I don't know that many ppl in the gaming industry but I know some dudes who worked on Asheron's Call, I wonder if any of them floated over to this
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Friday, 25 May 2012 15:52 (twelve years ago) link
just so everyone understands, the loan guarantees were approved by former republican governor don carcieri during his last term, after declaring he would not seek reelection
And unfortunately, through a comedy of errors Lincoln Chafee looks like a genius as he denounced the 38 Studios deal struck by Schilling, Carcieri, and the General Assembly in 2010. Then-candidate Chafee said:A serious misrepresentation has been made to the taxpayers of this state about the value of this deal. The time to put a stop to it is now. The original information used to make this decision was flawed. First, the initial job numbers were inaccurate. Second, new information about the slowing growth of the video game software industry requires a serious second look. Third, some of the loan’s proceeds will be used to pay off a Massachusetts bank loan of unknown size, not create new jobs. The conclusion is inescapable: this is an insider deal that does not serve the best interests of citizens.
A serious misrepresentation has been made to the taxpayers of this state about the value of this deal. The time to put a stop to it is now. The original information used to make this decision was flawed. First, the initial job numbers were inaccurate. Second, new information about the slowing growth of the video game software industry requires a serious second look. Third, some of the loan’s proceeds will be used to pay off a Massachusetts bank loan of unknown size, not create new jobs. The conclusion is inescapable: this is an insider deal that does not serve the best interests of citizens.
http://wrnipoliticsblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/gov-chafee-asked-afl-cios-nee-to-resign-from-edc-board-nee-refused/
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 16:00 (twelve years ago) link
schilling is such a garbage human being, this entire thing is awful
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 16:28 (twelve years ago) link
whole ordeal enabled by slavish parochial sports fandom / red sock of courage bullshit imho
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
how much money could I make off of CHAFEE WAS RIGHT t-shirts
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Friday, 25 May 2012 16:33 (twelve years ago) link
schill was a hell of a pitcher though.
― scott seward, Friday, 25 May 2012 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
sure, but how does that translate to him being a good CEO? only the RI general assembly knows!
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 16:50 (twelve years ago) link
Despite Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning selling "1.22 million copies in its first 90 days"
hmmm the number i heard was far less than that, 500K in the first month, which would have meant it sold more in the 2nd month...though he could be citing worldwide figures, not just U.S.
if their break-even projection numbers were over 3 milllion, man, that's a tough row to hoe.
to be honest, big huge games is a solid studio, and they hired ken rolston, who played a big role in making both elder scrolls morrowind and oblivion.
i wonder how much they wasted paying RA Salvatore and Todd McFarlane to deliver boilerplate fantasy crap?
it's a shame that Big Huge just got shut down, because the game itself was pretty good, and if it really sold 1.5M that's not bad for a new franchise....if they think making an even more expensive project (the mmo) in an even riskier genre that's littered with the bodies of companies that thought they were the "next World of Warcraft", they are insane.
i heard through the grapevine that schilling had gotten money out of a bunch of pro athletes as "investors" lol
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:25 (twelve years ago) link
pro athletes should be banned by law from investing their money
― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:29 (twelve years ago) link
lol, at first, because of the RI connection, i was thinking of seth mcfarlane and thinking, "duh, of course it was doomed to failure!"
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:30 (twelve years ago) link
oh man I had forgotten that this was the Spawn meets Drizzt Do'Urden MMORPG
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
what do the farrelly brothers do with their money?
― scott seward, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:43 (twelve years ago) link
Big Huge did Rise of Nations, right? the Civ/Age of Empires mash-up series?
What pisses me off is that the motherfuck makes fucking loud-ass Tea Party noises for years, then runs for public coffers for dosh to pay back himself first, iirc.
Setting up a system for subsidized loans to entice high-tech industry and gamedevs is a good idea(Bethesda is in MD, if you remember); dumping insane amounts of funds into a new studio run headed by a first-timer trying to make a blockbuster MMO on their first try is not.
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:48 (twelve years ago) link
likewise, sinking all of the state's economic development funding into a single business!
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:51 (twelve years ago) link
exactly! awesome example of appeal to authority as a cognitive fallacy, too!
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:53 (twelve years ago) link
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, May 25, 2012 2:25 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lmao
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:54 (twelve years ago) link
iirc schilling actually asked for MORE loans to cover costs after 38 couldn't make payroll, over and above the loans already received. the request was turned down, which led to the mass firings this week. afaik, the only remaining thing 38 can do to raise money is to sell off their tax credits to other businesses.
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Friday, May 25, 2012 1:48 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yep they did Rise...studio was founded by Brian Reynolds, one of the ex lead producer types at Firaxis, like a said a good, solid PC oriented studio, Schilling certainly didn't pick a bad company to work with...
I believe the Reckoning project was actually started with another publisher, dropped and picked up by 38 Studios
to your second point, Big Huge was in Maryland and Schilling actually sort of played Maryland and Rhode Island against each other to see who would give me the most "job creation" kickbacks...Rhode Island got sucked into his celebrity and also the very misguided idea that making money on these dang games those kids love so much is really easy - why my kids play video games all the time!
