Orson Scott Card on Games, 21 Years Ago 121
MilenCent writes "Long long ago, Orson Scott Card wrote a game opinion column for Compute! Magazine. In the November 1983 issue, he had some interesting things to say about the essential ingredients of a great game, all arguably still important today. He picked out one company that, at the time, consistently excelled in most of these areas--try to guess which one! Additional commentary over at Curmudgeon Gamer."
EA... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:EA... (Score:2)
In a way it makes sense. They wouldn't have gotten so big today if they weren't doing something right in the first place. They gained their original capital by making games that people actually wanted to buy (without the brandname to rely on and the oodles of marketing they can spend now) which allowed them to make all the acquisitons which have led to them becoming the behemoth they are today.
As is described in more detail by the Snopes article [snopes.com] on the "curse" that seems to
Re:EA... (Score:2)
Granted this is OT, but the same thing could be said for Pepsi commercials. Britney Spears and Spice Girls did Pepsi commercials and look were they are now.
Re:EA... (Score:1)
Re:EA... (Score:1)
There are plenty of articles about how Infinium Labs [phantom.net] sucks, and they haven't so much as put out a product, yet.
Derek Smart put out what many consider a long string of terrible games and even among those that despise him, he's something of a legend. [Caveat: I haven't played any Derek Smart games. I'm just saying the only press for these games I've seen is bad. They could be sparkl
Re:EA... (Score:1, Insightful)
Let's not forget. . . (Score:1)
The way I see it, no FPS is "original" except THE original, Wolfenstein. But some people still consider Halo "original" since it follows a storyline - like Marathon didn't?
Re:Let's not forget. . . (Score:2)
Or, for that matter, the original System Shock? Damn, that was a good game. Nothing beats turning on your top-level personal shield, sparking up the lightsab^Wlaser rapier and charging right into SHODAN's elite cyborg armies...
PiD (Score:2)
I think you misspelled Pathways Into Darkness [wikipedia.org].
I remember playing that game late at night... it's amazing how scary you can get 640x480, 8-bit graphics.
Madden 2015 (Score:3, Insightful)
lol
Other company mission statements from 1983:
Mac: Our computers must run everyone's software and be affordable.
Microsoft: By 2006, all bugs and security holes must be eliminated. Also, we will open source everything.
FCC: By 2006, ABC will be required to show boobs at the top of every hour, all day long. Also, Howard Stern will host the Oscars.
...21 years ago? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:...21 years ago? (Score:3, Funny)
It's correct (Score:1)
Re:...21 years ago? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:...21 years ago? (Score:2)
Games should be excellent (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Games should be excellent (Score:2)
3. It should be an excellent game, not just excellent programming - the play itself should be exciting and not serve merely as an excuse to show off the programmer's expertise.
I know I know (Score:1)
Fine, so EA didn't always suck, but ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Now they've evloved into more of a video game sweat shop than anything else. The games they publish that are still good are designed and written by third partys.
Reading this article really hightens my sense of loss for one of the great companies of my generation.
Re:Fine, so EA didn't always suck, but ... (Score:1)
Re:Fine, so EA didn't always suck, but ... (Score:1)
Sports games killed them (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again, Origin was already half-dead. Starting with Ultima 7 they did just what Card lambasted in his article: "I have little patience with games that play me, forcing me to follow on
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
Really? It's been a couple years since I played U7, but I seem to recall that you couldn't hit anything out of order, in that certain characters didn't have anything to say, or sometimes don't even appear until precursor storylines had been opened. I loved U7 for that. Free to wander and explore whatever small side-stories you wanted, or just roam the countryside adventuring, pursuing th
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
Yep. I played Ultima V, Ultima VI, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams. Ultima V had crappy graphics but it took 200 hours to beat. Ultima VI was VGA and supported 16-bit sound. Savage Empire was the first to introduce recipes for items (sulphur+saltpeter=gunpowder+bamboo=flintlock). Martian Dreams? Never finished it. The only other RPG I played was Wasteland. And when I look at somethin
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
OT but.. wha?? for someone who had played them from the beginning, no: V was awesome. And I'm talking about the apple
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
OT but.. wha?? for someone who had played them from the beginning, no: V was awesome. And I'm talking about the apple
Well, that could be it... IIRC the apple version of Ultima V looked much better than the PC version.
Even more offtopic... Origin games had a history back then of driving new hardware purchases for me. Ultima VI made me buy a VGA card and monitor. Wing Commander drove me to build my computer from scratch, to save a
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
I guess I figured it was the reverse for some reason, given the funky pixel shifting apple
Even more offtopic... Origin games had a history back then of driving new hardware purchases for me. Ultima VI made me buy a VGA card and monitor.
