Warren Spector Leaves ION Storm

I hope he stays in the biz for a whole lot longer. We need more Deus Exs, less Doom 3s.

you know what's funny? popular consesus on the ION storm forums is now "hey, DX2 is actually pretty damn good now that I have my new 3ghz PC! and got rid of my GF4MX". (the 1.2 patch and the community texture pack helped a lot also)

heh. I called it.

had to throw the GF4MX joke in there too ;)

Let me point out that Spector already has been working with Crystal Dynamics as an advisor on Snowblind (AKA further Deus Ex nanotech universe property), which is out pretty soon and looks like it might have some multiplayer potential.

For all of you who don't recognize Crystal Dynamics, they happen to be the devs on 3/4 of the Legend of Kain/Blood Omen/Soul Reaver games, all of which have some of the best adult plots and voice acting ever to be seen, even though the actual gameplay has had its ups and downs. LOK: Defiance was my number one sleeper favorite of last year.

In any case, Crystal Dynamics are a class act all the way. If anything, they will be the ones keeping Spector clean, honest and on-track.

and just a year ago in interviews he was being called the miyamoto of computer gaming.

The "new role" mentioned by Edios' rep will likely be his further advice on the upcoming Tomb Raider game

LOFL

Not a bad time to bail out, actually.

Ion Storm is a blighted trade name and EIDOS is the house that Lara Croft's boobs built. For that matter, DEx doesn't look capable of supporting more spin-offs. Once, as it turns out, is really enough for some ideas.

Move on, get a fresh start, Warren. Consider seriously whether there's any room for smart sophisticated gaming in this corporate-dominated shitpile of an industry. And if, as I hope, you conclude yes, then come back in a few years and surprise us.

I think it's a good move. I haven't had any respect for Ion Storm (as a company) since the dreaful Romero/Daikatana days. Ugh.

So what if IW wasn't all that?

Deus Ex is such a great game. One of the greatest, if not my favorite Single Player game ever. The story...the freedom...indeed.

Btw, how is Anachronox? What kind of game is it anywhere? 'not been able to find a copy of it anywhere.

Its all good homie! Its a good business move for Warren, I always thought he had the talent to run his own in house gaming development team, with no ties to corporate whores and no pressure to rush a game to store shelves

Oh come on guys, drop the hate already. At my last count, his studio was on 2 for 3 on the "instant classic games" front. That's better than most studios out there, in fact it's remarkable. Thief:Deadly Shadows successfully continued a much loved franchise full of astoundingly discerning fans, and Deus Ex blew us away with the unprecedented freedom and brilliant story. This memorable game that raised the bar sky high was his baby.

While I'm not saying he's blameless, it seems to me that Warren placed a lot of trust in others with DX:IW, trust which it turns out was misplaced. What do you want, a signed appology from him for DX:IW? Allow the man some pride for crying out loud. The game was a dissapointing sequel but not entirely meritless. It sure wasn't a crime to put Daikatana to shame like most people practically seem to be making out here.

Give credit where it's due, no one's perfect. Hell, before Halo Bungie did Oni and that was fucking DREADFUL. Personally, I'll be watching what Warren Spector does next with genuine interest and wish him luck.

DX2 came with my new video card, but I haven't tried it out yet. I read that once you get past the console crap, it's storyline actually rivals the first one. Any opinions here?

holy crap do you guys suck

he's going to take over the duke nukem forever project heh

It was a short sweet time, but the legecy is tainted.

I wish Tom Hall would leave Romero's side and take Spector's place. I desperately want to see the planned sequel to Anachronox.

Amazing how one game can make a man go from superstar to the bottom.

This might have been big news about, oh, 2-3 years ago?

Eidos really has driven ION Storm to the bottom. How may senior developers haven't left the studio in the past year. I really hope he'll bounce back from his one failure (it's not even a failure in my eyes).

Burn for Deus Ex 2