Well most of them are at Obsidian or working on wasteland 2
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Until they release something good, I consider them dead. I mean, can you really call it Black Isle when it's pretty much entirely new staff?
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Westwood Studios (Dune, Command and Conquer, Red Alert, Blade Runner)
Origin Systems (Ultima, Wing Commander)
Looking Glass Studios (System Shock, Thief)
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System shock 2 was an awesome game. I never hear of the games by origin or westwood but i bet they were critically acclaimed.
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Red Alert is one is the best RTS games for Windows 95-98 era.
Red Alert 2 covers NT to XP.
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Red alert is freely available, WinVista/7/8 compatible (thanks EA)
just grab the installer at http://redalert1.com/ and it will guide you through a ~1GB download. This includes the awesome movies, both available expansion packs and a hi-res fix... 1080p supported.
Update: apparently Linux and Mac versions are supported. Haven't tested that myself though.
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I know, but it does lack one thing that RA2 does. The lack of the arrow key scrolling. I kinda find problem without it.
Also, I do have the CNC collection sold on Origin.
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If you were alive then, you would be complaining now about how the dialup and/or ADSL speeds then were slow that it's not funny.
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Westwood was a big, ridiculously well-known developer back in the 90's. They invented the RTS genre as we know it and were extremely successful until they were bought out by EA in 1998, after which they quickly fell apart. Red Alert 2 was still pretty cool though.
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Time to educate yourself!
Westwood was one of the juggernauts of the 90's, and their name was associated with quality. They made such classics as the Command & Conquer series, Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore, Legend of Kyrandia, Blade Runner (actually a really good adventure game), NOX and Nightmare on Elm Street (Eh, alright, so that one was before they got really good).
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Also Emperor: Battle for Dune. Great RTS which I'd like to see brought back. With trademark Westwood live action cut scenes :)
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+1 for Westwood Studios. I still go back and play all the old time C&C games. :/
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Which is your favorite? Mine is the Generals series, just cause.
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I liked Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun alot. The ending to Red Alert for the Soviet side just blew me away the first time I played it.
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For me personally Westwood = Emperor: Battle for Dune, a major level of development their "C&C-style" philosophy of creating RTS games. Such complex, developed and full of juice (and Spice.... :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C21fwp68vPE
Original Westwood somehow is alive as Petroglyph Games (Star Wars: Empire at War, Universe at War: Earth Assault and recently premiered Grey Goo)
In my opinion this is one of a few shining stars of the past years which shamefully drowned somewhere in the waters of Abandonware Sea.
E: BfD, just next to gems like Need for Speed: Porsche, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven and Strike series.
Mentioned Strike series was built on the military helicopters arcade games and also (IMO) has its peak with the very last, non-canonical installment, Fuiture Cop LAPD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_series
But there is hope for afresh reveal this games to the market, or maybe brand only:
" Two new trademark filings for Desert Strike made in November 25, 2013[1] have been discovered on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website by Fusible And Edited by Aura87. These list EA as the company filing for them but provide no additional information of substance or interest. "
Except Mafia 1, all of those games (C&C and next incarnations, NFS:P, Strike) was or are owned by EA. Which in the past was called Electronic Arts or "one of the best in the video games industry". Good 'ol days. ;)
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These are the main reasons I hate EA today. Great companies that got swallowed and dismantled by the big monster.
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Activision is a novice at buying & dismantling companies compared to EA. EA actually dismantled some of the biggest & most influential developers of the 90's, including Bullfrog, Origin & Westwood. We are talking about the company that invented the god games, the company that practically made CRPGs into a genre (together with SirTech, though SirTech officially admitted that they were heavily inspired by Ultima & Akalabeth, they did bring a lot of new to the table, and Richard Garriott later said that he was heavily inspired by what SirTech did) and the company that set the mold for RTSs. Origin was part of the development of the first commercial game that used ray tracing, a honour that is often unjustly given to ID software and Wolfenstein 3D (the other company that was a part of that process was the company that would later be known as Looking Glass studios, famous for games like Thief & System Shock).
This is by the way where a lot of the earlier EA hate comes from. People noticed that EA was buying these famous & popular studies and then running them into the ground.
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Damn, I really don't like EA now. They ruined great studios.
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It's not just about being swallowed. Publishers in general tend to rush releases.
Most games published by Kalypso are broken until patched. Sometimes the game will only receive 1 patch to fix the major bugs and then the game is abandoned.
I know that a company must make money, but come on, if you produce trash you deserve to go down.
