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Requiem For Timesplitters: The Death Of The Playful Shooter?

From OXCGN:

"While there are still conflicting reports that Free Radical is under administration, or that members have left and formed a new studio called Pumpkin Beach, or that the studio has just been shut down forever without notice, what seems clear is that the Timesplitters franchise, created by Free Radical, which many of us hoped to see made for the new generation will probably now never be made.

Timesplitters was one of the first console games to offer gamers a simple map editor, which, as anyone who has fooled around with Far Cry 2's excellent editor can attest to, is incredible fun. Sure the games hardly had any plot, but they were very satirical of movies and games. Now, that announced fourth game, in production for more than a year, will probably never come.

"
darkmurder - contributor
Published: 344 days 21 hours ago | Article | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Wii | PC
 
 

Showing: 1 - 29 of 29 Comments
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Godem - 344 days 21 hours ago
1 -
not that i overly liked Timesplitters much... but I thought its level creator was great fun back when I was a kid.

so I don't really care what happens to the game, but for the gamers that do want it, i hope it happens for you :)
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prunchess - 344 days 17 hours ago
1.1 - The Timesplitters series will always be a favourite of mine...
It's not great news hearing about such an iconic studio failing. I have to say I'm very disappointed. Until Free Radical had released HAZE, I would never have had a bad word to say about a game of theirs.

RIP Free Radical and your super spin on shooters. I will definitely miss your brand of humour (and the monkeys).
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gaminoz - 344 days 21 hours ago
2 -
For me, Goldeneye on N64 and Timesplitters 2 have had the most play time with fun and laughter with mates and family over any game since.

Timesplitters may not have ever been groundbreaking or GOTY material, but it was fun, fast, and social.

If this is the end of Timesplitters then we are left with serious shooters and I hope someone tries to be satirical and fun with all the same ingredients: humour, bots, pace, locations, and great art.
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claney - 344 days 18 hours ago
2.1 - @ Above
I agree also i would add to my list
* Conkers Bad Fur Day (64 version, xbox one was horrible); its multiplayer with the bots where awesome, killing those teddies lol
* Red Faction 1; the destruction playing multi-player was awesome

but i also loved the first 2 you posted and i remember making levels with my friend then playing them was so much fun, and it was easy back then when i was a kid lol

come to think of it lol any game really that had offline 2 player multiplayer with bots (killzone 1 was fun with friends offline) is always good/fun (almost!)
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 21 hours ago
3 -
The loss of yet another great development studio. Sadly - not the last.
3.1 Dave2001 | 344 days 21 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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thereapersson - 344 days 20 hours ago
3.2 -
Are you that ignorant, Dave? Because you really are coming off as such.

@ Below

I was talking to Dave2001, not you. I like your guys' articles because you come off as objective, not fanboyish despite having a preference for the 360.
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 20 hours ago
3.3 - @ thereapersson
And what prey-tell do you mean by that 'exactly" . .be great if you wrote more than several words and make one accusation . .

The idea is to 'create a discussion about it. The questions are simple enough, that is of course you bothered to read the whole article and see the questions at the footing?

Please, by all means, have a say, but say "something" other that what you have, it makes no sense whatsoever.

At least the writer has taken the time to actually write something, have you . . ?
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 20 hours ago
3.4 - @ thereapersson
Appologies there,

his post didn't show on my browser unfortunately, and the writers name is - David . . . . And thanks for the props, most appreciated.
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 19 hours ago
3.5 - @ Dave2001
Sony had very little to do with it actually. The state of the industry at large did.

Plus . . and wait for it - YOU.

Why you ?

Well, gamers these days have made life litteraly hell for "developers" (do not read developer meaning publisher as so many mistakenly do - okay)

Why YOU (gamers in general) Easy, we have become a demanding, self absorbed and often ignorant end user. Whos whimsical buying powers dictate what PUBLISHER's decide and how they then push Development houses to make games, which ones to make, and when to have them ready.

We demand innovative games be made - toot-sweet. We want new IP's and no sequels please - yet buyt hem by the truck load when they com eout - go figure!.

Yet when they are delivered, such as say Mirror's Edge, etc, they are panned. Not for their actual game, but because they are different from the normal, and what gamers are used to. And as we ALL know, gamers (generalization btw) do NOT like change - yet oddly enough, demand it and expect it.

But at the same time, are NOT willing to even give a new game a decent try out, or understand that the first of a new IP always has hickups and issues. Have you every seen a brand new model of car come off the production line after 10 years in development WITHOUT ANY issues - no - never. Same goes for games.

But WE do not give the developer any credit for taking the risks, or for those publishers willing to back them to the tune of say - hmm lets see . 15-25-50 million $US . . No, we just bag it within 2-4 hours of game play, jump on the net, dis it like crazy, and the rest is history - as they say.

Stop complaining and blaming others for a situation you are partly responsible for. Either that, or grow up.
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thereapersson - 344 days 19 hours ago
3.6 - @ OZ360
Read his fanboy comment history. He is extremely immature and displays rabid fanboy behavior, which coincides with the comment he has left in this article.

