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[sonycowboy]

Today:

A post on John Romero's message boards by Romero himself reveals that the former id Software designer and founder of the now defunct Ion Storm has departed Midway Games. Romero, along with Ion Storm co-founder Tom Hall, was hired by Midway less than two years ago and Romero worked on the design of the upcoming action-RPG Gauntlet: Seven Sorrorws. There is no word on why Romero left Midway although this post at Computer Games Magazine speculates that Romero was fired by Midway thanks to a quick mention near the end of a lengthy blog entry by game designer David Jaffe. Romero states that cannot comment on Gauntlet's current status following his departure and adds, "I'm currently looking at lots of exciting developments right now and it'll be a couple months before I can announce my next destination." Thanks to Blue's News for the tip

Yesterday:

It's funny because just the other day I heard that a big name designer got fired from his latest job. I won't say who it was/is because I think it's very sad whenever anyone loses a job...sometimes there's nothing that can be done, but it's still someone's life we are talking about and it's a tough blow to take. But I will tell you that this is a designer who designed some DAMN GOOD GAMES (and these games were phenoms as well...popular as any big game has ever been)...and now he's out of a job. And he's a guy who seemed to really pursue the limelight, the fame, the accolades....at least as far as I could tell. I don't know him but from my view it seemed that the fame overtook the work, you know?

 

[BuzzJive]

He was probably shooting for a level of quality higher than what is acceptable at Midway.

 

[Blackace]

He was probably shooting for a level of quality higher than what is acceptable at Midway.

I think he made Midway his bitch!

 

[Nerevar]

I heard that after Doom, Romero spent little time doing work and lots of time playing deathmatch on company intranets. Big surprise he's had trouble holding a steady job since he left Id :lol

 

[Matlock]

He was probably shooting for a level of quality higher than what is acceptable at Midway.

You just made the list, buddy.

 

[Mallrat83]

The Revolution beckons!

 

[Duck of Death]

Romerowned

 

[Geek]

It's moments like this that make me miss OMM the most.

 

[MC Safety]

Disemployment: Suck it down!

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

He was probably shooting for a level of quality higher than what is acceptable at Midway.

How woudl that work, exactly?

 

[ToxicAdam]

This thread has made me laugh 5 times already.

At least Romero still has that piece of ass wife (girlfriend?) to go home to.

 

[Tain]

It's way too easy to make fun of this guy, but I just can't do it after reading Masters of Doom. ;_;

 

[JackFrost2012]

At least Romero still has that piece of ass wife (girlfriend?) to go home to.

He and Stevie Case are long since split, he has a Romanian bride now. Check out his blog at rome.ro!

 

[Phoenix Dark]

He had some very good things to say about Nintendo and the Revolution a few months ago. I wonder if...

 

[akascream]

I'm currently looking at lots of exciting developments right now and it'll be a couple months before I can announce my next destination.

 

[Matlock]

Ah yes, John Romero--hero to millions. Took on a cute, but mousy girl...who turned into a plastic freak.

Then he married a teenage romanian.

 

[Unison]

Suck It Down.

:lol

 

[Sho Nuff]

The Uncyclopedia has a kind of interesting article on John Romero.

 

[Razoric]

Suck It Down.

:lol

:lol :lol

biggest self-ownage in history

 

[Wollan]

This sounds like the artist David Jaffe talked about in his modblog. A very well known person that went after the spotlight and not the work and which cost him his job a few days ago.

 

[Solid]

next week:

john romero to develope exclusive games for microsoft xbox 360.

 

[akascream]

next week:

john romero to develope exclusive games for microsoft xbox 360.

Will he follow in the footsteps of Lanning? Tune in next generation when Xbox360 takes on the playstation 3. <cue vibrating organ melody>

 

[AtomicShroom]

next week:

john romero to develope exclusive games for microsoft xbox 360.

Hah! I wouldn't be surprised at all. Lately MS has been getting bigshots out of their huge companies to form up smaller MS-funded independant studios that make Xbox 360 games.

 

[D2M15]

Yikes. Although Romero seemed to have a vaguely confidence-inspiring handle on Gauntlet, I guess I will feel a little better about it now (I assume) JE Sawyer is God-Emperor of the project.

 

[segasonic]

is he still married to his mail-order bride frum russia?

 

[dicklaurent]

Aww. Midway ain't doing that bad lately.

 

[demi]

Romero who? Where's MY SHADOW HEARTS.

 

[dark10x]

I DO kinda feel for the guy...

His ass has been slammed into the ground over and over again. He f*cked up with his own Ion projects and team (though members of the "Ion Storm" brand created some DAMN fine games), but that's all water under the bridge. It's not like he's an asshole to everyone and believes himself to be some sort of god-like figure (at one time, maybe, but not now).

Didn't he work on Red Faction N-Gage after Ion as well? That's pretty low...

I wonder why he was fired, though. I know nothing of his current work habits, of course, so perhaps he just forgot how to get work done? Who knows...

Hopefully some light is shed on the situation.

 

[akascream]

I DO kinda feel for the guy...

