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An excellent game was formed around this premise.

The only question left begging is how soon can we merge them with bionic eye implants?

I believe the answer is 2027.

Oh, I don't know, I think that there were a couple of FPS games that were successful because of compelling story.

Listed somewhat in chrnological order:

Zork - http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html

Empire - http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/

Sundog - http://dmweb.free.fr/FTLGames.htm

Dungeon Master - http://dmweb.free.fr/FTLGames.htm

Deus Ex - http://www.deusex.com/

While I am currently playing with games like Neverwinter Nights and Far Cry, quality games like these, last and last.

How about making a game that doesn't rely on cheap special effects and ugly-looking "eyecandy" as a marketing ploy? There are still good games out there on the consoles, bargin games that are loads of fun to play.

Heck, games even ten years old would surive in this market with a little boost for the next gen consoles. The problem is the developers rely more on sequels of previous hits that don't get the full development time they deserve and end up bombing, when fans would much rather see innovation and fun elements.

I thought we've been down this road before.

At least when I go to pick up a game at EB, the game is finished and in my hands. It might not be a terrific game, but at least I've got it.

How is it that this game got the same ESRB rating as Manhunt? They both get an M rating for mature though the comments may be different. But anyone who's played Deus Ex (the original or the sequel) can tell you it involves little violence. The only thing "mature" about it is the complex plot and gameplay. Look at this story for some perspective on how the ESRB needs to redefine its ratings.

Also note this statement from the article linked in the story above:

"Game ratings are decided upon in a subjective process that leans heavily on the honor system. Publishers submit footage of what they consider to be the extreme elements of their game. That footage is then viewed by three individuals, who submit a recommended rating. If there is a consensus, the rating stands. If not, more people are brought in to view the elements."

Here's another article.

No, no silly, it was the Majestic 12.

Plug in the back of your neck = matrix Programming yourself = Nano's from AO MIB's and Gmen in the black mesa desert = half life.

All of them together=Deus Ex

The first thing I thought of when I read that headline was that this was about the Northern Separatist Front from Deus Ex. A great game, but every time they mentioned "NSF" (terrorist organization, in the game) I could only think that the National Science Foundation was out to get me. So now, I always get the two confused!

:-)

It always seemed there were three or four different ways any goal could be accomplished, and I felt that added a huge amount to the experience of building up your characters skills.

I don't know if you're still an active gamer, but Deus Ex is a more recent game that utilizes this open-ended mechanic with great effectiveness.

Have you ever played Deus Ex? A big step towards games like you described.

Has anyone seriously solved GTA3 without killing anyone? Even if it's possible, it must be superhumanly hard. The game pushes and prods you in to killing every step of the way. One mission (spoiler warning) off the top of my head is to snipe eight people on a ship before they can kill your friend. Maybe there's a series of missions you can do without killing anyone, but even if there is.. if you buy GTA3 and never hurt anyone you really aren't getting your money's worth. There also is no real reason in GTA3 not to kill; the worst that can happen is you lose your stuff.

Deus Ex, on the other hand, always gives you the opportunity to go the peaceful route. If you kill, things can get harder, and people you care about might die. The storyline is so engrossing and the characters so deep (as opposed to GTA3) that I found myself taking time to go the non-killing route in many cases. The game rewards this behavior in a realistic way. Everything doesn't turn out perfectly if you don't kill, and it is sometimes hard not to, but it really makes you think twice.

jvmatthe: I see what you're getting at, and agree for the most part, but I wanted to take issue with one bit:

How about another story-driven game that people would compare to Deus Ex? Or an all-out action game in the same vein as Soldier of Fortune?

Deus Ex took professional, full-time game developers 3 years to make with a licensed engine. Solider of Fortune took (I believe) about 1.5 years with a licensed engine.

High-quality single-player content is incredibly time-consuming to produce. I'm not saying good single-player games can't/haven't/won't come from the community, but it may be unreasonable to expect professional-quality, professional-length single-player games from folks who don't have the resources to work on them full-time. (But hey, feel free to prove me wrong! :)

Give the audience the engine for graphics and menus, etc..., and what do they have left to deal with?
Game Design

So you have people that can ignore the months of engine building a tweaking, but, instead, spend those months on plot, balancing, and gameplay.

Like DeusEx? That's nothing more than a heavy UT mod.

But I don't think this is necessarily a good thing. Now the gaming industry can't do what its done for years. They (meaning the publishers, ie - EA) always want a copy of the latest hit, for example, everyone wanted a "Doom" clone. This evolved to using the same system with a twist, like Doom with a plot where the plot isn't to kill things, but to sneak around (Thief).

Now, they can't do that, cause some kids will do that, and release it for free.

So, for the gaming industry to survive, they need to really innovate games, make them mod'able, and hope for the best. This is quite a new turn.

It'll either kill the industry, or we'll see some majorly different games in a year or two....

All hail the Finnish!

Get the facts straight - how are you expecting people to take you seriously when you mention Nerf as a prominent Unreal license game, but fail to mention a big seller and excellent game like Deus Ex?
-
sig sig sputnik

Another thing is that many artists that were around for the beginning of the tracker scene are still using trackers to do their music, then converting the wave output to MP3.

