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THQ Dissolved

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Re: THQ Dissolved

#41

Post by yareally »

cageface wrote: post #40
yareally wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully EA, Activision or one of the other more cookie cutter publishers did not get ahold of Saints Row and Metro. If they did, each series might as well have died with THQ. I think I would be sick to see Metro or Saints Row turned into a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor knockoff. EA just is not what it used to be and all my favorite classic franchises (Command and Conquer, C&C Red Alert, Sim City, Syndicate, etc)…

You might find it amusing that I considered all those to be from a much less interesting iteration of EA than the one I grew up with, which really did make some classic games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.U.L.E . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon:_The_Light_and_the_Dark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Order_Monsters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Cities_of_Gold_(video... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adv…

I played 7 cities (the remake) in the late 90s, but the rest are long before my time or I'm sure I would agree with you on a personal level. 7 cities was fun though and I know M.U.L.E. was a pioneer in the strategy game area.

I didn't have a real PC until I was 11 or so and that was around 1996 (had an NES, Sega Genesis and SNES before that). I did play many of the classic games of the early 90s (original sim city, red baron, panzer general, doom, wing commander, x-wing/tie fighter), but ones from the 80s are kind of beyond my scope, even for an avid PC gamer like me. I could play them now, but not sure if I would be able to appreciate them on quite the same level with the same magic they had when they came out.

I do have one question though for the sake of curiousity. Did you ever lament or rage at the state of pc games in the 90s compared to those in the 80s? Your reply kind of hints at it, but was not sure what your actual point was for sure. I always second guess everything repeating itself, even something like this.

Re: THQ Dissolved

#42

Post by yareally »

bunderbunder wrote: post #35
csmattryder wrote: post #4

Shame, they were one of the only publishers willing to take the risk on a new IP. Which other publisher would dare take on the offensive, lewd sandbox game like Saint's Row, each sequel just a little more over the top than the last? In a market full of repetitive sequels, played out plotlines, and annual cash-cows, I'm hoping Koch Media do Volition and Saint's Row 4 justice!

I suspect that Saint's Row is most notable for how exceptional it is compared to the rest of THQ's line-up. Not being an Xbox owner, I can't say I've played it, but I'll accept for the sake of argument that it is a truly original game and not just a well-made GTA look-alike. So even given that, to me the main thing THQ's name brings to mind is the endless stream of games they churned out under licensing agreements wi…

Saints Row 3 is also on PC. You can find it cheap during one of the seasonal Steam sales (under 10 dollars recently). Does not take a mega PC to run it either in requirements. If you only roll with Linux or OSX, it's old enough it should run fine with Wine.

Re: THQ Dissolved

#43

Post by cageface »

yareally wrote: post #41
cageface wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might find it amusing that I considered all those to be from a much less interesting iteration of EA than the one I grew up with, which really did make some classic games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.U.L.E . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon:_The_Light_and_the_Dark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Order_Monsters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Cities_of_Gold_(video... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adv…

I played 7 cities (the remake) in the late 90s, but the rest are long before my time or I'm sure I would agree with you on a personal level. 7 cities was fun though and I know M.U.L.E. was a pioneer in the strategy game area. I didn't have a real PC until I was 11 or so and that was around 1996 (had an NES, Sega Genesis and SNES before that). I did play many of the classic games of the early 90s (original sim city, r…

It's hard to completely remove nostalgia from the picture but yes, I do think the best games from the 80s were more creative than what followed. I'm not sure why. Maybe because more limited resources forced developers to focus more on concepts? Maybe because game publishing wasn't yet the risk-averse, well-oiled money making machine it came to be.

I hold out some hope for the new generation of indie game makers but mostly what I see coming from that crowd is platformers of various stripes. Maybe kids today just don't have the attention span for a game like M.U.L.E.?

Re: THQ Dissolved

#44

Post by yareally »

cageface wrote: post #43
yareally wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played 7 cities (the remake) in the late 90s, but the rest are long before my time or I'm sure I would agree with you on a personal level. 7 cities was fun though and I know M.U.L.E. was a pioneer in the strategy game area. I didn't have a real PC until I was 11 or so and that was around 1996 (had an NES, Sega Genesis and SNES before that). I did play many of the classic games of the early 90s (original sim city, r…

It's hard to completely remove nostalgia from the picture but yes, I do think the best games from the 80s were more creative than what followed. I'm not sure why. Maybe because more limited resources forced developers to focus more on concepts? Maybe because game publishing wasn't yet the risk-averse, well-oiled money making machine it came to be. I hold out some hope for the new generation of indie game makers but m…

Yeah, I would agree that it's kind of been diminishing returns for many games out there. I think the strategy games put out by Paradox Interactive are still pretty decent for the most part (Hearts of Iron III and Victoria II especially).

