What game company from your childhood do you remember with fondness?
I was thinking about how I remember Maxis fondly, and I got to wondering what other people's experiences were like!
Is your favorite still around? Are they still the same, or did they "change directions under new management?"
sierra ❤️
also bill pogue
Haha, that's exactly the kind of game I want to make but with graphics and a little less dry. Didn't even know about that one. Also I should probably actually figure out how to start that once I'm settled in here. It's amazing how much planning and thought goes into getting one truck across the country. It's like Oregon trail but you die of stupidity, yours or others, rather than dysentery.
Westwood studios. Command and conquer tiberian sun was my very first computer game, which I loved dearly (and still have on my computer since it’s freeware now and has been fan patched for modern systems)
Well and then came EA.
@GregorGizeh @Telorand you can get it free now?? I had given it up for dead...
Yup, it’s Freeware since a few years now and has even spawned a brilliant standalone mod using its engine. Here is the link:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/tiberian-sun-client/
And if you want to check out the mod I mentioned, it’s called twisted insurrection. It delivers on many things that were lacking in the original, and has an extensive OST with some pieces by frank klepacki himself (made a lot of the music used in the original series). You can check out some trailers on YouTube. Mod Link:
Electronic Arts :(
Yeah... Gotta wonder what the original founders would say if you could tell them what they'd become.
I remember going to EA games on a field trip for school and even back then the corporate feeling was strong. I remember this panel about developer freedom and not a single student was interested. Granted, nobody from my school was on track to do any kind of game development
Lucas Arts
Are they still around? /j
Yep, some classic point and click games, like Full Throttle. It's from games like that that I learned Mark Hamill is an amazing voice actor.
Sierra On-Line
King's Quest is still one of my favorite series ever and the one they put out a few years ago was a great retelling. I cried at the end.
That's how I feel about Cyan and their Myst series!
Sierra entertainment! I was a big fan of the kings quest games, and Sierra online was my first experience with online gaming.
I was super into Sierra as a publisher. They seemed to back some of the highest quality games no one knew about. Ground Control, Gunman Chronicles, Homeworld, Aliens vs Predators 2, Empire Earth, Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza, and of course Half-Life. They published some quality games.
I loved the Quest games! They were my first real introduction to the English language. Simple phrases like Open Door and feed chickens were a great way to build my basic vocabulary. I kept pestering my dad for translations until he got fed up and taught me how to use a dictionary :)
I have so many great memories playing those games, on my own and together with my dad. It really was a bonding experience.
Maxis was the one that came to mind for me, too! I played everything of theirs that I could get my hands on. Still playing The Sims after all these years!
Will Wright is a genius, and deservedly so, but just did some reading on what he's been up to, and I'm not sure if this new venture will fly.
https://www.axios.com/2022/10/20/will-wright-voxverse-gala-gallium-blockchain
Sounds like SecondLife (another of his creations) with NFTs, or the various failed attempts at a Metaverse, except rich crypto-whales get to be the Lords, and the rest of us are the surfs. Then again, maybe there's some aspect to it I don't understand.
Valve.
Not new management, but they definitely changed direction. From Portal 2 to Half-Life Alyx was a dark age of live service titles and hardware. Fortunately, it seems like they're finally getting back to their old selves?
Alyx was supposedly their re-entry into releasing games (hopeful that HLX is good), the Steam Deck caused them to go back and fix several of their titles (plus do the huge Half-Life update we just got), and while they're not exactly making their games as open as they used to, they're letting the community handle things like TF2 events and L4D2 patches.
So, I dunno, cautiously optimistic for their future. At least as long as Gabe is running the company.
Yep, buying a Steam Deck this Christmas. Not played one, myself, but I have been a Steam Controller user for years, and they seem to have nailed their latest offerings.
There was definitely a period in there when they felt very anticompetitive (apathy-competitive?), though.
I just bought the Steam Deck. Its amazing. More and more games keep becoming Deck Compatible and the community has uploaded so many controller configurations.
Linux is a gaming OS now and its wild
I love the Deck and Controller, just a heads up that the Deck "feels" slightly different from the Steam Controller. I've had a hard time adjusting to the trackpad on Deck and still haven't quite gotten it figured out. It may just be a practice thing. Basically the way I'd describe it is it's like the rotation setting for the Steam Controller is never quite right and the slightly smaller trackpad and different positioning maybe affects whatever muscle memory I'm trying to use or something.
As an example, I made the top community config for Monster Hunter Rise, but on Steam Deck it just isn't quite the same and I needed to pretty heavily adjust the settings for the mouse input, even still I can't quite get it right.
However that said, it doesn't actually matter too much, the Steam Deck overall is awesome and I'd take it any day of the week. Luckily, Bluetooth w/ the Steam Controller feels exactly the same as it did on PC w/ dongle and it's sooo nice.
