EA Open to More Bullfrog Revivals

[PingSpike]

Link

Populous, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park--Bullfrog Productions churned out a large amount of original IP during the early 80s and 90s, all of which is now owned by Electronic Arts.

EA is already known to be producing a sequel to Bullfrog's classic tactical shooter Syndicate, but now the publisher says it's open to exploring other Bullfrog franchises in the future.

"I'm going to look at them at some point, I think there's an opportunity to bring those back in the future," said EA Bright Light chief Harvey Elliot to Kikizo. "But only if it's right for the time and not just a 'remake' or something. We'd need to do it in a way that's true to the original values, but would still make a great game today."

Added Elliot: "The thing is, the romance of the idea is often detached from the reality of executing it. If you remember all the old classics you played, if you go back and play them now, they're not the same. They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now."

Oh....great! I guess I wondering what took them so long? Did they previously not want to take resources away from the development of Battlefield 7 or are they just trying to sell some of the dusty stuff in their closet?

 

[Maximilian]

Theyre 10 years too late, theme parks been eclipsed by rollercoaster tycoon, it took RCT 3 games to reach theme parks level but it managed it in the end, noone cares about populous anymore and EA sold the dungeon keeper licence anyways, thank god i would hate to see an EA made dungeon keeper. Maybe if they sell all their bullfrog IP theres hope.

 

[shortylickens]

EA needs to sell all these things. If they make the games they will fuck them up completely and destroy the franchises.

 

[RedChief]

Syndicate please.

 

[skyofavalon]

I wish they would bring back The Immortal.Thats one of the best games ever on Genesis. Syndicate was awsome.It will probably be just another lame FPS now.

 

[blurredvision]

I used to play the shit out of Theme Hospital. My brother and I absolutely loved that game when we were young, but I have no idea why.

 

[IEC]

I remember playing Magic Carpet...

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Theyre 10 years too late, theme parks been eclipsed by rollercoaster tycoon, it took RCT 3 games to reach theme parks level but it managed it in the end, noone cares about populous anymore and EA sold the dungeon keeper licence anyways, thank god i would hate to see an EA made dungeon keeper. Maybe if they sell all their bullfrog IP theres hope.

I'd love to play a graphically updated populous, but I have no faith in most sequels especially since EA didn't retain any of the Bullfrog team...? Those guys are what made their games great. Anyway, the thing I hate about remakes is they they fiddle with them too much, just update the graphics and fine tune the game play, don't make it undistinguished from the original.

I'd do dog tricks to see Power Monger return! And yes Theme Hospital was a riot to play if kind of limited.

I didn't play theme park too much, but IMHO RCT3 stunk. Don't get me wrong it was a nice game, but it lacked the playability of its predecessors.

 

[damocles]

Originally posted by: paperfist

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Theyre 10 years too late, theme parks been eclipsed by rollercoaster tycoon, it took RCT 3 games to reach theme parks level but it managed it in the end, noone cares about populous anymore and EA sold the dungeon keeper licence anyways, thank god i would hate to see an EA made dungeon keeper. Maybe if they sell all their bullfrog IP theres hope.

I'd love to play a graphically updated populous, but I have no faith in most sequels especially since EA didn't retain any of the Bullfrog team...? Those guys are what made their games great. Anyway, the thing I hate about remakes is they they fiddle with them too much, just update the graphics and fine tune the game play, don't make it undistinguished from the original.

I'd do dog tricks to see Power Monger return! And yes Theme Hospital was a riot to play if kind of limited.

I didn't play theme park too much, but IMHO RCT3 stunk. Don't get me wrong it was a nice game, but it lacked the playability of its predecessors.

ditto, I haven't thought about Populous for years but a good updated version would be fun. I dont have much faith in EA though ;(

 

[Newbian]

So wait... does this mean a possibility of Dungeon Keeper 3?

They so better make it good.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Newbian
So wait... does this mean a possibility of Dungeon Keeper 3?

