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[johnjohnson]

Eidos says he will still be working for them as a consultant advising Crystal Dynamics on Tomb Raider 7. Well, that makes the game even more interesting. Crystal Dynamics + Toby Gard + Warren Spector = Tomb Raider 7 GOTY 2005

Gamespot says that there is also a possibility of Spector going to Midway to work on Area 51.

Hmm... I don't really care where Spector goes as long as he keeps making great video games.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/08/news_6112661.html

 

[Patrick Klepek]

i'm not surprised if warren spector would head to midway...that's where the rest of ion storm is, anyway.

disappointing that we'll never have another warren spector-helmed deus ex, though. just as well. invisible war was trash.

 

[epmode]

wtf. that new tomb raider had better be one hell of a game..

 

[duckroll]

wtf. that new tomb raider had better be one hell of a game..

Judging from Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3...... I expect Tomb Raider 7 to have the same level of unpolished feel, bad design ideas and bugs.

 

[ravingloon]

Judging from Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3...... I expect Tomb Raider 7 to have the same level of unpolished feel, bad design ideas and bugs.

Or hopefully this crap is on Eidos' head (Never a company known for quality) and is the reason Spector finially left.

P.S. Finially picked up Deus Ex: IW for cheap on Ebay and am about to play it. I'm sure it'll boil my blood, but I have to at least give it a try.

 

[COCKLES]

IW isn't as good as the original. But it's still entertaining.

Why would he be going to work on Area 51? Isn't the game out next month or something?

 

[bbyybb]

I am one of the few people who liked Deus Ex 2.


Cheers,
bbyybb.

 

[Crazymoogle]

P.S. Finially picked up Deus Ex: IW for cheap on Ebay and am about to play it. I'm sure it'll boil my blood, but I have to at least give it a try.

It probably won't boil your blood (the game is still more enjoyable than Doom3 ever was) but it probably would have been more accurate to call it "Deus Ex: for Dummies", as the game really is streamlined beyond reason.

 

[bishoptl]

IW isn't as good as the original. But it's still entertaining.

Yeah. If you've never played the first, you'll get a kick out of it. If you've played the first, then IW is Deus Ex for Dummies...but still somewhat entertaining, if disappointing.

 

[The Shadow]

i'm not surprised if warren spector would head to midway...that's where the rest of ion storm is, anyway.

disappointing that we'll never have another warren spector-helmed deus ex, though. just as well. invisible war was trash.

I just finished IW for the second time (I was very bored) and I'm starting to think the original Deus Ex was just a fluke. I mean, IW and Thief 3 weren't exactly great sequels.

 

[johnjohnson]

I am one of the few people who liked Deus Ex 2.


Cheers,
bbyybb.

I liked it too.

 

[Mooreberg]

Who didn't see this coming after Invisible War?

 

[firex]

Judging from Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3...... I expect Tomb Raider 7 to have the same level of unpolished feel, bad design ideas and bugs.

sorry, but thief 3 is better than you'll ever be. dx2 blows, but thief 3 was good enough to be put in with the rest of the series.

 

[Sinatar]

What is with the Thief 3 hate? Did everyone just assume it was crap because IW was? Thief 3 is excellent, on par with the first 2.

 

[duckroll]

sorry, but thief 3 is better than you'll ever be. dx2 blows, but thief 3 was good enough to be put in with the rest of the series.

Here they come to save the day!

 

[Funky Papa]

Eidos says he will still be working for them as a consultant advising Crystal Dynamics on Tomb Raider 7. Well, that makes the game even more interesting. Crystal Dynamics + Toby Gard + Warren Spector = Tomb Raider 7 GOTY 2005

I want to believe, I really want to believe. We need another good Tomb Raider

 

[Duckhuntdog]

Great, now we are going to have Tomb Raider with lock-picking stats...

 

[epmode]

i like invisible war, if only for the storyline + world design. great sound effects, too.

