The Dead Dozen: 2011's Developer Closures

I thought this was a very thoughtful article at IGN (I can't believe I just typed that). It highlights the closing of the following developers:

• Bizarre Creations
• Team Bondi
• Propaganda Games
• Black Rock Studio
• Bedlam Games
• Codemasters Studios Guildford
• EA Visceral Melbourne
• THQ Digital Studios Phoenix
• THQ Digital Studios Warrington
• THQ Studio Australia (Studio Oz)
• Kaos Studios
• Blue Tongue

Some of those don't mean much to me, but losing the makers of Project Gotham, L.A. Noire, Split/Second, and, to a lesser degree, Dead Space 2 is really unfortunate.

Never figured Bizarre Creations would be knocked out.

The only ones I'm sad to see go are Visceral, Rainbow, Black Rock, and Bizarre Creations.
Guess I like racing and god of war clones.

Black Rock's a big loss. I got Split/Second for a tenner on Black Friday, and am enjoying the hell out of it. Pure was great, too.

The only thing bad about s/s was the rubberband AI, everything else was A C E.

That's a pretty big "only." Later races were ridiculous. I'd replay a race three times, get blown away twice, then absolutely own the opposition the third time - but without feeling like I had gotten better or even done anything markedly different.

I'm sad about Bizarre Creations but its been years since they made anything I wanted to buy. The rest are whatever. Split/Second seemed like it was going to fill in for a new Burnout but the demo was pretty boring and killed my interest. I do also still want to play L.A. Noire but the entire handling of the game (both internally and on all the DLC/retailer mission nonsense) means I give no fucks about Team Bondi vanishing.

I haven't played Dead Space 2 yet, maybe in about a week or so when I finish the first game. So that might be a second developer on that list I care about!

Dead Space 2 wasn't nearly as good as the first one. I'm hoping this is because the first one was mainly the work of the main Visceral team, and the second, the Melbourne team, but I haven't found anything to back that up.

I've played a few hours of Dead Space 2 and I don't see why you think the first is so much better. Aside from a few more set-piecey things in DS2, the differences are mainly cosmetic.

I agree

It is the difference in pacing that really set the two apart for me. In Dead Space, there are fairly consistent highs and lows throughout each chapter, giving the tense moments that much more impact because you do have quiet moments in between them. Dead Space 2 has far less down-time, and keeps you constantly moving forward to defuse or outrun the latest disaster. I also think the endgame of Dead Space 2 is much worse, thanks to that stupid invincible enemy that chases you through a significant portion of one of the final chapters. Contrast that with the fairly quiet end of the first game, where the planet is more about tying up the story than throwing waves and waves of enemies at you.

Basically, it comes down to this: the Ishimura >>>>>> the Sprawl. A lot more thought clearly went into the environment design the first time around - the first game was full of amazingly atmospheric, future-industrial environments in the vein of the ship design from the first Alien movie. Not only that, but you had to move back and forth through the ship, troubleshooting various problems like the engineer you are (playing), so that by the end of the game, you knew that ship inside and out, and it felt like a real place. The Sprawl, on the other hand, consisted of a ton of copy-paste set pieces (how many times did I have to fight my way through one of those damn apartment plazas with a marker monument in the middle?), a single linear path along which you always move forward such that they didn't even need to include an in-game map system, just a light trail to the next objective, much less problem solving, and "atmosphere" solely in the form of making you fight in near-darkness (the first game did this occasionally, the second positively leaned on it).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

Black Rock's a big loss. I got Split/Second for a tenner on Black Friday, and am enjoying the hell out of it. Pure was great, too.

---

Definitely. I got Split/Second and loved it. Just got it too late so online wasn't relevant unfortunately.

Bizarre is one that stings since they made consistently great games for a decade. PGR1-4, The Club, Fur Fighters, MSR, Geometry Wars - that's a lineup any developer should be proud of.

But they got into a bad position with PGR4 & The Club bombing. Then they released two poor and poor-selling games for Activision. It just shows you that the margin for error in this industry is razor thin.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bVork

It is the difference in pacing that really set the two apart for me.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Gas

Basically, it comes down to this: the Ishimura >>>>>> the Sprawl.

---

I can't comment on some of that since I haven't finished Dead Space 2, I just wanted to mention that I don't buy the bit about knowing the ship inside out in Dead Space 1. While a few of the paths had you reusing old elevators, 95% of the game was taking place in new areas, always moving forward. I mean, hell, you take a one-way tram ride at the end of each chapter. I don't even mean this as a negative, I'm just saying that the game you're really thinking of is System Shock 2.

And on that note, I honestly didn't remember that Dead Space 1 had a map in the first place. Because unlike System Shock 2 which absolutely required a map, both Dead Space games are almost entirely linear and the blue line is more than enough.