They so better make it good.

Dont count on it. I dont know what could be worse, chinese MMO or EA's lousy attempt they couldve made

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I've got the EXTREMELY rare Theme Park for my Genesis.

The DS version is better anyway. The Playstation 1 version had 3d tours though. Looked like shit but was far better then anything I had seen before.

 

[Kalmah]

"If you remember all the old classics you played, if you go back and play them now, they're not the same. They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now."

I just finished playing through Dungeon Keeper 2 again and loved every second of it.

Keep the same game
Keep the same style

Add stuff like weapon/armor upgrades for your workshop, better traps, possibly a creature tagging system(without taking away the need for first-person posession), Add a few new rooms to the dungeon, an EXTREMELY polished 3d enigne, better AI.. and out of all things.. it MUST still remind me to go to bed at 2am.

Possible scenarios:
1) Bugged to hell, clanky interface, poor design
2) Budget game with dungeon keeper name thrown on for sales
3) DRM crippled with a million 'online features' added that make the game gay like Spore
4) Awesomeness as I described in previous paragraph

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: Kalmah

Possible scenarios:
1) Bugged to hell, clanky interface, poor design
2) Budget game with dungeon keeper name thrown on for sales
3) DRM crippled with a million 'online features' added that make the game gay like Spore
4) Awesomeness as I described in previous paragraph

All of those are indeed possible. Except for one.

 

[Kalmah]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu

Originally posted by: Kalmah

Possible scenarios:
1) Bugged to hell, clanky interface, poor design
2) Budget game with dungeon keeper name thrown on for sales
3) DRM crippled with a million 'online features' added that make the game gay like Spore
4) Awesomeness as I described in previous paragraph

All of those are indeed possible. Except for one.

The sad truth.

 

[darkrisen2003]

I have been waiting for dungeon keeper 3 for so long now its almost like waiting for that lost blizzrd game about the orc leader thrall that just dissapeared. I would absolutely freak out if dungeon keeper 3 was made. I wouldnt sleep for days on end loving every exciting moment.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: RedChief
Syndicate please.

Yes, but I think someone with a little bit of free time could recreate the same game in java with little effort. Great game but when you think about it, there's really not much to it.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: peritusONE
I used to play the shit out of Theme Hospital. My brother and I absolutely loved that game when we were young, but I have no idea why.

Theme Hospital rocks. I may have to load that bad boy up and play me some.

 

[Homerboy]

DUNGEON KEEPER!

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: darkrisen2003
I have been waiting for dungeon keeper 3 for so long now its almost like waiting for that lost blizzrd game about the orc leader thrall that just dissapeared. I would absolutely freak out if dungeon keeper 3 was made. I wouldnt sleep for days on end loving every exciting moment.

Yeah but the difference is Blizzard started that Orc game and officially cancelled it.
Whereas EA bought out Bullfrog and rarely made any official statements about what they would do with the franchises.
I honestly dont know why you would be waiting, No one ever said they would make a DK3. It was never even implied. Plenty of hardcore fans did speculate on the matter for years, but nothing official was ever declared.

 

[Kalmah]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: darkrisen2003
I have been waiting for dungeon keeper 3 for so long now its almost like waiting for that lost blizzrd game about the orc leader thrall that just dissapeared. I would absolutely freak out if dungeon keeper 3 was made. I wouldnt sleep for days on end loving every exciting moment.

Yeah but the difference is Blizzard started that Orc game and officially cancelled it.
Whereas EA bought out Bullfrog and rarely made any official statements about what they would do with the franchises.
I honestly dont know why you would be waiting, No one ever said they would make a DK3. It was never even implied. Plenty of hardcore fans did speculate on the matter for years, but nothing official was ever declared.

Well, there was a video trailer for dk3 and bullfrog where working on it before EA....

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: Kalmah

"If you remember all the old classics you played, if you go back and play them now, they're not the same. They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now."