His ass has been slammed into the ground over and over again. He f*cked up with his own Ion projects and team (though members of the "Ion Storm" brand created some DAMN fine games), but that's all water under the bridge. It's not like he's an asshole to everyone and believes himself to be some sort of god-like figure (at one time, maybe, but not now).

Didn't he work on Red Faction N-Gage after Ion as well? That's pretty low...

I wonder why he was fired, though. I know nothing of his current work habits, of course, so perhaps he just forgot how to get work done? Who knows...

Hopefully some light is shed on the situation.

Maybe he wasn't that great to start with, but is associated with doom and ID, so he keeps getting worse and worse jobs as people learn the hard way. Like Lanning, I doubt Romero will be in the industry much longer.

 

[element]

on his forum he said he left Midway.

 

[Unison]

Remember that this dude's posted pictures of his GRRRLGamer girlfriend & pictures of his car and crap in gaming mags. That's in addition to stuff like the "Make You His Bitch" fiasco. He's definitely someone who I am not feeling much sympathy for.

 

[sangreal]

http://www.johnromero.com/phpubb/viewtopic.php?p=80650&highlight=#80650

doesn't really indicate if he quit or was fired

 

[belgurdo]

Romero who? Where's MY SHADOW HEARTS.

You don't get to play SH3 in the US because Midway blew all of their yearly budget to help pay for tires for Romero's Ferrari and mail order bride shipping charges.

Made his bitch, indeed

 

[ManaByte]

on his forum he said he left Midway.

Midway thought Gauntlet was taking way too long so they axxed him.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

Romero's gotta really hate that Daikatana ad now. It wasn't even his idea -- someone else came up with the idea based on Romero's DOOM smacktalk, and pushed him into ok'ing it. :\

 

[Unison]

Romero's gotta really hate Daikatana now.

Fixed

 

[djtiesto]

I agree with demi about Shadow Hearts, but wouldn't mind seeing a picture of his bride.

 

[Shaheed79]

Romero's gotta really hate that Daikatana ad now. It wasn't even his idea -- someone else came up with the idea based on Romero's DOOM smacktalk, and pushed him into ok'ing it. :\

Was this what the book said or is this something you found out?

Romero will always get my respect for designing some of the greatest levels to ever grace a FPS but right now he's more useless than Yuji Naka.

 

[dark10x]

Maybe he wasn't that great to start with, but is associated with doom and ID, so he keeps getting worse and worse jobs as people learn the hard way. Like Lanning, I doubt Romero will be in the industry much longer.

Hey now, I don't care for Lanning, but at least the last project from his team was EXTREMELY good. Oddworld Stranger was an excellent game.

 

[FortNinety]

This proves why game designers shouldn't act like friggin rock stars.

 

[D2M15]

This proves why game designers shouldn't act like friggin rock stars.

How does it prove this?

Not a dig, I'm genuinely interested in understanding why this sort of behaviour makes Tomonobu Itagaki and Shinji Mikami OH SO CRAZY and the subject of thousands of column inches, but the likes of Romero or Broussard into hate figures.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Suck It Down.

:lol

wtf? That's real? I thought it was just photoshop funnies.... @_@

 

[Mallrat83]

How does it prove this?

Not a dig, I'm genuinely interested in understanding why this sort of behaviour makes Tomonobu Itagaki and Shinji Mikami OH SO CRAZY and the subject of thousands of column inches, but the likes of Romero or Broussard into hate figures.

For one thing, Itagake and Mikami continue to be associated with good games.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

wtf? That's real? I thought it was just photoshop funnies.... @_@

It's real alright.

 

[Mr_Furious]

on his forum he said he left Midway.

Involuntarily.

It's too easy to talk shit about Romero but I won't kick a man when he's down.

 

[gigapower]

Midway thought Gauntlet was taking way too long so they axxed him.

What did they expect by hiring Romero!

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Involuntarily.

It's too easy to talk shit about Romero but I won't kick a man when he's down.

Romero brought it all on himself. He should learn from his mistakes.

 

[FortNinety]

How does it prove this?

Not a dig, I'm genuinely interested in understanding why this sort of behaviour makes Tomonobu Itagaki and Shinji Mikami OH SO CRAZY and the subject of thousands of column inches, but the likes of Romero or Broussard into hate figures.

Well I don't recall any stories of Itagaki and Mikami becoming very difficult to work with all of a sudden once they became famous names, nor becoming super lazy and using their own names to advertise games, among other things.

 

[ToxicAdam]

He and Stevie Case are long since split, he has a Romanian bride now. Check out his blog at rome.ro!

Man, I am out of the loop. I did a google search on Stevie.

Ugh ... she used to be hot.

 

[D2M15]

Well I don't recall any stories of Itagaki and Mikami becoming very difficult to work with, nor becoming super lazy and using their own names to advertise games, among other things.

I've always heard they're both utter nightmares to work with, and they're as namewhorish as it comes (at least with the Western press), but so it goes.

Anyway, I don't think any of the four I mentioned are much fun to be around, but I'm still not convinced there's a direct corollary link between the quality of your games and being a massively egotistical arsehole.

It never worked for me, at any rate.