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[SantaC]

This is seriously the best read IGN has offered in quite some time.

With any hope, gamers now have a better idea of the massive amount of work that went into making Metroid Prime the graphical masterpiece it is today. Without the extraordinary vision of Todd Keller and all the dedicated artists that followed his guidance, Prime could have turned out much differently. So many games these days fall flat on their face in the area of art and, as a result, the project never fully realizes its true potential. What make's Metroid Prime such an amazing example, is the fact that a studio with no prior experience, three failed projects, and a turbulent beginning was able to pull off one of the most polished and critically acclaimed titles of this or any console generation. This accomplishment is nothing short of astonishing and a true testament to the commitment and loyalty Nintendo has to the series.

http://cube.ign.com/articles/536/536510p1.html

 

[DrEvil]

That's because it was provided by N-Sider

Either way, I'm glad you guys liked the article, I can tell you first hand that Kyle put a lot of energy and time, a lot of freaking time, into this special. He almost died, and I'm not joking.

Well, maybe I'm joking, but he did put a lot of effort into this monster, and I was able to help him out with some minor edits (Yeah, here's me, trying to steal some credit where I deserve none.. heh).

I'm glad you like our stuff, now visit our site out of pure joy and love for the article.

Dean Bergmann
N-Sider.com

 

[ironichaos]

...courtesy of the guys at N-Sider.com.

 

[SantaC]

Yes the read was good, and very lengthy. What are your impressions of Metroid Prime 2 so far? Some people appearently left after completing Metroid Prime. Will this have a negative effect or not?

 

[Zilch]

However, his future with Retro was anything but a fantasy. Shortly after the completion of Metroid Prime, Gene Kohler left Retro Studios for, the Seattle-based, Microsoft Game Studios. There he worked on the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (commonly referred to as an MMORPG) Mythica for the PC. Again echoing his former positions at Retro, Gene was deeply involved in the creation of character models, assets, and textures for Mythica. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to last.

Oh man. Mythica was an ass-ugly game.

 

[drohne]

haha. the reverent, awed tone of that quotation makes it sound as if they're describing a handicapped cambodian child from the deep south who overcame prejudice and physical limitations to play halfback for the pittsbugh steelers. as opposed to A GUY WHO DRAWS PICTURES FOR A VIDEOGAME.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

Yes the read was good, and very lengthy. What are your impressions of Metroid Prime 2 so far? Some people appearently left after completing Metroid Prime. Will this have a negative effect or not?

Yeah, great read Dean, excellent job by N-Sider. SC I wouldn't worry about any negative aspect the departures had, (although Gene & those guys are quite talented) 90% of the team is returning for Echoes. The Game Informer's indepth article crushed any worries I may have had. A lot of the models are more detailed now, (Samus, her ship, various enemies, etc.) & the worlds are much larger amongst other improvements. And the multiplayer I played at E3 was a blast. All large successful projects lose people, (Rare comes to mind) it's simply the nature of the industry.

 

[Traumahound]

Many who have played the game might naturally assume that Thardus would have been one of the more complicated creatures to model because of his "rock reorganization" capabilities, but that isn't the case at all. According to Mike, "It's actually a lot more simple than that, as I know I only made one 'Thardus' model. How the programmer handled it afterwards is beyond my knowledge… Actually, Thardus was probably the easiest boss I did." The Thardus battle is only comprised of one model that was later animated to make all the different configurations seen through out the battle.

Ok, that is cool.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Really good read, as expected by n-sider. Its kinda sad that nintendo is to tight when it comes to letting the devs give some information, i mean it took almost 2 years for someone that worked on metroid to give his sentiments about the studio and the game also by sharing some experiences, and all those who did no longer work there.. I hope nintendo and retro are a bit more open for metroid prime 2.

Damnit, damn you n-sider! now i want to play metroid prime, again, after i dont know how many times i've beat it, argh!

 

[Mama Smurf]

Lot of people burned by the whole Retro fiasco it seems. I could understand if it was just artists, I wouldn't be surprised if Retro go onto a Metroid sequel for the Revolution right after this game and that's hardly thrilling for them, but with people like Steve Barcia leaving too...I mean, he was practically the main guy behind the game (not to mention Retro president)!

