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Many of the 100 or so employees in Austin were being offered the chance to move to California. Those who don't move will receive severance packages.

Unless the moves are accompinied with a sizeable increase in pay the Austin employees are gonna have a hard time affording housing here.

That's sad, Origin gave me many fond memories with Ultima IV and V, but be honest I thought they were close a while ago.

Hell Origin gave me Wing Commander...as well as Ultima.

Sucks to see them go.

Sucks to see em go.

The Origin that brought us games like the Ultimas, Wing Commanders, and Bioforge died years ago.

Origin's slide to oblivion began, in my opinion, with Ultima VIII. Ascension was just a (in hindsight) predictable follow-up to such a piece of crap...

SPOOFE wrote:Origin's slide to oblivion began, in my opinion, with Ultima VIII. Ascension was just a (in hindsight) predictable follow-up to such a piece of crap...

The thing was Ascension, was just much much worse than you would expect. Crap doesnt begin to describe it.

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:The Origin that brought us games like the Ultimas, Wing Commanders, and Bioforge died years ago.

Hear hear. Not to mention The awesome Crusader series, which I yearn to be released in a more recent Windows compatible format.

As far as I'm concerned, they died when they became the "Ultima Online and nothing else" company. So fucking sad.

Vympel wrote:

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:The Origin that brought us games like the Ultimas, Wing Commanders, and Bioforge died years ago.

Hear hear. Not to mention The awesome Crusader series, which I yearn to be released in a more recent Windows compatible format.

As far as I'm concerned, they died when they became the "Ultima Online and nothing else" company. So fucking sad.

I still have Crusaders: No Remorse and No Regret. I loved it but wished they made more. A few years ago, I heard that they were going to make a movie out of the game. But so far I've seen nothing.

Vympel wrote:

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:The Origin that brought us games like the Ultimas, Wing Commanders, and Bioforge died years ago.

Hear hear. Not to mention The awesome Crusader series, which I yearn to be released in a more recent Windows compatible format.

As far as I'm concerned, they died when they became the "Ultima Online and nothing else" company. So fucking sad.

I knew I was forgetting something real important! I love the Crusader series even more than all the games I mentioned put together, and those are all fantastic.

Not much variety tho.

Really after U9 I just lost all hope for it.

SPOOFE wrote:Origin's slide to oblivion began, in my opinion, with Ultima VIII. Ascension was just a (in hindsight) predictable follow-up to such a piece of crap...

IX had the potential to make up for that (hopefully).. but by then EA was either purchasing Origin or had already done so. By the time EA got its hands on it, the company was already descending into the muck.

I think its kinda sad that many of the game companies I grew up with seem to have begun disappearing. Particularily Origin.

For me the saddest was Looking Glass. Bullfrog hurt, too.

Connor MacLeod wrote:

SPOOFE wrote:IX had the potential to make up for that (hopefully).. but by then EA was either purchasing Origin or had already done so. By the time EA got its hands on it, the company was already descending into the muck.

Yeah, Privateer, System Shock and Crusader were all muck.

Bob McDob wrote: Yeah, Privateer, System Shock and Crusader were all muck.

.........explain please.

McLeod said that Origin was in decline when EA bought it out, which simply isn't true. Games like the ones I mentioned, which everyone seems to enjoy, were made under the auspices of Origin ... and it's more than fair to say that without EA money, big-budget blockbusters like the latter Wing Commander games would never have been conceived, let alone produced.

I have no special love for EA, but I also believe that, initially at least, being bought out by EA is one of the best things that can happen to a company. Studios like Origin, Westwood and Maxis all experienced a brief renaissance through EA money, and through consolidating their work on their more successful series. The problem as far as I can tell is that EA sees product diversity to be a rule of thumb for the health of a particular brand. Single-franchise companies like Blizzard and id are alien to them - if a division exists to produce one product, there's no point in keeping it alive as a seperate entity. This is where the genetic diversity thing comes in - by focusing on a few traits (i.e., products) EA inadvertently crippled their division's ability to innovate, to adapt. That's my take on it, anyway.

Bob McDob wrote:McLeod said that Origin was in decline when EA bought it out, which simply isn't true. Games like the ones I mentioned, which everyone seems to enjoy, were made under the auspices of Origin ... and it's more than fair to say that without EA money, big-budget blockbusters like the latter Wing Commander games would never have been conceived, let alone produced.

I have no special love for EA, but I also believe that, initially at least, being bought out by EA is one of the best things that can happen to a company. Studios like Origin, Westwood and Maxis all experienced a brief renaissance through EA money, and through consolidating their work on their more successful series. The problem as far as I can tell is that EA sees product diversity to be a rule of thumb for the health of a particular brand. Single-franchise companies like Blizzard and id are alien to them - if a division exists to produce one product, there's no point in keeping it alive as a seperate entity. This is where the genetic diversity thing comes in - by focusing on a few traits (i.e., products) EA inadvertently crippled their division's ability to innovate, to adapt. That's my take on it, anyway.

That's what I thought you meant. But there was a chance you were bashing those great games, and then I'd have to fling my own poo at you