And you are right -- it is fanboys like this that are part of the problem.
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Itrguy001 - 344 days 16 hours ago
3.7 - @dave2001
damn i should not have looked at his past comments.... i think a part of me just died and lost hope for mankind with ignorant comments from ppl like dave
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MK_Red - 344 days 20 hours ago
4 -
If only someone at the team had the brains or courage to tell them to STOP making Haze and instead focus on TimeSplitters 4/
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 20 hours ago
4.1 -
Most certainly, they had a great deal invested in TimeSplitters 4 already, and it wouldn't have been that hard for them to focus on that as their primary goal, making HAZE a secondary one. Being that it (Haze) was a new IP, which traditionally have sketchy receptions at best these days.

By focusing on Timesplitters 4 (the concept art looks amazing if you check it out btw) knowing the reception it would get from old fans as well as new, they could have made a killing.

There were much deeper things afoot with HAZE than we actually know about, the move from Ubisoft, from being a Multiplatform game, then moved as an exclusive on PS3, then Multi then finally back to a PS3 exclusive, which basically tanked big time

No, not because it was on the PS23 - so stop your hate mail right there. But because of the back and forth process of the game, which basically saw it lose it's origins and concepts. Ending up being a half-arsed game no one really liked.

Now if Free Radical had of invested just half the energy into Timesplitters 4, and finished the game, even if it was a year later, the reception would have been huge, especially with their linage on the franchise.

It's a shame that developers are held to ransom by many publishers, who argue the toss as to what a game should be for mainly economical reasons, not gameplay reasons which made the game come to life in the first place.

Yes, tere are more and more major publishers NOT taking that road - NOW, but a few years ago, when these games were being born (Haze and Timesplitters 4) the publishers pushed very hard to have things their way. Which in turn, usually sees either the game tank or the development studio become less popular.
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yanikins111 - 344 days 20 hours ago
5 -
"While there are still conflicting reports that Free Radical is under administration, or that members have left and formed a new studio called Pumpkin Beach"

why dont these idiots wait until they actually know whats going on, then report NEWS.....
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 20 hours ago
5.1 -
Which is why it's called Conflicting reports . But, I have seen a "receivers notice" yesterday outlining the sale of assets from the studio. And for that to occur, papers need to be filed, and that due process takes several days, so that would mean the studio was placed in receivership early this week or late last week.

If you want a link about the receivers notice, check IndustryBiz News or GameSutra, they have the links
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gaminoz - 344 days 10 hours ago
5.2 -
From what I've seen, if you go as far as having administrators take over and lose half your staff, your company ends up sold off for spare parts to try and recoup cash pretty quick. Or just goes bankrupt once they've tried to sell it off.

It may 'run' for a little while, but you need big $$ to keep going in this industry.

It would surprise me greatly if Free Radical or Timesplitters 4 survived.
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Jenzo - 344 days 18 hours ago
6 - Well...
The studio might be dead, but the developers are still alive and who knows what they might bring in the future?
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XboxOZ360 - 344 days 18 hours ago
6.1 -
The developers, which is actually made up of many individuals are scattered. With several starting a new development house called Pumkin Beach. Which was formed BEFORE this news slipped out. So in actual fact, the "developers per-se' are already in different areas, building different games that are NOT associated any longer with Timesplitters and HAZE . .for just that reason.

Again, read the article, follow links and you'll see it all there.
6.2 candystop | 344 days 18 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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gaminoz - 344 days 10 hours ago
6.3 -
They have already said (if you check the article) that they won't do another Haze (thank goodness) or Timesplitters (sob).

Quote from article:
"they were setting up a new company, sort of a new label for the game, to avoid the associations with TimeSplitters and Haze.”

Hopefully they do come up with something not so serious and lots of fun though.
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Jason 360 - 344 days 17 hours ago
7 -
Bummer, it's they only good games they made.
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gaminoz - 344 days 10 hours ago
7.1 -
Though some of the members were involved with Rare's Goldeneye and Perfect Dark...
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Timesplitter14 - 344 days 16 hours ago
8 -
I will shed a single manly tear upon the death of my beloved FPS franchise...

:(

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!
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gaminoz - 344 days 10 hours ago
8.1 -
I'm there crying with you mate.
9 Mitch_Cumstein | 344 days 16 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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gaminoz - 344 days 10 hours ago
9.1 -
I think you are right. Haze really did kill them...they don't have the support of a big named publisher like Ubisoft or EA or Activision to cushion any failure for them.

I think they were working 'freelance' and that means though you tend to have more freedom, you have no direct support in bad times.

The whole Haze debacle definitely heralded the beginning of the end. A game like that, PS3 exclusive OR NOT, would have caused any studio not under a big publisher banner to suffer.

I really worry for independent or smaller studios in this environment.
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Etackett2010 - 344 days 9 hours ago
10 -
If for some reason the original team can't make Timesplitters 4 then it will be sold to the highest bidder just like Fallout 3.
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gaminoz - 344 days 8 hours ago
10.1 -
Yeah but someone will only buy it if they think that there still is a market for a playful shooter (rather than all the serious ones out now) and though Bethesda did a good job of Fallout, will the next group do the Timeplitters brand justice...or try to trade on the name?

I don't know. I want another classic Timesplitters; I'm getting sick of all the shooters that seem so similar.
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