I wouldn't mind seeing a remake of M.U.L.E. if it's done right. Though that would probably be somewhat complicated with the original creator dead and EA probably has all the rights to it still. Have to be independantly developed. I would hate to see what EA would come up with if they tried to put it out.

Re: THQ Dissolved

#45

Post by newman314 »

jgoney wrote: post #19
newman314 wrote: post #18

I hope Homefront 2 ends up being good. Homefront is a ton of fun to play.

Exactly this! They can essentially start the story for Homefront 2 right where the first one stopped, and with Crytek's track record, it should look amazing as well. That is, if it's not already deep in development, which I think I remember hearing that it is.

They need to balance the guns somewhat, fix the spawn points and get people playing the DLC maps but otherwise multiplayer is fantastic.

The ability to get additional toys per round is a huge mechanic IMO in replayability.

I also look forward to the improved graphics that Crytek will bring. My only fear is that Crysis from what I have seen feels pretty cold at times so hopefully that does not bleed over.

EDIT: I also don't get why Homefront was so panned by critics. The graphics obviously pale when compared to something like Crysis but like I said, I think they got many aspects of multiplayer very right.

Re: THQ Dissolved

#46

Post by lloeki »

yareally wrote: post #21

Metro 2033 is most likely in good hands. The parent company that bought them owns Deep Silver, who published one of the great games of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series[1], which I think Metro pulls from. Random fun fact, but the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game was also published by THQ. Probably why THQ were so interested in Metro 2033, which came shortly after. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R._%28series%29

> which I think Metro pulls from

Metro 2033 is adapted from a russian '05 novel of the same name, while S.T.A.L.K.E.R is from both the '72 novel Stalker and its '79 movie.

They bear no lineage.

Re: THQ Dissolved

#47

Post by [deleted] »

yareally wrote: post #21

Metro 2033 is most likely in good hands. The parent company that bought them owns Deep Silver, who published one of the great games of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series[1], which I think Metro pulls from. Random fun fact, but the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game was also published by THQ. Probably why THQ were so interested in Metro 2033, which came shortly after. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R._%28series%29

[deleted]

Re: THQ Dissolved

#48

Post by stock_toaster »

cageface wrote: post #40
yareally wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully EA, Activision or one of the other more cookie cutter publishers did not get ahold of Saints Row and Metro. If they did, each series might as well have died with THQ. I think I would be sick to see Metro or Saints Row turned into a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor knockoff. EA just is not what it used to be and all my favorite classic franchises (Command and Conquer, C&C Red Alert, Sim City, Syndicate, etc)…

You might find it amusing that I considered all those to be from a much less interesting iteration of EA than the one I grew up with, which really did make some classic games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.U.L.E . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon:_The_Light_and_the_Dark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Order_Monsters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Cities_of_Gold_(video... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adv…

Archon, along with Montezuma's Revenge[1], was one of my favorite games as a kid! A friend had it on c64 and we played it ceaselessly.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montezumas_Revenge_(video_game)

Re: THQ Dissolved

#49

Post by hef19898 »

jgoney wrote: post #19
newman314 wrote: post #18

I hope Homefront 2 ends up being good. Homefront is a ton of fun to play.

Exactly this! They can essentially start the story for Homefront 2 right where the first one stopped, and with Crytek's track record, it should look amazing as well. That is, if it's not already deep in development, which I think I remember hearing that it is.

On the grafics part I completly agree with you, crytek games DO look great. Even if they botched it up somewhat with Crysis 2 at the beginning.

Where they have to improve upon actually is the story and gameplay, Crysis 2 was a little disapointing there, I think. Crysis Warhead on th other hand was way better.

Re: THQ Dissolved

#50

Post by AimHere »

lloeki wrote: post #46
yareally wrote: post #21

Metro 2033 is most likely in good hands. The parent company that bought them owns Deep Silver, who published one of the great games of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series[1], which I think Metro pulls from. Random fun fact, but the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game was also published by THQ. Probably why THQ were so interested in Metro 2033, which came shortly after. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R._%28series%29

> which I think Metro pulls from Metro 2033 is adapted from a russian '05 novel of the same name, while S.T.A.L.K.E.R is from both the '72 novel Stalker and its '79 movie. They bear no lineage.

Partly to help people find it in their bookshops, but mostly because I'm an anal-retentive pedant, the novel is actually called 'Roadside Picnic' by the Strugatsky brothers.
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