Working Designs has died - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums

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Phoenix

857th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member++

"Working Designs has died" , posted Tue 13 Dec 20:22

Sad news. :(
http://www.workingdesigns.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118916
Thx to Master Giby from S-C for the info.
http://www.snk-capcom.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16106

Replies:

Radish

3123th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(1):Working Designs has died" , posted Tue 13 Dec 20:28:

quote:
Sad news. :(
http://www.workingdesigns.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118916
Thx to Master Giby from S-C for the info.
http://www.snk-capcom.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16106

This may sound mean but I don't really care that much. Companies like Atlus and Nippon Ichi have really made their incredibly slow localization cycle obsolete and most decent games will get picked up by someone anyway. GameArts doesn't really like them anymore so they didn't even have that card left.

[this message was edited by Radish on Tue 13 Dec 20:29]

Ammadeau

1475th Post

Red Carpet Executive Member

"Re(2):Working Designs has died" , posted Tue 13 Dec 21:21

I've never played a single game WD has localized, yet their death somehow makes me just a little sad. I mean, who are we going to make fun of for monumentous localization delays anymore?

That said, yeah, add in Agetec and you have three companies who do localizations faster and better without mucking anything up in the process. NISA is even making me want a PSP for the Idea Factory PS2 games they're porting to it, and of course Agetec is dangling their improved Formula Front in front of my eyes. GTA? Bah, you can keep it.

Ammadeau.net - My own personal waste of time.

Radish

3124th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(3):Working Designs has died" , posted Tue 13 Dec 21:37

quote:
I've never played a single game WD has localized, yet their death somehow makes me just a little sad. I mean, who are we going to make fun of for monumentous localization delays anymore?

Just pretend that Victor Ireland is still working on Goemon by himself in his basement and that it will be the most delayed game ever.

EddyT

532th Post

New Red Carpet Member

"Re(4):Working Designs has died" , posted Tue 13 Dec 22:23

quote:

Just pretend that Victor Ireland is still working on Goemon by himself in his basement and that it will be the most delayed game ever.

We can grow old together, after we have placed our bets to see if that game or Duke Nukem Forever will come out first.

Makondo99

300th Post

Bronze Customer

"Re(3):Working Designs has died" , posted Wed 14 Dec 00:09

quote:

That said, yeah, add in Agetec and you have three companies who do localizations faster and better without mucking anything up in the process. NISA is even making me want a PSP for the Idea Factory PS2 games they're porting to it, and of course Agetec is dangling their improved Formula Front in front of my eyes. GTA? Bah, you can keep it.

I had to wait ONLY TWO FREAKING YEARS for a "Wild Arms Alter Code: F" in English! Yay! Go Agetec!

[rant]
And somehow I'm liking the PS1 version more... well I've just started the PS2 version but Jack's intro was MUCH funnier in the PS1 [/end_rant]

Gojira

1899th Post

Gold Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Executive

"Re(4):Working Designs has died" , posted Wed 14 Dec 13:47

I heard they were supposed to die 2 years ago but it was heavily delayed.

ZING

Okay, all done grieving

Phoenix

858th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member++

"Re(5):Working Designs has died" , posted Wed 14 Dec 14:43

Well, to WD's credit, I really enjoyed their deluxe packaging. That and Lunar. I still plan on picking up Growlanser Generations one of these days.

Juan

4230th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Also TITUS SOFTWARE WHAT THE HELL" , posted Wed 14 Dec 16:40

In this same note a friend called me and mentioned that Titus software croaked last year. This was tragic. My friends were convinced that the company had infinite funds and that it existed so it could buy old franchises and make horrible games out of them.

Its like Lex Luthor died and Superman doesnt have a favorite villain to fight.

quote:
I've never played a single game WD has localized, yet their death somehow makes me just a little sad. I mean, who are we going to make fun of for monumentous localization delays anymore?

Radish

3125th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(1):Also TITUS SOFTWARE WHAT THE HELL" , posted Wed 14 Dec 20:24

quote:
In this same note a friend called me and mentioned that Titus software croaked last year. This was tragic. My friends were convinced that the company had infinite funds and that it existed so it could buy old franchises and make horrible games out of them.

Its like Lex Luthor died and Superman doesnt have a favorite villain to fight.

No more Titus the Fox games??

I had always assumed that Working Designs was a front for human trafficing or a drug cartel since I had no idea how they could stay in business otherwise.

