Posts by JamesL

  • Diablo 3

    Quote from Erratic

    what Diablo is: a warp speed loot fest.

    Those words make me happy inside.


    Quote from Erratic

    I'm very much a loner when it comes to RPG's and could care less if there were other players in the world with me, so I may be in the minority on this.

    Nope me too. I played through the majority of GuildWars (twice) using the AI companions.

    http://www.diabloii.net seem to be pretty convinced its going to be a D3 announcement, and reading around the subject I would be inclined to think they are right.

    It's def a game announcement, a Blizz VP and the writer of the Diablo series of books has hinted towards it, the hirings mentioned above have specifically cited Diablo 1 & 2 and just this month Blizzard acquired the http://www.diablo3.com domain from one of their largest fan sites (hit the site for background info about it).

    Man I am excited. Pindleskin runs ftw.

  • Sony cancels "Eight Days" and "The Getaway"

    Hmm, without going into details, that's not a reason we were given. But then who am I to contradict Yoshida San.

    I wonder (and this is just my personal opinion) if in a year or two we will see a reversal of this and a move back to action based titles for Sony's European studios, when they realise all they have are US and Japanese action games and a portfolio of lifestyle titles that simply don't appeal to their hardcore consumer base. This industry is too prone to kneejerk decisions and over-reaction.

  • Sony cancels "Eight Days" and "The Getaway"

    Cheers guys.

    I think I should be able to use a bunch of stuff for a portfolio, Sony are generally pretty good to their employees so I can use work made her to help if/when I move on. As it goes I don't know how essential it will actually be though, every job I have ever gotten in the industry was due to people I knew and had worked with previously recommending me. This looks likely to be the route into my next job too.

    Regarding the project itself it's a real shame that more of the game wasn't exposed to the public. The title had masses of content ready and the alpha was far in advance of anything shown in '06. I guess it's a stark reminder to myself and everyone else looking in, that the games business is just that. A business.

    Still life moves on and you never know, I might even end up working with some Mapcorians next

  • Sony cancels "Eight Days" and "The Getaway"

    Hey guys, not been on here for a few days. Mostly been out getting pissed and commiserating the end of what was for me almost two and a half years work.

    The canning was in the end a business decision, and no reflection on the quality of the project, though this fact doesn't help the team of 60 plus people who have been pouring their souls into the title...

    I'm still working at Sony right now on an unannounced project, but things like this make you carefully reconsider your options. The three to fours hours a day commuting into central London is considerably tougher now that I know that neither of these games will never see the light of day (I've worked on both titles during my time here).

    It's gutting, especially as the decision was entirely nothing to do with the quality of the title, which I think is the best game by far I have ever worked on. All those environments, levels, characters, systems, animations and VFX essentially written off. It's enough cry over...

  • COD4 SDK out!

    Having seen that the tools were out for CoD4 I was enthused to the point where I thought I might actually start making maps outside of work again. Then I realised it was Radiant and thought better of it...

    Great game, horrible editor.

  • Petition to Valve for CS:S BOT source code

    Whilst I agree it would probably be a good thing for the community as a whole, I highly doubt it would ever happen, at least not until the next generation of their AI had been written and released. It's tantamount to giving away part of your intellectual property for free. It would certainly be taken by other independent developers, cosmetically altered then shipped as their own. Once compiled it would be hard for Valve to prove it's use by a third party.

    So whilst I applaud the initiative, I think its futile.