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Warren Spector Leaving Ion Storm

Posted by Zonk on from the spectorless-thieves-and-deus-exes dept.

Gamespot has the story that after months in limbo, Warren Spector has left his role as Studio Director at Ion Storm. Despite his disconnection from Ion Storm, he will apparently still have ties to Eidos. From the Article: "Warren has chosen to pursue personal interests outside the company, but he will continue to work for Eidos as an IP consultant."

23 comments

  1. Mixed feelings by LordOfYourPants · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The "new role" mentioned by Edios' rep will likely be his further advice on the upcoming Tomb Raider game, the development for which he was reportedly overseeing at another Edios-owned studio, Crystal Dynamics. The new Tomb Raider, the seventh in the series, is due out next summer."

    I dunno whether that's a good thing or a bad thing as I'm not really a big Tomb Raider fan. I always felt like it cashed in on horny gamers.

    Bad: he might be "selling out."

    Good: he could make that franchise into something truly great.

    For the "who is this guy and why should I care" crowd, Warren Spector has worked on Deus Ex, System Shock, Thief, Ultima Underworld and Ultima VII part II. If that isn't a hell of a gaming resume I don't know what is.

    Hopefully he'll move on to great things wherever he goes.

    1. Re:Mixed feelings by secolactico · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think he was also involved in the World of Ultima games (Savage Empires and Martian Dreams), which were offshoots of Ultima VI.

      Or at least, he was a character in both games, and not exactly a cameo part. He was the avatar's sidekick in Martian Dreams (a great game) and I think he was a villain in Savage Empire (didn't play it).

      Great, now I'm nostalgic...

      --
      No sig
    2. Re:Mixed feelings by Rallion · · Score: 0, Troll

      I wouldn't miss him if he were gone. He's already sold out. There is no more selling. He's just about as sold as can be.

    3. Re:Mixed feelings by Needanewnick · · Score: 1

      I never liked any of those games.
      Guess his kind of game just doesn't sit well with some.

    4. Re:Mixed feelings by illumina+us · · Score: 1

      While those games make a great resume you failed to mention his work on Deus Ex: Invisible War and Theif III. Those games were less than on par with their predicesors and dissapointed the gaming community as a whole. While Deus Ex remains my favorite game of all time, Deus Ex: Invisible War is a complete and utter pile of crap complete with really shiny everything (this means the box, the CD, the characters, and everything in the game. Yes, even the supposed matte wooden chairs are shiny.)

      --
      -illumina+us "I put on my robe and wizard hat..."
    5. Re:Mixed feelings by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      His influence on DEIW was very limited, there was this (in)famous incident with the unified ammo where Spector was against it but the team overruled him. So Thief 3 and IW could actually have been ruined by the lack of Warren Spector.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    6. Re:Mixed feelings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those without taste, sure.

    7. Re:Mixed feelings by Rico_Suave · · Score: 1

      Thief: DS was a disappointment? That's news to me. Other than the mid-level loading, I've heard nothing but praise for it. And Deus Ex: IW was enjoyable as well, as long as you weren't comparing it to the original (which is inevitable, but it *is* a good game in it's own right, if not up to the lofty standard set by the first game)

    8. Re:Mixed feelings by Doctor+Cat · · Score: 2, Informative
      The first game I recall Warren being Producer on at Origin was Ultima VI, which I was head writer on. I believe Jeff Johannigman was producer on Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire and Warren was producer on Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams but I'm not totally sure I'm remembering that right. I'm pretty sure Warren was producer on Ultima VII as well as its spinoff. I think he produced some of the earlier Wing Commander titles too, not as sure on those (I never worked on any of them myself). He was definitely the producer on both of the Ultima Underworld games, 1 and 2. Before coming to Origin and getting into computer games, he worked at Steve Jackson Games, where he was heavily involved in the development of the pen & paper RPG Toon, and he worked at TSR, where he was involved in editing/managing on at least one edition of Advance Dungeons & Dragons. I think he was involved in some RPG project involving Rocky & Bullwinkle too. Before that he got his Masters degree at University of Texas in the Radio/Television/Film department with a thesis on something Warner Brothers cartoons, and he used to write movie reviews for the Austin Chronicle (the cool free weekly newspaper). He used to have a board-gaming marathon at his house every Labor Day, for as long as the Jerry Lewis telethon was on.

      This concludes this installment of "more than you wanted to know about Warren Spector". I hope Uncle Warren will do great at his new job. :X) (Does anyone besides me find it an ironic coincidence that Romero and Hall were at Ion Storm, then Warren joined it, and now Romero and Hall are at Midway, and Warren joined that too? Or is there a conspiracy theory to be hatched here? More likely Romero just told his bosses "Warren does great work" or something.)

      --

      Furcadia - A free online game with user created content, DragonSpeak scripting, & more.

  2. Probably a good thing by Red+Moose · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Deus Ex was great but the sequel was nothing compared to it. Neither was Theif 3 c/t 1 or 2. There was severe dumbing down to appeal to the mass market - who can blame a man for someone shoving benjamins up his ass.

    --

    Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better

  3. Bioshock by Gamelore · · Score: 1

    So it's no longer impossible for him to work for Irrational Games? *dreams*

    1. Re:Bioshock by Lisandro · · Score: 1

      One can only hope. I've been dreaming about System Shock 3 the second i finished the 3.

    2. Re:Bioshock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, make that "the 2nd" ;)

  4. Was console development the reason? by TheLoneDanger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am wondering if it was mainly Ion Austin's last 2 games' inability to really break through on the consoles (Xbox and to a lesser extent PS2) that really sealed it.

