A celebration of Worms - Team17's founder made an MBE

[Barbas]

I didn't know Team17 was founded by a woman, or that she had nearly 30 years' experience in the industry and oversaw the creation of over 70 games in 25 years of those years, so this news was rather illuminating. With Yooka-Laylee and Overcooked already in the company's future, extra congratulations are now due to Debbie Bestwick for being made an MBE, or Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The honour is awarded by the honours committee to Britons for conspicuous achievement to their field or outstanding service to their community. For those geographically distant cousins perplexed by the system, it entitles you to a smashing medal and suffix to your name when signing documents. The Queen also likes to distribute some higher-profile honours out on her birthday and on New Year's Day.

Ms Bestwick, who lives in Nottinghamshire, said: "I played my first game when I was 12-years-old. It's such an engaging form of entertainment. Cinema and reading books are passive whereas playing a game is interactive . . .

. . . "It's a fantastic honour to be made an MBE. I keep thinking 'I'm just doing my job!'

"Also being a woman in this industry - I'm one of the only female owners of a business in the games industry."

This is delightful news and a jolly home-grown triumph for the plucky British video game industry. Nice one, Debs!

[HEADING=2]CONGRATULATIONS![/HEADING]​

So, Escapists, how have the Worms games treated you? Were you ever much into the old invertebrate ultra-violence?

 

[mad825]

Congratz I suppose considering Worms Armageddon is the only Worms game that's been a critical hit. Lemmings I suppose was good.

IMO, Introversion software do far better games in comparison. It may be cynical by saying it's token but then again awards from the queen nowadays lack any meaning and mostly depends on how big your wallet is.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Well, this is fun news. *applauds his cartoony wormy hands*

I like the worms series, although I don't feel like it's ever gotten better than World Party, with all the modifiers and stuff that it had (I freakin' love "shopper mode", with no weapons but the infinite ninja rope and blowtorch and having to collect crates to get weapons to actually fight). I poured HOURS into it when I borrowed it from a friend for a few months. The Worms Reloaded game on Steam isn't bad, but it kind of feels a little bit lacking in comparison.

The second DS game was also pretty good, if still limited by the platform.

EDIT: I especially miss the flamethrower from World Party. That was such a fun and useful weapon and was ALWAYS my team's special weapon. The Holy Hand Grenade is fun and iconic, but being able to spray an entire little nook with tons of napalm and make enemy worms hop themselves off cliffs was a blast.

 

[Barbas]

Congratz I suppose considering Worms Armageddon is the only Worms game that's been a critical hit. Lemmings I suppose was good.

IMO, Introversion software do far better games in comparison. It may be cynical by saying it's token but then again awards from the queen nowadays lack any meaning and mostly depends on how big your wallet is.

Not necessarily; from the little I know, it's a few people's life peerages that have a stigma attached to them (Cheers, Blair!).

 

[mad825]

Not necessarily; from the little I know, it's a few people's life peerages that have a stigma attached to them (Cheers, Blair!).

Again, I would have disagree. Most people with honours don't work a 60 hour week in fact some have so much spare time that they devote their lives to "volunteering" cuz like they need the money anyway.

What's even worse is that some universities just throw degrees at them. It's the most uninspiring thing to ever happen as it defeats the whole notion that you don't need a degree to lead a successful life.

In other words; these aren't real people.

 

[Barbas]

Again, I would have disagree. Most people with honours don't work a 60 hour week in fact some have so much spare time that they devote their lives to "volunteering" cuz like they need the money anyway.

What's even worse is that some universities just throw degrees at them. It's the most uninspiring thing to ever happen as it defeats the whole notion that you don't need a degree to lead a successful life.

In other words; these aren't real people.

Jesus. Well anyway, I wouldn't count her among 'em!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Congrats to her. I LOVE WORMS ARMAGEDDON. I think Worms Armageddon is the only game that I've always had installed.

 

[DayDark]

Worms was my shit as a kid growing up. I remember going to a friends house and we had to wait 5-8min for the computer to boot up so we could play worms and laugh at the goofiness of it all. It was great! Congratulations to her.

 

[K12]

Is its offical name seriously the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire? Was it named by Bill and Ted or something?

Anyway congrats to her. I played Worms Armageddon to death as a kid (I mean I literally played it so much that the disk stopped working)

I can never remember which is more senior an OBE or MBE. I have a feeling that it's the OBE but I know 2 people with MBEs and they're both amazing people who seem to never sleep because of the ridiculous amount of community stuff they have going on all the damn time whereas I know of a bunch of celebrities who have OBEs for just doing their jobs quite well.

 

[Barbas]

Is its offical name seriously the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire? Was it named by Bill and Ted or something? . . .

Honours from quite a different time, dating back to George V, and originally created to honour those who served in non-combat roles in WWI. There are more, and some have even neater more excellent names.

The top rank being the highest honour:
1. Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE)
2. Knight Commander or Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE or DBE)
3. Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE)
4. Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE)
5. Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)

 

[The Jovian]

Is its offical name seriously the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire? Was it named by Bill and Ted or something?

No what it means is that she can add the MBE sufix (for Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) to her name to designate her as member of the Order of the British Empire, making it Debbie Bestwick, MBE. John Lennon of the Beatles was also made an MBE and his Wikipedia page lists his name as John Lennon, MBE.

 

[FalloutJack]

The Worms games are, overall, decent games. They take the classic tactical fun of the old Scorched Earth tank game and give it a funny invertebrate twist, probably the only one worth remembering apart from Earthworm Jim. That said, there is a tiny issue with the glitching factor. That is, whenever the computer player executes an action, it glitches it to happen even if it's clearly screwed up on-screen, meaning that it's scripted against failure unless the game says it fails in-script. That could constitute cheating.

 

[Leg End]

Where do I send her flowers and chocolates for the honor?

 

[CeeBod]

When I worked for an Internet Service Provider back in the '90s and 'Naughties, Worms was installed on pretty much every single machine in our office. Any down time where the bosses weren't around, somebody was playing a head-to-head worms game!

Just for those times alone, I'd say that this honour is well-warranted, but if she was also involved in Lemmings, then she should have been giver a much higher honour - Lemmings was totally ground-breaking (and not just in a make your lemmings explode to break the ground kind of way!)

 

[wings012]

Worms 2 was always my favourite due to the extremely powerful editor you could use to make things fresh.

I did like World Party's alternate game modes, like actions not ending turns. But by then the whole concept of hotseat multiplayer was dying.

And that's why I liked Worms. Hotseat multiplayer back in the day where my country was still running off dial up. I didn't own a console either, so this was how I could play games with family and friends.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Ah, g