Ah! The Memories

So I was reading this at the Escapist:

A former IGN editor is being accused of “journalistic misconduct” over the website’s 2006 review of Prey.

Former IGN editor Doug Perry (currently employed at Gametap), was cited by another former IGN editor as working closely with a publicist at 2K Games on securing a good rating for 2006′s Prey.

And I went to read Perry’s defense, and what others were saying, many of those not happy with him.

These things happen, you are probably thinking why post this now on this blog; the thing is I remembered that name from somewhere, and suddenly I got it! This is the guy that made the FO:BOS preview that caused me almost to have a fit a few years ago!

Just read this:

Take Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel for instance. A unique, diehard RPG from Black Isle on the PC in the late 1990s, Interplay is borrowing Snowblind’s superb model for action-adventure games (Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance) and infusing Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel with its visuals, camera angles, and pretty much everything else.

Hardcord RPG fans of the PC game might look at the transition as a sellout, but Interplay likes to see it as a transition, a slight departure, and least for now. One could also see the glass half full. The series has not died with the massive changes seen at Interplay in the last three years, and the company feels confident enough to deliver it to the consoles in a more action-oriented fashion. I’m happy to see it. Plus, I’m not a real big RPG fan, so this rendition makes it far more palatable.[...]It’s got a quicker pace, a stronger emphasis on combat and it’s instantly accessible, all of which are excellent qualities, and frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Add in about 50 missions and 20-25 hours of gameplay, and you’re grooving come this October. In fact, stepping back a bit, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel looks to be one of VU’s more intriguing games of 2003.

So after this I have to join the ranks of those that are suspicious of his conduct

10 nuclear years at NMA

From NMA:

Well, we’ve been dropping hints left and right, and starting some surprisingly silly speculation on our previous thread, but let’s get all that out of the way with the official announcement:

In early October, 1997, thousands of discs were being churned out by a nondescript factory. The discs were not quite as nondescript, as they contained a game that is still being hailed today as one of the greatest cRPGs of all time. This…is Fallout. Now, 10 years later, No Mutants Allowed (also around 9 years of age) and others are bringing you some stuff to reminisce over. Pictures, talks, docs. Everything short of Harold’s head.

Although today is just “announcement day”, we’ll start off good and proper anyway.

Chris Taylor brings you the Mr Handy design doc, a small little scribble from the days of Fallout GURPS. And yes, indeed, mr Taylor is not an artist. You can download the original .doc here.

No Mutants Allowed presents: Fallout’s 10th anniversary is something I’m going to cover, plenty of great stuff for Fallout fans is coming our way. Ten years already?

How does Fallout 3 look so far?

One of my favorite gaming sites, RPGWatch has a poll asking to everyone how does Fallout 3 looks so far, here are the results at this point:

Be sure to give them your vote too.

Gold Star

Let’s start the week with a few notes about things that I didn’t had the time to talk previously.

First let me point to a topic on the Bethesda Games Fallout 3 forum that has caused some buzz.

Do Bethesda Designers Really Understand RPGs?, Developer Quotes About Oblivion’s Quests is causing some good discussions, and it’s an interesting model for even better discussions in the future. In the words of Ricardo “socrates200x” Gonzalez:

While there’s no shortage of “what Bethesda did / is doing / will do wrong” threads on this forum, this one stands out as being an informative and critical without resorting to name-calling, sarcasm, or other forum drudgery. Even though I have a certain curious bias towards defending our decisions in Oblivion, I must relay the “mad propz”, as the kids say, for doing it with a well-reasoned post.

Gold star!

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Brother None is more known for his work at NMA, but he also has some gaming articles published in other sites. From his contributions to GameBanshee I would like to point out his Bioshock review:

Before I begin, I should note that possibly the greatest detractor in the experience of playing BioShock is the massive amount of hype surrounding this product. Currently the top-rated game at Metacritic (at 96/100, last top games being Oblivion and Gears of War at 94/100), BioShock is one of those games where you have a hard time identifying your personal playing experience with what you’ve seen written in previews and reviews.

That’s not really a comment on the game itself, but if you raise expectations high enough you’ll make it impossible for any game to fulfill them. BioShock suffers a bit from that – without any heightened anticipation, most people would love this excellently crafted hybrid. And most people still do, but they might have done so more without the hype. Still, Ken Levine finally got his blockbuster hit, and there’s probably no other developer more deserving of one.

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Activist RPG site RPGCodex has an interesting piece on Previews and the gaming media, taking Loki as an example to ilustrate how we should be careful about what we read:

Next time someone offers you a generic, non-informative, but surprisingly positive preview, I suggest you refuse it too. For the sake of the game you’re waiting for.