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Legendary Westwood Dev Takes Over at Amazon Game Studios - MMORPG.com News

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
edited March 2017 in News & Features Discussion

imageLegendary Westwood Dev Takes Over at Amazon Game Studios - MMORPG.com News

Amazon Game Studios Seattle location has a new leader in the form of legendary Westwood co-founder Louis Castle. Castle was instrumental in the Command & Conquer series as well as over a hundred other games from Dune 2 to The Lion King to Blade Runner and Boom Blox

Read the full story here



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Comments

  • ArtwolfArtwolf Member UncommonPosts: 48
    Awesome! Loved C&C.
  • AnirethAnireth Member UncommonPosts: 940
    What you didn't mention that he was still with Westwood/EA when it all went downhill, and that he didn't amount to much in his next job. And it's not like being a "legendary dev" actually guarantees anything, enough games (or things that are supposed to be games) floating around to prove that.

    I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
    And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
    Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
    And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore

  • HarikenHariken Member EpicPosts: 2,680
    Yeah this is the guy that screwed over his staff by selling the company and not telling them.
  • BurntvetBurntvet Member RarePosts: 3,465
    And Amazon hired Smed, so it is not like their judgement is worth anything, anyway. All Amazon knows about games is that they sell them.
  • francis_baudfrancis_baud Member RarePosts: 479
    edited March 2017
    Command & Conquer <3
    JamesGoblin
  • jeba28jeba28 Member UncommonPosts: 3
    edited March 2017
    and after some time he sell it to EA like westwood, im still get sick of thinking back at that horrible time.
    thanks to EA we lost a few huge games like C&C, red alert and .... Earth and Beyond
  • LokeroLokero Member RarePosts: 1,514
    Burntvet said:
    And Amazon hired Smed, so it is not like their judgement is worth anything, anyway. All Amazon knows about games is that they sell them.
    It feels like Amazon is just hiring every big name they can find.  I am increasingly getting that feeling of "Too many chefs in the kitchen" with each new hire.
  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    Lokero said:
    Burntvet said:
    And Amazon hired Smed, so it is not like their judgement is worth anything, anyway. All Amazon knows about games is that they sell them.
    It feels like Amazon is just hiring every big name they can find.  I am increasingly getting that feeling of "Too many chefs in the kitchen" with each new hire.
    Also a lot of hype for a studio that has neither produced nor published anything yet. I guess it's interesting that a new studio is forming backed by Amazon's megabucks... just produce something so we can see what you're really all about.

    Hopefully they got something more than just "TWITCH INTEGRATION!!!" :)
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • DakeruDakeru Member EpicPosts: 3,803
    Lokero said:
    Burntvet said:
    And Amazon hired Smed, so it is not like their judgement is worth anything, anyway. All Amazon knows about games is that they sell them.
    It feels like Amazon is just hiring every big name they can find.  I am increasingly getting that feeling of "Too many chefs in the kitchen" with each new hire.
    At first I was really optimistic about Amazon making games - big budget, big names... sounds like a lot of potential.
    Now it feels like they are just hiring anyone with a name in the industry regardless of their history in the last years.

    Though as soon as I heard Westwood I remembered Legend of Kyrandia so I will try to keep some of my optimism from a more civilized time before the galaxy went dark.
    Harbinger of Fools
  • nycplayboy78nycplayboy78 Member UncommonPosts: 213

    jeba28 said:

    and after some time he sell it to EA like westwood, im still get sick of thinking back at that horrible time.

    thanks to EA we lost a few huge games like C&C, red alert and .... Earth and Beyond



    And let's not leave out the Lands of Lore series...SIGH...Take me back to the 90s...
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 44,057
    edited March 2017
    I guess with so little innovation in the last 15 years they have to reach back to people who were at least innovative at one time.

    They could do worse.

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

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  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    DMKano said:

    Aori said:

    The true legends are at Petroglyph now still making RTS games. 



    The true legends that totally botched End of Nations? And have had a plethora of crap games with one exception - GreyGoo.

