StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Enigma wrote:Isn't this going to affect any future releases of Fallout?

Crazy_Vasey wrote:

HemlockGrey wrote:B...Black Isle's gone? When did this happen?

(Yes, I've been living under a rock)

They booted out nearly the entire dev staff just before Christmas. There are still a few there but Black Isle as we knew it is dead and gone. All the people responsible for Planescape: Torment, Fallout, and the rest are gone. A lot of them went to Obsidian Entertainment.

Alyrium Denryle wrote:

Crazy_Vasey wrote:

HemlockGrey wrote:B...Black Isle's gone? When did this happen?

(Yes, I've been living under a rock)

They booted out nearly the entire dev staff just before Christmas. There are still a few there but Black Isle as we knew it is dead and gone. All the people responsible for Planescape: Torment, Fallout, and the rest are gone. A lot of them went to Obsidian Entertainment.

What was the reason for it? I woud have thought they would be raking in the dough, what with all the D&D nerds at their beck and call.

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:Interplay produced Descent.... I loved Descent.

No, this has no real point, but you guys have to admit Descent is a classic.

Mad wrote:

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:Interplay produced Descent.... I loved Descent.

No, this has no real point, but you guys have to admit Descent is a classic.

Parallax Software developed Descent. Parallax broke into Outrage Entertainment (Descent 3) and Volition Incorporated (FreeSpace, Red Faction, Summoner). I haven't heard anything about Outrage in a long time, but Volition is still around.

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:I distinctly remember an Interplay logo at the beginning of Descent... maybe I'm just insane. *shrugs*

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:

Mad wrote:Parallax Software developed Descent. Parallax broke into Outrage Entertainment (Descent 3) and Volition Incorporated (FreeSpace, Red Faction, Summoner). I haven't heard anything about Outrage in a long time, but Volition is still around.

I distinctly remember an Interplay logo at the beginning of Descent... maybe I'm just insane. *shrugs*

Pablo Sanchez wrote:

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:Now let's all hope for a death rattle from Lucasarts

I don't know, the job they've been doing lately by farming out jobs to companies that actually have their shit together has produced some kickass stuff.

Mad wrote:

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:

Mad wrote:Parallax Software developed Descent. Parallax broke into Outrage Entertainment (Descent 3) and Volition Incorporated (FreeSpace, Red Faction, Summoner). I haven't heard anything about Outrage in a long time, but Volition is still around.

I distinctly remember an Interplay logo at the beginning of Descent... maybe I'm just insane. *shrugs*

Interplay published it.. I forgot to mention that. But the people who actually created the game split into Outrage and Volition.

Alyrium Denryle wrote:

Crazy_Vasey wrote:

HemlockGrey wrote:B...Black Isle's gone? When did this happen?

(Yes, I've been living under a rock)

They booted out nearly the entire dev staff just before Christmas. There are still a few there but Black Isle as we knew it is dead and gone. All the people responsible for Planescape: Torment, Fallout, and the rest are gone. A lot of them went to Obsidian Entertainment.

What was the reason for it? I woud have thought they would be raking in the dough, what with all the D&D nerds at their beck and call.

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:Interplay produced Descent.... I loved Descent.

No, this has no real point, but you guys have to admit Descent is a classic.

SirNitram wrote:By the way, Dark Alliance 2 kicks ass. Oh my goodness this is a great game.

Mad wrote:

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:Interplay produced Descent.... I loved Descent.

No, this has no real point, but you guys have to admit Descent is a classic.

Parallax Software developed Descent. Parallax broke into Outrage Entertainment (Descent 3) and Volition Incorporated (FreeSpace, Red Faction, Summoner). I haven't heard anything about Outrage in a long time, but Volition is still around.

[UPDATE] Early Wednesday, the voicemail system at Titus' American offices ceased to function. An early follow-up call to Interplay's offices got an actual person on the line for the first time in over a month. When asked if Interplay was going out of business, the person said, "No, that's not true," but refused to elaborate. When asked if she was an employee of Interplay, the person said, "I'd rather not say," and promptly transferred the call to Herve Caen's personal mailbox. Caen had not responded to the voicemail as of press time, and several subsequent calls to Interplay's main line were met with a busy signal. As of 1pm Wednesday, the line was still busy.

However, even if the reports of Interplay's demise are greatly exaggerated, the company faces a rough road ahead. Besides its rental woes, the company is facing a battery of lawsuits, including one by Arden Realty for $432,000 in back rent and another by BioWare for $156,000 for unpaid Baldur's Gate royalties. During its financial report in mid-April, Interplay declared it had only $1.2 million in cash on hand.[/quote[

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/fallout3 ... 99678.html

Shadowhawk wrote:Descent weeded out the weak.

InnocentBystander wrote:Klingon Academy was the semi-interactive movie one with the klingon dictionary, right? I have that game somewhere, it was fun, but couldn't compare to 25th Anniversary or even Starfleet Academy, but then again, I like the ship combat

admiral_danielsben wrote:Does this mean no more Starfleet Command games?

Gamespot wrote:Earlier this week, rumors began to swirl that Interplay, the once-mighty publisher of the Fallout and Baldur's Gate games, was closing down its Irvine, California, headquarters. Numerous reports from sources around and inside the company said that employees had been advised to collect their personal items, either by the end of the day Tuesday or by the end of the week.

Later, more-detailed reports began to surface, many saying Interplay employees had gone without health insurance or paychecks for weeks. The Orange County Register echoed these allegations last week in an article about two former employees who sued the company after their paychecks bounced.