It's a good job this article didn't come out before we'd seen Echoes, I'd have been really worried about the game. Luckily it seems fine, and the Samus design at least is even better than it was.

 

[DSN2K]

I will read it later.

 

[TekunoRobby]

This is a badass article. Must-read for all Prime fans.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Ended too soon.

I would like o see one done on all develment areas.

 

[otheranthony-ns]

Brilliant read there. serious congrats to the writer, as it must have taken a crowbar and broken bones to get info out from anywhere near nintendo.

 

[wazoo]

Edge of Reality seems to be a company worth checking in the future

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Yeah, I just read it. Wonderful piece on Retro's troubles & what it took to make the games characters & bosses .

I'm sad that some of these guys left on less than good terms, though . At least Retro is stable now.

 

[Zilch]

I would like o see one done on all develment areas.

Yeah, reading this article makes me want to be able to read an article on the programmers of Metroid Prime.

 

[shibbs]

Good read. Can anyone link me to that beta Metroid prime movie?

 

[JasoNsider]

I'm glad you guys liked it. We've been pushing that piece for a little while now. I'm pretty happy how it turned out. Kyle really went to great lengths to see that we had sufficient information.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Oh yeah, a "Progamming of Prime" feature would rock .

 

[DrEvil]

Oh yeah, a "Progamming of Prime" feature would rock .

It'd be like 95% censored, believe me, I'm working on an article [unrelated to metroid], and I've got one of the prime programmers helping out, and he's definately tight lipped about EVERYTHING. It'd be almost impossible, unless we had explicit permission from Nintendo.

 

[God's Hand]

That's because Nintendo owns the code, and it's worth a lot of money.

 

[Buggy Loop]

I hope that after metroid prime 2 that the team at retro split up and become bigger or whatever, more projects, i dont want retro to turn into a metroid online studio, the devs would get fed up after a while too.

 

[Hellraizah]

"Kohler left for Microsoft Game Studios."

Funny how you can only delete stuff in a quote and make it something unbelievable.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Uhm, what quote?

 

[nubbe]

Good stuff, golden star for j00

 

[Deg]

Yeah the art was great alongside everything else. MP2 is laready much better than MP1 in artstyle!

Retro will have to grow obviously. I assume Nintendo will do it slowly overtime. I bet they wont do Metroid for a while however and tease us for 5 years

 

[NR1]

I'm very glad everyone liked the article. I really wanted to give readers something big and fresh to read while heading into the weekend.

I know you all wanted more Retro personnel to contribute to the article, but many just couldn't do it. For example, I originally want to have Frank Bry (Sound Designer) to answer questions such as "What sounds make up a Space Pirate roar?" and "What sounds are Samus' weapons comprise of?" Unfortunately, Frank's contract forbids him from talking. I also tried Don Hogan (Artist), and Stephen Zafros (Animator) without luck.

But I'm happy with the end result. I know I have a much better understanding of how Prime was made and how work is conducted at Retro Studios under Nintendo's rule.

Keep the feedback coming! I love to hear what people think!

Kenneth Kyle Wade
N-Sider.com

 

[Bluemercury]

What about andrew jones?why doesnt he comment on anything?i know hes very active at the conceptart forum.....

 

[deadhorse32]

Andrew jones make some cool as fuck drawing. I like his hundred and hundreds self portrait.

 

[Meatpuppet]

First off, nice article, especially given the obvious difficulties in extracting information from ex-Nintendo employees.

I have to say though, does no one else find it deeply depressing that arguably the best articles to come out of IGN in recent months/years are those written by freelances (with emphasis on the word free) like Kyle, or Steve Taito (sp?)?

Hell, even if IGN editors would proof read their coworkers' content before going live with it the quality of writing on the site would see an increase, however meagre.

WTF couldn't they hire someone who at least has an iota of literary talent, and readability. Chris Kohler would at least make for interesting articles.