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Geek Culture / The end of Psygnosis.

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Nickydude
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Location: Look outside...
Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 02:13 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2012 02:16
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Quote: "Sony has closed one of the UK's oldest video game studios following a review of its operations. Sony Liverpool employed about 100 workers. It dated back to 1984 when it was known as Psygnosis. The Japanese company bought it in 1993.

The developer's early titles included Lemmings for the Atari ST, and Shadow of the Beast for the Commodore Amiga."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19350856.



It's a shame as it was Shadow of the Beast that wowed me to move from 8bit Spectrum to 16bit Amiga.

I reject your reality and substitute my own...
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Seppuku Arts
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Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 02:15
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Well, I guess we should bow our heads in silence in respect for the end of a company who made such great classics.

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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 02:44
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Psygnosis were a great company, I've met them. Their games are still inspirational to me today. I can't believe that they are gone.

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The Wilderbeast
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 04:20
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That's a real shame - I remember the whole family getting comfy for a night of Overboard once every now and then.


Raspberry Pi Forum
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James H
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Location: St Helens
Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 06:41
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V sad indeed, when I was a kid me and a friend drew some designs for a game we called tank command and sent them in to see what they thought, they just asked us for the code lol! as if we wouldnt have sent them a proggy first if we had done the code! Every saturday we would all go to liverpool by train from prescot and be pressed up against the window just so we could see their logo on the building cos we had newly aquired amigas+games and thought they were awesome, Ive been living down south and just moved back up here a few months ago - Im literally a half hours walk from wavertree tech park which is roughly where they are I think - didnt know they had been bought due to that f1 racing bloke ripping them off(grr), which explains why I couldnt see the pysgnosis logo anymore when I go past on the train recently, guess that scuppers my plans to visit and see if I couldnt get a peek at there work place, ah well, all good things come to an end :/
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MrValentine
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Playing: FFVII
Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 10:41
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Such a shame...

I live in Manchester... This is practically an hour down the road from me...

We all know we loved Lemmings...

My respects... I raise a up to them!

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maho76
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Location: universe-hub, playing the flute
Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 12:00 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2012 12:04
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g-police
wipeout
overboard
shadow of the beast
lemmings
barbarian
nevermind
stryx
baal
agony
awesome
chrono quest
infestation
nitro

...
psygnosis, bitmap brothers, ocean, rainbow arts > legends of game
was a good time with amiga/ps1...



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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 18:10
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Quote: "We all know we loved Lemmings..."


I hate Lemmings. I loved Wipeout, and Destruction Derby.

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Libervurto
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 21:49 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2012 22:14
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G-Police is one of my favourite games from my childhood. It's the first time I really felt in control of something powerful.

I thought Psygnosis went bust around 2006, didn't realise they'd been bought out.

What UK developers still exist? It worries me and I don't understand why we have such a decaying games industry here.

Quote: "Sony shuts Wipeout video game studio in Liverpool"

What a crappy headline. You don't "shut" a game studio, it's not a corner shop!
Quote: "Psygnosis is Wiped Out by Sony"

Yeah it's bad but better than their one.

Shh... you're pretty.
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James H
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 22:47
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from what I read/remember they merged in 1999 and became known as studio liverpool, they wrote the f1 game before aquiring the licence for it, so bernie eccleston(or whatever his name is) bumped the price for the licence beyond what they could afford so had to be bought out
this is just one of several sony studios in uk I think, with around 100 employees but not the end of the road, no news on wether they will get employees work elsewhere in the company though
whats important though is that many remember studio liverpool as psygnosis rather than studio liverpool, at least round the area of liverpool everyone seems to, maybe its just the age group thing though
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Wolf
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Location: Luxemburg
Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 23:00
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Remember these guys delivering some great fun back in the PS1 aera... and they had a cool name too...

Sad



-Wolf

"This thread has been locked for the following reason: Too much EPIC" - Thraxas
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Phaelax
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Posted: 24th Aug 2012 00:01
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What have these guys done in the recent years though?

Here's a pic I made years ago in tribute to the company.
http://www.zimnox.com/portfolio/artwork/images/psygnosis.jpg

Makes me wanna go play Blood Money.

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 24th Aug 2012 01:33
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Quote: "What have these guys done in the recent years though?"


This...
http://www.wipeouthd.com/en_GB/index.html

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Van B
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Posted: 24th Aug 2012 16:42
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Hmmmmm, not sure that I'm too upset by this.

I mean, let's all be honest here, they only made a couple of games that were actually fun to play. The Beast series was pretty terrible apart from the presentation, I mean it's just not a fun game, it's pretty tedious really. Blood Money was good. Lemmings was awesome but not really Psygnosis's baby.

Maybe they had a better rep on the Amiga, I had an Atari ST, and we got the shaft every single time - Psygnosis games on the ST looked much worse than they had to. Personally I always liked The Bitmap Bros, and Sensible Software, Psygnosis games on the ST were never worth looking forward to... sept Lemmings, which was by DMA Design anyway.

Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 24th Aug 2012 17:01
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yeah, porting a game like the SOTB to the ST, just isn't going to work. It's virtually one big dual playfield / copper display trick. But the same type of thing often happened when ST app moved to the Amiga.


Mobile Platforms Are Coming
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Nickydude
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Location: Look outside...
Posted: 24th Jan 2013 18:14
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From the ashes...

Quote: "Ex-Sony Wipeout veterans create new video games studio"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21177604

I reject your reality and substitute my own...
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MrValentine
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Playing: FFVII
Posted: 24th Jan 2013 18:28
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Quote: "
Eurocom - the Derbyshire firm behind several James Bond and Harry Potter games - went out of business.
"


WOAHH!!!

Quote: "
"The advantage of being the size we are now with Sawfly is that we can adapt quite quickly to a changing market. Obviously if you're a large studio with 100 or 300 employees, you cost a lot every month [to run] - just changing direction can be crippling.
"


Did some basic maths... 300 Employees @ 1,500 of whatever currency = 450,000 per month running costs

I often forget to look at in that way... and wow... a real eye popper man...

Sawfly Studios is not too far from me, just an hour or two by train or car

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baxslash
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Location: Duffield
Posted: 24th Jan 2013 22:28
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Eurocom were just around the corner from here... Real shame to see any games company go down. I can't help feeling bad for anyone losing their job. I know how it feels.


this.mess = abs(sin(times#))
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slomoman
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Posted: 25th Jan 2013 03:11
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The world may change. But only in reality. In my dreams it's 1990 and I'm checking out the Psygnosis stand.

To memories and denial of time!

I would say something. But it's not the 1980's anymore!!! lol.
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