Westwood I had fun with Red Alert 1 & 2 for a long time. Super casual player though.
Infocom.
Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide, Leather Goddesses of Phobos.
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Interplay, Microprobe, Sierra On-Line, Bullfrog, Dynamix, Origin, all long gone.
Activision is still around, but it's something completely different. Same with Atari (although theres a nostalgia brand now, so maybe back).
Of them all, I think is have to say I'm most nostalgic for Sierra On-Line, although Origin gives them a run for most nostalgic.
Westwood fits into that list.
I worked for Interplay back in the 90s. It was pretty great for me, launching my IT career. Working in QA did temporarily ruin my ability to play games for fun though.
Dynamix' Earthsiege was such a magical thing back then. So were Bullfrog's Syndicate, Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper. Many, many years ago when Peter Molyneux was not a dumbass but gave us gems like Populous and Black&White.
The list of games that EA has destroyed is long.
I loved Earthsiege! IIRC I got the game with an expansion card (STI Lightning 128?), and it really was fun playing with my first flight stick, a CH Products flight stick.
Origin "We create worlds". They definitely did with the Wing Commander series. Played a lot of WC 3, 4 as well as Privateer.
I don't think anyone mentioned Lionhead Studios. Black and White was fun. Sadly it's in copyright limbo if I'm not mistaken.
Also played a lot of Civilization 1 from Microprose back in the day.
My favourite games from childhood were the Ultima series (3 onward).
Never finished most of the Ultima Games. Started U4 again a few years ago. Tried picking it back up, and I've misplaced that damn balloon again.
Never tried any of the Ultima series. :p
Squaresoft, Bioware, and Bethesda are three companies whose logos I once considered a seal of quality. None of the three really exist anymore, although there are new much larger companies using their names.
Bethesda game studios is the same studio as always, just under Microsoft
Blizzard, boy was I fucking wrong.
Hey, nobody can predict the future. I loved the first few Craft games.
Don't be sad, they were wronger.
Westwood Studios, Sierra Online
I never played the classic "Quest" games that Sierra made, but they published a bunch of really good ones from other developers, too.
I remember their logo coming up before each of the Half-Life, SWAT, Tribes, and F.E.A.R. games. I was always like, "dang, someone there knows how to pick 'em."
Psygnosis, later known as Studio Liverpool.
Sony shut them down a few years ago. Man seeing that old owl logo hits me hard in the nostalgia bone.
Apogee Software for Rise of the Triad, Blue Sky Productions for Última Underworld and Bullfrog Productions for Syndicate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjBm44oWwsk
I can't see the name Apogee without hearing the fanfare.
I miss Wacky Wheels.
Hard to pick but early to mid 90s era Maxis, Bullfrog, Bungie (Pathways/Marathon/Myth era), Blizzard, and SEGA all come to mind. All either gone or changed.
As soon as I saw the title, I was gonna say Maxis, too. I like how they called their games “software toys”.
Rainbow Arts (Turrican on Amiga), Maxis (SimCity) and Digital Illusions (because of their pinball games)
All of them gone except Digital Illusions which became DICE.
A fellow old person! I'll add Ocean Software and US Gold from the Commodore era.
I was going to say Digital Illusions but for Motorhead, the racing game. The OST for that game has been in my music rotation for decades and it's still in my top 3 of all time.
The 3 Bs, baby. Blizzard, Bioware, and Bethesda.
Blizzards dead to me, Bioware fell off after dragon age 1, and Bethesda refuses to take its limiters off anymore (no drugs)
I'm enjoying heavily-modded DA:I, but I do feel like DA1 had some better writing and direction.
The only thing I can remember from inquisition is trudging through some high level desert looking for high level rocks (which very blatantly cut their drop rate from earlier zones) so that I could make an armor and weapon that still sucked and looked like pajamas.
also that the party loves to litter
Bullfrog for Populous and Dungeon Keeper (ruined by EA).
Troika for Arcanum and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (ruined by Activision).
I only remember Syndicate from Bullfrog
How has no on said this yet.
B U N G I E
Booting Halo was my go-to for like 10 years as the first three games came out. Literally 10s of thousands of hours.
Depends on people's age! I was beyond childhood when that came out, but it was a game changer for me getting to play a FPS that was couch co-op. All FPS games to that point were mostly (all?) multiplayer competitive. PvE was always a solo experience until then!
Bungie gave me some of the best gaming childhood memories.
So much Halo. I was obsessed with it as a kid. The gameplay, the story... It was a SciFi gaming masterpiece. Super fond memories.
I'm also a HUGE fan of classic Marathon and Pathways Into Darkness. People don't give these games the credit they are due, and everyone should play them. You can find the Alephone engine, open-sourced by Bungie, and play all of the Marathon games and community scenarios completely free. A well-respected community member even ported Pathways to the engine.