Daikatana is the worst game of the year not because it sucked itself down, not because the sidekick AI was slightly smarter than a watermelon...

Daikatana sucked because of Romero's endless spending and Eidos's decision to back them financially. This (helped) cause the demise of Looking Glass Entertainment Maker of such incredible games as Thief 1 and 2, and System Shock 2.

Its really Ironic that a division of Ion Storm managed to produce one of the best games of the year, Deus Ex. It is even more Ironic that Warren Spector, Producer of Thief 1 works for Ion Storm. And now, Warren Spector has the rights to Thief 3 (damn good thing he does too!) and it looks like Ion Storm will be releasing it.

That is a strange cycle of events...

Definitely get the Original and TOSC, both are great games. If you get these two, then you can bring the characters you create into the new game. Also if you're looking for another cool game, check out Deus Ex. Great Game!

What you say in your post about the development of Unreal is certainly true. It took way too long and was riddled with bugs upon release. You stop short however of explaining what happened after Unreal's release--something that is likely to happen to Mozilla.

I was one of those people who watched Unreal's release carefully. What happened when Epic shipped a program that was unplayable over the internet and ridden with various bugs in single player was that it killed the Unreal community. For all of the copies sold that first couple weeks, all of the mods announced for the game, how many saw the light of day and were played consistently? Not many, and certainly not anywhere near the number of the game series Unreal was supposed to replace, Quake. I remember watching as Bluesnews exploded with announcements, and then became a wasteland of Unreal information.

What remained, from what I saw, was alot of bitterness and unhappy people when it came to their thoughts about Epic. I for one uninstalled my copy of Unreal and placed it on the shelf. It was only recently that I reinstalled the game, added the needed patches, and then began to play it. I was glad I did, but the game I played should have been available from Day 1. It wasn't however. It has only been recently that Epic has managed to return to favor with the game-buying public because of Unreal Tournament, although they still have yet to receive any of my money. In contrast, I had Q3A on pre-order.

Let's look at another game that fits this ananlogy: Daikatana. It too spent several years in development and upon released was also riddled with bugs. This includes at least one bug that makes it impossible to finish the game. What has this done to the public's opinion about Ion Storm? Killed it. The Daikatana community is, like Unreal's, non-existant. In my estimation it has also cost other games that have been released under the Ion Storm mantle sales. Deus Ex, a very good game, hasn't broken into the Top 20 in sales.

So what does history tell us? That perhaps these two pojects should have been aborted. During their development maybe someone should have done what suck.com is doing here for Mozilla: calling for a mercy killing. There is a certain point when continued development does more harm than good. If Mozilla uses the development of Unreal and Daikatana as a guide, that's certainly true.

This really really sucks.

In my personal list of my top 10 favorite games of all time, a full 6 of those are Looking Glass games. The only complaint that I ever had about their software is that it was not ported to Linux. Other than Half-Life, all the games by Looking Glass (well, not the golf or flight sim ones) are the only reason that I still have a Windows partiton.

I was really hoping for Loki to port some of their stuff. :(

For those of you who have NOT tried a Looking Glass game (or anything by Warren Spector, now of Ion Storm) I STRONGLY urge you to buy one. Thief I/II and System shock I/II are simply mind boggling in their depth. Of those four titles, only one is currently "expensive" that one is Thief II. The rest lie in the bargin bin. System Shock should run under Dosemu (Have not tried).

So, even though this wonderful game company is dissapering it does not mean that we should forego their wonderful games.

*sigh*

Now my only hope is Warren Spectors "Deus Ex"

I'll miss you guys.

[NEXT GENERATION, DEC '97, P146 - 2 full colour Advert featuring Ion Storm personalities by Eidos]
... Rules must be broken. Catagories must be erased. Emprerors must be overthrown. The status quo must be spanked. And contentement must be routinely taken outside and smaked upside the head (sic), It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. We're all ready to apply for the position.
We're ION STORM, A bunch of misfit, zelot freaks who tried to rest on our past successes but just didn't find it comfortable. There was a gap out there. A big fat void, and we were hell-bent on filling it. We had all a big fat void. And were (sic) ready to jump off. So here we are. New name. New identity. New games rattling thier cages, waiting to be let out.

JOHN ROMERO: Long haired smart-ass known for his fast Ferrari and his uncanny ability to sing the theme song to the Spiderman cartoon really, really well. Oh yeah, there was also that DOOM and QUAKE thing. ......

personally I don't care much for commenting on *personalities* as such, I'm much more interested in the technology side of things but I couldn't help including the text here from an old Next-Gen magazine 2 page Advertisment (full 2 page color spread) as I was reading today about the original playstation specs. There's no humility here folks and this is one reason why it's a good idea to let the games (and the code) speak for themselves - I guess they already have.

But don't tar all of ION's work with the same brush. I'm looking foward to seeing how Anachronox and Dominion (must already be released - nothing special here) and Doppelganger (Dues- Ex) turn out, as they get closer to release.

No kidding. There have been similar situations before, you know.