Now you can expect Mass Effect '07, '08, '09 and '10!!!!

[Fran]

No, BioWare owns the Mass Effect IP.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I dont think this is a big deal. From everything that pandemic and bioware have stated, it seems as if they look at themselves as an independent co. just under EA's umbrella. EA knows how to get a name out, you think Madden sells a billion copies every yr because its good? Hell no, its ALL advertisement. This will be good for Bioware.


http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/826/826964p1.html

 

[WhatsHisFace]

Bioware will be dead in less than ten years.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

I think this has something to do with those employees leaving Bioware recently... does anyone know where the bulk of them landed?

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

people are leaviing? any links to thos news?

 

[WhatsHisFace]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=171617

As development finishes up on the project, at least 20 former members of the Mass Effect development team have quit BioWare, a tipster has told CVG

According to our reliable source, a chunk of the 100-strong team have left to "pursue other opportunities" in the games industry.

Usually the loss of a few staff members is common place at the end of a big project like Mass Effect - BioWare's most ambitious game to date - but it's not usual at the Alberta, Canada-based studio, which is famous for keeping hold of it employees for many years (partly because it's in the middle of nowhere).

Currently, the studio's other announced projects include Dragon Age and a Sonic the Hedgehog RPG for DS.

As its just weeks away from that all-important gold date, the staff exodus will of course have pretty much no effect on the game whatsoever. Depending on the roles of the individuals and how key they were to the project (our source had nothing to reveal there), there might be some change in store for the two planned sequels. We doubt there's much concern in the BioWare board room.

Later a Bioware board moderator said it's not 20 people, but that it is usual for people to leave.

 

[GL1]

Yeah, it could be a NEWS Spin... I'm sure that not everyone at Bioware was happy with the EA thing... but I think we need more than a debated trend toward a normal turnover rate to seal the deal.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

Once EA starts doing that whole human rights violation thing that the one EALA's wife was complaining about, I'm sure more Bioware folk will leave to join Obsidian or whomever it may be.

 

[GFreeman]

Obsidian will probably pick most of them up, they've all worked together in the past at Black Isle anyways.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

Isn't Troika dead too?

Black Isle might just have changed it's name to Obsidian.

 

[GFreeman]

Yeah, Activision sent Troika under, and they mostly went to Bethesda, Bioware, and Obsidian. Pretty soon there's just going to be one RPG house.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

I'd like to see some Bioware folks end up at Bethesda. Their talents could completely reinvent the Elder Scrolls.

Apparently Bethesda wants to rekindle the Thief series... I think that may be because Randy Smith (a mastermind Looking Glass, Ion Storm) ended up there. Bethesda's take on Thief would be fantastic.

 

[GFreeman]

I'm not so sure.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

They would just take the Elder Scrolls infrastructure and mold Thief into it. Just as they're doing very personalized things for Fallout, they'd do the same for Thief. I could see the whole game being one, consecutive world (which would actually be pretty awesome as long as you had a few hideouts) but the A.I. would be totally revamped, there would be less "crap" floating around in order to put more focus into stealth-based level design... and the quests... holy crap the quests!!

 

[GFreeman]

Exactly. It wouldn't be Thief. It would be Oblivion with fewer options (which, incidentally, is probably what will become of ESV). I loved Thief, but I'd rather they just leave it dead unless someone comes around that'll actually make a Thief game and not just do their own thing and slap the brand name on the box.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

You think Bethesda can't improve on Thief? I think they could. They have so much more freedom than Ion had back in the day (time and budget constraints: Eidos was being kind of a jackass) not to mention the hardware differences.

 

[GFreeman]

No, I don't. Some games benefit from linearity, and Thief is one of them. And I see Bethesda doing exactly what you described, trying to turn Thief into a cut-down version of Oblivion, and that plus Bethesda's lack of writing talent next to Looking Glass/Ion Storm. It just wouldn't be the same. They should just make their own medieval stealth game and leave Garret out of it.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

No, I don't. Some games benefit from linearity, and Thief is one of them. And I see Bethesda doing exactly what you described, trying to turn Thief into a cut-down version of Oblivion, and that plus Bethesda's lack of writing talent next to Looking Glass/Ion Storm. It just wouldn't be the same. They should just make their own medieval stealth game and leave Garret out of it.

You can have an open-world game and still have a linear story. Think Zelda or to a lesser extent, GTA.

The rest of the world would just exist for the sake of looting. You'd need the cash from the small, easy break-ins to get items to get through the harder, heavily guarded communities.