Humongous entertainment
Neversoft, Rareware, Sega, Activision, EA, and Bethesda created a lot of great memories from my childhood. Neversoft is defunct, Sega still makes some decent stuff but nowhere near what they did in the 90s, EA is EA, and the rest are now owned by Microsoft... so...
I just got THPS3 for windows (from Neversoft) running on my Ubuntu pc yesterday. So much fun, I find a way to play it once every ten years or so.
THPS1 and THPS3 are untouchable masterpieces. The Tony Hawk license never faltered when they were in charge.
Apogee!
I had the Apogee game collection on a CD that was super important to me growing up. I'd like to find it again
Me too. Great games in their era.
This might work?
https://www.gog.com/en/games?query=apogee&order=desc:score
Maxis, Bullfrog, Westwood, Origin... basically any studio that EA bought and destroyed.
Blizzard. Without Activision.
Interplay's Black Isle Studios, now Obsidian.
Frontier for Elite
Psygnosis for Lemmings and a bunch of other fun games on the Amiga.
Fun fact: Rockstar (back then DMA) developed Lemmings.
Elite was a game changer for a lot of people. Lemmings was super fun, as well!
MicroProse and Sierra Online were my faves
I always forget about Sierra, and they were good, too!
Novalogic - Loved the earlier Delta Force games, and Tachyon: The Fringe
Infocom hands down. Pure escapism
Looking Glass Studios.
Team17
Not from my childhood, but I've certainly played a lot of their games!
Valve is the only one of mine that's still around as more than just a brand name used by EA.
Bioware, Maxis, Bullfrog, Westwood, and more... All gobbled up and turned into shit by Electronic Farts.
Others that just died on their own include Black Isle and Interplay, Sierra and LucasArts. Some of these might be around in some capacity, though afaik they're just used for the names.
Neversoft. THPS2 had a banger soundtrack.
Atari
In which era? For me it all started with Combat on the 2600 and I've been a vidiot ever since.
Aspyr! I was a Mac user in an era that was 95% Windows, and Aspyr brought quality games over to our side of the pond. I remember they ported Alpha Centauri in particular, but there were lots of other ones too.
Also Bungie back in that era—they were Mac-exclusive and putting out the amazing Marathon series. I was heartbroken when I saw the trailer for the new “Marathon” game that looks nothing like the originals.
Dice with the OG Battlefield 2 on PC. That's what I mostly played. Now I haven't touched a BF game in years. None have lived up to that game yet.
Squaresoft, tri-Ace, Natsume
Westwood, but not for Command & Conquer or Dune 2. I still remember them fondly for their Kyrandia games. I loved the art design, the music and the jokes.
Kyrandia 2 being one of my all time favorite adventure games, Zanthia was an awesome protagonist. Especially for her time.
It’s nice that their strategy games picked up the way they did, but part of me wishes they stuck with their fantasy games.
Blizzard and Westwood studios. It's unfortunate what happened to them.
Level 5, I still go back to play dark cloud 1 and 2 every couple years. Now if they'd just make the third one I stead of another professor Layton or yokai watch that'd be great!
Fighting Fantasy books
Have most of them still! I think all of them into the 20's, and hit or miss after. There's been a couple of reboots.
Mastertronic on the C64.
Camelot
They made the Shining Force and Golden Sun games, both of which I loved, but these days they have been relegated to making the Mario Golf and Tennis games. Which are still pretty good quality, but I miss them making rpgs.
What I would still give for a true Golden Sun 3. Ah man, that ship seems to have long since sailed. I'd be happy with an anniversary remaster or whatever at least. Imagine them with full voice acting!
Red Storm of OG Rainbow 6
Acclaim of N64 era, Turrok in particular
Ah, yeah. Acclaim did some good work from that era
Time to login to mplayer to see which games weren't using the heartbeat sensor 😔
PopTop. Railroad Tycoon 2&3 and Tropico 1&2. They got bought by 2K, which eventually killed the studio. The Railroad Tycoon series is dead. Tropico is still around, but I'm not excited about the latest interation. Some of the guys tried to kickstart a new Railroad Tycoon but it didn't fund. Phil Steinmeyer was an underrated developer, though I believe he's retired today.
It's too bad it worked out that way. I think they could have been on the level with Paradox as far as strategy games are concerned, but focusing more on economic games, city builders, and the like. On Steinmeyer's blog he said he didn't think there was demand for heavier games anymore about mid 00s. That might have been true then, but so many games out now prove that wrong.
I just looked at my Steam stats today and 52% is RT3. There may be plenty of games that surpass it in visuals, but game mechanics are a different story, and without a stock market I don't see much of a point.
I played Tropico 3-5, but gave up after they refused to give us highways and overpasses.
Some I haven’t seen mentioned yet are Interplay and MECC.