why we dident get battlezone 3

[Moregan]

taken from wiki

Battlezone II was not very popular, likely due to Pandemic Studio's attempts to blend two groups together; both styles of player had trouble adapting to the style they were unused to. Programmer Ken Miller said, "BZ2 was meant to do that [appeal to both genres] at first, but headed in the opposite direction. The problem is that mixed-genre games only attract players that like both genres (the intersection) as opposed to either genre (the union). It mainly comes down to learning curve. Action/shooter gamers can pick up just about any action/shooter game on the market and play it in short order, as almost all of them use the same control scheme and feature similar gameplay conventions. Similarly, strategy gamers can pick up just about any strategy game on the market and play it, although strategy games tend to differ from each other more than action games. Confronting an action/shooter gamer with strategy or a strategy player with action tends to force them outside their genre "comfort zone" and requires a steeper learning curve. My pithiest, if somewhat unfair, summation is this: 'FPS players don't want to think; RTS players don't want to die

When Battlezone II was released to the public on January 2000, the game was met with a lot of enthusiasm, but it quickly began receiving negative views because of out-of-the-box bug issues and over the top requirements to run the game for its time. With a multiplayer that was broken and not fixed until patch 1.1 the game received a lot of negative publicity while it was on the shelf.[3]

In an interview Nathan Mates, a programmer that worked on Battlezone II, attempted to explain why after the first game, BZ2 did not fare well on the market, in an interview with the Battlezone Magazine. "Despite things not being a huge success at retail, there's a definite, but smaller, portion of the population that likes the FPS+RTS genre. Their options are somewhat limited. So they stick with what they know and love. As I said above[about why Battlezone III was never made], this tenaciousness can really backfire and hurt things – if the BZ1 fans hadn't bashed BZ2 for so long, then there might have been more people exposed to BZ2. I see this with different BZ2 versions – there's an extreme amount of anger directed at anything that changes

[[xPIx] InFaMY]

Originally posted by Moregan:

taken from wiki

Battlezone II was not very popular, likely due to Pandemic Studio's attempts to blend two groups together; both styles of player had trouble adapting to the style they were unused to. Programmer Ken Miller said, "BZ2 was meant to do that [appeal to both genres] at first, but headed in the opposite direction. The problem is that mixed-genre games only attract players that like both genres (the intersection) as opposed to either genre (the union). It mainly comes down to learning curve. Action/shooter gamers can pick up just about any action/shooter game on the market and play it in short order, as almost all of them use the same control scheme and feature similar gameplay conventions. Similarly, strategy gamers can pick up just about any strategy game on the market and play it, although strategy games tend to differ from each other more than action games. Confronting an action/shooter gamer with strategy or a strategy player with action tends to force them outside their genre "comfort zone" and requires a steeper learning curve. My pithiest, if somewhat unfair, summation is this: 'FPS players don't want to think; RTS players don't want to die

When Battlezone II was released to the public on January 2000, the game was met with a lot of enthusiasm, but it quickly began receiving negative views because of out-of-the-box bug issues and over the top requirements to run the game for its time. With a multiplayer that was broken and not fixed until patch 1.1 the game received a lot of negative publicity while it was on the shelf.[3]

In an interview Nathan Mates, a programmer that worked on Battlezone II, attempted to explain why after the first game, BZ2 did not fare well on the market, in an interview with the Battlezone Magazine. "Despite things not being a huge success at retail, there's a definite, but smaller, portion of the population that likes the FPS+RTS genre. Their options are somewhat limited. So they stick with what they know and love. As I said above[about why Battlezone III was never made], this tenaciousness can really backfire and hurt things – if the BZ1 fans hadn't bashed BZ2 for so long, then there might have been more people exposed to BZ2. I see this with different BZ2 versions – there's an extreme amount of anger directed at anything that changes

Wait so it's the BZ1 fans fault that the game they waited for did not have the magic of the first one and was a bug ridden mess which in todays gamers would have rightfully barbaqued and it would have been a bigger issue in todays market because of social media and youtubers who would have incenerated the game. The fact Nathan acuses the BZ1 crowd for calling them out on it's issues which rightfully so he gets pissy about the game failing.... That is friggen rich....