 

[stonedwal]

Harvey Smith was the main force behind Invisible War, so blame him. Spector is credited as Studio Director, while Smith was the Project Director.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/credits/p,3/gameId,11253/

I enjoyed Invisible War - it could have been better, but could have been worse. Most disappointing factor was the length.

 

[Mr_Furious]

'bout fuckin' time!

 

[firex]

Here they come to save the day!

how cute. but i'm not doing damage control, i'm just saying that thief 3 was a much better effort than the crap that was dx2, and good enough to compare to the previous 2 games even if it isn't as good as they are.

 

[gofreak]

Haha, he said in an interview a LONG time ago that he had begged eidos to let him make a game based on the tomb raider movie. Guess he's getting his wish..

 

[CrimsonSkies]

This would be the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to scoop him up. They could use a developer of his talent coupled with their deep pockets.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

This would be the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to scoop him up. They could use a developer of his talent coupled with their deep pockets.

yeah, they can put him in charge of Rare. Then they can make a game where you pretend to be a guy with glasses :lol

 

[Defensor]

Great, now we are going to have Tomb Raider with lock-picking stats...

But you don't have enough multitools to pick the lock!

 

[M3wThr33]

Screw him. First E3 reveal: LOVED the game. I was a little worried about the combined stats and 5 hexes in the corner. Next year, a bit more hidden. On 4 Xboxes and 2 PCs. Right there I knew it was doomed.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/444/444433p1.html?fromint=1

Read that. It's the post mortem and Spector talking about the consolization. Basically he reveals that the original one was not what he envisioned, and that he's a complete frigging dumbass. He actually says they never once considered a circular UI would be a waste of space. WHAT?! Jesus, the fact that the first one was any good is a modern wonder. When that was originally posted on IGN, I made a big type up on G4TV's forums about how dumb he is quoting a bunch of phrases.

It's posted below:
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True confessions time - I'm not just a PC gamer. Never have been and doubt I ever will be. I've always owned every gaming platform available, always played both console and PC games. What's more, I've always wanted to work on a console game. There. I said it.
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Congratulations Warren, but you seem to forget you are still making a PC game as well.


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The publishers I talked to all said, "Make a big PC roleplaying game - that's what everyone wants and expects."
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Yeah, and guess what? It sold and it was good. It worked. If you want to change it, don't make a sequel, make a whole new series.


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I don't think you have to dumb down the experience or make a game more action-oriented or less thoughtful for console gamers
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This is the stupidest thing he's ever said, as he CONTRADICTS HIMSELF in the process.


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And I still don't see the huge difference in playing a game on a TV, in a living room, while sitting on the couch as compared to sitting inches away from a computer monitor somewhere else in the house.
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Bigger keyboard, less distractions, bigger field of view, better control. Hell, YOU ADMIT THE DIFFERENCES YOURSELF.


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There just aren't a lot of similarities between a PC keyboard/mouse combination and a console controller.
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But you said there's not a huge difference? Hypocrite.


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In particular, player character turning speed has to be tuned completely differently depending upon what input device you're using and auto-aiming, crucial to a successful action game on console, isn't even necessary on a PC.
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But you just HAD to leave auto-aiming AND rumble in the PC version, too, huh?


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We decided that some of the complexity associated with the UI in the first Deus Ex game actually didn't contribute to our core gameplay AT ALL.
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Funny, everyone I talk to thinks it's unique and a great way to manage items.


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The UI decisions we made clearly benefited the console version, we made no decisions that we thought would compromise our core gameplay. And we would have made the same decisions even if the game had been PC-only.
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Bulls***. That's a flat out lie and you know it. No self-respecting designer would ever not make use of the mouse. THE FIRST GAME USED IT. It worked! WHY CHANGE IT?


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The end result of this was a simpler system for players on console AND on PC that accomplished exactly the same design goal we'd set for ourselves in the original PC title.
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Congrats, you dumbed it down for the PC version and are proud of yourself.


