Tag Archives: too human

Alex Donaldson continues his discussion with NeoGAF owner Tyler Malka, where they discuss the site’s often volatile relationship with the industry. Oh, hello there Denis Dyack.

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Too Human, the 2008 Xbox 360 exclusive from Silicon Knights, has been pulled from the Xbox Live Marketplace as part of a November court order to recall and destroy every unsold copy of Too Human and X-Men: Destiny.

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Too Human developer Silicon Knights will continue to pursue its suit against Epic following a ruling which favoured the Unreal Engine maker.

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A court judge has dismissed the expert testimony of an accountant Silicon Knights recruited to help solidify its case against Epic Games. In response, the firm’s Denis Dyack said the dismissal would be “one of the few rulings that Epic can say went their way.”

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Looks like Two Human, Too Furious isn’t six-feet under after all.

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The courts have given the go ahead in a suit filed by Silicon Knights against Epic over Unreal Engine 3 licensing. The original complaint, filed back in 2007, claims Epic “defrauded” the firm by claiming the source code for UR3 was more complete than it actually was.

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According to a report from Digital Battle, Grand Theft Auto IV is the most expensive game ever made.

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According to this Joystiq report, Silicon Knights has laid off 26 staff today as the studio reshuffled its size in preparation for “several new and exciting” projects.

Before the downsize, the company totalled just over 180 employees.

“Silicon Knights is currently working on several new and exciting games that will be announced to the public in the coming months,” said company boss Denis Dyack.

“In addition to those projects, Silicon Knights continues to develop and promote other new and original ideas, which will become the innovative games of tomorrow.

“These 26 individuals are hard-working and valued team members that we hope to bring back as we ramp up on our future projects.”

More through the link.

Too Human, eh? Peter Molyneux played it a bit and thought there wasn’t something quite right about it, as he told Joystiq.

“In the end, I think with Too Human… it has some gems in there, but they’re hard to find,” he said.

Again, I didn’t play it for terribly long. I quite like the combat and felt it was accessible, but I just… if I got my hands on the game, I’d rip out a few of the things they did and just concentrate on the core. It just slightly forgot about what it was trying to be. In a way, it tried to be something it was not. It felt – and again, I thought it did some things really well – that there was something slightly off about it.

“I’m sure that Dennis Dyack is going to come and kill me now.”

Loads more through there.

Speaking to VG247 in London recently, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack said that, in his opinion, EVE Online’s better than World of Warcraft. It’s an RPG developer MMO face-off, kids.

“I used to,” said Dyack when asked if he played World of Warcraft. “I pulled myself off… Within four weeks I was at level 57, so I almost got to level 60 and then I said, ‘You know, I’ve got to stop this.’

“I was really, really big into EVE Online,” he added. “I love EVE Online, and actually for me personally I actually think it’s a better game. I know it’s a lot harder core, but the depth of it’s unparalleled and I love it. But I have to stop, force myself to stop playing those games because it takes so much time.”

It’s not just MMOs that float Denis’s boat, though. He’s a whatever, whenever kinda guy. Expect when he’s crunching on a game.

“I play games across the board, you know,” he said. “Whatever I can play I’ll try, and I’m looking forward to getting home and actually playing some games, now that I’m not working on Too Human 24/7.”

So there you go. EVE wins. For now.

X3F’s been to Canada for a chat with Denis Dyack at Silicon Knights, done some filming and taken some pictures. It’s good shit, yo. See it all here.

It’s going to be in four parts, apparently. Take a look.

After telling videogaming247 the reason he chose to challenge NeoGAF over negative comments towards Too Human was because the forum was “the worst” of it’s kind, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack now finds himself banned from the site.

GAF moderator EviLore wrote this angry response:

As Confucius once said, “the photoshop cat juggles a ball of yarn, and unravels it all over his face.” You are Baldur, Denis. You’re the poorly animated bald Norse technogod, the Übermensch with a thousand pointless book references misunderstood by the dirty proles who aren’t worthy enough to judge you.

Your favorite Nietzsche quote, “he who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster,” is one you’ve fallen victim to yourself, if your opinion of this site is to be taken to heart. In these pitiable confrontations with us you’ve proven to be the monster of gaming development, a sore on the industry and a squanderer of your subordinates’ time and effort. Through all this, through this self-inflicted PR nightmare, you’ve conquered vast new frontiers of unwarranted hyperbole and desperate pseudo-intellectual grasping. Buy an unaccredited doctorate, change your given name to Derek, and take up the reins; Derek Smart would eagerly defer to the greatness of Dr. Dyack.

What is an appropriate action to take in response to the man who continues to post here? I won’t be tolerating a second retconned “social experiment,” a second call for NeoGAF’s closing, or a second “worst forum” insult. You decided to ignore the option for real terms for your pointless tag bet, so with the majority of reviews condemning your magnum opus to mediocrity I’ll claim a suitable prize by telling you to get the hell off NeoGAF.

We’re saying nothing.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking with MCV, Microsoft’s head of gaming and entertainment, Stephen McGill, has said that MS “very excited” by a Too Human trilogy.

“Microsoft Game Studios and Silicon Knights are committed to finishing the first instalment, but Too Human is an overarching epic with a rich and vast game universe that cannot be told in one instalment,” he said.