Schilling is basically just a well-heeled fanboy with the hubris to think he knows one fucking thing about running a successful game company, no different than any million dudes except he's famous.
if i've learned nothing else, it's that the business is incredibly complex and just crushingly difficult -- even if you are amazing at what you do. and that enjoying playing games has very very little to do with whether or not you'd be good at making them.
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
RI public radio roundtable on the subject, including Gov Chafee
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrni/news.newsmain/article/0/13/1932647/Top.Stories/Political.Roundtable.the.future.for.RI.and.38.Studios
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
right, Dunning-Kruger Effect in action.
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:24 (twelve years ago) link
Will take this moment to state that I really want Firaxis or Reynolds to do an updated Alpha Centauri, my fave of all Civ games.
I enjoyed it so much I even read _The Jesus Incident_, its source material.
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
Schilling actually sort of played Maryland and Rhode Island against each other
this is exactly what happened, it essentially became a bidding war
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
you win this round, maryland. *shakes fist*
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
massachusetts comes out of this looking great too because our politicians our dumb but thankfully weren't dumb enough to call when rhode island raised
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
I really can't see Deval Patrick going for this at all
I mean, there's no casino component
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:39 (twelve years ago) link
hah yeah pretty much
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
curt schilling is the worst person.
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, May 25, 2012 11:37 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― lag∞n, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
$75 million loan is just a staggering amount, like how many fn people did they think this place was gonna employ
― lag∞n, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:50 (twelve years ago) link
400-450 iirc
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
public documents from the RI EDC are online, who knows what's buried in the fine print
http://www.riedc.com/38studios-public-documents
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:56 (twelve years ago) link
i realize that fantasy genre shit with foofy names makes tons of money all the time, but it still cracks me up that this much coin was riding on something called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:06 (twelve years ago) link
as far as fantasy names go, that's super tame and boring tbh
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:08 (twelve years ago) link
One former employee told the video game blog Kotaku that 38 Studios workers learned of the payroll miss only when checks failed to hit their accounts. According to the employee, workers learned by word of mouth that their health insurance was to expire abruptly, Thursday night at midnight. "We found this out when an employee's pregnant wife was told by her doctor, this was on Tuesday 22nd May this week," the employee wrote.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:14 (twelve years ago) link
ra salvatore made $5 million off this, lol
― Hungry4Ass, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
that to me is the worst shit, like it's one thing to hear "oh you're not getting paid in 2 weeks" and another to hear "oh that bill you thought you were gonna pay today? yeah that's not happening"
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
ironic that my video-game-loving son's public school may end up getting shuttered and consolidated because of a failed video game
schilling's the dope who drove this into a wall but carcieri's the moron who handed him the keys to his car, unfortunately I live in that car and, well, I don't really know where I was going with that metaphor
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
into a wall
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
Catherine Welch @CWELCHRI@RINPR Ex-38 Studio employee tells RIPR that Gov Chafee stonewalled the company2:48 PM - 25 May 12 via web
i completely understand 38 employees being outraged at the sudden loss of their jobs but i honestly don't think chaffee is the appropriate focus for yr anger, dudes
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
he would not give us $78m more dollars
― lag∞n, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
trying to make an MMO from the start seems like the worst business plan ever for a game company
― ciderpress, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
i just don't know what oversight could the state have provided re: how the funding was dispersed, short of interfering with the actual development of the game?
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:28 (twelve years ago) link
are there any truly successful MMOs that aren't built on the back of existing IP and reputation
― ciderpress, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
just imagine the RI general assembly getting involved in the development of an mmorpg
what on earth would that game be like
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
character class: potatohead
probably more interesting than a generic fantasy MMO
― ciderpress, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:31 (twelve years ago) link
i hope this stops Delaware from staking its future on non-erotic Twilight fan fiction
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:31 (twelve years ago) link
― judas, a homo (elmo argonaut), Friday, May 25, 2012 4:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
that is the game dont u see
― lag∞n, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I'm wondering who made that call.
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
About starting with an MMO right out of the gate. Don't these people play Game Dev Story?
― ciderpress, Friday, May 25, 2012 4:27 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― ciderpress, Friday, May 25, 2012 4:29 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
yes its completely insane. how on earth did nobody in charge go WHOA WHOA WHAT THE FUCK before this money was given to schilling
― Hungry4Ass, Friday, 25 May 2012 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
we're the vibrator guys ^expert
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Monday, 22 April 2013 01:53 (eleven years ago) link
I went to their web page and started getting flashbacks to Morel Orel, had to click off
― Call me at **BITCOIN (DJP), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:07 (eleven years ago) link
Help me out... what was like Moral Orel on their site?
― MomWifeMarketer, Monday, 22 April 2013 19:35 (eleven years ago) link
guess he did put his fortune into that video game http://www.forbes.com/sites/zillow/2013/10/07/retired-baseball-player-curt-schilling-selling-house-home-contents-in-estate-sale
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 02:43 (ten years ago) link
who wants to make a video game that bad damn
there are so many video games already
I feel bad for the people who lost their jobs and the people of the great state of Delaware, but on the other hand: lol
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 03:01 (ten years ago) link
Delaware and Rhode Island are the same place to me
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 03:04 (ten years ago) link
tough but fair
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 03:13 (ten years ago) link
Curt Schilling @gehrig38 3h
If someone were to buy Amalur, put team back on it, it's a billion dollar franchise, 2 years later and still no ones done what we were doing
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 26 November 2013 19:12 (ten years ago) link
it's true, I can't think of another software developer who bankrupted a state
― deX! (DJP), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
Only one video game company put up a blood-soaked sock as collateral.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 19:18 (ten years ago) link
' 2 years later and still no ones done what we were doing'
Weird kinda delusion makes you make public statements like that, or sink your fortune into taking on WoW right out of the gate with a team of no MMO experience, or be a ball player who adds 'Gehrig' to his twitter handle
― An Android Pug of Some Kind? (kingfish), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:05 (ten years ago) link
@williemayshayes
― An Android Pug of Some Kind? (kingfish), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:07 (ten years ago) link
Gehrig is his son's name fwiw
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:07 (ten years ago) link
Seriously?
― An Android Pug of Some Kind? (kingfish), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:10 (ten years ago) link
Also, did KoA ever go on super sale on Steam or amazon or anywhere? I'd to actually try the game out now that all the shouting's done
― An Android Pug of Some Kind? (kingfish), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:11 (ten years ago) link
he's just a really big gehrig fan, and i believe has used that handle forever on wow and message boards and stuff. it's probably the least offensive thing he's done.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:12 (ten years ago) link
A ha
― An Android Pug of Some Kind? (kingfish), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 20:14 (ten years ago) link
diagnosed with cancer, and the fact that he doesn't want to talk specifics leads me to fear the worst :/
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 6 February 2014 01:04 (ten years ago) link
Game is on Steam, finally. Was on sale this weekend.
― President Frankenstein (kingfish), Thursday, 6 February 2014 01:19 (ten years ago) link
I mean, I don't even care about Schilling beyond schadenlols and I thought responding to "dude has cancer" with "plus his game came out" was cold
― Fight the Powers that Be with this Powerful Les Paul! (DJP), Thursday, 6 February 2014 01:34 (ten years ago) link
i took it as a pvmic but idk
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 6 February 2014 01:38 (ten years ago) link
It's a horrible diagnosis, but one of the things I've been curious all along is what the actual thing that effectively started all this downfall was like as a game.
I'll grant my juxtaposition could have been handled better.
― President Frankenstein (kingfish), Thursday, 6 February 2014 06:29 (ten years ago) link
Sort of. That one that actually came out was developed by another studio that got swallowed up by Shilling's studio during all this, and it was already mostly done. I believe they rebranded it to fit into their fictional universe, the main game of which never came out.
― Nhex, Thursday, 6 February 2014 06:37 (ten years ago) link
Really? IP acquisition is weird. I always thought that his studio led with the design and brought in all the nerdcult names to work on it. Like, this thing was a piece with the MMO.
― President Frankenstein (kingfish), Thursday, 6 February 2014 06:42 (ten years ago) link
http://deadspin.com/various-lowlights-from-curt-schillings-failed-38-studio-1732879364
― polyphonic, Thursday, 24 September 2015 21:56 (eight years ago) link
Chas Pierce paying attention to this loony
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a47895/curt-schilling-senate-elizabeth-warren/
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 August 2016 18:21 (seven years ago) link
and Taibbi!
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/curt-schilling-is-the-next-donald-trump-w435754
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 14:46 (seven years ago) link
Curt Schilling...Mike Pence...is there a right-wing American fucknut called Pound, by any chance?
― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 15:23 (seven years ago) link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Ezra_Pound_1963b.jpg
― mark s, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 15:26 (seven years ago) link
in many ways the ur-fucknut
TY. Eric Morecambe behind EP, too.
― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 15:29 (seven years ago) link
hahaha is that actually Eric??
― beer say hi to me (stevie), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 16:04 (seven years ago) link
http://deadspin.com/detective-curt-schilling-is-on-the-case-of-the-hoboken-1787242420
― nomar, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:57 (seven years ago) link
next trump http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/09/28/curt-schilling-run-president-haha-sure
― lag∞n, Friday, 30 September 2016 14:22 (seven years ago) link
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--JYqz9Ent--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/r7t7jjyzhcggacqjivbc.jpg
― nomar, Monday, 10 October 2016 05:57 (seven years ago) link
lmfao
― lag∞n, Monday, 10 October 2016 16:50 (seven years ago) link
he still hasn't deleted it
― I look forward to hearing from you shortly, (Karl Malone), Monday, 10 October 2016 16:54 (seven years ago) link
Gotta go on Twitter and thank him for the display name
― GUN SHOW POOPHOLE (Phil D.), Monday, 10 October 2016 16:57 (seven years ago) link