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Shiny Founder Quits To Aid Sale
Gamasutra reports that Dave Perry, the founder of Shiny Entertainment, quit his role with the company to aid its sale from floundering Atari. From the article: "Shiny Entertainment was founded in 1993 by Dave Perry, and produced the hit Earthworm Jim series, as well as the financially successful Enter The Matrix. It is also noted for more esoteric titles such as MDK, Messiah and Sacrifice. The studio was sold to French publisher Infogrames by Interplay in 2002 for an estimated $47 million, before the company bought the rights to the Atari name and logo." Sacrifice was a unique and under-rated strategy title. It was flawed, to be sure, but the immediacy of summoning your troops in the field was a lot of fun.
Ah, I remember it well. The 3d first game that I recall which used it's own engine's graphics to render it's introduction realtime; the first FPS that I ever played which gave a real sense of personality to its enemies; and still one of the most surreal games I ever played.
You can't change that... by gettin' all... bendy.
financially successful Enter The Matrix
Which means the game wasn't succesful with fans. The only good part of the game was the cutscenes.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
http://www.thehappycompany.com/
When the company particpates in Hands Across America, we will finally have our shiny happy people holding hands.
Still one of the most distinctly unusual platformers ever developed. Sure, the controls were a little wonky at times, but the sense of design in that game still looks and feels fantastic, ten years after release.
I don't see any real major flaw with sacrifice. Never see a bug, and I'm playing it again at home forl ike the 16th time. I think its one of the most underrated games next to System Shock 2.
If anyone is up for a networked game of sacrifice, gimmie a hollar.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
How come the characters in Messiah and MDK were far more detailed then the characters in Enter the Matrix, which were modeled from actual people?
Are you suggesting that the video-game Neo wasn't as expressive or lifelike as Keanu Reeves?
My stupid web site
Sacrifice is probably the best game of its generation. It's interesting how much it looks like Giants:Citizen Kabuto.... it shipped at very nearly the same time, and it has much of the same look, at least in spots. It's almost eerie.
Sadly, Giants got all the press, even though it wasn't nearly as good a game. People liked the idea of playing the Giant more than they liked the idea of a really good game. And Walmart didn't like it.
Sacrifice would have been better if the multiplayer were stronger... the battles ended up mostly being "my clump of critters versus your clump of critters". It was very difficult to figure out just what was going on, or why you'd won or lost, because there was so much happening in such a small space... not to mention your limited perspective, stuck down in the world itself.
As a single-player game, though, it was truly excellent, with great replay value. It's a classic game in the old sense... with many paths to follow, many things to see, and a great deal of gameplay, but with the graphics of a fairly modern game.
Sacrifice also woke gaming up to the power of Wal-Mart. They refused to carry this game because it involved sacrificing souls on altars. (that's how you gain power: you kill your enemies' creatures, and convert their souls to your cause, bringing them back as your own creature types afterward.) And that, as far as I know, killed its sales. There have been no further games involving sacrifices, if you'll notice.
If you're tired of the latest trend, '8 hours of gameplay on rails for $50' (ie, F.E.A.R), and you're willing to invest some time learning a real classic, hunt down Sacrifice on EBay.
Still think System Shock 2 is 'the' game of the last century. Incredible story, scary as hell voice acting, the graphics are good for the times (someone made new models to add to the game to 'update' it).
I play SS2 and sacrifice when the newer games start getting boring. Both are still very playworthy!
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Yeah, I've never finished the psi track (tried a few times, but its uber hard... probably a flaw on their side). The army track is too easy imho (with enough practice, you can just go guns blazing and kill the scary effect). Navy is the way to go. Use the computers to your advantage, you can use the guns, but not very well, so it becomes a major disadvantage at bad times. Can't tell you how many times I snuck into a corner of a room with a zombie hearing and searching for me, and I only have 1 or 2 shots before my gun is jammed. I actually shook with fear the first couple times...
But the spawning only happens in the first couple levels were there are security cameras. A naval officer can disable security for long periods of time, and eventually you can start using your hacking skills to place turrents and stuff under your control...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!