Black Isle...

[ohGr]

a few days ago it was announced that Black Isle Studios, creator of the baldurs gate series and the fallout series, as well as many other great titles, have packed up...and closed their doors.

 

this was taken off a gamespot newsletter i get every day.

 

A few days ago, we learned that Interplay's Black Isle Studios division permanently closed its doors. Black Isle debuted in 1997 with the ground-breaking role-playing game Fallout, and proceeded to single-handedly revitalize the RPG genre with huge hits like Baldur's Gate, as well as classics like Planescape: Torment. As part of the studio's closure, its yet-announced Fallout 3 project was canceled. So, a moment of silence, if you please.

Sometimes, you realize things in hindsight. "Wow, that really was a great game," you might think, months or even years after you played and enjoyed the game you're thinking about. That wasn't the case for me and Fallout. I played Fallout just as soon as it came out in 1997, and despite a few bugs in the retail version (which were subsequently fixed by patches), it instantly became one of my all-time favorite games. A sequel a few years later provided more of the same, but by now, Fallout is such a legendary game in my mind that I can't imagine anything surpassing it.

Actually, though, Planescape: Torment came awfully close. Arguably it's an even better game, and certainly, its storyline is at least as compelling. It's another Black Isle classic, and unlike Fallout, I had the privilege of reviewing that one myself. Reviewers rarely are able to know with any certainty when the game they're playing is an instant classic, and rarer still do they actually turn out to be right, but by the time I finished Planescape: Torment for my review, there was no doubt left in my mind that the game was destined for classic status. I still remember the game vividly, even though my review was posted four years ago.

Black Isle also published the Baldur's Gate series and produced the great Icewind Dale games. What an incredibly amazing track record. So, I, like many others, was genuinely sad to learn that Black Isle was shut down. Its closure seems to mark the end of an era in PC gaming. Who's to say whether next year's carrot-on-a-stick releases like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 will live up to our incredibly high expectations? Truthfully, I think PC gaming is in a rut right now--but I'm confident it'll recover. Someone's going to be the next Black Isle, and I don't mean by shutting down.

 

goodbye black isle, whenever we play one of your games, im sure everyone will remember what a great team you were :bye:

[KublaKarma]

It was a really bad news.. Endless hours of amusement we will never forget of. Good luck to all BIS members!!!

[Magatsu]

I loved all their games! black isle and Blizzard is the only game creators in my opinion that has ONLY made GREAT games! i`ll miss`em ... :bye:

 

(fallout: Minigun+20people in a row at the Hub = Unique satisfaction :) )

[Pob]

Sniff, sniff.

 

We morurn the loss of such genius. Fallout is possibly the finest RPG pre Morrowind, such ingeuity.

 

A company that made great games in a world full of a lot of rubbish ones. Fallout was a classic from the word go.

 

Now fallout on a MW engine! What a nice thought.

[Smashy]

The Black Isle will be missed..... Baulder's Gate was the first virtual RPG I ever played..... and its still one of my favorites..... because of Baulder's Gate I found Morrowind, and Neverwinter Nights, well....Cheers Black Isle and many thanks for the endless hours of RPG greatness.

[Prowler03]

Black Isle also made the Black and White games (which I love)