Kratos dead, Fight Night KOed

With the news that Corey Barlog (who helmed God of War 2) has left Sony, one has to wonder how much of a future the franchise has. God of War 2 was very lucky in that it changed directors but didn't lose a step. What are the odds of lightening striking three times? As big as the franchise is for Sony, I can't blame them for wanting to continue it, but like Konami did with Silent Hill Origins, they need to pay attention and be ready to pull the new director off if it looks like he isn't capable of making a game worthy of the franchise.

Now Sony is only behind MS in the amount of turbulence it has seen this year among its developers. Most of the Warhawk team is gone (they also co-developed Twisted Metal Black with Jaffe and worked on the almost classic War of Monsters), David Jaffe (Twisted Metal Black, Calling all Cars) is gone and Corey Balrog is now gone. Some of that may be Jaffe (who left first) pulling in people behind him sinceeverybody who has left worked with him at one point, but what is the rest of it was?

Its also interesting that EA Chicago is gone. EA killed them because their spending (EA mentioned them being three times larger and in a brand new facility) had outpaced their revenues. I would rail against EA for this if Chicago's last game wasn't the abysmal Def Jam Icon (Chicago vastly simplified the combat and added a poorly thought out business simulator). I hope Def Jam goes back to Aki, though I doubt that will happen. Chicago is better know for Fight Night, which they did a great job with. They never really figured out how to make the career mode interesting and the training minigames sucked, but the boxing itself was epic stuff. Despite a lack of competition, EA Chicago always seemed driven to improve the franchise, which is more than Tiburon can say.

With the news that Corey Barlog (who helmed God of War 2) has left Sony, one has to wonder how much of a future the franchise has. God of War 2 was very lucky in that it changed directors but didn't lose a step. What are the odds of lightening striking three times? As big as the franchise is for Sony, I can't blame them for wanting to continue it, but like Konami did with Silent Hill Origins, they need to pay attention and be ready to pull the new director off if it looks like he isn't capable of making a game worthy of the franchise.

Now Sony is only behind MS in the amount of turbulence it has seen this year among its developers. Most of the Warhawk team is gone (they also co-developed Twisted Metal Black with Jaffe and worked on the almost classic War of Monsters), David Jaffe (Twisted Metal Black, Calling all Cars) is gone and Corey Balrog is now gone. Some of that may be Jaffe (who left first) pulling in people behind him sinceeverybody who has left worked with him at one point, but what is the rest of it was?

Its also interesting that EA Chicago is gone. EA killed them because their spending (EA mentioned them being three times larger and in a brand new facility) had outpaced their revenues. I would rail against EA for this if Chicago's last game wasn't the abysmal Def Jam Icon (Chicago vastly simplified the combat and added a poorly thought out business simulator). I hope Def Jam goes back to Aki, though I doubt that will happen. Chicago is better know for Fight Night, which they did a great job with. They never really figured out how to make the career mode interesting and the training minigames sucked, but the boxing itself was epic stuff. Despite a lack of competition, EA Chicago always seemed driven to improve the franchise, which is more than Tiburon can say.

CarnageHeart

The fact that you talk about Def Jam ICon like it isa respected game series makes me question why this thread exists.

Call me crazy but to talk serious and then mention "Def Jam" and then expect a debate is well............

(disregard my bias but I literally hate the series)

The question might not matter if God of War PsP is as awesome as I think it will be.

I should have not let my bias overpower my statement. But the typical behavior of EA is expected. Like all "art" it will folllow the dollar. Whatever buy/sell/trade/megre philosphy that they adapt at the time it will jusitfy itself to their bottom line. SO even a talented compnay can be chuncked to the curb if the investment is more than the profit. We can only hope that smaller developers can have a actual place in this market.

This sounds much like the Bungie situation, in this case I'd guess Sony wants to sweatshop another GOW by fall 08 and team members don't want to go through that experience anymore. In any event, more bad news for Sony because now they're main Western talent is slowly falling apart.

I'm not too shocked about EA Chicago, but I think this and the Bioware purchases shows weakness in EA. Half of their games that have released have been flops...most of the Wii catalog is clearly rushed and there talent pool has noticably thinned. The most damning thing about them to me is that the most intriguing titles such as Rock Band and Crysis aren't even in-house. Sure EA has always believed in buying their way to prominence, but they didn't use it as a crutch like they do nowadays.

The fact that you talk about Def Jam ICon like it isa respected game series makes me question why this thread exists.

