Did not expect to see this:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/micr...culture-weisman

With the Mechwarrior game in development I wonder how long before we get a Shadowrun game from Smith and Tinker?

Talk about "gun in mouth".

I was actually thinking about this when I was walking into work today.

I don't know the details surrounding FASA studios, or what happened to them, but I find it very likely that things happened pretty much exactly as Weisman said. The two things that lead me to believe it is that first, Microsoft is very heavily invested in making you do things Their Way when it comes to development cycles - you are expected to use "Agile development methods", and god help you if you don't. The second is that, as near as I can tell, until about 2005, Microsoft Game Studios had their heads so far up their ass that they'd need spelunkers to find it; they didn't live in the real world whatsoever.

I mean, they let Turbine run wild with Asheron's Call, but when they roped the Turbine people into making AC2, they just destoyed the game with their deadlines, their demands to make the game more user-friendly and easier to play, and it utterly destroyed the game. Seeing as how a lot of WoW's structure is similiar to AC2, I think it would have been fine if it was a new franchise, but the fanbase from the original game - which loved the huge world, skill-based progression, and lack of defined classes.... Well, they got a tiny world, classes, and no skill progression at all. Which is, as I have heard, a fairly typical "Microsoft management mandates these changes!" sort of thing.

On the other hand, though, to play a minor amount of devil's advocate: I think it's also probable that the friction was based on head-butting between MS and the managment of FASA Studios. This kind of "they destroyed us!" cry isn't unique to MS, and in many cases I think it's rooted in a power struggle between the old guard ("This is OUR studio, we do things our way!") and the new ("We bought you, so you better deliver by this date or else.")

I agree, it seemed from the start that FASA didn't have much of a chance. FASA did ok with MW3 (except that it was effectively abandoned almost immediately after it was released) but MW4 started to show signs of trouble between FASA and MS. By the time the MechAssult games came out it was obvious that things were going down hill fast. The SR games was a slap in the face of all SR fans and IMHO the final nail in the coffin.
I wouldn't blame Agile as the problem (Agile when done right can produce excellent software, but done half fast it leads to extended deadlines, too many useless features, and crappy software). I would blame the MS corporate culture. MS is good at marketing and making business connections, they produce software that meets the general markets needs and then do what they can to force the general public to overlook any failures in their systems (This is the only reason I can see why the XBox 360 still sells even after repeated hardware failures and no attempts by MS to fix them).
I'm hopeful that S&T will be able to re-connect with the general community and bring out software that is true to the systems that spawned them. So far they seem to be on track with Mechwarrior.

I think you misunderstand me: I believe Agile to be the cause of Fasa's problems, specifically, because from what I've heard of their development culture prior to being bought, it's antithetical to the way they worked. Microsoft's management "culture" has very little to do with it, I think, since management varies quite widely from division to division, other than using Agile methods across the board.

As to not fixing the failures in the Xbox 360, that is patently untrue. The fix was laggy, and they ignored complaints, but when they make 3 major revisions to the board, they ARE fixing the problem.

I'm not going to get into a flame war about Agile, but I don't think you can blame it totally. If that was so then the first couple of games produced by FASA would have been total failures and the games would have slowly improved over time (as with any company that adopts a totally new methodology), not the reverse.

As for the 360, I would say that would be an attempt at fixing the problem, but the problem still exists.

I have nothing personally against Agile, for the record.

And yes, it was an attempt at fixing the problem. I wanted to correct the statement that Xbox has made 'no attempts' to fix the problem.

Sorry, but I know enough about project managment and joint projects to know that it takes two to tango. FASA like most upcoming companies are of course going to be stripped of personnel and intergrated into the MS games management division. Unfortunately, such kinds of habits mean that the original culture and creativity are lost, since product development is about the totality of parts and not its sum.

Often, the person is expected to not only function as a part of the original spark of the creative drive, but also take on other professional responsiblities. It creates mediocre products while trying to avoid the burgeoning bureaucracy of the organization.

I would add that most mergers don't end well for one group or the other. BTW-does Wizkids still own the rights to SR?
Weren't they talking about selling it to Catalyst over a year ago?

The reason Xbox 360s are still selling well is because they're going up against Sony and Nintendo. Nintendo isn't aiming for the same audience that Microsoft is and the other only recently dropped the price of their 599$ machine to 299-399$ within the last month. That's as well as treating both their developers and their customers like children.

