It was a PlayStation 3 exclusive that simply didn't live up to expectations, and the consequences for developer Free Radical were dire. But now, after being rescued by Crytek, the Haze developer talks about why the game failed.
In speaking to Develop , Free Radical's Karl Hilton said the complicated PS3 tossed many obstacles in the path of the designers, and those development issues meant Haze "wasn't the game it should have been." Remember, it took some time for game makers to really get a good handle on the PS3's architecture and it seems Free Radical simply wasn't read for it. Said Hilton:
"A lot of them were technical issues. The PS3 is a powerful machine but a difficult one to get the best out of. We spent more time trying get the game running properly and less time to design the game properly."
As a result, the game didn't sell well and Free Radical was forced into administration last December. Thankfully, Crytek – now re-branded as Crytek UK – saved them with a buyout bid and now, Hilton and the rest of the team have access to things like the awesome new CryEngine 3. Furthermore, Hilton believes we most certainly haven't seen the best of what the PS3 can offer:
"I don’t think we’ve seen the best out of the PS3 at all, and I definitely think one of the best things about Crytek and the CryEngine is that we’re now in the best position to get the most out of the hardware."
In the end, Hilton believes that "no one" has pushed the PS3 to its maximum limitations, but the CryEngine 3 will give the team a "great head start." We at PSXE still hope for TimeSplitters 4 , but we have no idea if that project came with Free Radical or not… But at least they've learned their lesson.
Related Game(s): Haze
Yes, PLEASE let us see TimeSplitters 4… and soon!
I'm slightly perplexed as to where he is going with this, how is it that other developers cope fine?
only game b4 him that did well was Uncharted 1…and maybe GT5: Prologue.
Heavenly Sword
Resistance
Motorstorm
Warhawk
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
Among others
I would hope so, they're all published by sony.
Well, least they manned up to their mistakes and are now trying to make something bigger and better for it hopefully =D
Agree
Are they owning up or just blaming others?
I agree nonetheless.
excuses excuses, let em' figger out the machine and make a second haze, then decide, but the thing is I actually enjoyed haze :S
I did, too. But, I think I only enjoyed it because I played through the entire game on 4-player co-op! (I might not have liked it, if I played it single-player)
Quit whining and ask Sony for more Dev tools. They have been helping third party developers get more out of thier games for quite a while now.
Sounds more like "It was too hard to make our game run right on this platform, so once we got that going we did not want to risk breaking it by fine tuning the actual gameplay."
Before everyone leaps on this guy in defense of the PS3, bear in mind that during this game's development, a LOT of developers were having major difficulties with the machine.
Agreed, although some may point out that Haze was a PS3 exclusive, and they had access to Sony's own teams of expert advisers.
Ah well, we get used to really good games and when one comes along that's not stellar, we start looking for reasons. We'd all do well to remember that not all game developers are equal. It's like that old joke/truism about Doctors. What do you call the student that graduates at the bottom of the class in med school? Doctor. Doctors can't all be neurosurgeons, some are cut out to be general practitioners. Of course not every valedictorian in med school wants to be a neurosurgeon, some want to be family doctors…
The same is true for developers.
Have to agree Haze was crap, but now they can regroup and figure the system out.
I remeber FR saying it was Ubi's fault for HAZE failing. Saying Ubi kept changing things like story and setting, but now with their ass saved they're blaming the PS3, please.
Just shut up and give us TS4.
Yes, blame the PS3…it had nothing to do with the fact that the whole concept of the game sucked. I knew this game would be ass from the minute I read about it a loooong time ago.
the concept was average but u could tell they did have difficulties buy just looking at the game….and we all know they are great developers by looking at their past work
Never cared about this game…FPS games needs to rest on peace.
Last edited by Oxvial on 8/12/2009 10:51:05 AM
fps games r great!
The market is saturated with fps's. Enough is enough.
Last edited by Jawknee on 8/12/2009 11:58:34 AM
yeh because thats what most people like!
Agreed with Jawknee and Ox. It's like eating too much fast food. After a while, you get sick of it and blow chunks.
wow u guys luv to h8 fps games and lol at thumbs down just for like fps games
Last edited by Godslim on 8/12/2009 2:34:33 PM
You have bad taste so shut up and play some halo.
No godslim, we don't love to "h8" fps's. There's just too damn many of them. Bioshock, Modern Warfare and Killzone 2(KZ2 actually being the best I've played)are all great and fun, but after that they are mediocre and dull and not worth the blue ray they're printed on. Half of the games available are fps. Most of us are burnt out.
Yeah, I'm definitely just burnt out on them. Also, I thumbed Ox and Jaw up but I would never thumb anyone down just because of a difference in opinion/preference. To me, the thumbs down is for idiot comments/flames.
ha i dont like halo ox and i think that is damn rude of u…..oh and i have good taste in games thank u very much i dont need u to tell me otherwise and no knightkrawler they were not idiot comments and was certainly not flaming u just decided to pick an argument because u dont like fps games i just because i sed i do which is a difference in opinion u give thumbs down
I think you like Halo because thats what most people that play FPS games like!
lol you are taking this FPS opinon too personal face it people like me are bored with FPS dont try to force your shitty games taste on me.
now go and play some Modern Warfare .
Ha!
wow. so he has a shitty taste in games just because it differs from yours? grow up
When he reply about the jawk comment about FPS are satured with
''yeh because thats what most people like! ''
I lose all respect from him so I'm just trolling with him laugh about my reply or be another stoic FPS games defender with him I dont care.
but still FPS games need to rest.
Last edited by Oxvial on 8/13/2009 11:26:24 AM
take it personally
This made it personal
"You have bad taste so shut up and play some halo"
and yes loads of people do like fps games hence y so many are made and so many sell really well
and no i dont like halo 😉 tbh i dont get what your problem is and as nomorewar said u really need to grow up
Godslim, you need to take a second to read my damn comment. I said I would "never thumb anyone down for a difference in opinion." By that, I meant that I did NOT thumb you down. I thumbed the others UP, but I did NOT thumb you DOWN. Can you comprehend that? If you like FPS games then that is perfectly fine. No, I don't think you have bad taste in games because of it. I'm sure you like the best FPS games available as well as the other genres of games too. By saying that I think the thumb down option is for idiot comment/flames, I didn't mean that you made an idiot comment or were flaming. Hope that clears that up.
LOL you are taking this personally that just make this trolling more fun.
You still don't get it , MY OPINION FPS need to rest just look at how unimpressive Killzone 2 sold and you know I'm sure it must be in the top 5 FPS games of this gen but still I didint buy it cuz I'm already bored of FPS games.
You must be like those people that eat everyday on McDonald's and later they get fat but they still come to eat on McDonald's every damn day.
Also don't get mad and relax.. MW 2 is coming so people like you can buy again the damn activision milked thing.
Last edited by Oxvial on 8/13/2009 2:46:21 PM
oh well sorry knite crawler didnt know that dude i thought u did
oh and ox this argument was never about my opinion everyone can think what they want i just dont like the way u told me
"You have bad taste so shut up and play some halo"
just for saying i like fps games anyway end of!
this is why i DONT have a problem with devs pushing back release dates sometimes. if they know it sucks but feel like they can make it better… then keep working on it and deliver a good game at a later date. dont just push sh** to production if its sh**
I don't know why they didn't take more time to figure out the PS3 first, then try to focus on the complete process. This was like Army of Two, everyone made it look and sound awesome. Then it came out and I almost vomited all over my tele.
Software development is a learning process, always. When you're working with a new platform, especially a complex one, the best way to learn is to do. In the commercial world of software you have to produce something at some point or the bills don't get paid. So you can't afford to devote unlimited time and resource to learning before actually working on a project, more often than not, you learn as you go.
Haze should have bee Multiplat man, I think it would have sold more because ps3 owners are really careful in terms of buying $60-70 games but 360 and PC owners dont give a sh** as long as its a fun game
Uh…where did you ever get that idea?
…And general economics/consumer psychology takes a big hit.
My, the naivety!
Good luck my friend.
Vault 101
Easy on the sauce killa
Last edited by Jed on 8/12/2009 2:59:56 PM
i liked the demo but didn't have any money to buy the game, but then people said it was crap so i forgot about it.
everyone should look at this as, thank god they didn't butcher time splitters as their first game on the system. Hopefully Crytek will make a new timesplitters.
Hopefully we can squeeze Battlefront 3 outta them too.
What he said!
well if they have not gotten most out of the PS3 then why are most games dipping under 30 FPS, HuH!, HuH!.
wait, what?