CHAZumaru

308th Post

Bronze Customer

"Re(1):Also TITUS SOFTWARE WHAT THE HELL" , posted Wed 14 Dec 20:36

One dot artist at my workplace (who is actually my office neighbour) comes from Titus and joined us a few weeks after they collapsed. He's pretty good actually. Worked on that game which I believe never came out.

...and just as I answer Juan, I unlock a penguin avatar in Daredemo Asobi Taizen. IS IT MAGIC?

NOW IS TIME TO THE 68000 Z80 AND SH-2 HEART ON FIRE !!

Burning Ranger

1346th Post

Red Carpet Executive Member

"Re(6):Working Designs has died" , posted Thu 15 Dec 12:03

quote:
Well, to WD's credit, I really enjoyed their deluxe packaging. That and Lunar. I still plan on picking up Growlanser Generations one of these days.

I'm not really in the know about WD's games, though I think I played one of them at some point (was Grandia 2 a WD game?). I do know they did the Saturn version of Magic Knight Rayearth, a game I wanted to play eventually.

Advanced Cyborg E. Branger AKA Burning Ranger

...and for Guilty Gear X2 # Reload!

Maou

739th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member+

"RIP" , posted Thu 15 Dec 12:16

Argh, not that surprising given their nonexistent means of support lately, but this makes me sad. Not that many cafe members play that many RPG's I guess, but still, what a drag. Now that people outside of Japan have access to many translated games, it's not as huge a hit for English-speaking audiences I suppose, but back during 16- and early 32-bit eras, Working Designs were the reason English speakers got to play countless wonderful RPG's outside of Square's lineup.

When I bought Lunar~Eternal Blue on SegaCD in English in high school, it was the first RPG I ever owned, and it's still my favorite. Theirs were for a long time (and arguably, still are) the best translations in the business as far as capturing the emotive spirit of the original texts they translated, which meant both good translation and straight-up good writing in English, too. Plus, I have a soft spot for the company that was so in touch with its fans in a way that the US branch of a Japanese company can never be. RIP, WD.

見ているのか、友よ。我らの子供はゆくぞ。－ガレオン

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

GekigangerV

1192th Post

Red Carpet Premium Member+

"Re(7):Working Designs has died" , posted Thu 15 Dec 12:18

quote:

I'm not really in the know about WD's games, though I think I played one of them at some point (was Grandia 2 a WD game?). I do know they did the Saturn version of Magic Knight Rayearth, a game I wanted to play eventually.

I remember the delay for MKR. It was supposed to come out sometime in 1996, but they said they lost all the data or something. Then it ended up being the last game ever released for Saturn in America in late 1998. It was a pretty good game too.

EternalNewbie
200th Post

Frequent Customer

"Re(8):Working Designs has died" , posted Thu 15 Dec 18:01

Though they their dying is mainly their fault, I will still miss the memory of some of their good works like the two Lunar remakes for the Playstation. Still have those game in their original box with everything and the sound tracks and such. Don't know about how others felt about it, but I felt they did a pretty damn good job, even if it took them a long time to do something. Oh well, a sad yet expected event.

EternalNewbie:
The Einherjar Hachitoushi -- The 8 Warriors of the Ragnarok Plan

Phoenix

859th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member++

"Re(9):Working Designs has died" , posted Thu 15 Dec 18:44

Interview with Victor:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141225.html

crazymike

1196th Post

Red Carpet Premium Member+

"Re(10):Working Designs has died" , posted Fri 16 Dec 01:19

Well at least we won't have to hear John Truitt's lisp anymore.

Radish

3128th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(10):Working Designs has died" , posted Fri 16 Dec 02:06

quote:
Interview with Victor:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141225.html

Someone in that company really needed to grow some balls and tell him that Goemon was a mediocre game 5 years ago and releasing it now is just retarded.

quote:
VI: Absolutely. The fans that want more than pabulum are out there, but some hardware vendors are obsessed with mainstream to the detriment of the gamers in the niche that we served. The only thing that can change that is true competition, and I think that is coming this generation in a major way, but too late for WD.

Hey fuck you Vic. I get more innovative titles from Capcom, Atlus, Nintendo and even Natsume then any of the shit you've been chucking out since Gamearts dropped your ass like a load of bricks. His "niche" has already been eaten by tons of other companies that do just as good a job localizing (if not better and more accurately) and don't have to release their games on dead systems.

exodus

3162th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(2):Re(10):Working Designs has died" , posted Fri 16 Dec 02:18

quote:

Someone in that company really needed to grow some balls and tell him that Goemon was a mediocre game 5 years ago and releasing it now is just retarded.

I think that's precisely what sony told him.