Reply With QuoteAcceptance, Followed By The Need To Point Out A Spelling Mistake In The Title Before Anyone Else Does
EDIT: But not, it seems, before teh daveh uses his ninja fixer.
From Gamasutra
Make of that what you will. If true I think it's not necessarily a bad thing - there are far worse things to happen and publishers to be acquired by!Originally Posted on Gamasutra.com
According to unconfirmed reports from employees of developer Irrational Games, the company has been acquired by U.S. publisher Take-Two Interactive. The two companies have already been working in close conjunction, with Take-Two registering the trademark for and agreeing to publish Irrational’s forthcoming game BioShock.
BioShock has been variously described as the spiritual successor to System Shock 2 (the trademark for which, perhaps coincidentally, Electronic Arts was yesterday reported to have renewed), which was the developer’s first game in 1999. Subsequent titles have included Freedom Force, Tribes: Vengeance and SWAT 4 – produced from the company’s Boston and Braddon, Australia studios.
The staff e-mail allegedly describes the release date of BioShock as being 2007 for the PC and next generation consoles, which suggests significant confidence in the game’s quality on the part of Take-Two – with the developer not known to be working on any other titles.
Despite disappointing financial results in 2005, this new acquisition is another example of Take-Two’s attempts to expand its portfolio beyond the Rockstar and 2K Games brand. As was the case with the purchase of Civilization developer Firaxis Games last November, Irrational Games are best known for their PC titles suggesting that Take-Two stills attaches considerable importance to the format.
Acceptance, Followed By The Need To Point Out A Spelling Mistake In The Title Before Anyone Else Does
EDIT: But not, it seems, before teh daveh uses his ninja fixer.
As I said last month when we learned Take2 was to publish Bioshock:
The thing I find encouraging about the Take2 connection is that they seem to have a very hands-off approach to development. And with recent smash hits, they have even more confidence and cash to put lots of money into projects.
I think of Take2 as being sort of like EA without the massive control-freak philosophy.
I mean, look... If Take2 was one of the publishing houses that demanded ridiculous levels of input and control, 3DRealms would have been burned down and the ashes scattered to the winds years ago.
3DWho?
At least someone out there with cash likes the talent.
On a sadder note, this news just painfully reminded me of why TTLG exists in the first place.
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=30961
That seems official enough.
Because LGS made some really good games worth discussing even years later?Originally Posted by SNAFU
On a sadder note, this news just painfully reminded me of why TTLG exists in the first place.
Ummm, yeah... painful.....?
Yup, it's on Take 2's site too now.
I think this is fantastic news. With the rate that the industry is consolidating, it was inevitable that a respected small publisher like Irrational would be swallowed up sooner rather than later. And of all the ebil ubercorporations that could have been sniffing round, Take 2 are probably the least offensive. They have a reputation for building solid franchises and not rushing games out the door before they're ready.
I wonder if this means that Freedom Force vs the Third Reich didn't sell well enough? :/
They self-published it, and were hoping to do more of that in the future if it was successful -- creative and financial freedom, and all. If another company now owns them, I don't see how any future self-publishing would benefit them, as profits presumably filter through to the owners, so I guess maybe it didn't work out (more shades of Looking Glass).
I know that Tribes tanked, but hopefully Irrational weren't losing money on that. SWAT 4 I think was at least reasonably successful, but I haven't seen figures. It certainly did well enough to get an expansion pack green-lighted.
Alternatively, maybe Take Two just made them an offer they couldn't refuse?
Now i'll be more inclined to buy games by Take-2 than any other publisher. All for BioShock!
Take 2 are a good publisher.
Irrational aren't fools.
I don't see how you can call yourselves fans of Irrational and not trust their intelligence. I think people need to relax and stop EXPECTING and start just hoping the game turns out well and looking forward to playing it. It's really a downer when all anyone can do is complain or whinge about how everything is falling apart and nothing is turning out "right".
If the game turns out poorly then that's a shame but no amount of kicking and screaming against a brick wall will change it. Relax.
Yeah, what's with all the negativity, guys?!?
Keyword: made
Oh, right, as opposed to all those fan sites dedicated to games that DIDN'T get made. Gotcha.
For my part (not that I was in that list), I'm just sad that Irrational's attempt at complete independence in the game-creation world seems to have failed (and I trust that no one thinks that it would have been a bad thing, either for them or for us, had it succeeded).
No matter how good a publisher Take Two are, it's still not as good as Irrational being able to run their own show. Still, hopefully Take Two are indeed (and remain) a good partner for them.
Hell, Take Two published Battlecruiser 3000AD at one point. Now that's support for niche gaming.
Ken made some interesting points in that interview about the whys.
ZB, maybe what SNAFU meant was this:
Also, I join the glass-half-empty people N'Al quoted in his post.
Another good interview (even if Ken does "no comment" a couple of questions I wanted to know the answer to):
http://www.gamecloud.com/article.php?article_id=2971
Yeah, can't let the f*****s win
It's people like Tim Schafer, Randy Smith and Ken Levine that i still keep my hopes up to play better games. They either do it or get fired trying.
Still, this is as good a time as any to feel optimistic about BioShock
Assraped !The staff e-mail allegedly describes the release date of BioShock as being 2007 for the PC and next generation consoles, which suggests significant confidence in the game’s quality on the part of Take-Two – with the developer not known to be working on any other titles.
I'm not going to even try to understand any viewpoints that is wont have a huge mega colossal fucking impact on BioShock. BioShock is now for console kiddies, there will be no spiritual successor. I'm now going to enter the Sprocketconducer and permanently erase BioShock from my memory banks as I have a sick feeling in my stomach we'll never ever see a decent game, ever again. We're the old gamers now, the new kiddies what special effects shit that goes boom, gangsters, rap, hand held control and no reading because its hurts their heads.
This sucks, the one game I was looking foward to.
Oh yeah you're right zeus, I've always thought System Shock would be a lot more fun if it had gangsters and rap-music in it! HERE'S HOPING!
System Shock 2 was being ported over to Dreamcast although EA pulled the plug on the project I think. So Bioshock isn't certainly the first Shock game going for console conversion, and it doesn't necessarily mean thumbing down.
Yes but it was not developed originally that way, it was ported AFTER. During the development process the PC was THE platform. Now for BioShock the PC will be of course the `main' platform, but its really a X360 title and will be ported over the PC. See: DX:IW, and T
That was the last game on my list I was looking out for, I can't think of anything on the horizon worth playing now.
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