It was a sad day when I heard that Origin stopped Apple development. though I played through V, I never played
Re:Sports games killed them (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
What a debut! (Score:5, Informative)
Consider the company's first five titles [wikipedia.org]:
* Hard Hat Mack for the Atari 800 and Apple II
* Archon for the Atari 800
* Pinball Construction Set for the Atari 800 and Apple II
* Worms? for the Atari 800
* M.U.L.E. for the Atari 800
One is absolutely, bar none, one of the greatest games of all time [salon.com]. Two [wikipedia.org] more [wikipedia.org] are notable milestones in gaming history. Four, perhaps all five, are considered classics.
I like EA and its games. It's a tremendously-successful company, is (I think) the *only* videogame maker other than Nintendo and Sega to survive intact over the past two decades, and over the past 23 years has put out many other fine titles. But let's not forget that there was a time when it didn't depend quite so heavily on annual releases of Madden and NBA Live.
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
Namco, Konami, Activision, and Capcom are all companies that have survived the last 2 decades. I'm sure there are more. I think Rare could be considered to be autonomous enough for this list.
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
In fact, Activision was the first ever third-party developer, having been formed by disgruntled Atari employees to write games for the Atari 2600. Atari sued Activision and lost, which opened the door for other third-party developers that came later.
Namco, Konami and Capcom (add Taito and a few others to that list) started out as arcade developers, so their lineage is a bit different. Atari, Taito and Nintendo w
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
I can't speak for the others (although I suspect you're correct), but the current Activision only shares the name and some intellectual property (such as the Infocom brand name) with the company of the 1980s; that one went bankrupt.
Indeed, it's much easier to list the names of the other prominent videogame publishers extant when EA debuted in 1983 that aren't around any more, versus those that sti
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
You're right; I completely forgot about Sammy having bought it. Well, I guess the list thins further.
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
According to their own website [activision.com] "BHK Corporation, a company controlled by Activision's current executive management team" in 1990, but as it is a publicly traded company that stuff happens. It hasn't been merged into another company or ceased to exist at any point in time.
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
Not quite. BHK Corporation (standing for Bobby Kotick, Activision's CEO ever since) did indeed bu
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
He is the source. Once this thread is cached at Google I'll send you a link.
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ole Lone Ranger,
and you don't take a post on the Slashdot forums as gospel truth.
They might have tweaked that last line before they recorded it.
Re:What a debut! (Score:2)
However, regarding Activision's alleged bankruptcy--the central point regarding his skepticism--would a SEC 10K filing [sec.gov] with the following paragraph:
Excellent (Score:2)
And I figured out how to win the next Superbowl - all I have to do is score more points than the opponent...
But seriously - the article is pretty useless... The hard part is not to understand that you have to do something new and excellent - its how to do it. A minor detail the article unfortunately doesn't explain...
Peter.
Re:Excellent (Score:2)
Scoring more points is a good way to win the Superbowl. Scoring more points is a crappy way to win the Masters.
Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:2, Interesting)
Some games manage to innovate both gameplay and graphics, but they are rare. A lot of sports games have played essentially the same for the past 5 or 6 years, with only graphical updates. Most FPS games are similar, with just better graphics (physics is an exception, but that's not really gameplay when it just has to do with rolling barrles after a
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:1)
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:2)
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:2)
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:2)
Blitz: The League (Score:2)
They put a pretty interesting spin on it with Mutant League Football. It would be nice to see stuff like that come about from time to time.
After the National Football League agreed to a long-term exclusive contract with EA, wouldn't you want to blitz the league [google.com]?
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:2)
I would have no problem with sports titles if they would release a new version every 2-3 years, when the number of new features warrants a sequel. EA could easily cycle between releasing Madden and NCAA every other year. The games would probably be better this way, as each game would have a two-year dev cycle.
The only problem in the past has been roster updates, although EA could easily have made deals with
Re:Today, graphics come first, gameplay second. (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other hand, a segway was real innovation. It was a flop, but it was an innovative flop.
I can't say I'm happy with any recent innovations in the gaming industry. The MMORPG concept was pretty revolutionary, but nothing much new is happening now. It's the same basic rules with a new skin, be
EA need to read this (Score:2, Insightful)
Clearly that one was forgotten about long ago, these days its just endless sequels each containing fewer differences than the last. Originality was forgotten about long ago in favour of squeezing every last dollar out of a 'franchise'.
M.U.L.E. is great. See for yourself... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:M.U.L.E. is great. See for yourself... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:M.U.L.E. is great. See for yourself... (Score:2)
That file in particular contains PC64 - which is abandonware (actually Public Domain). There's much better emulators available that can run nativly under Windows - WinVice in particular is quite good at zooming past loading times.
Re:M.U.L.E. is great. See for yourself... (Score:2)
How the mighty have... (Score:1)
Ironic, I suppose, but at least they were worthy of success to begin with. Heh...
