gamingeek said:

aspro said:

And all the staff leaving as well.

No.

You don't remember that?  I'll google around in the morning and link you up.  Oh, here is a quickey, but there are more. Okay, one more, but I have to sleep.

aspro said:

gamingeek said:

aspro said:

And all the staff leaving as well.

No.

You don't remember that?  I'll google around in the morning and link you up.  Oh, here is a quickey, but there are more. Okay, one more, but I have to sleep.

No, as in your post made it sound like all the staff had left.  "And all the staff leaving as well."  

This is not the case, western studios have interchangable stuff, high staff turnover and Retro is no different. When Metroid Prime was completed some developers left, Metroid Prime 2 was still AAA. After  Metroid Prime 2 staff left,  Metroid Prime 3 was still AAA, after  Metroid Prime 3 staff left DKCR was still AAA.

They have been hiring actually, "it is known that Retro has hired staff members from Naughty Dog — well known for creating the Uncharted series —, id Software and Vigil Games, known for creating the Darksiders series." And that Emily Rodgers blog was rejected by Retro and widely disdained by the gaming community.

This thing you linked is a million years old:

http://www.shacknews.com/article/52373/key-metroid-prime-staff-leave

2 important people and 1 artist and those poor souls went on to do nothing, some support on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and now the 2D version of Batman on portables. They attempted that doomed Metroidesque FP Megaman remake. The other staff who may have left aren't nearly as important as those 2.

This interview with the Retro staff talks about DKCR development in the wake of those 2008 departures

This article points out all the new hirings they have made.

The focus of her article was entirely on who left, so the inclusion of many new staff members was only vaguely mentioned. So to shed light on the other side of this fiasco here's the new staff members.

Design


Aaron Black (Zipper and Sucker Punch)


Nestor Hernandez (Red Fly)


Paul Schwanz (Red Fly)

Senior Art


Gray Ginther (Vigil and Insomniac!)

Art


Timothy Wilson (Escalation and Gearbox)


Sylvia Rowland (NetDevil and Backflip)


Eric Koslowski (Naughty Dog, Planet Moon)

Animation


Chris Torres (Midway, Critical Mass, and Creative Threat)


Dominic Pallotta (Moonbot and Visceral)


Kyle Ruegg (Raven and Gameloft)

Engineering


Nathan Nordfelt (Bethesda)


Tony Bernardin (tricky to find, has a linkedin page with nothing, but his supposed moby page is old)

Contract Environmental Artist


Brad Taylor (Edge of Reality, Paradigm)


That list was copy pasta of NeoGaf member Baby Yoshi

The influx of employees leaving is common for any company, however I don't know exactly how much fluctuation would be considered normal for a video game company. For comparison's sake during development of Metroid Prime 26 employees of Retro Studios got laid off when Raven Blade was cancelled

Note: at the bottom of Emily's piece she wrote (edited in later) "Note: Significant portions of staff were lost and gained between MP1 and MP2 and between MP2 and MP3." when people questioned her about it.

EDIT: They also bought a new larger facility for the increased staff numbers. The one that looks like Datadyne.

Ravenprose said:

Nintendo Wii U: Death By Apathy

Wow. All of the recent Wii U negativity almost makes me want to buy one . . . almost.

This article is amazing:

Gamesindustry said:

Nintendo can't compete with Microsoft and Sony, that's why they've pulled out of the E3 pissing contest. That's almost a dignified admission of defeat. If Nintendo shows off new Starfox, Zelda, Mario and Blast Corps titles next month in L.A. it's only going to be preaching to the converted. They will be drowned out by the bombast and great swinging balls of their rivals. What will the LA Times, Reuters, the BBC, Tech Crunch, Joystiq, VentureBeat, GamesIndustry International, Gamasutra and the rest of the media be prioritising during E3? Anything that can lift the console business up off its knees and give it an adrenaline shot. That's the real story here, and the Wii U is a boxout of what went wrong.

There's also today's announcement that Sega is handing publishing duties of Sonic the Hedgehog over to Nintendo, like Sonic the Hedgehog still means something to the games player. It doesn't, it's a tired old mascot who jumped the shark when Sega painted him black and gave him a gun. This deal is Sega begrudgingly admitting it can no longer market and sell kids games, and its last hope in a world of Moshi Monsters and Angry Birds is Nintendo. And if Nintendo can't sell another company's mascot, well, Sega is now prioritising PC gaming anyway.

I know Rob Fahey (other gamesindustry main writer) would have some choice things to say about this.

I read that 10 years ago.

Sonic was the 20th best selling franchise this gen, WTF was that author smoking.

Ravenprose said:

Nintendo Wii U: Death By Apathy

Wow. All of the recent Wii U negativity almost makes me want to buy one . . . almost.

It's one of the main reasons that made me buy one.  The others being Pikmin3 and GG

Ravenprose said:

bugsonglass said:

It's one of the main reasons that made me buy one.  The others being Pikmin3 and GG

Nintendo needs to show an impressive 3D Super Mario game at E3 before I'd seriously consider getting one.

This is what Nintendo of America will be showing at their E3 direct

Nintendo will be putting out E3 demos in select best Buy stores the week of e3. YEESSSS!!!!!!! We get to play the new Mario, the new smash, maybe new Metroid?

the reason this doesn't come to eshop is cause e3 demos are unstable, it may cause more problems than it is worth to put it on the shop. Also then people could hack it to death.

Oh and on my e3 trip won't happen this year. My friend is between jobs now (he may take over internet marketing for all CBS interactive, which is GS) so it's going to get hectic. Plus he told me he couldn't get me into the show, just the conferences, which without playing the games is just like watching it at home. We will try again next year.

edgecrusher said:

I read that 10 years ago.

Dvader said:

Publishing deal is huge, one more step to a real Mario and sonic game, one more step to a Nintendo developed sonic, one more step to Nintendo and Sega joining forces.

Dvader said:

You guys can all wait till a price drop cause the price drop will come sooner than the games will.

Ravenprose said:

Of course. I wouldn't buy one until the day the next 3D Super Mario game comes out.

gamingeek said:

Mario in HD?

No this is Mario in HD: