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I recently heard from a friend that past (and maybe present) West Coast game industry executives view Austin as developing no successful titles generating significant profit and/or receiving critical acclaim.

I want to convince them otherwise, so here’s the a partial list of hit games developed in Austin:

• Dishonored (Arkane/Bethesda) – Released October 2012
  • Sales beat expectations
• Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare/Electronic Arts/LucasArts) – Released Dec 2011, operated in Austin
  • Over 2 million sold, peak of 1.7 million subscribers, declined to 1.3 million shortly thereafter, switched to F2P and revenue doubled
• Pocket Legends (Spacetime Studios) – Released 2010, operated in Austin
• Epic Mickey (Junction Point/Disney Interactive Studios) – Released 2010
  • Over 1.3 million units sold – 2011-01
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Wii Version (Red Fly Studio/LucasArts) – Released 2010
• Darksiders (Vigil Games/THQ) – Released 2010
  • Over 1 million copies sold
• Donkey Kong Country Returns (Retro Studios/Nintendo) – Released 2010
  • 5 million units sold worldwide
• Wizard 101 (KingsIsle Entertainment) – Released 2008, still operated in Austin
  • Over 15 million users – 2011-01-24
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Retro Studios/Nintendo) – Released 2007
  • Over 1.31 million copies sold
• Thief: Deadly Shadows (Ion Storm Austin/Eidos Interactive) – Released 2004
• Metroid Prime (Retro Studios/Nintendo) – Released 2002
  • Over 2 million units sold
• Deus Ex (Ion Storm Austin/Eidos Interactive) – Released 2000
• Ultima Online (Origin Systems/Electronic Arts) – Released 1997, operated in Austin until 2004, now operated from Virginia
  • Millions of units sold/subscribers over its lifetime

Know of more titles, or any additional information to add? Add it to the comments! (As long as the info is public, that is…)

It would also be great if we can also get some rough sales and revenue numbers for each title.

Alex Ness, producer at Toys for Bob, posted on their web site that they have re-acquired all rights to their classic game Star Control!  If you have not played Star Control 2, I highly recommend you download and play the awesome open source version, The Ur-Quan Masters.

Toys for Bob is now owned by Activision, and Alex says they are seeking to convince Activision that there is demand for a true sequel to Star Control 2 so Toys for Bob can develop the game.  How?  By handing them a huge stack of email messages!

If you are a fan of Star Control 2, email Alex and tell him that you’d like to see a sequel to the classic game created by Toys for Bob.

Update: If you want to find out more about the meeting, Gamasutra published a summary of the meeting, "But Seriously Folks: Austin Game Developers Panel", written by John Henderson.

Summary of my own thoughts: Improved NPC AI could make characters in games more believable and entertaining, and increase player empathy and emotional indentification with the game characters.

My thoughts: I attended the Austin Game Developer‘s meeting last night (March 10th) and caught up with some old friends who are now at a variety of different companies around Austin.  The meeting featured a round table discussion entitled "Games as Art: Does it matter?" as a follow-up to Roger Ebert’s recent comments about games.

Being more on the technology side of game development (though always interested in design and sticking my nose into it), I’ve been thinking for a long time about what technological developments could make games more immersive or involving to a larger audience in such a way that could make them feel more alive.  These same outcomes could also help games be seen potentially as art instead of just mass market entertainment (in the same way that some movies and books can be art or mass market entertainment, or in the rare exception, both). (more…)

As usual, I’m at least a year behind playing games on my "to play" list compared to their release dates.

I’m currently playing Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, a strategic space combat game with a good storyline released at the end of 2004.

The graphics are incredible, creating a beautiful rendering of 3D combat between large ships in space as you can see from the screenshots posted online.

No resource mining or unit construction in this game: the only chance to swap out ship weaponary, components, or fighters is between missions.

(more…)

After finishing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (yes, the original, I’m always behind on playing computer games), I was looking around for another good game to play. For some reason I decided to search online for Star Control 2, which I had completed again about five years ago (running via DOSEMU under Linux).

Boy was I in for a surprise! Toys for Bob, the original developers, had released the source code of the 3DO version under the GPL! And a team had ported it to Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, made bug fixes and improvements, and added back some PC only features! Since the publisher still owns the rights to the name Star Control 2, this version is called The Ur-Quan Masters.

Star Control 2 aka The Ur-Quan Masters is a classic epic space game, combining elements of adventure, role-playing, and action games to make a terrific hybrid. The exploration and sense of humor in the game makes every encounter with a new alien species a hoot! It also features great music, especially for a 1990 title.

The Ur-Quan Masters is darn near a perfect version of Star Control 2, and my kudos goes to Toys for Bob and the Ur-Quan Masters team.

Highly recommended!

I played and completed Tron 2.0 last week. Pretty cool game, especially playing it on a 61" wide screen display with 7.1 surround sound! 🙂

Monolith and Touchdown did a really good job on the Tron glow effect. I also liked the Tron fiction, look, and especially the disc weapon. My favorite levels were the city and the Alliance level, in addition to the early levels that had a more Tron movie like feel.

The story seemed to get weaker toward the end of the game. For example, I didn’t like how the virus storyline ended early (I actually liked the virus storyline better than the overall fCon storyline). I liked the alliance with the ICPs and was disappointed that it ended so quickly.

Overall, I give Tron 2.0 a positive review and recommend it for some enjoyable single player gaming.

Richard Garriott hosted a final farewell party to Origin at his new place on Lake Austin last night. Many past and present Origin faces attended to say a final goodbye to the creator of worlds we all loved. A bonfire provided emotional release as we burnt many relics of Origin’ s past.

Fortunately, Ultima itself will live on with the dev teams and projects moving to California.

I took many photos, though some are blurry due to the nighttime darkness and a shaky hand on long exposures. You can find the photos here.

We created worlds. Goodbye, Origin.