Blacksite's creative director has departed Midway following his candid post-mortem of the FPS, in which he described the development process as "so f***ed up".
According to a report on ShackNews, Midway execs have described Smith's post-mortem as "his public resignation."
"With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails", Smith explained of Blacksite. Amidst a number of criticisms levelled at the game's development process, he described the fact that the team was given only four days to fix and polish a level, which he's described as "completely reprehensible."
Smith was still in the employ of Midway when he gave his post-mortem on the game.
I know BlackSite was a disappointment, but bear in mind that there hasn't been a decent product in the Area 51 franchise yet. Blacksite would have been more surprising if it had been decent.
Outbursts like that put people off the game. If one of the desighers doesn't like it then why should I buy it?
He will be lucky if he gets another top job in the industry after his outburst.
That's actually incorrect. If you're good at your job you will be able to get fired (or quit) as many times as you want.
If you've never been fired or made a stink about anything you live in fear of the day when that will happen but in reality human being's like people who stand their ground and complain about stuff when it's wrong. There is nothing remotely gutting about getting fired if you complain, in fact you feel vindicated.
Midway must be god-awful publisher to be associated with; what with the mediocre at best Blacksite: Area 51 and the dreadful, dreadful Hour of Victory to their name. Both games are unfinished and buggy. If you want to see how buggy Blacksite is, check out GameTrailers.com video review which shows objects and scenery disappearing depending on what angle you look at them!!! Very PSone I must say.
Outbursts like that put people off the game. If one of the desighers doesn't like it then why should I buy it?
He will be lucky if he gets another top job in the industry after his outburst.
You're about as wrong as it's possible to be...
That guy is a hero. While the rest of his company would have been talking up how good their sabotaged and deliberately substandard product was, and weaving a web of lies and deceit to try and steal money out of the hands of gamers, he stood up for Truth, Justice, and The Way of Pwnage.
It's not outbursts like his that put people off the game. It's the suits who rush unfinished games out of the door, to try and please the marketing people and make a quick buck who are killing the industry.
The point I was trying to make is that he deserves to loose his job after that public outburst. He will have cost midway sales of that game.
Yes he is a hero in our eyes for standing up for whats right, but not in the eyes of his employers.
Other games companies will think twice before employing him because he may speak out again in future and cost them sales.
So basically he's good for us gamers but not good for the industry. Lets hope the publishers take note and stop releasing sub standard crap, that way no one will need to speak up.
Ah, Midway are a substandard company at best. The game will still sell. Who's going to know about what he's done? People who read the gaming press.
Who will already know that the game is Average? See above.
I'd much rather have someone on my team willing to stand up and say that something is rubbish, than someone who's willing to stand by and let poor quality stuff roll out with my company's name on it.
Mind you, I am a software tester, so that's hardly unexpected.
The point I was trying to make is that he deserves to loose his job after that public outburst. He will have cost midway sales of that game.
Yes he is a hero in our eyes for standing up for whats right, but not in the eyes of his employers.
Other games companies will think twice before employing him because he may speak out again in future and cost them sales.
So basically he's good for us gamers but not good for the industry. Lets hope the publishers take note and stop releasing sub standard crap, that way no one will need to speak up.
No, he doesn't deserve to be fired. He deserves to be working where he was, free of interference from greedy execs, and working to properly finish the game he was making.
The management at Midway are the ones who deserve to be fired, as it's due to their poor handling of the game that it didn't turn out as well as it should have. It's due to them that the game didn't reach it's full potential, and will score low with reviewers, and ultimately won't sell as many copies as it might of if the developers had time to properly finish the game.
Yes he is a hero in our eyes for standing up for whats right, but not in the eyes of his employers.
I do not agree. Yes, if the people he works for are giving him limited ways of doing his job, designing af game, and doesn't listen to his opinion about this restriction, he will not be happy about his work. That is a quality.
Yes, trust in your employees is important, but you cannot expect more, if you give a person these limited borders to work within. I can understand, he won't put his name on and give his word for this product.
Future employers will know that he knows what breakes a game, and that he desires time to do it properly. If they know, they have limited budget, don't hire him. Naturally.
I was happy to read his honest opinion. Of course it is not nice for the company, but he wasn't wrong. Why is it more right to lie about a game, what do you need statements and interviews for, if it isn't answers from the heart of the interviewed person?
i enjoyed the game a great deal each to there own i guess i suppose the pressure of getting games done in a certain time frame and the high expectations these days can damn a game straight away.the only thing that i agree with that a lot of people have said is it was way to short.
As much as its nice to read some honesty, this guy should have buttoned it. His loyalty should have been to the company that has paid his bills and fed his family. We all probably work for companies who are less than perfect in some areas - but to publish details of the bad bits to customers.. whilst STILL employed is very disloyal.
isn't he the moron who warren spector left to f**k up Deus Ex 2? If so I hope he stays a million miles away form DE3
and don't be so naive doomthree. He pays his bills and feeds his family. This is't the third reich or some weird totalitarian future. He owes his company a certain amount of loyalty but from the sounds of it they have royally stitched him up. 4 days to balance a level!?!?!? If you would stay loyal to that kind of treatment you are in idiot.
That said, it was unprofessional of him to air his concerns publicly but i guess he didn't want everyone to think blacksite was completely his fault!
isn't he the moron who warren spector left to f**k up Deus Ex 2? If so I hope he stays a million miles away form DE3
and don't be so naive doomthree. He pays his bills and feeds his family. This is't the third reich or some weird totalitarian future. He owes his company a certain amount of loyalty but from the sounds of it they have royally stitched him up. 4 days to balance a level!?!?!? If you would stay loyal to that kind of treatment you are in idiot.
That said, it was unprofessional of him to air his concerns publicly but i guess he didn't want everyone to think blacksite was completely his fault!
In the real world not every game will have the luxury of time and money...its just product at the end of the day, deadlines and market pressure interfere with the artistic and technical requirements. This guy waited til the game was released before damning it. maybe he is just covering for his own shortcomings here.
Oh come on guys, a lead dev does not put his schlong on the chopping block without having an escape route first.
I think he'd already lined up a new position in another company to work on another game (*cough* Deus Ex 3) before he started actually giving an honest opinion.
If he didn't, well he's an idiot. Brave, honest and accurate, but an idiot all the same.
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