Romero & Hall no longer indie
by Jay Barnson · in General Discussion · 10/15/2003 (9:28 am) · 3 replies
Swiped from Gamasutra's news site:
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Romero And Hall Join Midway
id Software and Ion Storm stalwarts Tom Hall and John Romero are to join a new Midway development studio in San Diego. Hall will become creative director at the, as yet, unnamed studio while Romero will take project lead on a new action title rumoured to be a remake of Gauntlet.
Both men currently work at mobile phone developer Monkeystone, where Romero has been a particularly vocal advocate of mobile gaming in general and the Nokia N-Gage in particular.
Previously Hall was the co-founder of id Software and worked together with the controversial Romero on classics such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. Until the release of the critical and commercial flop Daikatana, Romero was regarded as one of the West's most talented game developers.
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Romero And Hall Join Midway
id Software and Ion Storm stalwarts Tom Hall and John Romero are to join a new Midway development studio in San Diego. Hall will become creative director at the, as yet, unnamed studio while Romero will take project lead on a new action title rumoured to be a remake of Gauntlet.
Both men currently work at mobile phone developer Monkeystone, where Romero has been a particularly vocal advocate of mobile gaming in general and the Nokia N-Gage in particular.
Previously Hall was the co-founder of id Software and worked together with the controversial Romero on classics such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. Until the release of the critical and commercial flop Daikatana, Romero was regarded as one of the West's most talented game developers.
About the author
Jay has been a mainstream and indie game developer for a... uh, long time. His professional start came in 1994 developing titles for the then-unknown and upcoming Sony Playstation. He runs Rampant Games and blogs at Tales of the Rampant Coyote.
#2
Ion Storm's hype (and inevitable backlash), failure to deliver, and the notorious "John Romero wants to make you his bitch!" ad campaign probably added up to two black marks against Romero.
I don't think it was entirely deserved, but I still blame Ion Storm for the loss of one of the really great studios, Looking Glass. They were relying upon Eidos at the time, and Eidos' money was pretty much tied up in that money pit. At least Warren Spector has proven that he can make the best of it. I have a lot of respect for him.
10/15/2003 (10:51 am)
You are only as good as your last game. If you have had a REALLY popular hit or two, then the public (and your publishers) might afford you one mulligan.Ion Storm's hype (and inevitable backlash), failure to deliver, and the notorious "John Romero wants to make you his bitch!" ad campaign probably added up to two black marks against Romero.
I don't think it was entirely deserved, but I still blame Ion Storm for the loss of one of the really great studios, Looking Glass. They were relying upon Eidos at the time, and Eidos' money was pretty much tied up in that money pit. At least Warren Spector has proven that he can make the best of it. I have a lot of respect for him.
Torque Owner Adib Murad
I can't help putting myself at Romero's place here reading this. So, it doesn't matter how successful you were before, if you made a single mistake, bang, you're not so great anymore. It's unfair and stupid to me. Hope he's ignoring or even laughing at it.