I will say for the record I think the best possible gamer machine would be a Sony build hardware with Microsoft running networking (via Microsoft Live) and building the industry connections. Microsoft is good at making deals with third party companies to get stuff developed for their gaming systems. It is just a shame that their systems are POS.

I might have gotten it wrong, but I think that the end line of that particular story was something like, "We have changed our minds, we chose to keep it".

I am still just perpetually tickled that Microsoft still managed to fail with Vista.

Windows 7 is muuuuch better. And this is coming from someone who finally HAD to use Vista because there was no alternative, and resisted it every step of the way... but eventually learned to like it.

Windows 7 is like a tiny god. It reminds me of Windows 2000, and that is a great thing.

Is it just me, or does Weisman have a penchant for founding kick-ass companies and then selling them as soon as they start to take off?

I hope not for S&T's sake.

"As they start to take off"? No ... after.

Hell no!
Not as long as i have to work with that fugly gui . . as soon as somebody makes a skin that lets me change the look and feel back to windows 2000, i will gladly agree . .
The only really good thing about 7 is how frigging fast it seems to run. I installed it on my OLDER Computer, and it runs FASTER than the Vista on my NEW Computer . . .

I do Techsupport for one of the corporations most likely to become one of the first AA or maybe even AAA and they changed enough from the vista gui to the 7 gui so we can not just play it by ear, when it hits the market.
I will have to see if i can doctor up some kind of mock interface for use at work, or i will have to try and connect to my home computer, using my crappy line and having to fight my way through the network at work . . and risk my job doing this so i can help our customers . . Why they could not just leave the Vista Gui in, i will NEVER understand. Add in the Options to make it like the Win7 Gui is now, but also leave in the option to make it look like something i know without looking so i can work with it without having to relearn where everything is . .


Edit: they managed to get 29 MILLION BUCKS for this childs game Nanovor?
Imagine what they could do if they got that kind of money for Mechwarrior 3015.
Or what we could get if that kind of Money went to people, like, Sixth World Gaming.
They more or less had a working pre alpha for a Shadowrun MMORPG.
And the Design Documents and ideas rocked for that one . .

But can it be used for retrogaming?

You can enable the Windows Classic interface, and avoid the silly UI changes Vista makes. Which also speeds thing up, as you then don;t have to waste the CPU cycles running Aero.

here's sample directions on how to do it, I think.

Almost certainly. XP Emulation Mode should let you run anything you can run on XP, and I'm sure you know how to use dosbox or make a secondary partition and whatnot if that doesn't work.

And yes, Stahl, you can swap over to windows classic in either Vista or 7. Though I can't wrap my brain around calling the Aero style "fugly" but wanting to go back to Windows 2000 for the looks...

I've come to appreciate the word "gui" - it's as awkward to use as the thing it describes, the metaphorical messiness of the pun, and the bizarre slapping together of letters which could form a guide if only it could find its ass end.

Do remember though, that you need to have a processor in your coputer that actively suports virtualization technique.
I have 7 on my old computer, runs fast as all hell, but not WinXP-Mode, because the old Athlon XP 64 4600+ X2 does not support it.
Also, i will be checking out that link. If it is, indeed, what i am looking for(windows 2000 Start-Menue and task-Bar, everything else i can live with) then i will rejoice and probably only uise win7 as soon as i get a legal copy running on my grand monster coputer.

Nope, seems as if that'S only to disable the aero stuff.
Transparency and being able to view Windows in q bit more 3D-Fashion.
I don't use that anyways, and i don't notice any performance change when i disable it either.
But i still can't get the Start-Menue to act like it did in Win2K or WinXP. And the Task-Bar is the same problem, sadly . .
I miss my quickstart, i miss my little button to show desktop, i miss the frigging IE icon not simply changing into the task when clicked on and DISAPPEARING if i close that window . .

Oh man, I hate the Start Menu in Vista. That's the first thing I change on every computer I have to work on.

Jump into the Start menu. Go to Control Panels, and pop it over to Classic View. Now go in Task Bar and Start Menu.
In the Task Bar tab, make sure Quick Launch is enabled - it should be enabled by default, and mine currently displays Show Desktop, IE, and Outlook - none of which disappear if I minimize the windows, so it's possible your install is doing crazy wacky shit.