There's nothing better than a roof-top journey to an objective: something Thief 3 lacked due to cut-down levels to save performance. Bethesda would do no such thing, and that would make for an awesome experience.

Not quite Assassin's Creed, but much more like Thief 2's missions.

 

[GFreeman]

In Thief III, the most monotonous moments were sneaking through the same damn place over and over again just to get to the mission. I'd rather they just leave out. The game doesn't need a hub, much less the overdone/under populated environments that Bethesda usually creates.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

If the game just goes for the level-to-level route, Bethesda is, I'm sure, more than capable of doing that as well.

Additionally, they'd make fully realized levels. No intermittent loads, no environmental trickery... it would be 100% awesome.

 

[GFreeman]

I guarantee you there will be intermittent loads unless they intend to aim this at the super-high end PC only, which is doubtful. There isn't enough ram in any consoles/most gaming PCs to do a large level with modern high-res textures all in one load. That wasn't Ion Storm's failing. And the writing would be awful, did you read through some of the dialogue in Oblivion? A big part of Thief was the humor IMO, and I doubt Bethesda could nail that.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

I guarantee you there will be intermittent loads unless they intend to aim this at the super-high end PC only, which is doubtful. There isn't enough ram in any consoles/most gaming PCs to do a large level with modern high-res textures all in one load. That wasn't Ion Storm's failing. And the writing would be awful, did you read through some of the dialogue in Oblivion? A big part of Thief was the humor IMO, and I doubt Bethesda could nail that.

Have you ever heard of "streaming"? The two next gen consoles have 512mb RAM, which is a very nice buffer for streaming in high-quality textures. If the graphics are on par with such non-loading games like Oblivion, GTA4, Gears of War, Halo 3 or, oh yeah: Bioshock I'll consider it a great-looking, great-playing game.

Honestly, I'd be happy with Thief 3 graphics sent across a large-scale.

Anyway, I'm sure Bethesda can do humor. Oblivion's humor was really reduced to a few books or a few situations. It's really not supposed to be a slickly-written game with a lot of wit. It's LOTR.

 

[GFreeman]

Streaming isn't magic WHF. You need ram and hard drive space and good bandwidth for that to work, and none of the consoles and most PCs don't have enough to instantly "stream" a modern, high-res textured, large level with the kind of complex AI and audio that a Thief game would be running. And Oblivion is not a non-loading game. There are 2-3 loads before you ever exit the prison, and I remember a few Gear's loads as well. I personally don't mind load times, I'm just saying, Bethesda wouldn't get rid of them. They weren't present in Thief III and Invisible War for no reason. The hardware just hasn't kept up with the graphics in most cases to give us really good looking games that don't need to be chopped up into smaller bits to fit into memory.

And Bethesda can't do humor, they tried a few times in Morrowind and a few more times during the Dark Brotherhood quest line in Oblivion, and it just isn't the same. It would take Thief from "dark sarcasm" to "omg, look at that man's funny hat, lolz!". They just need to make their own franchise, and give Thief IV to someone else.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

Streaming isn't magic WHF. You need ram and hard drive space and good bandwidth for that to work, and none of the consoles and most PCs don't have enough to instantly "stream" a modern, high-res textured, large level with the kind of complex AI and audio that a Thief game would be running. And Oblivion is not a non-loading game. There are 2-3 loads before you ever exit the prison, and I remember a few Gear's loads as well. I personally don't mind load times, I'm just saying, Bethesda wouldn't get rid of them. They weren't present in Thief III and Invisible War for no reason. The hardware just hasn't kept up with the graphics in most cases to give us really good looking games that don't need to be chopped up into smaller bits to fit into memory.

And Bethesda can't do humor, they tried a few times in Morrowind and a few more times during the Dark Brotherhood quest line in Oblivion, and it just isn't the same. It would take Thief from "dark sarcasm" to "omg, look at that man's funny hat, lolz!". They just need to make their own franchise, and give Thief IV to someone else.

You need RAM and a fast-reading disk-drive at the very least. A hard-drive for cache is optional as Gears of War proves. And yeah, plenty of consoles can do it. Hell, the PS2 did great streaming in multiple titles including Shadow of the Colossus.

Crackdown had zero loading screens after the initial load. That game's textures, as you can see, are pretty good. The Thief games have never had the best graphics of their time, but it's clear that current consoles and a PC could run a beautiful, open-world Thief. Especially in Bethesda's hands. They made a beautiful game with Oblivion, and Fallout 3 is looking great as well.

 

[GFreeman]

Gears of War had loading screens man. I even remember a Halo 2-style texture "pop" during that cut scene after you escape from prison and it cuts to you and that dude on the chopper.