In gaming culture there are names that we all recognize, the vast majority of which are designers or producers who have managed to obtain something like celebrity status among gamers. To name a few examples (Please excuse misspellings): John Carmack, Will Right, Warren Spector etc... Out of all these potenial names, whose fame confounds you the most? For me it is Peter Molyneux. I see this guys name everywhere, speaking at every industry conference, giving countless interviews on the state and future of gaming and on and on. What has he done that is so great? Black and White? Please, both Black and White 1 and 2 are practically paradigms of overhype and mediocrity. Even if you liked Fable, did it change your view of what a game could be; and did it even come close to living up to it's pre-release reputation? There are so many amazing studios out there that don't get anywhere near this attention but deserve it ten times more.
molyneux is responsible for theme park and dungeon keeper and he possibly he was involved in the syndicate games - so he deserves all the praise he gets, he may well be the father of a modern gaming genre as we know it - black and white was also an astounding technological achievement when it actually came out
i don't really know of any really overrated developers, from EA to crytek, they all deserve praise in their own ways
if i had to just throw a name out though, i'd go with EA - since they top charts all over the world all year round, yet all they do is release the same games every year with new names
molyneux is responsible for theme park and dungeon keeper and he possibly he was involved in the syndicate games - so he deserves all the praise he gets, he may well be the father of a modern gaming genre as we know it - black and white was also an astounding technological achievement when it actually came out
i don't really know of any really overrated developers, from EA to crytek, they all deserve praise in their own ways
if i had to just throw a name out though, i'd go with EA - since they top charts all over the world all year round, yet all they do is release the same games every year with new names
The guy who made Dungeon Lords, that game supposed to be very good and he was supposed to be a very good game designer, I was so sorry that I bought it. All the previews and the demo looked so nice couldn't resist it. The game had the power to be very good, but they dropped it or something, no new patch for a year or so, I actually had some hope for the game when they realeased a patch which included functions that wen't missing in the first release.
His lack of loyalty disgusts me. He is, as far as I know, the father of first-person shooters and a technological pioneer, and as far as I know FPS games started out on PCs. But it was recently stated that he is designing Wolfenstein 2 for the console, and not for the PC. Dubyuh Tee Eff, mate? Not to mention id hasnt put out a great game since Quake 2.
I am problably just overreacting but I just feel like a man of his accomplishments would be above the dollar sign, thats all.
Agree on Molyneux AND Bullfrog. They have an history of excellent ideas killed by poor, uninspired, been-there-done-that execution. The Theme series is infamous for being bug ridden (Theme Park, revolutionary as it was, is probably the single most bugged game EVER), Syndicate was a perfect cyberpunk game... tied on rails, repetitive missions and very little playing freedom; B&W... it's just a Creatures meet Populous, and gets it wrong in both ways; Fable... someone hailed it as the Morrowind killer... i'm still laughing about that.
Well, as of right now, Blizzard is without a doubt the most overrated studio. WoW is a total piece of garbage, yet, it has a completely disgusting following. Most of those followers are simply there because it's a Blizzard title, not because its a good game. Blizzard was an amazing studio when it put out games of tremendous quality with the warcraft/diablo/starcraft series. But now, since they have the entire world believing that no matter WHAT they put out(such as WoW), its going to be just as great as diablo or starcraft, people will buy it. I guess people don't even realize that this Blizzard isn't the same Blizzard that created those masterpieces.
As far as John Carmack, he deserves ALL the praise he gets. In fact he deserves MORE praise than he gets. The guy is a complete genius. He pretty much writes entire game engines by himself. In fact, a lot of different programming techniques were created by him. I believe he was the first to create true curved surfaces. And, well, we don't even have to go into what Wolfenstein/Doom did for the gaming world. That speaks for itself.
LoL, i can't believe someone mentioned Dungeon Lords. I thought i was the only one that was duped into buying that flaming pile of crap. I've never seen a game in such sorry shape. Released with 1/2 the game not even functioning (such as character creation LoL), put out 2 or 3 patches that fixed a few things, then completely abandon the game. LoL thats a great company for you. I'm sure everyone will be buying their next title.