And while I really liked that Dead Space 1 LOOKED like a System Shock sequel or an Alien homage, I was also happy to see some very atypical sci-fi areas in Dead Space 2 (the mall church, and kindergarten for example). I suppose I didn't play enough to notice much copy/paste action.

I couldn't care less about the story in either game and the whole GO FIX THIS SHIT ISSAC was pretty lame to begin with so the plot differences were a non-issue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by epmode

And on that note, I honestly didn't remember that Dead Space 1 had a map in the first place. Because unlike System Shock 2 which absolutely required a map, both Dead Space games are almost entirely linear and the blue line is more than enough.

---

Exactly. I'm almost done with my first playthrough of Dead Space and I think I looked at the map once at the very beginning, saw it was kind of a 3D clusterfuck, and then used the blue line for the rest of the game and never needed or bothered with it ever again. I think the only time the game hasn't been 100% linear was when I was killing the aliens that secreted unbreathable gas and I could chose what order to kill them in, which is almost as non-linear as your average Mega Man game.

Dead Space is nothing like System Shock 2 (which I didn't even like, so I'm not being some nerd fanboy here).

Dead Space's closest relative actually is Doom 3. I know that hurts Dead Space fans, but deep down they know it is true.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Dead Space is nothing like System Shock 2 (which I didn't even like, so I'm not being some nerd fanboy here).

---

I agree that it plays nothing like SS2 but it sure as hell looks like a System Shock sequel.

As a game, it's far closer to Resident Evil 4 than Doom 3.

RE4 in control, Doom 3 in repetitive hallways, unnecessary padding, and monster closets.

I have always thought that EA was working on SS3 and scrapped the idea to make a more straightforward (SS2 is pretty straightforward as it is, I guess) game and out came Dead Space. A tiny bit of superficial customization (your guns, suit) on a large, quiet vessel in space collecting logs...

I really liked the design of The Sprawl, had much more variety of locations. The set pieces were equally great. That last half hour of 2 drove me nuts (like bVork mentioned), the spike in difficulty was crazy when Necro Terminator showed up.

I'm surprised Human Head is still going after Prey. I've been trying to get a job there for years.

2012 version with 20 more

Hudson :cry:

Barking Dog and Liverpool seem to be the only ones I care about that suffered. Looks like most of those studios haven't done anything decent in years.

I thought Reckoning was a decent game. I would love to see another, more refined one. Hopefully someone picks it up.

Curt Schilling was a retard to try and make an MMO as his studio's first game.

No doubt.
I thought that Reckoning was a Big Huge Games game that became a 38 Studios game when he bought them. If so, there's no reason at all for 38 Studios to be on the list. They never made anything.

Psygnosis :cry:

I think they fit firmly in the "not relevant for years" category.

They made Wipeout HD and 2048. I'd call them relevant.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

I think they fit firmly in the "not relevant for years" category.

---

WO2048 is one of the best games.

I admit, I forgot about Wipeout.

What the hell were you thinking about? Krazy Ivan?

Tenka.

G-Police imo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

I think they fit firmly in the "not relevant for years" category.

---

I dunno, the Wipeout games were still pretty awesome.

EDIT: Beaten to it.

Destruction Derby

They used to be far more prolific.
But I will take a good game every couple of years than lots of mediocre games a couple times a year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sedition

Destruction Derby

---

That was Reflections. Psygnosis was the publisher. I think this might be why SSJN thinks they used to be more prolific too.

Weren't the Colony Wars, Blast Radius, Krazy Ivan, , Psybadek, O.D.T., Assault Rigs, the Wipeouts, G-Polices, and some Formula 1 games developed by Psygnosis?
I know they became as much a publisher as they were a developer in the late 80's and early 90's, but they used to to develop a bunch of stuff in house.
That's why I think they used to be more prolific.

I don't think they did Blast Radius or those racing games.

But yeah, I know they did used to make a lot more, but people remember them as more prolific than they were because they had other studios doing stuff like Destruction Derby, Lemmings, etc.

I would have liked to see Colony Wars come back for sure. They were pretty amazing at the time. I enjoyed G Police, too, though I never really thought they needed to make a new one.

They definitely did those racing games, at least on ps2.

Blast Radius was developed by Psygnosis Camden, so that probably was a smaller developer swallowed up by Psygnosis.

Mobygames says it was Pitbull Syndicate.

There were a whole bunch of Psygnosis studios all over the world at one point. The Liverpool one is the only one that survived the Sony buyout as far as I know.

Pitbull Syndicate, weren't they the ones behind a bunch of Test Drive games?

edit: yes, they were. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_...0%93_Newcastle. No mention of Psygnosis there. I think Moby is wrong.