“This game will begin the saga of the god Baldur in the narrative tradition of classic trilogies, such as Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. We will talk about the full trilogy and we are very excited about its potential.”

Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack told videogaming247 in an exclusive interview that work is already underway on Too Human 2 and 3.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking to VG247, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has confirmed that work has begun on both a second and third Too Human game, as well as revealing new, unannounced projects in the works at the Canadian developer.

“We do,” he said when asked if the firm’s working on games other than Too Human.

“They’re unannounced. We’re not talking about them right now, but there are other games in the pipe. Also, of course, we’ll be continuing the [Too Human] trilogy with Microsoft.

“We’re definitely on the road, and things are looking really good: the sequels are underway.”

Dyack added that the only thing that would realistically stop more Too Human games would be a complete failure of the first title.

“It’s as guaranteed as anything is these days, yeah,” he said. “If the first game totally fails and no one wants to play it, then what’s the point of making a second or third?

“But looking at the trends of the demo and how we think we’re going to do, then yeah.”

Too Human hits US retail today, and launches in Europe at the end of this month.

Speaking to VG247, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has spoken out about his public feud with NeoGAF, saying that he wanted to make an example of the effects of negative forums and picked the site because he considers it to be “the worst” of its kind.

“NeoGAF is considered to be the worst, and I would say is probably the worst forum,” he said. “And so, you might as well pick the worst one. Why not?”

Dyack posted on NeoGAF to challenge its users on negativity towards long-in-development RPG Too Human, a move that instantly spread over the internet’s news sites.

“A lot of people would say, ‘Don’t post on a forum. Forums don’t have any affect.’ That post on the forum got picked up by almost every single major press site, and it did influence the press,” Dyack added.

“I knew a demo was coming up [The demo set a record for Live with over a million downloads – Ed] and I knew all this was going to happen, and what I wanted to do was make an example of [the fact that] people need to understand the affect forums are having because there is an effect, it’s not a null effect.”

Read Dyack’s answers to our questions on the matter after the break. Too Human is released today in the US and at the end of the month in Europe.

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Speaking to VG247, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has confirmed that no PC version of Too Human is currently in the works, despite talk to the contrary.

“It’s a rumour, it’s not true,” he said. “We have no plans for a PC version right now.”

A PC version was speculated on after the Australian OFLC listed Too Human as a PC game.

That’s that, then. Too Human releases in the US today, with the European version hitting at the end of the month.

Joystiq’s put together a montage of the first Too Human reviews, and all indications are that you should be buying it if you really, really love levelling a character and getting a bigger sword.

• GamePro (4/5) “Here’s an Xbox 360 exclusive that proudly wears its lofty ambitions on its sleeves, and yet sometimes seems bent on self-sabotage. That it’s so relentlessly addictive despite its aggravations is something of a minor miracle.”
• IGN (78/100) “What’s been delivered in the end is a good game that ultimately falls just short of its promise due to a few questionable design decisions. One thing is for sure, though. If you love collecting random loot drops, you’ll find a lot to like here.”
• Giant Bomb (3/5) “If you have an insatiable lust for items with higher stats than the ones you’re currently using, or if you get giddy at the mere thought of Diablo-style rare item naming conventions, you’ll probably be able to look past the game’s issues and have a good time. But even at its best, it’s hard to ignore Too Human’s monotonous combat and dated approach to cooperative play.”
• GameSpot (55/100): “Too Human is a game of false starts and unrealized potential that infiltrate almost every aspect of the game, from story, to combat, to balance. Its elements feel stitched together, making for a patchwork quilt of a game that’s fraying at the seams.”
• 1UP (C-) “At the very least, the cyber-Norse concept of Too Human is a good one that’s worth exploring further, just not in this context. The game is simply schizophrenic; it attempts to be all things to all people and never succeeds in executing any of them well. The end result is in dire need of polish and focus, and that doesn’t solely apply to gameplay mechanics. There’s absolutely no reason why a game released in 2008 should have a bug where characters can fall through solid ground and into some pseudoabyss.”

Game’s out today.

It isn’t just a controversial videogame: according to Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack, Too Human could make a difference to the entire area surrounding the developer.

“If Too Human does what we expect it will, then it can change the world for St Catharines and Niagara,” he told the St Catharines Standard.

“I’ve said this before. I want to see a campus here in Niagara dedicated to interactive information technology,” he added.

The game’s out tomorrow. Tons more through the link.

Speaking to Develop, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack’s claimed that the company’s legal battle with Epic is based on the fact the latter defrauding a bunch of companies in the industry. Ow.

“Well the trial is proceeding, we feel really good about our claims, and we’re hopeful that justice will be done,” he said. “We all feel really strongly that they have defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry.”

Full thing through the link. Thanks, Kotaku.

Speaking with Kiziko, Silicon Knights’ controversial commander in chief, Dennis Dyack, revealed that if you want to reach level fifty in Too Human, the game can be anywhere from 50 to 80 hours in length.

“First play through is probably around fifteen hours, I guess, it depends,” said Dyack.

“To get to level fifty, it’s anywhere from fifty to eighty hours. It’s a lot! There’s a lot there to want to dig! And to get all the epic loot – I don’t even know if it’s possible to get everything in the game, it’s probably not – not for a single person.”

Too Human comes out later this month. Full interview through the link.

Look out for the videogaming247 interview with Dennis Dyack coming soon.

By Mike Bowden