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ION Storm Dallas Closing Down
by Maarten Goldstein, May 31, 2001 5:49am PDTAccording to very reliable sources close to ION Storm, ION Storm Dallas is shutting down today. Eidos apparently didn't feel like spending more money on the game development company of John Romero and Tom Hall. However much fun was made of the company and some of its products, it's never cool to see people lose their job. ION Storm Austin will continue to develop Thief 3, Deus Ex 2 and whatever other products they have going there. So what has happened to Anachronox? It is currently in duplication, so it's 'done' but right now we don't really know in what kind of state the final version is that ION delivered to Eidos. Seeing how it was supposed to be done really soon anyway, hopefully it will be playable out of the box. This is also why Anachronox wasn't at E3, the team choose to take all the time it could get to finish the game. We hope to get some comments from (former) ION Storm employees soon. Update: We are aware of sites trying to dispute the story. We stand by it. Look for Eidos to put some PR spin to it though. Update 2: Some more info, since more people have been emailing us now (thanks for the all "it's not true fuckface" emails too). According to one of the emails, Eidos financials are a big part of the decision to shut down ION Dallas (see this story for the great first quarter results) and shove out Anachronox since Eidos isn't sure of a hit like with Deus Ex 2 or Thief 3. But the good news is Anachronox is apparently running great with the team having worked day and night for the past 2 weeks to make it perfect (though of course not as perfect if they hadn't been for the finish-or-die deadline), so it won't be some shovelware product, which would've been an incredible shame.
Comments
Regardless of the truth, don't even pretend this is news or gaming journalism, this is just more shameless and vindictive rumourmongering by the Shack as part of their many-year-old campaign against Ion Dallas. I bet you're so fucking proud...
"Hi honey, I got steak for tea....BTW what did you do at work today"
(kisses wife/gf/bf)
"Mmmm just put the boot into some company that we've been abusing for years now, man, that's job satisfaction"
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Nevertheless, I guess that's why Killcreek jumped the boat earlier...maybe she'll find some flotsam to which she can cling. Maybe she can even look up Spector and see whose coattails she can "ride" now...hmmmm....
Well, here Spector is...humble, low-profile, and a gaming genius with no loud mouth, and that dude can PRODUCE. So, once Romero's own company dumps him for the lack of talent thereof, Spector silently rides to the top where he belongs. Gotta have guts int eh game biz; can't produce? You're OUT!
HJAHAHaja...Romero may wish to consider being a bouncer for a spook alley. I hear the pay is great, and you get a free slice of pumpkin pie when the last brat has wormed his way through.
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http://finger.stomped.com/archive.php3?archive=mikew%7Cgodgames.com%7C2001-04-01%7C2210
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Secret of eternal slacker employment: first, make everybody your bitch!
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Is this a shame? Yes it is. Both for the people of Ion losing their jobs and that Anachronox might be hurt by this.
Did I like Daikatana? Not really. But it doesn't deserve the sheer amount of negativity it and Romero and Killcreek tend to have heaped upon them.
It was a good idea once, that didn't work for many reasons.
Good luck to Romero, hopefully he gets to make something better next time.
Too back for the people who try to do jobs there, but I like anything bad that happens to Romero's business!
He is the "closed down"'s BITCH NOW! bwahahahaa.
There is another location though. It was only time until the purse was closed on the MONEY BONFIRE called Ion Storm
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As for the attacks on Romero. Yeah, Daikatana was a turd of a game. I was so disgusted with the demo that I never bothered with buying it. I would rather spend 19.99 on Serious Sam...oh wait...I did... Here's a clue...ROMERO DIDN'T WORK ON THIS GAME!!!!!! HE HAS NOT SO MUCH AS TOUCHED THIS GAME!!!! He has been tied up with "Game X" and has not touched Anachronox. The team they have down there right now is VERY passionate about the game and it shows. It is ready now...not 5 patches later. I can't go into too many other details, but this game is well worth the purchase.
