Who made the games you're playing?

[chfuji]

Over at 1up.com, Sam Kennedy posted an article about a Japanese company called Tose who apparently has had quite a hand in a number of games. You can read the article here (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3156447).

Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about the idea that a game I may have bought or played wasn't made by who was listed on the box. Until I'd read this article I honestly had no idea that anyone was doing this. What're your thoughts?

[Local Area Network]

As long as they aren't responsible for companies like Ocean stealing ideas over the internet and making cheap games about long-tongued lizards (apparently happened to a friend of mine).

[parasoul]

That was an interesting article.

My thoughts: I have no problem with companies outsourcing their work to companies like Tose. The publishers take risks dealing with outside companies like this. If the games end up being bad it doesn't hurt the Tose name; it hurts the publisher's name. If the games end up being good Tose gets no credit and the publisher's name becomes more respected. Tose's mission is basically to get rich working for all companies and not take credit for any game, good or bad.

This makes me wonder though...does EA really suck as bad as it seems or is Tose making all those poorly designed and even more poorly tested games?

[Urban Xperience]

I never saw that coming... this has really opened my eyes!

[Bahamut]

Interesting read. Now, they need to start an American branch.

[Yamato2299]

Stealth in game design? Interesting concept to think about.

[suzumebachi]

1up.com is dead to me. They can rot in hell, every last one of them. Fascist bastards they are.

[Bahamut]

1up.com is dead to me. They can rot in hell, every last one of them. Fascist bastards they are.

Haha, feel my hate! I remember getting pissed off because they blocked the ISPs I was using (i.e. AOL, my undergrad college connection).

[The Damned]

I wouldn't be surprised at all about this. It's well known that in animation, any one anime studio will part out scenes to other studios. They do this because the scene isn't as "important" as others, or they need something special done with it.

It makes sense. Don't have the time or staff to do the battle engine? Hire someone else to do it.

[Guy In Rubber Suit]

This makes me wonder though...does EA really suck as bad as it seems or is Tose making all those poorly designed and even more poorly tested games?


No, it's all the other developers under EA's umbrella. EA owns a lot of various game developers or has contracts with them.



This article was interesting, but for some reason, I got the impression that Tose is some sort of sinister evil corporation who must be stopped. Whatever, Tose has a very good buisness plan going on and it's particularly common now to have assests outsourced. I know that there are companies out there that specialize in cinematics only, or just concept art.

[sirusd]

It's surprising, but it seems that they do mostly grunt work.

[suzumebachi]

Haha, feel my hate! I remember getting pissed off because they blocked the ISPs I was using (i.e. AOL, my undergrad college connection).

They've blocked thousands more ISPs since then, including my own.

WHY? Fucking retarded.

[Merk]

Who made the games I'm playing?



Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers.

[watkinzez]

Well, it's not really that much to be surprised about- don't think you should be expecting the original team if you buy a spinoff or a port years after the fact. Interesting, though.

[The Damned]

Who made the games I'm playing?



Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers.
God damn it... I knew that was coming, and I didn't do anything to stop it.

Merk +1

[Dhsu]

ITT list games that were probably made by Tose:

Dirge of Cerberus
Devil May Cry 2
Starfox Command
Luigi's Mansion

[FiremanJoe]

ITT list games that were probably made by Tose:

Dirge of Cerberus
Devil May Cry 2
Starfox Command
Luigi's Mansion

Goldeneye Rogue Agent
Enter the Matrix
Starfox post-SF64
Probably The Sims too.

[Culturekoi]

When I first read that article, it didn't seem that bad. I mean, if the games are wuality, who cares, really? And if the guys at Tose really don't care for credit, well... So be it, it's their business.

But then I thought... Japanese developers are more clever than that. No, it couldn't simply be for money, or to (god forbid) selflessly help another company achieve commercial success. It is WORLD DOMINATION. That simple.

I mean, consider this: The games they mentioned, things like Virtua Fighter Adventure, that Dragonball game, Rocket Slime... Those are all spin-offs of incredibly, incredibly popular series, right? Which means a hell of a lot of people bought them. They KNEW lots of people would buy them. Now, what could a developer who is not even mentioned in the creation of a game possibly do with an audience like that? Subliminal messages! It's so clear once you understand that a secretive, international organization like that can only be evil (see: every spy movie ever made ever).

So, given: Tose IS an evil mega-corporation. They probably have way more going on than just video games. We know that there can only be one goal: world domination. Now, which country has constantly tried to expand but has always been defeated? What country was defeated so badly that we forced them to get rid of every trace of military power? And what country would be so clever as to dominate with roundabout, technological methods to prevent anyone from being able to stop them? Oh, I think we know exactly who Tose answers to.

THE USSR.

Because in Soviet Russia, video games play YOU.

[KyleJCrb]

This is common practice in all forms of business. For example, I work in a small machine shop here in Phoenix. Honeywell, one of the largest aerospace and computing manufacturers in the world, outsources machining jobs to many other large outfits, like say Jet Products. Now, Jet (which is large, but not nearly the size of Honeywell) take the job, but either may not have enough machines or manpower to get it done (or only wants the profits without the labor required), so they send it to a local, small-time shop like ours. We run the job, send it back, and Jet pays us for the work. Honeywell is pretty much oblivious to our involvement, and we're never officially acknowledged. To them, it was Jet all along. Things like that happen all the time.

[Nemitor_Atimen]

I made the game im playing.