Let's Remember a Game Studio that changed Video Games Forever.

Bungie & R* and perhaps Bioware as well, immediately come to mind.

I don't see why not. There are always teens and early 20's gamers regardless of generation. When the current crop become old, there's another crop behind them.

No way. /s

Reflections for me, they did Shadow of the Beast and Driver series of games, and other notables including Destruction Derby. It's a shame Ubisoft own them now and looking at their recent games is quite sad, RIP.

@Cloud_imperium: If the game looks THAT good with mods, then i should play it.

Excellent post, thanks for the history lesson.

Nintendo first party studio on the NES. They brought us arcade quality to the home with the D-pad. Then analog sticks(N64) and rumble.

@Cloud_imperium: you're to good to let go of a grudge?

Forgive me for taking this thread seriously even when it doesn't belong in SW....but you're Cloud the coolest poster ever. I'm sure you'll get best PC fanboy in the vote and show it off like you did throughout last year. As if it's a real accomplishment.

@jun_aka_pekto:

@jun_aka_pekto: from what I understand 30 something's sre a huge market. Plus if you have generations of simplistic games then those next teens and early twenties wouldn't know the difference.

Think of the kids who were 7-10 years of age at the start of the 360. They don't know about those games that were back in the day.

theyve never played Thief. They don't know anything other than the COD style of game.

I would say Polyphony Digital. Before them all driving/racing games were arcadey floaty rubbish with zero depth and then GT came along and pretty much single handedly changed racing games forever with its much more realistic/semi sim gameplay and handling mechanics.

Alot of folk would never admit it but the likes forza simply wouldnt exist without PD and the GT series.

I wasn't expecting Looking Glass Studio, so that's a pleasant surprise. Nice write-up. However, there is one problem with it: It wasn't the first First-Person RPG. Technically, first-person RPGs had been around since the days of Wizardry in the early '80s. But in earlier first-person RPGs, there was very little interaction with the environment (and the movement and maps were usually tile-based). That's what Ultima Underworld brought to first-person dungeon crawlers: truly three-dimensional environments that you can interact with.

Here are three more forgotten studios that changed video games forever:

Taito - If any game deserves to be called the most influential game of all time, then it's Space Invaders. But while almost everyone and their granny may have heard of Space Invaders before, most don't know about other Taito games that were also very influential. Before Space Invaders, they created groundbreaking games like Basketball (first game with sprites), Speed Race (first game with scrolling), and Gun Fight (first shooter with on-screen player characters). They were all created by the same guy, Tomohiro Nishikado, an underrated but hugely influential game designer. Taito also went on to create similarly influential hits like Jungle Hunt (with its side-scrolling platforming in 1982) and Chase HQ (with its car-chasing in 1988).

Sierra Online - There was a time when Sierra Online was a major force in PC gaming during the '80s, with their groundbreaking adventure games, from Mystery House (the first graphic adventure) to King's Quest (which defined the point & click adventure genre). They were the brainchildren of Roberta Williams, who was pretty much the mother of adventure games. But she was also very influential in another way, but one that she rarely gets credit for: she pretty much introduced the idea of interactive storytelling to video games. Her story-oriented approach has since come to dominate the video game industry today.

Nihon Falcom - They pretty much created a whole new genre that has since become a major force in video gaming: the Action RPG. Back in the early '80s when RPGs were turn-based, a young game designer at Falcom, Yoshio Kiya, introduced real-time action combat to the genre, first with Panorama Toh in 1983 and then groundbreaking hits like Dragon Slayer in 1984 and Xanadu in 1985. Dragon Slayer and Xanadu were the blueprint for countless action RPGs that followed as well as action-adventures like Zelda. They also created Ys, an action RPG that demonstrated what the CD-ROM format is capable of in the late '80s, with things like animated cut-scenes, voice acting, CD soundtrack, and a lengthy epic adventure (and recharging health long before FPS games started using it).

I'd have to go with Square Soft before they became Square Enix and Bioware solely for Kotor. Blizzard before 2007 were pretty amazing as well, but lately I wouldn't even bother with them.

Why are you so serious?

Yeah, I meant actual first person 3D RPGs. Before that, games were in "First Person" but that was mostly just an illusion. Those where black and white still images in first person perspective.

@Cloud_imperium: I gave your thread respect and gave an honest response and instead of conversing with me directly you waited until someone else disagreed and then piggy backed with a smartass reply.

Not tat I'm being serious. Just how I see you.

Awww. Apologies then.

@Cloud_imperium: you win dude. Hope whatever forum ego trip you get is a good one.

Well.yes. From Software is definitely one of those studios that got inspired heavily by Looking Glass' work.

Also...it's a crime to make a Looking Glass thread and not mention Terra Nova

I just realized someone already mentioned Sierra. Yeah, they definitely deserve more recognition. Especially since Naughty Dog's games are like modern descendants of Sierra's games (as well as Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia).

Sega gets my vote as the company that changed the video game industry more than any other company. They were always ahead of the curve, and have been behind many of the biggest revolutions in gaming, years or decades before the rest of the industry followed suit. More examples:

A year before Pole Position, there was Turbo. Before anyone else started using isometric perspectives, there was Zaxxon. A year before interactive movie games like Dragon's Lair, there was Astron Belt. Decades before Nintendo's Duck Hunt, there was Sega's Duck Hunt. Decades before Mode 7's three-dimensional scaling, there was Fonz. Over a decade before Street Fighter, there was Heavyweight Champ. Years before FFIV's dramatic/emotional character-oriented RPG storytelling, there was Phantasy Star. Nearly a decade before Doom's 3D shooter deathmatches, there was Last Survivor. Years before the PS1's 3D polygons, there was the Sega Model 1. Years before Tekken, there was Virtua Fighter. Nearly a decade before the N64 analog thumbstick controller, there was the XE1-AP. Decades before the Rumble Pak, there was Fonz. Nearly a decade before FFVII made gamers shed tears, there was Phantasy Star II. Years before GoldenEye's headshots, there was Virtua Cop. Years before GTA3's 3D open-world city, there was Shenmue. Over a decade before Xbox Live, there was MegaNet. Decades before touch tablets, there was the Sega Graphic Board. Decades before the Wii, there was Hang-On. Decades before the Kinect, there was the Sega Activator. Decades before Oculus VR, there was Sega VR... And the list just goes on and on.