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Looking Glass Studios is back as OtherSide Entertainment
(I highly recommend checking out their upcoming Underworld Ascendant, the team includes the same people who worked on Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex and more).
Origin Systems is also back as Portalarium
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Thanks for pointing me in the direction of this kickstarter! I did not have to think long to throw a few $ their way.
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You're most welcome :D
Tim Stellmach himself is very active in the game's forum and happy to take player's feedback/advice in the design phase.
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Wow, it looks awesome. I hope it reaches its kickstarter goal.
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I'm not sure if i understood correctly but one of the "defunct" studios that comes to my mind is RawBots. They made it through greenlight but disappeared just after that without saying any word. Game is great but no one is working on it...
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Defunct as in the company is closed and all its assets went somewhere else.
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I have to mention Sierra as an all time favorite.
THQ had a lot of good games as well.
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I think THQ assets and games went somewhere else. I think Deep silver owns it maybe?
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They were split up to numerous companies, not just one.
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I'm glad that homefront is back on steam because I've been wanting to play that game. When a sale comes around, I'm thinking on picking it up.
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Here's a list of where everything is now:
http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/ecvTL/listing-of-thq-asset-purchases
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That is useful info. Crytek doesn't own Homefront anymore i think or the game has been delayed. What ever happened to the homefront Revolution game?
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It's still coming. Crytek had to sell the studio & IP after they got in financial trouble. Game is published by Deep Silver now.
Check here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=151203758#post151203758
Some devs chime in too.
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Yeah, I don't remember if they said its coming on pc but I'd really like it if it would.
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space marine :(
since thq went bankrupt the game was dead.
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Just saw this thread, and Sierra was the first company that came to mind... so many good classics. It's a shame they weren't around these days when publishing is a different game. Pun intended. They'd probably do fairly well, their adventure games blow anything on the market these days out of the water.
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Quintet
Team Silent (Silent Hill series)
Mistwalker
NeverSoft
Sir-Tec
Troika Games
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Tony hawk underground was an awesome game. Remember playing that game non-stop. Neversoft is working with activison on cod or something for cod.
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Yeah. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura I think this is my favourite game. Too bad i can't find nothing similar now:(
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Ooooh those memories .. i'd love to hear from something similar, too.
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i recently found out you can make the good elf and the bad elf meet at ring at end of game and have a chat. Im yet to try to do it myself tough.
Hope its spoiler free enough for anyone who hasn't tried that gem yet ;)
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- Irrational Studios - Makers of Bioshock 1, Bioshock Infinite and co-developers of System Shock 2.
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yeah i mentioned them. Bioshock series is one of the top ten series in video games in my opinion.
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Pandemic, I really liked The saboteur. That's all I can think of at the moment, besides bigger ones like Irrational or the company that made the Stalker series
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The stalker series and their developers had a ton of controversy. With that survarium game and the other STALKER game using the name without periods. Its sad that it has to go over that.
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Oh yes. Goldeneye, Perfect Dark... Never played Conker's but heard good things.
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I personally like Goldeneye Reloaded on PS3. It's pretty good for a modern take on the classic. Better than the WII version in my opinion.
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they did, it sucked since they changed bond from pierce brosnan to Daniel craig in the game. heck they even changed 006 from sean bean to some random jack weed
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+1 but back in their early Nintendo Rareware days. The first DKC games, Killer Instinct, GoldenEye, Battletoads.
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Irrational Games: Bioshock franchise. No multi is the very very big weak point.
Clover Studio: God Hand, Okami ...
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Yup, this one came quickly to mind for me.
At least I finally got my Steam key for helping fund War for the Overworld.
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psygnosis and zonos = metal fatigue <3
really liked that game despite the blatant AI cheating.
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If you're italian and love everything mafia then you're either mafia yourself or not really italian.
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The original Mafia made before being swallowed by 2K/Take Two.
SSI with their 5 Star General Series.
New World Computing that made Heroes 1-3, the Might and Magic RPG series (M&M X was made by an obscure studio for Ubi) and the original King's Bounty.
Maxis with their original Sim City series (1 to 4) and Sims series (1+2)....
Ion Storm: Dominion 3, Thief 3, Deus Ex 1+2, Anachronox
Core Interactive - the original Tomb Raider series (1-6)
I/O Interactive seems to be dead (most of the employees were fired after Hitman Absolution) - Hitman series, Freedom Fighters, Kane and Lynch series, Mini Ninjas.
Plenty of dead companies there.
