Now that is a funny article. From reading the title, you’d think several key creators bailed out on Anthem, maybe even left BioWare. But no, they’ve rolled off the project so they can start work in Dragon Age 4. What’s more, this isn’t even really news - I read way back that control of Anthem was always going to be rolled over to BioWare Austin, who would maintain the game after release, while BioWare Edmonton started up a new project. But I guess everyone has to have that dramatic headline.
Oghier
2787
A change in leadership for Anthem is good news. Even without knowing who replaced them, those feckless balloon animals needed to go.
KevinC
2788
Pretty much, yep. I thought it was already planned that post-launch, Anthem was going to be handed off to Austin, so this doesn’t really seem to be news.
I will say though, looking at how badly Anthem was mismanaged and how they bungled development, it’s crazy to look at those guys captaining the ship and say “okay, now go work on our next title!”. Not surprising, just… doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in DA4.
I don’t find this all that troubling. Now granted, I’m not in the business of making video games, but this is pretty much how my team works. There’s a dev group that gets something going, and once it’s live turns it over to operations. Makes sense to me.
I think he means that the Anthem devs now working on DA4 is troubling, not the process (or should I say proh-cess).
KevinC
2791
Yes, thank you, @Hotfreak. Sorry I wasn’t clear. I’m just saying the leadership did a shit job with the Anthem project, it’s not inspiring confidence to see the same leadership now take up DA4. Are they going to mismanage that project into the ground as well? Maybe it’s time for new leads.
The concept of having people that are great at building a project from scratch up until ship makes a lot of sense, it’s just that I’m not sure these particular people should be heading up DA4 given their performance on Anthem.
I don’t know much about the individuals at BioWare except maybe Casey Hudson, but it looks like Mark Darrah has been a part of, if not in charge of, all the DA games. Maybe he’s the guy that makes the magic happen.
KevinC
2793
Hopefully! I’m not a big BioWare fan and don’t care for the DA franchise, but I’d really hate to see the company sink. I don’t think EA will allow them to continue after a third straight failure. Hopefully Anthem was an opportunity to learn and change the way they run things over there.
I do consider myself a big BioWare fan, though I wasn’t really into their D&D stuff, didn’t really jump on the train until KOTOR and man, that one blew me away. It would bum me out if EA killed BioWare. Just like with Pandemic and Visceral and Westwood and Bullfrog and … aw. Now I has a sad.
KevinC
2795
KOTOR was fantastic! I was never able to get into the Mass Effect or Dragon Age series, but I did really enjoy KOTOR. And Anthem, despite it’s woes.
rei
2796
As flawed and broken in many ways the previous games were, I loved them all. Anthem I hate with every fibre of my being.
KevinC
2797
You clearly don’t, because you’ve played it more than every Qt3 board member combined. :)
rei
2798
OCD is a terrible, terrible affliction.
KevinC
2799
I hear ya. You should see the look on my SO’s face if I forget to close a cupboard/drawer all the way or miss a spot when I wipe down the counter. I can see her staring at it and using every ounce of will to restrain herself from rushing over to fix it. :)
I got Anthem for “free” with a new video card and I would like to say that I AM HAVING FUN WITH IT. I’m at level 10 and just wandering around talking to folks and flying in the air and decorating my spacesuit and shooting at things. It’s a hoot. A goddamned hoot.
KevinC
2801
The gameplay is friggin’ great. Things only fall apart at the end game, so just enjoy the ride and hop off when it stops being fun! Don’t do a @rei! :D
For what it’s worth, I’m at the end game and still having fun with it. What’s my secret, you’re wondering? Well I’m glad you asked, lean in close - I don’t think Anthem is a looter shooter.
It has all the trappings, mind you. And I don’t blame folks for thinking that it is, I’m in the minority here. But for me, this is a game that lives and dies in its moment-to-moment experience, and I’m still enjoying that. Will I feel this way next week? Who knows!
rei
2803
I hate-played it because BioWare are/were the local guys and I knew friends who worked there in the past. CTS/RSI has flared up from my hate playing it on the gamepad so I had to disable force feedback. I’m just angry they could. Fuck. It. Up. So. Much. 100 of the 600+ hours is from the .exe being stuck in the background without me playing though.
You so silly!
And so am I, it turns out! Like a fool, I’ve been holding X to salvage all my post-mission loot instead of picking it up. That explains why I’ve had to craft all my weapons.
I think they could do better than just the X to Salvage or B to Exit options. I now assume B to exit means keeping that screen full of loot? Oi, I lost a rare heavy pistol right before realizing my stupidity on this.
Maybe I can blame the other game I’m playing lately (Battletech) for my confusion.
rei
2805
What do you mean by “instead of picking it up?” I’ve also been holding X to salvage all that crap that isn’t a yellow. If you hit B you keep all that loot. After the last patch you can move the mouse cursor and right-click once for it to do the equivalent of pressing and holding X to salvage, except now with the longer delay they had before after each salvage.