    Deus Ex was ported to PS2, and I STILL see copies of it around in the bargain bin. Warren talked about how he had learned lessons on interface design because of the more limited controls of consoles and that they would implement these in future games. Certainly Deus Ex: Invisible War had a much less complicated interface. It also didn't have a tenth of the creativity, functionality or story of the original. And it didn't sell at all on the Xbox. Designing around the limits of the Xbox (32 MB RAM) meant tiny, tiny levels that didn't go over well at all with the PC crowd (the crowd that made Deus Ex a massive hit). Tom Hall was lead designer on DX: IW and he left shortly after it flopped.

    Next Thief 3 had hype built up for it. It was designed, like DX: IW for an engine made for the xbox and then ported to PC. I didn't suffer nearly as much as DX: IW did from technical limitations. It got very good reviews. And sold only moderately well. DX: IW and Thief 3 both still did ok on the PC. But it seems obvious to me that Eidos was pushing them to put the games on the consoles (where the big numbers tend to be, as the number of hits in the PC market keep shrinking to a very few that sell very well). I really would have liked to have seen how good DX: IW and Thief 3 might have been if they had designed it for the PC first... maybe this wouldn't have happened and I could've looked forward to a DX 3 that did justice to the original. Sigh...

    --

    "But I trust in the people's capacity for reflection, rage and rebellion." -Oscar Olivera
    1. Re:Was console development the reason? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think in the dev commmunity there's a culture of, especially amongst guys who came up building games for the PC, "we had better get our act together on the consoles or we are going to be irrelevant." It's big business now, not that it wasn't before, but the pressure levels for developers are unprecedented.

      It seemed to me that the first Deus Ex on PS2 was more experemental. Of course they wanted it to sell well, but there wasn't the same pressure as there was on DX:IW. I don't think I need to remind everyone that neither that game nor Theif III really set the world on fire. IIRC, didn't Theif ship with some obvious bugs? A serious console dev faux pas.

      Back then the folks at Ion Storm gave all these great press releases about "emergent gameplay" and the revolution of GTA:III and how they were going to be a part of that revolution. Well of course I bought into all of that crap, and now I have a really good idea what John Romero's fans felt like. I really wished they would have STFU.

      That said, I wish nothing but the best for Harvey and Warren. I hope they get into a development that will let their talents shine. Both of them can, and have, made great games.

      OK, so no Harvey Smith, no Warren Spector, why even call it Ion Storm anymore? Am I missing something? Is Doug Church (most underrated game programmer of all time) still over there?

    2. Re:Was console development the reason? by TheLoneDanger · · Score: 2, Informative

      OH SHIT! I listed Tom Hall as lead designer on DX: IW, whereas you correctly pointed out that it was Harvey Smith. A terrible brain cramp on my part... But you're right that without Warren Spector and Harvey Smith, Ion Austin is pretty much moot.

      --

      "But I trust in the people's capacity for reflection, rage and rebellion." -Oscar Olivera
    3. Re:Was console development the reason? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I think in the dev commmunity there's a culture of, especially amongst guys who came up building games for the PC, "we had better get our act together on the consoles or we are going to be irrelevant." It's big business now, not that it wasn't before, but the pressure levels for developers are unprecedented.

      Sure, but it takes different people in different ways.

      For a contrasting example, look at Bethesda. They designed Morrowind for the PC, and then ported it to XBox. Both versions were bestsellers - the PC players couldn't believe there was a console version, because the game still pushed their PC hardware to the limits.

      Now they're working on Oblivion, and once more they have their eyes on the console market. Except their primary platform is still the PC, and those consoles they're looking at are the XBox 2 and PS3...

      So I am a bit sad that DX:IW wasn't the game it could have been. Actually, I have to confess I never bought it... the demo put me right off. I just went back and played the original Deus Ex again, which confirmed for me that Warren truly is one of the greatest game designers the young industry has yet known.

  5. Someone help me here... by Lisandro · · Score: 1

    How much involvement had Warren Spector in the final form of "Deus Ex: Invisible war"? I remember seeing early screenshots for the game, and they were so different (and better) than the final product that i wanna cry. It felt to me that the DX:IW team was forced into "dumbing down" the game to make it appealing to console gamers.

    In any case, i wish him the best in his new endeavors. Not too long ago having Warren involved in a game was pretty much a guarantee it would turn out to be great.

  6. The rumors are true.. by Taulin · · Score: 1

    warren leaving has been floating around the rumor bin for a while. I am suprised he didn't leave earlier. I thought Theif 3 was a pretty cool game with incredible atmosphere and playability. I played the demo of DEIW, and also thought it was crap. The people just seemed too big and bulky. Good luck to Warren, and I hope he finds his way again.

  7. Deus Ex and the Xbox by Tersevs · · Score: 1

    First a minor correction. The XBox have 64 Mb of RAM. I dont know why there isnt more than that, it seems like an unneccesary limitation.

    Maybe Deus Ex 1 has bigger levels, but they were cut up in smaller sections (sometime poorly divided too) that took forever to load.
    I also thought that Deus Ex ran really slow on the PS2. The textures and buildings was abysmal and had virtually no eye-candy. (Although some objects in the game looked nice). Even so the framrate was terrible at times. I felt that the engine was really bad. Still... I loved the game and have played in three or four times by now.

    1. Re:Deus Ex and the Xbox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It should be noted that the levels were not as divided in the original PC version. The first level is a good example of the difference.

      As for the graphics as a whole, only minor improvements were made from the (years?) older PC version.

  8. Well . . . by dorlthed · · Score: 1

    Looks like they'll never make a good game again . . .