(re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
Writing as a fan, perhaps the name and properties of Sierra are to be let gone unto God, and time for a new company could be formed. However, I understand about am owner watching their creations dissolve into unsuccess, and I know about fighting for that cause, to bring it back to snuff.
VU Games is a company, in my opinion, that should have never been formed. Other than Simpsons Hit and Run and some of the Lord of the Rings games (about 5 games or so), VU has crashed not only Sierra, but Universal as well. I don’t know how many companies can publish Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, or Half-Life. VU has shown such disrespect to Sierra by removing Sierra’s series names of Police Quest and Half-Life from the new SWAT and Counter-Strike games. Furthermore, their Fox games aren’t that great, and I think it’s sales of old Blizzard games that are keeping the company floating somewhat.
In the past posting, I’ve either kept neutral or optimistic about new games. But let’s face reality about PC/video games at present: THEY SUCK! I might be backwards, but on-line games want me to pay to play the game, after I’ve already bought the game? What a slap in the face! And what’s with all of the crappy first-person shooters? Was DOOM really worth copying 10,000 times? And though Diablo/StarCraft is good, why so many AD&D/Forgotten Realms clones? And it’s another series that both VU Games and Wizards of the Coast flushed down the crapper!
Man, I wish Ken, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Nintendo would all co-operate to create the most powerful games in the world. I being overly hopeful, but I can’t stand these companies like VU Games, Ubisoft, Inforgrames/Atari, or any of these other French companies. France + games = poor companies & poor games.
Though many companies over the last 30 years have done games, it wasn’t until 1995 that the copycats started being published. By 1999, either the game was a copycat or a forced attempt at originality (see Shenmue or Seaman on Dreamcast). In the distant past, each company, whether the game was action or adventure, would create a look and style unique to either than company or that series. Double Dragon and Ninja Gaiden are different, Mega Man and Super Mario, Contra and Commander Keen, Monkey Island and Leisure Suit Larry, Westwood and SSI, and so forth etc. etc. I personally believe that polygon-based 3-D gaming has killed almost every game that’s come across it. I belive the polygons should be used for extremely pretty graphics (Zelda 64, KQ8, Final Fantasy 7) that promote the story. Since almost every game plays like either Diablo, Tomb Raider, Mario 64, Doom, Virtua Racing, Final Fantasy 7, or is a sports title, 3-D gaming has truly murdered original concepts and styles that the old techology capitalized on. I feel if the veterans and pioneers of the industry at the beginning were in charge forever, games would be excellent to this day! And I take it, that’s what Ken is shooting for. I also deduct that Ken has a goal with a vision for Sierra, or at least a vision or a goal, and he will do something, somehow. When the hour is darkest, the light shines the brightest. Some businessman said that in the 1800s.