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Why NOT let them install a biomod immediately, without having to find a medbot or go to a separate UI screen to do so? Happily, this decision allowed us to eliminate a UI screen.
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So it wasn't about the player, it was about DUMBING IT DOWN.


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We rolled the augmentations and skills systems of the first game into a single "biomods" system, eliminating the UI subscreen associated with skills (and all the classic-RPG number-crunching associated with that system). Yes, we did this to make the game more accessible. We didn't WANT players worrying about ways to increase their marksmanship by 10%...
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. . .


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we would have made this design decision even if we'd been a PC only game.
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Hahahaha, NO.


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Among the more controversial decisions we made, one some players see as making the game more consoley and less PC-ish, was to go with a single ammunition type
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Yeah, it's STUPID and an easy way out to balance the ammo load in the game.


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Some people have assumed that this change 'simplifies' strategic gameplay. In my experience, it actually makes the game more difficult, maybe even more hardcore!
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No, it makes it foolish and nonsensical. In games, players always have to manage multiple ammo types. This is a step backwards and dumbs everything down, unless you can care to explain how a sniper bullet can be made from the same material as a rocket in the future, but not just explode on impact everytime. This doesn't even mention the lack of reloading, which logically saves a button, thus dumbing it down.


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Another aspect of the Invisible War UI that's met with mixed response is the SHAPE of it! (Who'd have thought anyone would care? I'm truly amazed.)
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Yeah, who would care about something you're going to be spending the next 15-20+ hours staring at?


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The fact that a circular HUD didn't match the shape of a monitor screen or that it would "eat up screen real estate" didn't occur to me
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You're a moron.


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However, in response to comments from some PC players, we're looking into a patch that will move the UI elements all the way to the outer edges of the screen, to free up some space in the center of the screen, where most of the action is.
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Congratulations. This is the first smart thing the game has done.


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A little less obvious (and a little less clear-cut) is how we dealt with memory limitations.
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Oh, this is good folks, you're going to love how he dealth with it.


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Basically, developing a single game for PC and console meant designing maps to meet the more restrictive platform -- that is to say, the Xbox. Powerful a piece of hardware as it is, the Xbox has only 64megs of RAM, putting some significant constraints on map size, most notably, which means the PC version probably has more map loads than it might if we hadn't concerned ourselves with the Xbox
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I think he speaks for himself.

I could go on, discussing indestructable lighting, poor ai, and many other design issues they just decided to ignore, but I think Spector himself has convinced me he has no design ability whatsoever. If you have anybody on your show to promote this game, pity them.

 

[The Shadow]

Read that. It's the post mortem and Spector talking about the consolization. Basically he reveals that the original one was not what he envisioned, and that he's a complete frigging dumbass. He actually says they never once considered a circular UI would be a waste of space. WHAT?! Jesus, the fact that the first one was any good is a modern wonder. When that was originally posted on IGN, I made a big type up on G4TV's forums about how dumb he is quoting a bunch of phrases.

(bunch of quotes)

That's what I'm saying. The more I think about it, the more I feel that the original Deus Ex was simply a fluke.

Right now I think our only hope of a decent Deus Ex/System Shock successor is that game coming from Irrational. If they can do it, it'll remove all doubt that the original Deus Ex is a fluke.

 

[Azih]

Alright first off, Thief 3 rocks, the story held together until the end (unlike Thief 2) and Shalebridge cradle is the finest Thief level ever. Thief 2 might be the better overall game (it's close though), and Thief 1 had the best story cohesion, but Thief 3 is a worthy end to the trilogy.

Secondly, yeah DX:IW is an ok game, it just doesn't do anything remotely as well as the first game did.

Lastly, I am completely sure that Warren Spector was in full heavy PR damage control mode in every DX:IW interview he gave. I remember he was talking in one interview about how he thought the unified ammo system wasn't a good idea but he lost that fight... I am convinced that he lost tons of other fights as well because Eidos was desperate to turn the Ion Storm games into console franchises.