Now go to the Start Menu tab. Change the radio button to Classic Start Menu. Presto, you're running a Win2K start menu, thank god. You may also want to click Customize, scroll to the bottom, and uncheck Use Personalized Menus, which is a goddamn plague on usability. I do not need programs hidden just cus I haven't used them in 2 days.

That's a relief. I've been considering bending over and getting ripped for a spare copy of XP to keep around just for retrogaming.

Yeah, but that does not work with 7 . .

It should. I'm pretty sure that's how I disabled it on my other machine.

I'll check when I next have the chance. Sound good?

Edit: Okay, I'm wrong. You used to be able to do that, but the newer builds have locked that out. Shows what I get for not updating. Damn, that sucks.

Yeah, the Beta and RC were basically just a bit buffed up Vista.
RTM is something else entirely <.< . . This is production Model.
They had to do SOMETHING to make it different enough to users.
Else they would go:"Why should i buy this? It's still the same!"
I do so hope that someone will be able to unlock this again . . . .

That's now the tiny little rectangle in the bottom right of your screen next to your clock.

Bizzarre placement and horribly signposted, I know, but at least it still exists.

Wait, so now there's no "classic mode" for Win 7?

Nope, no classic ANYTHING . . You can make the Window Style and Colours ook like 2000, but the complete haptics are fucked up beyond any repair right now.
Until somebody figures out a way to unlock the classic style <.<

Apparently they have disabled the classic mode of windows 7. They have a free installation software to make windows 7 run in classic mode and there is this:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/m...ows-xp-or-vista

If the yonly disabled it and did not delete it, someone will find a way to enable it again. I hope. ^^

This is why I like Linux. If I really don't like the way my desktop looks and runs, then I have FULL control to change it to EXACTLY the way I want it. Too bad Linux is a "cancer" according to Balmer.

If Linux ran the things I want it to run - it already runs the things I *need* it to run - it would be much more compelling. Stupid games.

Well. Everything I need it to except CS4. Stupid Adobe.

You know, a company isn't "stupid" just because they don't do something that is convenient for you. With the exception of telephone tech support people, everyone I've ever dealt with at Adobe is classy, friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Adam, let me ask you a question. Given that I use adobe products daily, ALL DAY, and that I'm generally posessed of a wry sense of humor when I do show humor on Dumpshock, do you think I'm actually calling them stupid? Or perhaps that I was just being silly, given that I also said "stupid games."
The statement should be read in a Homer Simpson voice, because it's just me being petulant I can't eat my cake and have it too.

Seriously, I didn't think it would be that hard to tell I was being ridiculous.

Stupid double post.

While not quite up to the standards of commercial games on Windows, I do find the following games are additively fun:
Ubuntu Gamers Arena

A fact which I was not aware of.



Sorry, totally didn't think that was your tone at all, and, well, I just don't find that type of name-calling funny, at all.

Even though Adobe does things that drive me mad [working on a blog post right now about how the CS4 Updater leaves a bunch of extra files on your hard drive in OS X ...] that doesn't mean that the individuals that work there are stupid, or that the company as a whole is -- and if I want those people to take me seriously and treat me well, I have to afford them the same respect.

Sorry for not making it clearer - I had assumed it was implied given that I said linux could run all the programs I *need* to have, except CS.

Differences in humor, I suppose.

Yeah, if you work all day in CS, that's a pretty big gap for an operating system to miss out on.

For the love of all that is good and holy, what is Microsoft's problem? They already failed, with all their power, to force Vista onto the world as a whole, and now they think it's so important that Windows 7 doesn't look like XP that they disabled "classic mode"? They'd rather increase the probability that someone doesn't use Windows 7 because of the interface?

It's also how all the newest Office products are trying to force you to use the "ribbon" and have it be Vista-style. It's just petty and asinine and I have to wonder if the people making decisions at Microsoft are just moronic control freaks with no grasp on reality.

I actually like the Ribbon, wierdly.

My guess as to why they want you to use the new interface is this: their UI and UX teams firmly believe that their research indicates that you will be better off using that interface. And by golly, they're gonna MAKE you use it.

Because that's pretty much how Xbox-land and Office-land make their decisions, and as far as I can tell, that's how it happens across the board, for good or ill.