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Rockstar Plays it Safe

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the for-once dept.

Chris Morris at CNN's Game Over column has news of the cancellation of 'Snow', a planned title which would have placed the player in the role of a drug kingpin. From the article: "The reason is anybody's guess. 2K Games, the Take Two division that was publishing 'Snow,' confirmed the cancellation, but declined to give any sort of reason. It might have been because of the controversy the game was bound to kick up. It might have been because the game's developer, FrogCity Software (along with fellow studio PopTop Software) was recently folded into Firaxis, a Take Two-owned development studio run by industry legend Sid Meier. It may have simply been that the game wasn't turning out to be any fun."

7 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Rename, re-badge, resell! by RingDev · · Score: 4, Funny

    Change 'Snow' to 'Cure'
    Change crack addicts into suffering diseased community members
    Change drug king-ping to entrepreneurial pharmacist aiding humanity's fight against the sickness.

    Viola! Drop from an AO to G rating!

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  2. DOS Reloaded? by Doytch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is it just me, or does this game sound a lot like that DOS game Drug Wars that was popular back then. You can even get it in some repos still.

    1. Re:DOS Reloaded? by CDarklock · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I wrote a version of DopeWars. Open source, as it happens; derivative of the version written by Captain Howdy, but completely reimplemented from scratch, adding various useful bits like scrollable windows and jail time and even a music soundtrack.

      Today some jerk has made a Windows version, sells it as shareware, and doesn't even list my name in the credits. He claims hundreds of thousands of registered users. Some of the elements in his software made their first appearance in mine, so there's really no question that he had access to it.

      Now tell me again how open source is so good for developers.

      Oh, but to answer your question... no, it's not just you. And that *may* have something to do with why it was pulled. I'd be happy with a single line in the credits, but chances are the shareware version's "author" is more interested in cash.

      --
      Microsoft cheerleader, blue flag waving, you got a problem with that?
  3. I call bullshit by gorbachev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That CNN Money article doesn't mention why the game was cancelled. They're speculating it must've been because the game was "controversial". Given all the financial and quality problems Take Two is having at the moment it wouldn't surprise me at all if the real reason was financial and/or the game sucked so bad it got scrapped before more good money was thrown after bad money on a title that wasn't going to move off the shelves. Thumper Thompson is, of course, going to trumpet this as a resounding victory for the righteous, but I think the real reason has more to do with bean counting than backing down under pressure from blowhard hypocrites.

    --
    In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
  4. This isn't a Rockstar game. by Kanpai · · Score: 4, Informative

    The blurb is correct, the headline isn't. While Take-Two owns both Rockstar and 2K games, they're two different dev studios. Rockstar has nothing to do with this game.

  5. Blow by pete-classic · · Score: 2, Interesting
    In "Snow," you advanced from a marijuana smuggler to drug kingpin.


    Based on the screen shot and the above caption (and the name), I'd say they canceled it because they were afraid of being sued by George Jung and/or New Line.

    -Peter
  6. Here's a wild thought! by einexile · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe someone noticed that buying, selling, and using cocaine just isn't all that uncommon, expensive, or dangerous anymore.