What happened to Lobotomy Software?

[Dolemite]

I was screwing around with Powerslave last night (Saturn, though I own the PSX version as well), and I was wondering- what the hell happened to Lobotomy Software? They seemed like a damn talented group- they pulled off some pretty impressive ports of Duke 3D and Quake on the Saturn, and Powerslave is one of the best single-player FPS I've ever played. I remember an interview Gamefan did with them a while ago where they gave details on Powerslave 2- to be honest, from the dtails given, I wasn't too excited (2 was supposed to become a 3rd person Tomb Raider-style game), but whatever. I know Knightmare of Gamefan fame used to work for them- we had exchanged a few e-mails at one point (he clued me in on how to find the hidden Dank and Scud comics). I assume they broke up, I was just curious as to when, and if they had released any games I haden't heard of before they croaked, aside from the aforementioned stuff.

[Sqoon]

Was Knightmare's real name Dan Jevons?

Lobotomy Software also did Caesar's Palace for the N64 and a PC game called Exhumed (though I think it's just the PC version of Powerslave).

[Yoshi]

Originally posted by Sqoon
Was Knightmare's real name Dan Jevons?

If so, he is at Crave now, right?

Lobotomy Software also did Caesar's Palace for the N64 and a PC game called Exhumed (though I think it's just the PC version of Powerslave).

Powerslave was released in Europe as Exhumed, so I would bet it is the same game.

[Sqoon]

Originally posted by Yoshi
If so, he is at Crave now, right?

He was for a little while -at least, that's what I read, hope I'm not wrong- but now he's at Conspiracy Entertainment.

[Dolemite]

Originally posted by Sqoon
Was Knightmare's real name Dan Jevons?

Lobotomy Software also did Caesar's Palace for the N64 and a PC game called Exhumed (though I think it's just the PC version of Powerslave).

Indeed, Kinghtmare was Dan Jevons. Anyone ever hear of "Jevons Control" in the Saturn Duke 3D and Quake? It's a control scheme (N64 Turok-style) Knightmare suggested in his Gamefan previews of the two games, and Lobotomy ended up including it in the final versions, accessible through a code.

Man, I heard they had come a Caesar's Palace game...I just didn't want to believe it. And, as pointed out above, Powerslave was released in Europe as Exhumed.

Hey, didn't the PC version of Powerslave have voiceovers for the main character, ala Duke Nukem 3D?

[NeoZeedeater]

I must say that Lobotomy has only impressed me once, with the Saturn port of Duke Nukem 3d. Their Quake port felt way off.

I never liked Powerslave much. I have played the PS and PC(which was called Powerslave domestically) versions.

[Dey]

(he clued me in on how to find the hidden Dank and Scud comics).

Can you elaborate on this a bit? I found all the "team" dolls in the Saturn version. There's still more stuff hidden in there?

[Dolemite]

Dank and Scud is a series of comics made using the Quake engine. They're just stills with word bubbles. They're actually pretty amusing. You can find these just by doing a search on Yahoo or something for "Dank and Scud". The comics were included in the Saturn version of Quake as a hidden bonus. I believe the Saturn version of Dank and Scud had voiceovers and sound effects, but otherwise it was the same comics you can find online. Actually, you're better off finding them online, as the Saturn version only had the first couple of issues.

You found all of the Team Dolls in Powerslave? Damn impressive, some of those were a bitch to get to. I still don't have them all. Did finding all of them open up nifty secrets?

And I agree with NeoZeedeater. While I was impressed that Lobotomy was able to get Quake to work and be playable on the Saturn at all, the game was the grainiest thing I've ever seen, and the frame rate hovered in the mid-to-low 20's. The PSX port of Quake 2 totally, completely blew the doors off it. That was an amazing port...

[Dey]

Damn impressive, some of those were a bitch to get to. I still don't have them all. Did finding all of them open up nifty secrets?

Holy crap, in all my gaming life, getting the team dolls was the hardest thing I've ever done. Especially, the laser field in the later lava level, if you've ever tried to traverse it you'll know what I'm talking about. After many tries and wiping my sweat off the controller I made it through by levitating, moving over, dropping, jumping, repeat. (Oh, and the very last dolls on the invisible bridge/rings were memorably hard. I had a code for the pillar drop on that last level, it let me play against the boss with all my special items.)

Getting them all opening up death tank as well as a vulture mode i.e. flying but the control was tough, I kept floating up to the top of the scene. A dolphin mode was also supposed to open up (longer underwater time, faster swimming) but I didn't play the game long enough to get to the big water level again to test it out.

Thanks for the heads up on those comics!

[jiji]

Several former Lobotomy employees are now working for Snowblind Studios, where they developed Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. And if I may be so bold, I'd say they made the PS2 sing with that game just as nicely as they made the Saturn sing with their FPS ports.