As far as Interplay's response to these allegations goes, the silence was deafening. E-mails to the company were bounced back. The voicemail systems at the publisher and the American offices of its French parent, Titus Interactive, worked off and on all week. When an actual person was reached at the Interplay offices, he would not confirm that he even worked there. Instead, calls were passed along to the personal voicemail inbox of CEO Herve Caen, who has been nowhere to be found all week.

That is, until now. Last night, GameSpot talked with the surprisingly affable Caen, who denied the end was nigh for Interplay. His proof? "You can see our stock is trading, so we're still here," said Caen.

But when asked whether or not Interplay was facing eviction from its Irvine, California, offices or was laying off staffers, Caen's answers grew less direct. "I can't comment one way or the other," he said. "I'm bound by disclosure rules because we're a publicly traded company, so I can't say anything outside of press releases or official SEC filings." When asked when the next official SEC filing would be, Herve said, "I can't answer that. If I tell you, I'll have to tell everyone."

When asked why closure reports were coming from within Interplay, Caen demurred, saying "The Internet--it's a wild place." He did, however, say there would be some sort of announcement in the near future. "We're working on a lot of deals--a lot of solutions. You'll hear from us soon."

On Thursday, visitors to the Interplay offices found the doors locked, but some employees were lingering outside the back. While expressing optimism about the company's prospects, the workers admitted they hadn't been paid in weeks and had heard that there was a chance that Arden Realty, Interplay's landlord, was going to padlock the offices by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, online chatter about the closure of Interplay's Irvine offices grew louder. No Mutants Allowed, the Fallout fan site that acquired the first--and only--Fallout 3 screenshots and broke news of several high-profile departures from Interplay's Black Isle Studios, said it has received reports from several staffers that Interplay's offices were padlocked Thursday evening. Other reports said they would be padlocked at the end of the day Friday. Calls were answered only by Interplay's voicemail system, which had been down all day Wednesday.

More public verification of Interplay's troubles came from Sean K. Reynolds, prolific fantasy author and former lead designer at Interplay. On the forums of his official Web site, Reynolds said Interplay hadn't "been evicted yet" (emphasis in the original) as of Tuesday, June 1.

That same day, Reynolds officially quit, saying "Right now I'd rather be done with Interplay than sit around seeing if the upper management can salvage the situation." He said most employees expected the company's demise to be in 2004 but not so soon. "We just thought it wouldn't happen until August, rather than April." He also tacitly confirmed Interplay employees' paycheck woes, saying, "Apparently, you can file [for unemployment] if you quit, because you aren't getting paid."

Reynolds also acted unsurprised when he was told of the alleged closure of Interplay's offices. "Doh! Good thing I got all my stuff out already," he said.

Interplay offices closed by state officials

The Orange County Register reports that California labor investigators have shut down the publisher--something CEO Herve Caen disputes.
Less than a day after CEO Herve Caen said Interplay was "still here," the publisher has apparently been shut down by the State of California. The Orange County Register's Tamara Chuang reported late Friday that California's Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement forced the Irvine, CA-based developer-publisher of Fallout to suspend operations.

The closure followed a snap inspection of Interplay's offices by investigators, who found the company was without workers’ compensation insurance and had not paid employees. According to officials, there were 14 staffers on-site Friday during the inspection, and 79 still on Interplay's payroll--down nearly 40 since their mid-April financial statements.

The labor officials' visitation was prompted by complaints by seven Interplay workers who claimed their wages had gone unpaid. Dean Fryer, spokesman for the California Labor Commissioner, told the Register, "An employer has responsibilities when they open a business. The responsibilities include proper and timely payment of wages. It includes providing workers compensation coverage in case there are injuries. If the employer cannot accommodate those basic issues of doing business, we cannot allow employees to work."

As a penalty for its infractions, Interplay was fined $1,000 for each employee on the payroll for a total of $79,000. This sum is in addition to the $179,000 it already owes the state in back taxes and the $432,000 in unpaid rent it owes its landlord, Arden Realty, who is reportedly on the verge of evicting the company. In addition, it is being sued for $156,000 in back Baldur's Gate royalties by BioWare. As of part of its mid-April financial statements, Interplay declared it only had $1.2 million in cash on hand.

Despite the increasingly daunting scale of Interplay's difficulties, Caen brushed them off. "I hope to have that [insurance] back by Monday or Tuesday," he told the Register optimistically. Caen also had the esprit to question the semantics of Chuang's article. "The company has not shut down. [The state] can’t do that. It can only let me not let employees work," he said.

In addition to breaking the closure news, Chuang also confirmed that Interplay employees had not been paid for over a month, had no health insurance, and had been told to remove their belongings from the building due to a looming lockout by Arden.

Still, some of the Interplay staffers at the office on Friday held out a more genuine sense of hope than their employer. "The reason I stick around is that I’m a diehard loyalist and I love the people I work with," IS manager Steve Jobes told the Register. "If there is any sliver of hope that Interplay may someday turn around I want to be there to see it."

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 06/04/04 08:13PM PST

MKSheppard wrote:

admiral_danielsben wrote:Does this mean no more Starfleet Command games?

SFC sucked donkey shit.

SFC should have been TURN BASED, not real time. But nooo, interplay
had to make them real time, fucking morons!

MKSheppard wrote:

admiral_danielsben wrote:Does this mean no more Starfleet Command games?

SFC sucked donkey shit.

SFC should have been TURN BASED, not real time. But nooo, interplay
had to make them real time, fucking morons!