This has nothing to do with Killcreek, Romero, or anything else. This is about a money hungry publisher (remember EA) that wants to push a game out the door so it will hit on this quarter's financial report. Then they will go and rely on their baby in Austin because their games are "guaranteed" to sell. Think about it...remember Tomb Raider? Eidos will milk a winner until it is dead.
I have been told that "emergency funding" has been put in place over there to keep them going for a little while longer. The game was scheduled to go gold today but that may not happen. They are also looking into getting other publishers for future titles...
So all of you can quit your ranting like you know what's going on. Judge the game when it comes out. Judge it by it's content, not by it's process. I bet you will like it. I did.
Kyle Kennedy
D-OveRMinD
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http://www.shugashack.com/pic.x/doom2k/082200_doomfake_53.jpg
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http://www.johnromero.com/
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It may be under new management...but thats about it. I do know there were rumours flying around E3 about Ion closing its Dallas offices..but again that was rumour...just like the "The Sony party has really weak security you can walk right in..!" rumours...
take it with a grain of salt guys..
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Tom on the other hand rocks...cant wait to see what he can give to us....from what I saw of Annox at E3 99 I was blown away...theyve done a fantastic job!!
I highly doubt the Annox franchise is dead....that would be counterproductive..
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ALL YOUR <insert shitty ION Storm shot here> ARE BELONG TO <insert even shittier EIDOS shot here>
...but it hasn't happened yet.
Could it be that the "ALL YOUR BASE..." phenom has finally died @ the Shack? /me crosses fingers...
-Rev.
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-stevie
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the same will happen with this Ion Storm story. They'll deny it for another 24 hours or so, and then confirm it.
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SuperHairdo
Do you think you suck as much as they say you do
Ok, enough of the musical, here's my question:
Assuming this is all true, does John Romero still retain partial ownership of the company "Ion Storm" and thus a piece of the action from Ion Storm Austin's future?
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sucks to be her right now
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SuperHairdo
Do you think you suck as much as they say you do
Ok, enough of the musical, here's my question:
Assuming this is all true, does John Romero still retain partial ownership of the company "Ion Storm" and thus a piece of the action from Ion Storm Austin's future?
Don't you guys just LOVE running a web site? :P
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hahahahahhaah
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ok ok......im over it
wait, no.....getting funnier
BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
hold on...... yeah its still funny
BAAAAAAAWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!
HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHA
*wipe tears*
ok ok...
im done
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I deliberately looked at the bright side of things, I pointed out despite possible mediocre play the game has to be half good, because it's so big there's so many levels to take in, some have to be cool.
I got the game, and I fought on long after I wouldve given up, I made it about 6 levels? maybe 5 maybe 7 - it was crashing on occassion (and no, not one other game was crashing on my box at the time, and yes i did patch it)
the gameplay was KILLING me (he should have had "selectable episodes" like doom, shrug
either way I ended up nuking the game it REALLY HONESTLY TRUELY FUCKING SUCKED ..... and this is coming from someone who genuinely put in an effort to like it ...
i do however feel sorry for John, I've heard he's a very nice man in person (no really, very kind, friendly and so on) - he's g/f I hope cops no more shit off assholes (and just for the record, I couldnt give a fuck if their fake, if they look good and they feel good, they are good to me)
I'll always respect him, despite the fact I've never had it confirmed / read the right interview, the rumours I hear (as we all have) is he played a MAJOR part in the creation of Doom, and as far as I'm concerned that game is literally a large portion of why we are all here today, it began it all and shall never be forgotten by me.
Good luck John, but please - next time at least make the game good ok?
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I would say that Eidos is not wanting to dump more money on a losing cause if it takes developers 5 years to make a game and then try to releases the game in parts (Anachronox) and then go back to doing the game they wanted. and of course daikatana. but we don't need to go there.
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