Curt Schilling, GOPtard, bootstraps himself and assfucks Rhode Island

[Ed Anger]

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2012/05/18/high_risk_video_game_venture_has_rhode_island_curt_schilling_reeling/

"This is a risk worth taking,'' said Carcieri, a Republican, announcing the 2010 deal that lured Schilling's company, 38 Studios, to Providence, and put Rhode Island taxpayers on the hook for up to $75 million in guaranteed loans to an athlete who liked video games but had never developed one.

"I think the governor had stars in his eyes, the whole idea of playing ball with a baseball player intrigued him and others,'' said Republican state Representative Robert Watson, former Rhode Island House minority leader. "And I think they got blinded by that celebrity.''

What Carcieri and supporters saw as the seed of a glittering new business sector for Providence, which has struggled for decades to replace jobs lost with the decline of its jewelry industry, now seems to be crashing down.

After missing a $1.1 million payment May 1 and a personal plea from Schilling for more public assistance this week, 38 Studios has said it does not not have enough money to pay its employees. On Wednesday, the state economic development official who oversaw the loan guarantees resigned abruptly. In a bizarre twist, at one point Thursday, company representatives hand-delivered a check to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, apparently to cover the late $1.1 million payment, but then later said the company had insufficient funds to cover it.

Fuck your state Tim.

[CountDeMoney]

Better 38 Studios than MMP.

[Ed Anger]

Better 38 Studios than MMP.

MMP doing video games would be a hoot.

Would make Duke Nukem Forever look timely.

[CountDeMoney]

Would make Duke Nukem Forever look timely.

Meh, MMP would just only sell patches;  core programs wouldn't have been available for quite a few years.

[Ed Anger]

Would make Duke Nukem Forever look timely.

Meh, MMP would just only sell patches;  core programs wouldn't have been available for quite a few years.

Paradox has that market cornered. LOL

[CountDeMoney]

Ed, your avatar is both funny and yet somehow disconcertingly fitting. 

[Ed Anger]

 

[CountDeMoney]

Schilling's company released its first effort earlier this year, a role-playing video game called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It was well-reviewed and has sold about 1 million copies at about $60 each, according to market research company VGChartz.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

http://www.gamespot.com/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning/reviews/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-review-6349784/

The Good

    Top-notch combat with a real punch 
    Fantastic, flexible character advancement 
    Some great-looking creatures 
    Extensive world with tons of stuff to do and lots of monsters to fight.

The Bad

    Generic story and characters 
    Generic world 
    Generic quests.

Even the greatest role-playing games aren't necessarily known for their great combat. They're frequently praised for their ambitious worlds, their involving stories, and the element of choice. But when you talk about your favorite RPGs, it's not often that the action is what you talk about first.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not like those games. In the future, when you talk about Kingdoms of Amalur, the first thing you will probably mention is how fun the battles were. Incredibly, this RPG's combat is so exciting, it could have been used in a pure action game and would have held up just fine. In fact, from a swordplay, loot, and leveling perspective, Kingdoms of Amalur is as good as any RPG in recent memory. This is the role-playing game you should be playing if excellent action and progression are your primary concern.

Of course, RPGs are about more than just swinging swords. The best of them aren't just games--they're worlds, in which unusual people mill about, inviting you into their homes and telling you of unimaginable treasures protected by unimaginable monsters. It's here that Kingdoms of Amalur falters. Amalur is nice enough to look at, and there are lots of things to do there. But each thing you do is pretty much like the last thing you did. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you stumble upon a coven of cannibals and have telepathic conversations with a dog. In Mass Effect 2, you explore the painful past of a troubled young woman and witness the ultimate conflict between mother and daughter. In Kingdoms of Amalur, you kill stuff and listen to a bunch of nondescript characters spout line after line of unexceptional fantasy lore. There's so much talking, so much effort put into all this dialogue. And yet Amalur never develops an identity in spite of it all. There's a lot of tell, but not a whole lot of show.

Sounds like 38 Studios should've hired more Humanities grads. 

[Habsburg]

Where's the 60 mil?

[Scipio]

It's a good game.  It hasn't crashed to desktop in over 50 hours of play.

And it's pretty, with good music and voice acting.

Too bad they couldn't succeed with great reviews and a quality product.

[katmai]

The sad saga of 38 Studios took an even more depressing turn Thursday afternoon.

The beleaguered game maker run by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling abruptly laid off all of its employees, effective immediately. Insiders at the company say they also learned their health insurance will run out at midnight.

Employees learned of the layoffs through an internal email, which Gamasutra has obtained.

It reads:

"The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a company wide lay off is absolutely necessary.

These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary.

This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012."

Meanwhile, a person claiming to be a now-former employee of the company told Kotaku that no one has been paid since April 30 -- and company officials have not communicated the status of things to workers throughout the process.

Rhode Island news outlet WPRI reports the company had 379 employees as of March 15, 288 of which were located within the state, with the remaining located at the offices of Big Huge Games in Maryland. That subsidiary studio, too, was reportedly shut down today.

38 Studios, which earlier this year shipped the role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, is in the throes of a severe financial crisis that's been impacting the entire state of Rhode Island. The developer, which obtained a $75 million loan from the state, failed to make a $1.125 million payment last week, eventually scraping together the funds at the expense of payroll.

While Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a mid-level hit, it was unable to help the company stay afloat. 38 Studios has been working on a massively multiplayer online game, codenamed "Copernicus," though that likely has been shelved now with the development team dismissed.

[CountDeMoney]

Where was Bain Capital to save it? 

[Ed Anger]

[Valmy]

Wait their first game as an unknown studio sold 1 million copies and that was not enough to remain solvent?  What sort of horrible business plan is that?  What exactly where they expecting?  Skyrim type sales on their first attempt?

[Razgovory]

Wait their first game as an unknown studio sold 1 million copies and that was not enough to remain solvent?  What sort of horrible business plan is that?  What exactly where they expecting?  Skyrim type sales on their first attempt?

They took a 70 million dollar loan.