Rest in Peace, Visceral Games

[Hawki]

Anyone else thinking Bioware is the next corpse on the pile? I mean, after they turn Dragon Age into a multiplayer MMO with microtransactions and then decide it didn't make enough gobs of money for their taste.

It arguably already is. "BioWare" is more a brand than an actual studio. Anyone remember "BioWare Victory" or "BioWare Mythic?" If you don't, don't feel bad - there was a time when EA threw around the BioWare name as a form of branding for studios that had nothing to do with the original studio. At the very least, BioWare might stay around because of SWTOR (constantly updated game) and Anthem (likewise), but Mass Effect's probably going to go the way of Dead Space, and Dragon Age...can't say.

 

[maninahat]

Huh, for a minute I thought this was going to be a post about the death of marketers using the word "visceral" to describe their game. Hopefully "Immersive" and "experience" go with it.

 

[Chewster]

Smerp

That's fair, I guess. I didn't mind the first one but I'm one of those that didn't find it to be especially scary. Once you upgraded the Ripper you were practically invincible and over-the-top blood and gore becomes comical after a while. The game had a couple cheap scares but games like Alien: Isolation I found to be way more tense. Plus Issac has zero personality.

And I mean, comparing Dead Space to Aliens is kind of ridiculous seeing as how they are different genres. Aliens is an action sequel to a horror film. Dead Space is supposed to be horror but it invariably fails to be frightening meaning it's not much of anything aside from a 3rd person shooter that has a kind of cool setting.

 

[Zombie Proof]

Smerp

That's fair, I guess. I didn't mind the first one but I'm one of those that didn't find it to be especially scary. Once you upgraded the Ripper you were practically invincible and over-the-top blood and gore becomes comical after a while. The game had a couple cheap scares but games like Alien: Isolation I found to be way more tense. Plus Issac has zero personality.

And I mean, comparing Dead Space to Aliens is kind of ridiculous seeing as how they are different genres. Aliens is an action sequel to a horror film. Dead Space is supposed to be horror but it invariably fails to be frightening meaning it's not much of anything aside from a 3rd person shooter that has a kind of cool setting.

They aren't different genres though. If folks would stop getting so caught up in what they thought Dead Space was "supposed" to be and appreciate it for what it actually "is", you'd see the comparison more than fits. You even said it yourself: Aliens is a sci fi action movie. If Dead Space is sci fi, has tons of action, but "fails" in the horror part, what do we have left? It'd not difficult math. Also, anyone with even the barest modicum of observational skills can see the similarities in design, lighting, color scheme and even music cue and tone that the Dead Space series has with Aliens.

Your arguments all seem to be a bit of a reach, almost as if you're more concerned with going along with the misinformed internet zeitgeist than rating Dead Space on its actual merits.

 

[Chewster]

They aren't different genres though. If folks would stop getting so caught up in what they thought Dead Space was "supposed" to be and appreciate it for what it actually "is", you'd see the comparison more than fits. You even said it yourself: Aliens is a sci fi action movie. If Dead Space is sci fi, has tons of action, but "fails" in the horror part, what do we have left? It'd not difficult math. Also, anyone with even the barest modicum of observational skills can see the similarities in design, lighting, color scheme and even music cue and tone that the Dead Space series has with Aliens.

Your cute little backhanded insults aside, all you seem to be suggesting here is that they successfully copied Aliens without borrowing any of the actually interesting elements. That doesn't strike me as being an especially noteworthy achievement. People didn't flock to see Aliens in theaters back in '86 because it took place in a grey space colony.

The game was marketed as survival horror. They marketed it as being a terrifying experience. If you market a game as something, that is what it is "supposed" to be. You can try and stretch with the Aliens comparisons all you like, but that is not what it was presented as, even if (arguably) that is what it ended up being. If they'd marketed it as a jolly, action 3rd person shooter and abandoned all pretenses of being scary (such as I heard they finally did with the 3rd one) maybe we'd be having a different conversation.

Your arguments all seem to be a bit of a reach, almost as if you're more concerned with going along with the misinformed internet zeitgeist than rating Dead Space on its actual merits.

Oh, please. If that's the best you have for trying to get under my skin, you're going to have to try harder.

Dead Space was mediocre. It was mediocre in almost every way. It was presented as being a survival horror game but it wasn't horrifying and it wasn't even that difficult. Meaning it was a middling space romp with a lot of blood and guts and very little of its own personality that wasn't lifted from better, more engaging media that came before it.

