Topic: Time Splitters 4?

[NWR_insanolord]

Nah, more like mediocre FPS in an overcrowded FPS market devours another company.  See: Midway.

Wait, are you calling TimeSplitters mediocre or the other stuff they made?

[Bill Aurion]

Nah, more like mediocre FPS in an overcrowded FPS market devours another company.  See: Midway.

Wait, are you calling TimeSplitters mediocre or the other stuff they made?

He was talking about Haze...Though a single bomb never took out a developer last generation...

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I hear HD bombs have more megatonage of explosives.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Rob Yescombe, screenwriter for Free Radical, the Rare-spawned developer behind the TimeSplitters franchise and Haze, has told ***** that widespread reports of the studio's closure are not true.

Asked the question, "Is it true that Free Radical has shut its doors?", Yescombe responded, "Nope, not true." He declined to comment further on the situation at the developer, however.

While Free Radical may not be facing wholesale closure, something is clearly going on at the studio. Reports of its demise cropped up over on a forum, with a poster claiming, "The locks were changed yesterday, and security is outside the offices not letting people in." The source, however, is someone from the Holiday Inn next door to the offices.

Such a sudden refusal of entry to staff suggests a lock-out by the office's owners, rather than a decision by management.

***** has tried to contact Free Radical front desk and currently phones there are not being answered.

Furthermore, it's being reported that the 'Secret LucasArts Project', which still appears on the Free Radical website, was taken elsewhere by the American publisher some months ago. Rebellion is said to be working on the title.

Meanwhile, Haze was poorly received and no publisher has been announced for TimeSplitters 4.

We'll bring you more on this as it develops.

[Bill Aurion]

So instead of being outright dead, there are going to be heavy layoffs...Not really much better for such a small developer...

[ShyGuy]

The HD business model is flawed. When will the industry admit this?

[Urkel]

Negative reinforcement is the only way the industry will learn.

[Flames_of_chaos]

The HD business model is flawed. When will the industry admit this?

Well it's flawed only because Microsoft rushed like crazy.

[Luigi Dude]

If only someone would release a system that small developers could develop for and not have to worry about huge cost that might sink the company if one game fails.

Oh wait...

[ShyGuy]

Silly Luigi Dude, what the developers have to do is borrow a bunch of money to make a single TRIPLE A game that they release around Christmas and watch it get ignored. After they have lost millions of dollars, they shut down and screw their creditors and employees.

That's the way to run a game studio!

[Kairon]

Negative reinforcement is the only way the industry will learn.

But don't psychologists agree that punishment-only is a bad way to teach people new behaviors? I thought that the preferred method is punishment, coupled with rewards for good behavior. That means that not only must we punish developers who makes bad decisions, but also reward developers who make good ones!

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Survival is the reward.

[Kairon]

It apparently isn't a very good one. A lot of companies apparently aren't that interested in survival.

I saw we up the reward to success.

[ShyGuy]

They can have success if they give the free market what it wants.

[Urkel]

Negative reinforcement is the only way the industry will learn.

But don't psychologists agree that punishment-only is a bad way to teach people new behaviors? I thought that the preferred method is punishment, coupled with rewards for good behavior. That means that not only must we punish developers who makes bad decisions, but also reward developers who make good ones!

Nope, they only seem to learn from pain. 3rd parties didn't really start flocking to the DS until it became abundantly clear that the PSP wasn't a viable platform for selling software. Even though the DS was the successor to the Game Boy (everybody knew that third pillar talk was nonsense) they chose largely to ignore it until they were left with no other choice.

The difference back then is PSP games cost relatively little to make, so if you bet on the wrong horse it was no big deal. Nowadays it seems that unless you're an EA / Activision / SquareEnix sized developer, it's one strike and you're out.

They can't afford to learn from success. It takes too long. If they haven't woken up by now it may be too late.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

It apparently isn't a very good one. A lot of companies apparently aren't that interested in survival.

I saw we up the reward to success.

Survival is the reward.  They thought they were aiming for success, but the truth is they can't properly identify it.

They're driving on a golden road at high speeds... in a dense fog.  Clarity will only reveal something unpleasant, with little reaction time.  Results and mileage may vary.  That's what they get for placing their complete faith in Mapquest directions.

[Kairon]

They're driving on a golden road at high speeds... in a dense fog.  Clarity will only reveal something unpleasant, with little reaction time.  Results and mileage may vary.  That's what they get for placing their complete faith in Mapquest directions.

T_T I LIKE mapquest...

[BeautifulShy]

It apparently isn't a very good one. A lot of companies apparently aren't that interested in survival.

I saw we up the reward to success.

Survival is the reward.  They thought they were aiming for success, but the truth is they can't properly identify it.

They're driving on a golden road at high speeds... in a dense fog.  Clarity will only reveal something unpleasant, with little reaction time.  Results and mileage may vary.  That's what they get for placing their complete faith in Mapquest directions.

Nicely said.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Negative reinforcement is the only way the industry will learn.

But don't psychologists agree that punishment-only is a bad way to teach people new behaviors? I thought that the preferred method is punishment, coupled with rewards for good behavior. That means that not only must we punish developers who makes bad decisions, but also reward developers who make good ones!

I wish I hadn't taken Intro to Psychology in college.  Then I'd have one less pet peeve, specifically the one about people getting operant conditioning terminology wrong.  So horribly wrong.

Negative reinforcement is not a synonym for punishment.  It's still reinforcement.  Yes, it's the opposite of positive reinforcement, but on a different axis.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Free Radical is still alive but barely

[Co-founder Steve Ellis] told staff how very sorry he was and they'd been doing all they could, working flat-out to either find a publisher or a buyer over the past six months, but no offers were made. There have been several visits to the States, but to no avail.

[Plugabugz]

IF FRD is in administration then it opens the doors for larger companies to buy up portions or the whole thing as an "ongoing concern". Don't be too surprised though if the administrators simply carve up FRD and sell the TimeSplitters IP on.

[Kairon]

Negative reinforcement is the only way the industry will learn.

But don't psychologists agree that punishment-only is a bad way to teach people new behaviors? I thought that the preferred method is punishment, coupled with rewards for good behavior. That means that not only must we punish developers who makes bad decisions, but also reward developers who make good ones!

I wish I hadn't taken Intro to Psychology in college.  Then I'd have one less pet peeve, specifically the one about people getting operant conditioning terminology wrong.  So horribly wrong.

Negative reinforcement is not a synonym for punishment.  It's still reinforcement.  Yes, it's the opposite of positive reinforcement, but on a different axis.

I knew someone would call me on that. &P But I think in this case, Negative reinforcement and punishment describe the same thing yes?

[AV]

My Two friends who loved Time Splitters franchise. We played allot of that multiplayer , they were actually DEPRESSED by the news it killed the day for them.

This is sad really.

[King of Twitch]

Maybe a song will cheer them up? http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=26987.msg474233#msg474233

[KDR_11k]

Negative reinforcement is the only way the industry will learn.

But don't psychologists agree that punishment-only is a bad way to teach people new behaviors? I thought that the preferred method is punishment, coupled with rewards for good behavior. That means that not only must we punish developers who makes bad decisions, but also reward developers who make good ones!

Well, duh. That's how capitalism works. The good behaviours make money, the bad ones don't. We don't have to adjust our spending behaviour, it's their job to make something we're willing to spend money on. Good companies manage to get that done, bad ones don't.