    Yeah he's as legendary as you are :)
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • BurntvetBurntvet Member RarePosts: 3,465
    Lokero said:
    Burntvet said:
    And Amazon hired Smed, so it is not like their judgement is worth anything, anyway. All Amazon knows about games is that they sell them.
    It feels like Amazon is just hiring every big name they can find.  I am increasingly getting that feeling of "Too many chefs in the kitchen" with each new hire.
    It is clear that Amazon is willing to throw down some cash to get into the game business, when many other companies have been getting out of it (at least on the PC side). But shoveling a whole bunch of money to try to break into a market is not always successful either. Neither is hiring a bunch of has-beens like Smed and the other guy. I suspect they will do a lot of mobile/console games, since that is where market is right now.
    Arclan
  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
    I never saw a single shred of evidence Amazon was going to amount to anything anyhow.
    If Smed is there ,all he knows is how to con people so Amazon is going nowhere.

    I will say that i really enjoyed lots of Westwood games back in the day.However a lot of studios i loved have changed their direction big time.
    At one time i truly believe there was a passion to go along with the business side,not any more,now studios aim directly at cash grabs like cheap ass mobile games.

    Arclan

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    DMKano said:
    Iselin said:
    DMKano said:

    Aori said:

    The true legends are at Petroglyph now still making RTS games. 



    The true legends that totally botched End of Nations? And have had a plethora of crap games with one exception - GreyGoo.

    Yeah he's as legendary as you are :)
    lol - anyone actually gives a crap about silly forum titles?

    it means nothing. Id hope people focus on what is being said, not WHO is saying it, as thats irrlevant.
    But it say so... right there under your name :)
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • DrevarDrevar Member UncommonPosts: 177
    Hiring the Smed is pretty much a deathwish. He will push whatever project he is on to be a game he wants to play and to hell with what the players, marketing, or other devs might have in mind.

    "If MMORPG players were around when God said, "Let their be light" they'd have called the light gay, and plunged the universe back into darkness by squatting their nutsacks over it."
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    "In the end, SWG may have been more potential and promise than fulfilled expectation. But I'd rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
    -Raph Koster

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441
    Kyleran said:
    I guess with so little innovation in the last 15 years they have to reach back to people who were at least innovative at one time.

    They could do worse.
    Agreed, at least he have made more then one good game in the past. Just because you made something good in the past don't mean you will in the future but the possibility is certainly there.

    In any case, no matter who they hire it will be the games that will make or brake Amazons gaming department. We will just have to wait and see how things turn out, no need to either hype up yet or predict doom.
  • BruceYeeBruceYee Member EpicPosts: 2,556
    edited March 2017
    Did he replace the guy that said his favorite game of all time is MLB Baseball? or did he replace the blonde-haired guy who did the stream?
  • MaxBaconMaxBacon Member LegendaryPosts: 7,846
    Oh boy
  • TalonsinTalonsin Member EpicPosts: 3,619
    Interesting that the guy he replaced has left the studio before they even release a game.
    "Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game."  - SEANMCAD

  • RenoakuRenoaku Member EpicPosts: 3,157
    Hopefully he can make C&C great again, (NOT THIS CRAP EA HAS MADE) I am so sick of it it makes me sick what EA does.
  • ArclanArclan Member UncommonPosts: 1,550
    Wizardry said:
    I never saw a single shred of evidence Amazon was going to amount to anything anyhow.
    If Smed is there ,all he knows is how to con people so Amazon is going nowhere.

    I will say that i really enjoyed lots of Westwood games back in the day.However a lot of studios i loved have changed their direction big time.
    At one time i truly believe there was a passion to go along with the business side,not any more,now studios aim directly at cash grabs like cheap ass mobile games.


    Me too; really enjoyed Westwood games in the 90s.

    Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
    In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit

  • donger56donger56 Member RarePosts: 443
    The only good thing about this is at least these "legends" will be using Amazons money and not panhandling on kickstarter again. 
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