This is just my opinion. You don't have to agree with it and that's fine. You liked it a lot. I thought it was merely OK. You don't have to get personal just because you're upset that someone disagrees with you over a Goddamn video game.

 

[Hawki]

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/10/the-collapse-of-viscerals-ambitiousstar-wars-game/

Interesting read.

 

[Zombie Proof]

They aren't different genres though. If folks would stop getting so caught up in what they thought Dead Space was "supposed" to be and appreciate it for what it actually "is", you'd see the comparison more than fits. You even said it yourself: Aliens is a sci fi action movie. If Dead Space is sci fi, has tons of action, but "fails" in the horror part, what do we have left? It'd not difficult math. Also, anyone with even the barest modicum of observational skills can see the similarities in design, lighting, color scheme and even music cue and tone that the Dead Space series has with Aliens.

Your cute little backhanded insults aside, all you seem to be suggesting here is that they successfully copied Aliens without borrowing any of the actually interesting elements. That doesn't strike me as being an especially noteworthy achievement. People didn't flock to see Aliens in theaters back in '86 because it took place in a grey space colony.

The game was marketed as survival horror. They marketed it as being a terrifying experience. If you market a game as something, that is what it is "supposed" to be. You can try and stretch with the Aliens comparisons all you like, but that is not what it was presented as, even if (arguably) that is what it ended up being. If they'd marketed it as a jolly, action 3rd person shooter and abandoned all pretenses of being scary (such as I heard they finally did with the 3rd one) maybe we'd be having a different conversation.

Your arguments all seem to be a bit of a reach, almost as if you're more concerned with going along with the misinformed internet zeitgeist than rating Dead Space on its actual merits.

Oh, please. If that's the best you have for trying to get under my skin, you're going to have to try harder.

Dead Space was mediocre. It was mediocre in almost every way. It was presented as being a survival horror game but it wasn't horrifying and it wasn't even that difficult. Meaning it was a middling space romp with a lot of blood and guts and very little of its own personality that wasn't lifted from better, more engaging media that came before it.

This is just my opinion. You don't have to agree with it and that's fine. You liked it a lot. I thought it was merely OK. You don't have to get personal just because you're upset that someone disagrees with you over a Goddamn video game.

Ease up sweetcakes, I wasn't looking for a fight but you sure took this from zero to sixty didn't you? You're so wrapped up in finding and engaging combat that your rebuttal reads little more than spicy zings and unsubstantiated internet hyperbole.

I came here for a discussion, not a fight. Winning some sort of victory means a lot to you so go on, take it cutie. I knew I lost my audience the second I read "your cute little backhanded insults aside" and that bit about me thinking I'm getting under your skin at the end sealed it *shudder*,so tough, so quick. I don't have what it takes to match bars with you so I'll take my quest for substantive video game conversation elsewhere hahahaha.

If you do reply, I'm sure it's gonna be nothing short of hot fire. Just, don't make it hurt too much okay?

 

[Zombie Proof]

I don't know, ZombieProof... Your reply was rude, especially for you. Did he overreact? Maybe.

Wasn't meant to be. Hey, nobody's perfect.
*shruggs*
Maybe communicating on the internet just isn't for me. Without the subtlety of voice and gesture, things just read weird sometimes. Either way, wherever we all landed just made me realize just how little any of this convo really matters to me hahahaha. Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings.

 

[Myria]

There's a rather long and interesting article [https://kotaku.com/the-collapse-of-viscerals-ambitious-star-wars-game-1819916152] by Jason Schreier on Kotaku regarding Visceral, EA, and the troubled development of their Star Wars Game.

Two rather telling, at least to me, paragraphs:

But the story behind Ragtag is more complicated than critics and pundits have assumed, and the project was more troubled than EA has admitted publicly. Among game developers, it's been an open secret for months that Visceral's game was in danger. The studio had been bleeding staff for years, and recruiters across the video game industry exchanged whispers about Visceral employees who were looking for new work, according to several people who have shared these rumors with me over the past couple of years.

And:

"Honestly, it was a mercy killing," said one former Visceral employee. "It had nothing to do with whether it was gonna be single player. I don't think it had anything to do with that. That game never could've been good and come out."

Everything else aside -- and, granted, there's a lot of 'else' -- it really doesn't sound like they ever had a workable game even on paper, just a lot of amorphous ideas without nearly enough focus or any realistic chance of them coming together into a good game.