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:3, Informative)
And the games...man. Archon, Skate or Die, Realm of Impossibility...in those really cool "album cover" like boxes...plus the respect they gave to the game programmers as artists (hence, Electronic ARTS...) That was an amazing time.
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:2)
Oi, and of course the oh-so-clever Commodore 64 copy protection schemes. The bizarre "half-tracking" reading scheme that slowed load times to a crawl and tended to crap out if the drive was even slightly misaligned.
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:1)
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:2)
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:2)
Ultra may have made the very much inferior port to the
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:2)
Funny, I always thought it was EOA. Could never figure out where the O came from though...Now I guess I'll spend my time trying to figure out why it was a C instead... : /
Re:How the mighty have... (Score:1)
Orson Scott Card's predictions (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Orson Scott Card's predictions (Score:1)
Re:Orson Scott Card's predictions (Score:2, Troll)
Really? I saw nothing particularly insightful.
The "network"
Gosh, he envisioned a worldwide network only only 15-20 years after the creation of early world-wide networks like compuserve and the internet.
online news and bloggers
'cause no one was doing anything even remotely like that which could be fictionally extrapolated, like USENET of BBS's.
hand-held devices used for education
Re:Orson Scott Card's predictions (Score:2, Informative)
And where the heck did you come up that he only thought the netwo
Re:Orson Scott Card's predictions (Score:2, Troll)
Card's "Locke and Demosthenes" bit could hardly have been described as a blog. It was public message boards, exactly like those found on CompuServe and scores of public and private BBS's. From Ch 9, Valentine to Peter on his plan to go on the net and manipulate public opinion:
Re:Orson Scott Card's predictions (Score:1)
Many thanks to Baen Books [baen.com] for putting the first couple of chapters of a novel online, and even whole books. [baen.com]
Old timer here (Score:1)
Worms? (Score:2)
Re:Worms? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Worms? (Score:1)
End Game (Score:3, Funny)
And yet the one game he had a hand in, Advent Rising [adventtrilogy.com]. Did poorly in the marketplace.
Re:End Game (Score:1)
Re:End Game (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:End Game (Score:1)
Re:End Game (Score:1)
But I also don't think that's how a writer in a videogame can work. Even though I see executives try it over and over again, you can't farm out the text and expect the plot to be any good. You can't even farm out the plot and text and expect the pacing, implementation, and emotional tone to be any good. You need your writer around, for the full development cycle, in-house, as a director. You need someone who will let the artists know what the subtle emotional fla
Re:End Game (Score:2)
I think you're being a bit harsh on the guy without knowing all the facts.
Re:End Game (Score:1, Informative)
http://media.psp.ign.com/media/714/714496/vids_1.h tml [ign.com]
I think he was just getting his feet wet in the gaming industry, but it's difficult to argue that he's fallen "flat on his
Re:End Game (Score:1)
I think that earns him some credit.
Re:End Game (Score:2)
And yet the one game he had a hand in, Advent Rising. Did poorly in the marketplace.
He also wrote the insults for the sword-fighting in Monkey Island.
A reference to computer games! (Score:5, Insightful)
Hurrah! Evidence of the existence of the computer games industry. It's not something you see often on here. Not the video game industry, the computer game industry: The one that almost all of the major players in the current game industry were borne out of.
Video game crash in the U.S? Irrelevant...computer games never stopped. They went on from strength to strength via the C64, ST, Amiga, and then the PC (when it's CPU speed finally came up to scratch).
It's getting harder and harder these days to find any sort of real history of games due to revisionists re-writing everything and putting such huge importance on video games, Atari, and Nintendo.
Let's have more articles like this.
Re:A reference to computer games! (Score:2)
Re:A reference to computer games! (Score:2)
Damn great PC portable that was. I beat most of Ultima V at my grandma's house.
Re:A reference to computer games! (Score:2)
Ah the CGA colors (Score:2)
While EGA was an improvement, it wasn't until the advent of cheap VGA cards that PC gaming really started to get good.
Re:A reference to computer games! (Score:2)
So good games = success? (Score:1)
I don't retro-game much. Sometimes for 5-10 mins here and there for the memory and for kicks. MC2 however, I can still play it start to finish and enjoy every second of it.
Random Card theories (Score:1)
What about that Ender's Game was actually written by a comittee, that this comittee abandoned him for "Speaker for the Dead", but decided to write "Xenocide" for him.
How about the least crazy one, that one of his series was a fairly direct retelling of The Book of Mormon.
Re:Random Card theories (Score:2)
Re:Random Card theories (Score:2)
Re:Random Card theories (Score:2)
Re:Random Card theories (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem is that Card is not politically correct and holds some opinions that are not well liked by some people, particularly about homosexuals. Card is also very rel