[Nielk1]

Originally posted by xPIx InFaMY:

Wait so it's the BZ1 fans fault that the game they waited for did not have the magic of the first one and was a bug ridden mess which in todays gamers would have rightfully barbaqued and it would have been a bigger issue in todays market because of social media and youtubers who would have incenerated the game. The fact Nathan acuses the BZ1 crowd for calling them out on it's issues which rightfully so he gets pissy about the game failing.... That is friggen rich....

To discount one major factor because another major factor exists is not how you you determine why things happen. Additionally, he's not wrong. If you look at the negative marks given to BZ2 through it's early age you will find the majority are of those complaining it isn't BZ1 rather than actually pointing out the objective issues. Additionaly, BZ2's 1.1 patch was released extreamly quickly; it was even pressed into a large number of discs. If you have a BZ2 CD it might actually be version 1.1 on that disc. As 1.1 fixed these issues, it's hard to beleive that these issues alone would be what killed the game.

BZ1 wasn't at the time the gem people think it was either. It received good reviews at the time but did not sell well at all and most people who remember it fondly today received it via OEM means via pack-ins with videocards, joysticks, and computers. It's release on the n64 was all the more hillarious to behold, if it didn't give you eye cancer (I would know quite well, I've reverse engeneered enough of the n64 game to extract it's content).

The very genera that BZ1 and BZ2 occupy was, at the time in 1998/1999, poorly fit for the market. While BZ2 suffered from bugs on release they were corrected in a timely manner and the game was not yet sealed into the coffin much less burried. It was the tribalism and infighting that ultimatly put that nail in the coffin and effectivly killed the genera for 15 years. Today however, while we are in a glut of near identical coridor shooters and in a drought of good RTS, this genera can actually stand a chance again.

I'd suggest NOT repeating the very actions of the past noted by Nathan here. If this train is stopped before or at a redux of BZ2, which everyone should be hoping for even if they only like BZ1, there will never be a BZ3, because the IP will die and the name be used only to harken back to the original arcade.

Don't be so petty as to ruin it all again.

[JiM K. SLICE]

...It's ...all my fault? :'(

I guess... It's time to dust off the ol flog..

[Grimbah]

I loved this game, I vaguely remember my frustration was as a FPS and RTS dude, the skirmish was dead. There was no replay right? Seting up a fun AI skirmish didn't work. The AI was buggy and never really did anything. Right?

[Hazardous Killer]

Originally posted by Grimbah:

I loved this game, I vaguely remember my frustration was as a FPS and RTS dude, the skirmish was dead. There was no replay right? Seting up a fun AI skirmish didn't work. The AI was buggy and never really did anything. Right?

The AI just did the same thing over & over and some maps did nothing.

[Grimbah]

Exactly! Just replay value... .das all we want....

[Bagley B. Bagington the Bagpiper]

It's funny, I remember when I first heard how split the community was on both games, I was really shocked. To me both games were awesome. I loved how the second game was different from the first. As a kid, it was exciting and refreshing. Different factions, vehicles, technology, yet it still had the same core mechanics. The story in BZ II was in my opinion much better, it was more dramatic and interesting with the twists and how the story branched off into two parts, and characters actually had some personality beyond a couple of guys barking orders at you, even though the atmosphere and cold war style was cooler in the first. That and the Black Dogs. I also had a more fun multiplayerr experience with the first if i remember correctly.

I just loved both of them.

But yea I really hope for a Red Odyssey and a BZ 2 redux eventually. If we ever get a BZ3, I hope it's different from either two and not just a retread.

[Nielk1]

Originally posted by Bagley B. Bagington the Bagpiper:

But yea I really hope for a Red Odyssey and a BZ 2 redux eventually. If we ever get a BZ3, I hope it's different from either two and not just a retread.

I agree. I'd sort of like to see BZ as the series that mixes up the formula every iteration.

[doc4doc]

When Redux and more important BZ VR are successfull maybe we'll get another BZ game. I want the graphics of the BZ Intro. It looks so great when the razor is built at the recycler. and i want those voice commandS!!

[Rocket3497]

Stay positive and we might just get more Battlezone franchise ;)

[コ ッ ク]

I remember doing nothing but replaying BZ1 and BZ2 endlessly when I was a kid. This re-release of BZ has me hoping that BZ2 will get the same treatment and I can finally have both forever on Steam.