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you've played "Chicago 1930"? Spellbound Entertainment
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OG Rareware (conker, banj0-kazooie, donkey kong) and Blinx games RIP
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Troika Games off the top of my head. Some of the best RPGs ever made, Arcanum, Vampire the Masquarade Bloodlines, Temple of Elemental Evil. <3
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Arcanum was my first large-scale RPG with a really complex world. I had trouble with english - I was playing it with a dictionary by my side. It has balance issues but the story, the world, the atmosphere... oh man :D
Bloodlines also just pure gold. Little clunky, tons of bugs, but so much opportunity. I needed a few gameplays to realize you can brake into the art gallery in various ways. Fight off the guard, persuade him, manipulate him, blackmail him, seduce him, control him, sneak, or if you're stong enough take off the bar of the parking lot. Despite of it's looking like a fighthing game it has exceptional RPG elements in it.
ToEE missed :( ( Though I own it on GOG, maybe I'll have time and mood to play with it someday)
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Hehee, yeah the atmosphere of Arcanum, oh god :D Bloodlines was such an awesome game and tbh i never really ran into that many bugs, i only remember getting stuck in a few stairs but that's about it. If you do play ToEE be sure to download the community mod pack, while the game itself is good that mod makes it sooo much better. Don't expect it to be action packed, compared to say Neverwinter Nights, but there's so much actual roleplaying to be had and the combat is so good as well that i'm sure you will enjoy the game if you give it a shot.
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(Don't hit me pls) Haven't played Neverwinter Nights... Currently I'm playing mostly with my games on Steam, but I racked up almost all of the older RPG games on GOG - NWN 1-2 included. So, sooner or later :D
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Haha well, you should have no problem enjoying either. Neverwinter Nights 2 has more than decent graphics even by today's standards and it's a solid game. Neverwinter Nights has not really aged that well but if the graphics don't bother you, like they don't bother me, you can get a ton of hours out of it :D Especially when it comes to the expansions and extra modules.
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Thanks for your concerns, but I started out with CIV 1, played the original two Fallouts after the 3rd one, etc etc :D I LOVE quality old graphics :P and in love with pixel-art (Like the Blackwell games ^^ ) I just don't really dare to delve something as big and complex right now as these games :)
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Hasbro Interactive with Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 (Days were spent playing this) and a few XCOM games is all that I'm familiar with.
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I don't think Lucasarts have released anything good since maybe Republic Commando. Mainly cause they've acted as a Publisher for most of the products their name is attached to and as a Publisher all I can say is "Good Riddance". Their follies include rushing KOTOR II when it was badly unfinished and canning the Original Battlefront 3 when it was almost done.
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I was referring to Lucasfilm Games with Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle.
Some of the Star wars Games were good but I didn't think about them though :P
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Sam + Max and Monkey Island are games people forget about when thinking about Lucasarts XD Although you gave me a few ideas.
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Well, it seems like Disney's "Star Wars Policy" encourages this. I always enjoy coming back to these titles
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The old "No One Lives Forever" games. I think they would be perfect for GOG, but there seems to be some question as to who actually has the rights to them.
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Monolith Productions (studio behind those) is still alive & kicking though, with Shadows of Mordor being their latest title.
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Oh already forgot about them. A great "series". Still have both cds lying around here!
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I have all 3!
Well, if you consider "Contract JACK" part of the series, but you're really not missing out if you ignore that one. It doesn't have the skill point system that made the gameplay different, or the same sense of comedic atmosphere that made the first 2 games as memorable as they are.
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Night Dive Studios is close to getting the trademark after WB's weird failed attempts at it, when that happens it will probably gets rereleased on steam & gog.
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I miss Swinging Ape studios.
They got only Metal Arms: Glitch in the System to their name, but that game was good. And then they got eaten by Blizzard. (They were bought out to be put to work on StarCraft Ghost, and that got cancelled.)
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Afaik Remedy Entertainment (The ones who made Alan Wake) is still alive, in fact, they're making Quantum Break
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Recently, I started to play Mafia 2 and I am barely in the game(At chapter 4 but did mostly side stuff like find all wanted posters) and it is already becoming one of my favorite games. I think I might have some biased because I love anything mafia (maybe its because I'm Italian) and I love the 1940s era and the music and the atmosphere. It reminds me of another great game I love, L.A. Noire and that game I also enjoyed immensely. I was playing Mafia and I wanted to research more about the developers for their other games but it seemed that they have gone through what the Bioshock/ Irrational games studio went through and many people lost their jobs. It's really sad to see that this company is most likely not going to be making another mafia game or just a game in general. Mafia is so underrated and deserves a better metacritic score than it got.
What other games with studios that are defunct or closed or not mainstream anymore besides Mafia, Bioshock , or L.A. Noire?
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