Call me crazy but to talk serious and then mention "Def Jam" and then expect a debate is well............

(disregard my bias but I literally hate the series)

The question might not matter if God of War PsP is as awesome as I think it will be.

Moridin18

God of War PSP is being handled by Ready at Dawn, not Sony Santa Monica, so its quality won't really say much about the prospects of GoW3.

As for the Def Jam series, I didn't care much for the first Def Jam game (which was merely a straight wrestler featuring rappers) and the third was sewage, but I really enjoyed Fight for New York, which was a fantastically over-the-top brawler. Throwing a guy in front of a train, beating someone with a lead pipe, giving someone the bum's rush into a wall and then kicking them in the back all made for some really entertaining fights. I neither know nor care if Fight for New York was respected, it was fun.

I think we all need to cross our fingers that nobody significant leaves Naughty Dog after Uncharted drops. Like Insomniac, they have a group of truely gifted developers over there.Teufelhuhn

On the upside, we need to remember that such shifting around doesn't destroy talent though it doesn't do publishers who find themselves at the short end of the stick any wonders (Mizuguchi offered great games like Lumines and Every Extend Extra after he and Sega parted ways). While franchises/publishers must suffer, gamers won't so long as we follow the talent and not the franchise. If Kratos goes the way of Crash, despite my love of the past games, the GoW franchise will never again see my money.

When did Barlog leave Sony? This is news to me. Is there a link to what happened?

Anyway, Barlog is HUGE to the God of War franchise. Since GoW1, he was the main guy behind Kratos' and the entire game's animation. Jaffe knew what he was doing when he left the sequel in his hands. But since Barlog is so critical to God of War's success, why did Sony let him go? Or did he leave on his own?

Weird things are happening, but a changing for the better or for the worse?

When did Barlog leave Sony? This is news to me. Is there a link to what happened?

Anyway, Barlog is HUGE to the God of War franchise. Since GoW1, he was the main guy behind Kratos' and the entire game's animation. Jaffe knew what he was doing when he left the sequel in his hands. But since Barlog is so critical to God of War's success, why did Sony let him go? Or did he leave on his own?

Weird things are happening, but a changing for the better or for the worse?

ASK_Story

Sorry. Here are the relevant links.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182430.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182347.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;1

[QUOTE="ASK_Story"]

When did Barlog leave Sony? This is news to me. Is there a link to what happened?

Anyway, Barlog is HUGE to the God of War franchise. Since GoW1, he was the main guy behind Kratos' and the entire game's animation. Jaffe knew what he was doing when he left the sequel in his hands. But since Barlog is so critical to God of War's success, why did Sony let him go? Or did he leave on his own?

Weird things are happening, but a changing for the better or for the worse?

CarnageHeart

Sorry. Here are the relevant links.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182430.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182347.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;1

Thanks.

Looks like this news is practically on every game site. 1up reports that he's leaving for another opportunity, but that's what they always say.

Also, is it coincidental that Sony publicy announced God of War III on the PS3 at the same time of Barlog's departure? Hmmm....I smell a controversy! :P

Thanks.

Looks like this news is practically on every game site. 1up reports that he's leaving for another opportunity, but that's what they always say.

Also, is it coincidental that Sony publicy announced God of War III on the PS3 at the same time of Barlog's departure? Hmmm....I smell a controversy! :P

ASK_Story

Barlog hinted at GoW3 a while ago, and GoW2 has an ending which signals that a sequel is coming, so I don't think the mere existence of GoW3 is what caused him and Sony to part ways. Maybe Sony was imposing an unrealistic timetable or something.

Whatever the problem is, Sony needs to do what it can to stem the bleeding. It doesn't look like the PS3 is going to suffer from an excess of 3rd party support anytime soon, so the quality of first and second party offerings is critical.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

With the news that Corey Barlog (who helmed God of War 2) has left Sony, one has to wonder how much of a future the franchise has. God of War 2 was very lucky in that it changed directors but didn't lose a step. What are the odds of lightening striking three times? As big as the franchise is for Sony, I can't blame them for wanting to continue it, but like Konami did with Silent Hill Origins, they need to pay attention and be ready to pull the new director off if it looks like he isn't capable of making a game worthy of the franchise.

