Where'd Working Designs go?

[maxlords]

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but it seems that as of now, Working Designs STILL has not updated their site since AUGUST 12th. That's incredibly bad for a software company, especially one that claims to be in touch with the demographic it's trying to reach. Between the fact there there has been nothing at all on the game they were working on and the cancellation of the Arc the Lad 3 guide, thinks aren't looking too hot for ol' Working Designs!

[Half Japanese]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing in the "Meston" article thread. Apparently they're working on Growlancer or something. It's too bad Goemon couldn't get the greenlight from SCEA or whatever. Things aren't looking good indeed, I mean, few (if any) of their games have ever been top sellers, but this kind of inactivity is usually the prequel to a fall. Maybe ZM can update us? Or you could possibly email Dave Zdyrko (I fucked up that spelling probably) who used to work on their site (he also worked at IGN and has his own site now, which I forget the domain to). Hopefully all's well, but all signs don't point that way.

[Oobgarm]

Or you could possibly email Dave Zdyrko (I fucked up that spelling probably) who used to work on their site (he also worked at IGN and has his own site now, which I forget the domain to). Hopefully all's well, but all signs don't point that way.

http://www.davezdyrko.com/

If you're interested.

[zmweasel]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing in the "Meston" article thread. Apparently they're working on Growlancer or something. It's too bad Goemon couldn't get the greenlight from SCEA or whatever. Things aren't looking good indeed, I mean, few (if any) of their games have ever been top sellers, but this kind of inactivity is usually the prequel to a fall. Maybe ZM can update us? Or you could possibly email Dave Zdyrko (I fucked up that spelling probably) who used to work on their site (he also worked at IGN and has his own site now, which I forget the domain to). Hopefully all's well, but all signs don't point that way.

I must assume that WD spy-eyes are all over these forums at the moment, so I need to choose my statements carefully. Ah, the joys of legal harassment!

Goemon is, like SNK's Metal Slug 3, not cancelled, but also not concept-approved by SCEA, and in my personal opinion (which is unrelated in any way to Digital Press or any employers and should not be interpreted as such) will never be approved.

SCEA required Working Designs to bundle Growlanser 2 and 3 in a single package, as stated by Ireland himself on the WD forums. No ship date for the double-pack has yet been established, other than "2004." Ireland would have preferred to release the games separately, also as stated by him on the WD forums.

-- Z.

[udisi]

Hopefully I'm not sounding stupid, but working designs is independant right?...why don't they attempt to put some of these games on other platforms. Granted that the game was not original a SECA game or affiliate in Japan, otherwise I know why they couldn't go with another platform.

[zmweasel]

Hopefully I'm not sounding stupid, but working designs is independant right?...why don't they attempt to put some of these games on other platforms. Granted that the game was not original a SECA game or affiliate in Japan, otherwise I know why they couldn't go with another platform.

Careful-phrasing time...

Victor has stated on the WD forums and Usenet that he does not care for Microsoft, so it's very unlikely he would port to that platform. GameCube third-party software isn't selling at all (SCII an exception, but it had Link, which is cheating), so it's very unlikely he would port to that platform. And in my personal opinion (which is unrelated in any way to Digital Press or any employers and should not be interpreted as such), Working Designs does not currently have the financial resources to execute ports from the PS2 to another console.

-- Z.

[Strongbad]

You shold just put "My personal opinion is unrelated in any way to Digital Press or any employers and should not be interpreted as such" in your signature line, Z :D Pathetic that you have to, but that's the way things work with some people :(

I'll find it interesting to see if WD can manage to afford to release the Growlancer games at all with the slow rate at which their working and lack of any other forthcoming games in the foreseeable future. I'm left wondering if Growlancer Generations will be their last game or if Arc the Lad Collection was.....I can't see them getting the rights to enough other games to make it viable for them to continue releasing games at the same incredibly slow pace. I also expect the same thing to happen to them with Growlancer that happened with Arc the Lad, i.e. Sony lets em release the first bit of the series, and then snakes the new games right out from under em to release direct from SCEA.

[zmweasel]

You shold just put "My personal opinion is unrelated in any way to Digital Press or any employers and should not be interpreted as such" in your signature line, Z :D Pathetic that you have to, but that's the way things work with some people :(

I expect things to calm down in a while, so I don't want to include that as a .sig and keep the flames burning.


I also expect the same thing to happen to them with Growlancer that happened with Arc the Lad, i.e. Sony lets em release the first bit of the series, and then snakes the new games right out from under em to release direct from SCEA.

That won't happen. Growlanser 2/3 are very obsolescent games; the December 2003 issue of OPM notes, "Even by 2001 standards, when Growlanser 2 was released in Japan, the game's graphics pretty much sucked." (OPM has apparently hired Beavis and Butt-head to head their preview section.) Growlanser's dated visuals are, in fact, a primary reason for the difficulty Working Designs has had in getting the games approved by SCEA.

In addition, Growlanser is an Atlus franchise (which Atlus USA passed on, if that tells you anything, and it should), whereas Arc was published in Japan by Sony.

-- Z.