Urquhart On Black Isle's Past, Obsidian's Future

Thanks to GameSpot for their two-part interview with Obsidian Entertainment's Feargus Urquhart, discussing his former leadership of Black Isle Studios, and his new work as a founder of Obsidian. He discusses Black Isle's creeping demise amidst the cancellation of Fallout 3 ("I would assume that they are changing Black Isle from a studio to purely a brand that they can put on certain products that are published or developed by them. Whether that's a good thing or the same thing as shutting the studio down is up to debate"), muses on the future of the RPG ("I think even the PC RPGers want to see that the games they play are easier to play"), and mentions Obsidian's plans, aside from their BioWare-engine powered, rumored but unannounced game ("We... are actively looking for a second project [and] are also starting to work on our own internal technology.")

Comments

Creeping Demise?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or is it a signof lack of innovation in thisparticular category?

Doesn't matter, it's still a Primary P0st!

Re:Creeping Demise?

[easychord]

Lack of innovation in the category of shafting development teams with expensive and risky projects? I imagine that there will always be lots of innovation in that category.

Re:Creeping Demise?

[obeythefist]

Actually, RPG's have had a lot of innovation recently, mostly stemming from the rise of the D20 system. Look at the big new games in RPG's recently, Temple of Elemental Evil and Knights of the Old Republic. Both D20, both introducing new and very promising engines. Admittedly, KoTOR was held back a bit by it's console origins, but a game using that engine developed for state of the art PC hardware would be excellent, indeed.

Upcoming projects

[Anonymous Coward]

Well he's got some good talent, and a brand new development house that needs a hit game to make it. Just a suggestion, but what I think they should do is make a post-apocalyptic RPG set in Colorado. It's a bit of a niche genre, but I think it could work for them.

It should have a skill based system, and most importantly, a large variety in the dialogue and world events that respond to player choices.

While the perfect title for this game would be something like 'Fallout 3', I believe some other company owns the rights to that. Maybe 'Wasteland 4' would get past the lawyers...

"Feargus Urquhart"

[Black Hitler]

I still don't believe that's his real name.

Is it just me...

[xerxesVII]

or are RPG's about the best damned things ever? Especially if you can play them online with your friends. God, I love RPG's.

Re:Is it just me...

[spir0]

no, it's just you. :)

Re:Is it just me...

[Ayaress]

Nah. Caffine, sliced bread, and holes in doughnuts are the best things ever. In that order. RPGs are pretty good, but I like FPS games online better. Hop in, frag a few friends, hop out, no hard feelings, no wasting hours of your life trying to get a +5 Axe of Really Cool or whatever.

Golden Developer

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure they're rumored project is just a springboard to get them back up to speed. After that I can't wait to see what these guys create. BI made some of my favorite games of all time, though they were so engrossing and epic I didn't get to play through them all due to lack of time. However what I did experience were some of the most well thought out, well adapted (as coming from an already existing source material) creations that have ever graced interactive media.

I guess this post really has no other bearing than to celebrate their past creations, but so-be-it... fanboy for a day.

I WANT FALLOUT MMO

[Zevets]

I have to admit I am a Fallout lover. While some trashed Fallout Tactic I thought it was the greatest game. The interface was not that bad. Get over it, you can't read.

That is not my point though. I think that Fallout 3 or 4 should be a MMORPG. It has all the elements neccesary. Just add say bio-upgrades similar to Deus Ex's and keep the arsenals of weapons (add 20 or 30 preferably) and make it so that each player owns vehicles and a house, and you would have the ultimate MMORPG. Make it so you can mine stuff to make armor etc, having a complicated crafting system, make user created clans, allow people to build a "outpost" that would be their house all in glorious 3D. Spawning would be limited to a "spawn site" preferably as high level characters would be in the extreme distances, hours away from their point of death. The main thing though would be vehicles. Convoys crossing the nuclear wastelands, being ambushed by piles of behemoths all crouching behind a series of hills. It could be beautiful and a money making machine! I can go on forever about the Gameplay as I have thought it all out in my free time. Seriously if you interested in my idea email me at ssherman@mail.friendsbalt.org.

Re:I WANT FALLOUT MMO

[Anonymous Coward]

Ack, no.

I want to deal with scripted characters. The Fallout series had excellent writers. I don't want the perfect characters from their minds replaced by twits who would rather stand about and chitchat about lag problems than stay in character. And I don't want to have to pay every month for that "opportunity" either.

Face it, when you want a good story, you don't go chitchatting with strangers. You listen to a master storyteller weave a good yarn. That's what I want in my RPGs.

From Fallout to The Fall

[meep2001]

Silver Style, a german game developer based in Berlin, just announced that they have hired Ex-Black-Isle-Designer Damien M. Foletto.
Silver Style is working on a role-playing game called The Fall , scheduled for the first quarter 2004.

Shame

[Quintin Stone]

The real shame of this "interview" is how all of his answers are so bland and cautious when it comes to Interplay. I mean, these guys have shot themselves in the foot many a time and it'll be a wonder if they're still around in 5 years, but Urquhart couches everything in such diplomatic terms in order to not ruffle any feathers. I can understand *why* he does it, but I don't have to like it.