Now Sony is only behind MS in the amount of turbulence it has seen this year among its developers. Most of the Warhawk team is gone (they also co-developed Twisted Metal Black with Jaffe and worked on the almost classic War of Monsters), David Jaffe (Twisted Metal Black, Calling all Cars) is gone and Corey Balrog is now gone. Some of that may be Jaffe (who left first) pulling in people behind him sinceeverybody who has left worked with him at one point, but what is the rest of it was?

Its also interesting that EA Chicago is gone. EA killed them because their spending (EA mentioned them being three times larger and in a brand new facility) had outpaced their revenues. I would rail against EA for this if Chicago's last game wasn't the abysmal Def Jam Icon (Chicago vastly simplified the combat and added a poorly thought out business simulator). I hope Def Jam goes back to Aki, though I doubt that will happen. Chicago is better know for Fight Night, which they did a great job with. They never really figured out how to make the career mode interesting and the training minigames sucked, but the boxing itself was epic stuff. Despite a lack of competition, EA Chicago always seemed driven to improve the franchise, which is more than Tiburon can say.

Moridin18

The fact that you talk about Def Jam ICon like it isa respected game series makes me question why this thread exists.

Call me crazy but to talk serious and then mention "Def Jam" and then expect a debate is well............

(disregard my bias but I literally hate the series)

The question might not matter if God of War PsP is as awesome as I think it will be.

:roll:, what are you talking about?

I think we all need to cross our fingers that nobody significant leaves Naughty Dog after Uncharted drops. Like Insomniac, they have a group of truely gifted developers over there.Teufelhuhn

...And some truly ungifted writers, judging by Jak II.

They are fairly solid when it comes to gameplay design, but they're not an elite level developer. Even their gameplay, when taken on its own merits, isn't quite as brilliant as the best developers out there.

I think that GoW III will still end up a really high quality title. It's unlikely to measure up to GoW II, but so long as the next director of the game doesn't come in with "a new vision" and tries to do too many new things, I think it'll be just fine.

The core gameplay mechanics are there, so as long as no ridiculous use for the six-axis comes along that should be as good as ever. And my guess isat the very least the outlineof the story already exists too. I think the one place that concern really should arise is with the puzzles. There's all sorts of room for a misstep there. I'm prepared for the next GoW to not blow me out of the water like the first two did, but one good quality send-off with killer graphics would do just fine.

This sounds much like the Bungie situation, in this case I'd guess Sony wants to sweatshop another GOW by fall 08 and team members don't want to go through that experience anymore. In any event, more bad news for Sony because now they're main Western talent is slowly falling apart.

trifecta_basic

Not really. No one left Bungie and MS still will be publishing everything they make for atleast this generation for sure from the sound of it. The only difference is Bungie is 3rd/2nd party now ala Insomanic to Sony.

This on the other hand is people actually leaving the studio while still owned by Sony.

It seems like MS rather have the people together then own them. While Sony rather have the name but not the people. Of course Im still going to say GOWIII will be high quality lol. It takes alot more to wreck a good studio then a few names. But also to add a bit more in. On Gaf they were talking about the Lead Designers for Combat/Gameplay left also with a few others. Something about Animation also.

As mention. My guess is, since Sony are now being held by the ****s to speak. Some pressure is comming down from the top and some of the slower developers are starting to get some limitations. And they just may not like it so they are bailing out.

I still wouldn't worry about the game too much. Still sounds like it is a long ways off. And not to mention... I highly doubt the director and some lead designers are the only one who know how to make it work lol.

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]I think we all need to cross our fingers that nobody significant leaves Naughty Dog after Uncharted drops. Like Insomniac, they have a group of truely gifted developers over there.Oilers99

...And some truly ungifted writers, judging by Jak II.

They are fairly solid when it comes to gameplay design, but they're not an elite level developer. Even their gameplay, when taken on its own merits, isn't quite as brilliant as the best developers out there.

Wow I really hope that God Of War 3 turns out to be good because Gow2 is still my GOTY for 07 so far and I love the series to death. A big reason I got my psp was knowing that another God Of War game was coming. EA Chicago was alright, I played through Fight Night round 3 earlier this year and had a good time, and the Fight For New York game was really fun. Hopefully these franchises arent dead and get handed off to another EA developer.GodModeEnabled

I really hope GoW3 turns out well, but like I said, achieving the same level of quality when the top people are playing musical chairs is a tall order.

Also, remember that Aki developed the first two Def Jams, the only Def Jam developed by EA Chicago was Icon, which would need to radically improve to work its way up to garbage.