. Funny thing is that I own almost every game mentioned in their original state. I have like three copies of Master of Orion, including the release that came on floppies and had copy-protection of asking you names of starships (which you could only get from the manual (which of course I saved!)).
Anyway, I miss LGS for Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri almost as much as I miss them for System Shock and Thief. TN:SFC was another great "thinking-man's shooter." I'm not gonna do a review of it, but suffice to say that it was a squad-based tactical FPS in the future on planets/moons that were most definitely not Earth. The game had something ridiculous like 30 or 40 missions, customizable loadouts for each of your squad member's suits, different types of suits for different roles/advantages...Hang on, it's starting to sound like a single-player Tribes!
But really, Westwood and Microprose are probably my top missed developers. Glad that you were able to mention them in here.
I'm also of the belief that Interplay will come back with MDK3 and a new Earthworm Jim, and once those go viral, they finish the Fallout MMO and Descent 4. Yeah, one can hope.
Origin's a special case for me because of Wing Commander 3 and 4, probably the best integration of Cinematics into a game I've ever seen...
Anyway, I miss LGS for Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri almost as much as I miss them for System Shock and Thief. TN:SFC was another great "thinking-man's shooter." I'm not gonna do a review of it, but suffice to say that it was a squad-based tactical FPS in the future on planets/moons that were most definitely not Earth. The game had something ridiculous like 30 or 40 missions, customizable loadouts for each of your squad member's suits, different types of suits for different roles/advantages...Hang on, it's starting to sound like a single-player Tribes!
But really, Westwood and Microprose are probably my top missed developers. Glad that you were able to mention them in here.
I'm also of the belief that Interplay will come back with MDK3 and a new Earthworm Jim, and once those go viral, they finish the Fallout MMO and Descent 4. Yeah, one can hope.
Origin's a special case for me because of Wing Commander 3 and 4, probably the best integration of Cinematics into a game I've ever seen...