I just finished playing through Dungeon Keeper 2 again and loved every second of it.

Keep the same game
Keep the same style

Add stuff like weapon/armor upgrades for your workshop, better traps, possibly a creature tagging system(without taking away the need for first-person posession), Add a few new rooms to the dungeon, an EXTREMELY polished 3d enigne, better AI.. and out of all things.. it MUST still remind me to go to bed at 2am.

Possible scenarios:
1) Bugged to hell, clanky interface, poor design
2) Budget game with dungeon keeper name thrown on for sales
3) DRM crippled with a million 'online features' added that make the game gay like Spore
4) Awesomeness as I described in previous paragraph

I'm not sure how old you are or how old you've been gaming for, but that guy has a point. I loved Racing Destruction Set, Earth Orbit Station, Guild of Thieves, Pirates, etc on my C-64/Amiga, but trying to go back and play those awesome games is now painful. The gameplay is still there but the 8bit graphics really strains your brain.

 

[Kalmah]

Originally posted by: paperfist

Originally posted by: Kalmah

"If you remember all the old classics you played, if you go back and play them now, they're not the same. They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now."

I just finished playing through Dungeon Keeper 2 again and loved every second of it.

Keep the same game
Keep the same style

Add stuff like weapon/armor upgrades for your workshop, better traps, possibly a creature tagging system(without taking away the need for first-person posession), Add a few new rooms to the dungeon, an EXTREMELY polished 3d enigne, better AI.. and out of all things.. it MUST still remind me to go to bed at 2am.

Possible scenarios:
1) Bugged to hell, clanky interface, poor design
2) Budget game with dungeon keeper name thrown on for sales
3) DRM crippled with a million 'online features' added that make the game gay like Spore
4) Awesomeness as I described in previous paragraph

I'm not sure how old you are or how old you've been gaming for, but that guy has a point. I loved Racing Destruction Set, Earth Orbit Station, Guild of Thieves, Pirates, etc on my C-64/Amiga, but trying to go back and play those awesome games is now painful. The gameplay is still there but the 8bit graphics really strains your brain.

I don't know man.. The thing about old graphics.. they leave room for the imagination. You aren't really looking for flaws in the graphics.. not paying attention to framerates and stutters. With high-end graphics, if you see something out of place.. a bad shadow, grass that looks like a sprite... you are thinking about how that looks bad. You are expecting the game to bring everything to life for you.

Now you take an old 2d pre-rendered game like for instance baldur's gate. You see the 'general idea' of how things look.. leaving the rest for the imagination.. allowing you to enjoy it how you imagine it.

Action games and fps are kind of an exception to this though.

But yeah, about being made for the right time.. that does make sense. People expect different things now. You could have the most amazing game ever made, but if it doesn't have the latest visual qualities attached to it people probably wont buy it.. unless it is marketed correctly I would guess.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Kalmah

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: darkrisen2003
I have been waiting for dungeon keeper 3 for so long now its almost like waiting for that lost blizzrd game about the orc leader thrall that just dissapeared. I would absolutely freak out if dungeon keeper 3 was made. I wouldnt sleep for days on end loving every exciting moment.

Yeah but the difference is Blizzard started that Orc game and officially cancelled it.
Whereas EA bought out Bullfrog and rarely made any official statements about what they would do with the franchises.
I honestly dont know why you would be waiting, No one ever said they would make a DK3. It was never even implied. Plenty of hardcore fans did speculate on the matter for years, but nothing official was ever declared.

Well, there was a video trailer for dk3 and bullfrog where working on it before EA....

Exactly, Bullfrog.
EA was a bunch of bastards and they killed the whole damn thing.

Damn them! Damn them to hell!


And while we're on the subject:
http://www.gamepro.com/article...ises-we-want-rebooted/

 

[Schadenfroh]

Sweet, I could use some Syndicate.