Let us take a moment to mourn.

[Sared Kilvan]

Allow me to show you the desolate, war ravaged fields of a faraway land we call...

Abandonware...


Quick Flip-flop what Fayden said, the MP code for JO/JA has been out for years. They just released the SP code.

Syrena is right to a degree. I have no clue whether or not the old team that used to work on Radiant is going to get back to updating again because a single game happened to see a code release. I'd love that to happen, it's just feasible enough.

The point of the matter is, nobody reading this thread should assume anyone in an official capacity is going to do anything with the source code now that it's been released. You really love this game and want to see it improve? Learn to code. The world is at your fingertips!

Except for Soh. He's a nice man.

[Motoko]

Now that I've had time to process.... I say good riddence.

Why?

SWG NGE.

If you don't know what those letters mean, then feel blessed. If you do, then you most likely have some sort of impression that SOE were the ones that pushed that game destroying piece of junk out into the world.

I have a strong belief that is not the case. Discussions with what were current and former SOE people at their annual party in Vegas, in addition to my education in Marketing, lead me to believe that the initial concept of the NGE, and how it's distribution were to be executed was something LA pushed on to SOE, including the eventual cancellation of the game.

So good riddence. Maybe now someone will take up the mantle and release another X-Wing game. You know, something customers/fans might actually *want*.

[Azrael]

So good riddence. Maybe now someone will take up the mantle and release another X-Wing game. You know, something customers/fans might actually *want*.

Omfg, yes please..!!

[Amoné Fayden]

Why?

SWG NGE.

If you don't know what those letters mean, then feel blessed. If you do, then you most likely have some sort of impression that SOE were the ones that pushed that game destroying piece of junk out into the world.

I was always inclined to believe it was SOE because at the time, Lucas Arts made GOOD games.

On top of that, any games SOE touches turns to crap. It's like a track record you just can't ignore.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes for example.
I actually remember Sigil Games going back on a promise to customers that SOE would not be involved. When you make bold statements promising not to work with a certain company, that's usually for a good reason. Needless to say when budgeting ran out, they reluctantly brought in SOE and were very apologetic.
And then, as they inevitably do with SOE, things went pear-shaped with the game. SOE president John Smedley then put out an apology to the fans:

We do not plan on making any major changes to Vanguard. Any changes are going to come from the team itself. We aren't mandating any big changes to the game. We've learned a thing or two with our experiences with the NGE and don't plan on repeating mistakes from the past and not listening to the players.

In an online interview with the social media site reddit in July 2012, John Smedley admitted to “stupid decisions” regarding Star Wars Galaxies Combat Upgrade and New Gaming Enhancement policies, and acknowledged player led emulator projects seeking to restore a free to play Galaxies circa April 2005, Publish 14.1, pre-Combat Upgrade, such as the SWGEmu project.

I still believe everything bad about SWG came from SOE.

[Sared Kilvan]

LA called for the shutdown of SWG because they didn't want to have two SW-themed MMORPG's on the market at once. A divided customer base is the least efficient way to get fanboy money into your pocket. </cynic>

Past that, I didn't think the CU and NGE could really be solidly pinned to LA. They acted almost exclusively as a licensing house for SOE during most of SWG's life-cycle, and IIRC, there were 'problematic' voices on the SWG dev team that had been brought in from other products (EQ, PS1, etc.) that more or less seppuku'd their careers in the industry because of how badly they tanked. Just my opinion.

You've got some some interesting opinions on the matter Motoko, and I'd love to talk to you at more length about it. (My Skype+Steam info is on my profile)

Oh, also...

So good riddence. Maybe now someone will take up the mantle and release another X-Wing game. You know, something customers/fans might actually *want*.

Holy pissing blimey I would throw my money at that so hard.

[Motoko]

On top of that, any games SOE touches turns to crap. It's like a track record you just can't ignore.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes for example.
I actually remember Sigil Games going back on a promise to customers that SOE would not be involved. When you make bold statements promising not to work with a certain company, that's usually for a good reason. Needless to say when budgeting ran out, they reluctantly brought in SOE and were very apologetic.

And then, as they inevitably do with SOE, things went pear-shaped with the game. SOE president John Smedley then put out an apology to the fans:

We do not plan on making any major changes to Vanguard. Any changes are going to come from the team itself. We aren't mandating any big changes to the game. We've learned a thing or two with our experiences with the NGE and don't plan on repeating mistakes from the past and not listening to the players.

In an online interview with the social media site reddit in July 2012, John Smedley admitted to “stupid decisions” regarding Star Wars Galaxies Combat Upgrade and New Gaming Enhancement policies, and acknowledged player led emulator projects seeking to restore a free to play Galaxies circa April 2005, Publish 14.1, pre-Combat Upgrade, such as the SWGEmu project.

I still believe everything bad about SWG came from SOE.

If that is true, then why are EQ1 and 2 still running extremely strong after ten years? They're *still* putting out expansions. Planetside 2 has had an awesome release and one of the best launches I've ever seen. I love that game to pieces. SOE knows how to run a game when they don't have other people telling them to mess it up, the track record shows it.

I know people who think Bioware is God's gift to gamers (okay, they're close) but yet can't seemingly explain why TOR is struggling and switched to a free to play model before the first expansion was barely announced and has had trouble maintaining numbers. I would say part of this is that Bioware hasn't done an MMO, and that LA is there trying to turn TOR into WOW (which is the insult most frequently leveled at it) subscription numbers and wondering why none of their tricks were working. Namely, you can't just take WOW, give it a Star Wars skin, and expect magic success, which is what the NGE tried to do, and which has now been demonstrated that even building a game from the ground up can't do, no matter how many hours of voice acting you add.

LA is not actually a developer but a publisher that bungled their half of a lot of games. It was LA that shot KOTOR2's ending square in the head by pushing it out the door early. No one really remembers that console bounty hunter game, or the portable action game either. About the only things they've done right recently is tell the Lego people "Keep doing that, here's the other IPs we own." and re-releasing stuff they did years ago that sold well, EXCEPT X-WING.

Brad McQuaid ran Vangard directly into the ground before SOE even got close to it. The only thing to blame for Vangard is Brad himself. He was an idiot, and the way he closed the door of the building in everyone's faces and just announced they're all laid off was him shooting his own career in the head. That's why he's barely been heard from since.

And to SOE's credit, the promise Smedly made is exactly what he's stuck to, for better or worse.

Both SWG and TOR could have existed along side because they're dramatically different games, appealing to different customer bases entirely. Don't know why LA decided to shoot the contract in the head, and I wonder how much it cost them, but that's what they decided to do. The game was on the up and up and things were really starting to get turned around and there are games to this day that don't have some of the key features of SWG.

It was LA that made it sickly and limp along before finally putting a bullet in it right when it was starting to get better.

So good riddence!

Now go make an X-wing game goddamnit

[Azrael]

No one really remembers that console bounty hunter game, or the portable action game either.

Funny you should say that as i still have Bounty Hunter.. One of Lucasarts more under-rated titles.

[Oberon]

Wasn't bounty hunter one of the first games where you could shoot two enemies at once? That was pretty cool. I was young at the time so I died a lot.

[Azrael]

Wasn't bounty hunter one of the first games where you could shoot two enemies at once? That was pretty cool. I was young at the time so I died a lot.

Correct sir.