Indeed. Rockstar Games didn't make one single game that was worth playing for me. But as said, it's just me. And about Peter, I also don't know what he's rambling on and on but his games are sub par to be honest. Dungeon Keeper was great, but living in the past wont help anyone. Games from other high-profile developers are still great and groundbreaking (either gamplay elements, or technology used), this can't be said about Peters games, now can it.
However I wish for a Dungeon Keeper 3 or something similar, remember, it's good to be bad.
Well, as of right now, Blizzard is without a doubt the most overrated studio. WoW is a total piece of garbage, yet, it has a completely disgusting following. Most of those followers are simply there because it's a Blizzard title, not because its a good game. Blizzard was an amazing studio when it put out games of tremendous quality with the warcraft/diablo/starcraft series. But now, since they have the entire world believing that no matter WHAT they put out(such as WoW), its going to be just as great as diablo or starcraft, people will buy it. I guess people don't even realize that this Blizzard isn't the same Blizzard that created those masterpieces.
As far as John Carmack, he deserves ALL the praise he gets. In fact he deserves MORE praise than he gets. The guy is a complete genius. He pretty much writes entire game engines by himself. In fact, a lot of different programming techniques were created by him. I believe he was the first to create true curved surfaces. And, well, we don't even have to go into what Wolfenstein/Doom did for the gaming world. That speaks for itself.
LoL, i can't believe someone mentioned Dungeon Lords. I thought i was the only one that was duped into buying that flaming pile of crap. I've never seen a game in such sorry shape. Released with 1/2 the game not even functioning (such as character creation LoL), put out 2 or 3 patches that fixed a few things, then completely abandon the game. LoL thats a great company for you. I'm sure everyone will be buying their next title. Mizrach
You don't have a clue what you are talking about. People don't spend 15 a month just to support Blizzard. If they didn't actually enjoy the game, they wouldn't be spending the time needed to play it. If you believe otherwise, your a fool.
To the OP, my most overrated designer has to be Gas Powered Games. None of their games has ever brought more than a inkling of interest from me.
About Rockstar, I agree. All those GTA 3 sequels with same graphics and weak story lines really piss me off. You buy the same game but they add stuff like gyms and fastfood joints, that really dont make it better than the previous GTA. I just hope they won't screw up GTA 4 like that.
About Blizzard, I think they are doing a good job with WoW, they are improving it, adding new features to the game to keep people playing and now they have done a good attempt to attract people that don't have much playing time to play the game, because you need less people and time to accomplish stuff.
At the moment it's Blizzard, everybody talks about them, but the last interesting game they created was Warcraft 2 But in general the most overrated game designer is Molyneux. These days he keeps bragging about his games, how they will change the gaming world blah blah blah, but nothing what he makes lives up to his promises... not even close Back in the Bullfrog days he made some great games, sure his games had lots of let-downs (like repeating gameplay), but compared to their time they were great games. But these days he spend more time hyping his soon-to-be-released games than actually designing the games
Seems some people like blizzard and some don't, well I dont waste my money on them anymore, graphics aren't really that great, and it seems to be the same thing. Play a map, defeat the bad guys or a group of bad guys, different name same thing. You know the same thing that you blizzard fans are saying about EA games...... So flame away, I know you will. WE all have types of games we like and games and developers we don't, hell I play anything that looks interesting and yes I have played blizzard and own a few (they are collecting dust now, becuase they all have the same theme). Some of us like variety some don't.
In no way is Blizzard overhyped. They have made a continuous line of great games, and WoW is easily teh best mmo on the market, and it helps that Blizzard isn't an SOE or Ea when it comes to money-grubbing by not releasing loads of expansions that don't even fix the current problems.(hint hint, SWG and BF2) They keep good care of WoW and they constantly improve and fix bugs.
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