[Sarun]

I grew up playing this game alot both by myself and head-to-head with my dad, via old fasioned limited range connection cables, the computers had to be litteraly right next to each other. I also loved BZ2 even more than the origional becuase of its blending, having the ability to once you built the relay bunker to swap from scouting around and protecting your assests FPS style, to swap to an overhead RTS view. The first game stuck well with combining the concepts of the Cold War Era and the always considered possiblty of life elsewhere, as close as our neighbooring planets, I found it fastinating. In BZ2 it followed similar storyline in that Earth resolved the conflict and united as one, however, playing into concepts of conspiracy therories, xenophobia, and vendettas, made it seem quite a good storyline where you eventually given the option to acctually ponder what you been doing and then chosse a side in the branch of the storyline. I never got around to multiplayer for BZ2, by the time I did the proper updates no longer existed, as the website, even the homepage, was long gone. I had always wondered what happen to the makers of BZ and BZ2 and why there was never a BZ3, but about 6 years ago I looked up the very same wiki page, or linked one to it, that you are mentioning, and found out my fears were true, the company had dissovled, though I never saw the detailed explination that you have provided. It was these 2 games for one, that got me to enjoy using and playing games on the computer, including wanting to make games of my own. I even came up with my own vauge thoughts and designs for a BZ3, but I was still young and heavily into Pokemon, so the ideas seem sort of silly now, but the concept was to revolve around a core group of brain parasites known as "The Elders or the Origional Species" whom posses the abilty to commander the bodies of the dead, to seek the newfound alliance from BZ 2 of the Scions and Earth Forces, to come through a wormhole to a far away area of space, where "The Elemental Offspring or The Clans" are rebelling not only against each other, but also against their Elders, the only ones who can ensure the survival of everyone. This would also bring into play even more tactical overhaul with having the means to build land, hover, water, underwater, air, and even orbital/space units, as well as concepts of swapping between and manging multiple fronts, branching within missions depending on chocies, let alone before branching the storyline itself, and tactical descions having some manner of influence as to what carriers over from one misson to the next. All these concepts would not nesscerily be running simontaneously, as it would run into a much more serious issue than BZ2 had. All I know is that while this idea I had had at the time, being so young, now sort of seems trashy and/or cliche, I still wish for someday a BZ3 which would incorperate something from BZ2 in it, like BZ2 did from BZ1, and possibly getting some chance to take part or weigh in on the games devlopment.

[Moregan]

i dont think we will be getting any more bz games this one has not even sold 7300 copies.

[Game Over, Man]

Battlezone 3 would probably sell 73000 copies or more

[dunadan]

PC gaming had some pretty rough years in the early 00's.. Piracy was just awful on PC, in 2k4 I had hundreds of burned copies of games on my desktop and every single person I knew did the same. Only games I legit owned were RavenShield, OFP, Hidden&Dangerous 2 and a few rare others. It didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong in these days since everyone did the same...

The way it was in those days, a single guy lucky enough to have a good CD burner could buy a game make copies and sell them to whoever was ready to pay a little money at their school.

Back then everything centered around publishers, since digital gaming wasn't a thing you coulnd't distribute a game without a publisher. Publishers funded the development of your game and distributed it physically afterward. Developers had a smallish cut back then, <20%, which still makes me laugh whenever I hear indies ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about Steam taking 1/3 of the sales...

So since there wasn't that much money on PC compared to consoles. Publishers naturally moved their focus to the later and developers had to move along. This was also the time when publishers grew bigger and bigger by just eating existent studios.

Fast speed internet, Steam as a DRM but also a community as well as the age of independent development and crowdfunding changed all that.

I grew up playing games like Quake, Shogo, Unreal, Battlezone, Urban Assault, Freespace, Starlancer, Giants, Total Annihilation, Rainbow Six, SWAT, Jedi Knight and Ghost Recon ect..

In the second half of the 00's, those licenses were either dead of utterly raped by publishers.

So here is your explanation. Avarice from both publishers and young gamers.

If there is anything positive to say about the 10's is that there is a general nostalgia toward the "golden" days of PC gaming, hence all the remasters and re-release of older games.