Wasn't it something like inb4fooni? If this game keeps working and doesn't get sold to companies like the 9, that alone is a plus. But then why were the rights to FireFall sold when the game was doing well? I can see the bus and sports fail, but the rest seemed to be doing good. And why keep changing something that was working? We all loved it, but some won't be happy if we like it.
I have to admit this new game looks to be good. We can only hope that the reports were wrong about Mark being to blame with an inflated sense of power and a swaggering attitude of , if you don't do what I say, your fired. That is hearsay and I have no proof, only speculation, so please forgive me if i am wrong. That is what most news reports said and was all we had to go by.
By the creative things I have seen in this new game, I find it hard to believe Mark was at fault. He seems to have a good sense of what works and what we would like in a action game. He has proven that with the work he did at Blizzard, FireFall/Red5, and Now Em8er and Crixta. I'm on for the duration, lets see where this takes US. after all, its been one hell of a ride so far.
#inb4fooni, yep.
I'm not all that well versed with FF's detailed history, but The9 were brought in as investors after R5 ran out of the bank they had, chopping and changing the game systems. As for who to point fingers at, I wouldn't know well enough. Maybe all parties involved were to blame. Long story short, The9 took over the reins, and now we are one Firefall short.
As for the whole 'Mark Kern - Genius or Madman?' saga, most of the anger and hatred directed at him takes its 'facts' from the apparent 'all-reveal' post (read rant) by an 'R5 ex-employee/insider' about Mark's 'authoritarian/wasteful' reign at R5. This individual has mostly been outed as a The9 shill, paid to spread misinformation about Mark. And let's not forget the bus, the elephant in the room (on the streets?) that everyone just loves throwing in the face of anyone who supports Mark. Long story short, the company that was asked to build the bus, screwed it up. The vehicle was not roadworthy/operation-worthy, and that was a lot of money down the drain.
The9 had a specific vision, WoW with guns, which was everything Mark did not want for Firefall, and they eventually got their way by ensuring that Mark spent as little time as possible with the team. In the end, he left, and The9 got what they wanted, a festering abomination that imploded in a not-so-glorious fashion.
Then again, it's not always as simple and straightforward as 'A is wrong, B is right'. Mark had a specific vision, and ideas that probably had not been attempted in the MMO industry. It's a risk you take with such matters. They can be a runaway success or fail hard. In the case of Firefall, several factors played into it crashing and burning. Sure, mistakes were made, everybody makes them. If anything, I'd appreciate the fact that Mark had the balls to attempt to do something that was not just 'copy WoW, retexture, rename, launch'. And that same sentiment is echoed by the community here.
All said and done, Firefall was a learning experience, and Mark has been quite careful about ensuring that the mistakes on FF are not repeated here. All the more better for Em-8ER.