Who created Nihilistic Software?
1185772#18
The development of "Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption" began at Nihilistic Software in April 1998, shortly after the developer's founding in March that year. Its development was publicly announced in March 1999. Intending to move away from the first-person games the team members had worked on with previous companies, Nihilistic prepared a design and story for a futuristic RPG with similar themes and gothic aesthetics to those of the "" series. After publisher Activision approached the team using the White Wolf license, they adapted parts of their original design to fit the "Vampire" series, which became the original design for "Redemption". Endorsement by Id Software founder John Carmack helped Nihilistic decide to work with Activision. The Nihilistic team developed "Redemption" over twenty-four months; the team expanded to twelve members by the end of development. The development team included Nihilistic President and CEO Ray Gesko, lead programmer Rob Huebner, world designer Steve Tietze, level designer Steve Thoms, lead artist Maarten Kraaijvanger, artist Yujin Kiem, art technician Anthony Chiang, and programmers Yves Borckmans and Ingar Shu.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption
1927552#1
Nihilistic was founded in March 1998 by Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, and Steve Tietze. Gresko and Huebner had formerly worked at LucasArts, and Tietze had worked at Rogue Entertainment. Many of Nihilistic's employees were drawn from LucasArts, working on games such as "".
NStigate Games
14271726#26
In 2001, "" began development under Nihilistic Software, with the aim of releasing the game for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube during late 2003. Unlike previous real-time strategy "StarCraft" titles, "Ghost" was to be a tactical third-person action game. Although the press was positive about the video game console direction taken by "Ghost", the game was consistently delayed, and during the third quarter of 2004, Nihilistic Software discontinued their work with the project. Blizzard stated that Nihilistic Software had completed the tasks it had been contracted for and that the game would be delivered on time. The game was never released.
StarCraft
341723#10
On September 20, 2002, Blizzard Entertainment announced the development of "StarCraft: Ghost" in conjunction with fellow video game company Nihilistic Software. Nihilistic aimed to release the game for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube video game consoles in late 2003, which elicited positive reactions from the press. The game was consistently delayed, and during the third quarter of 2004, Nihilistic discontinued their work on the project. Blizzard stated that Nihilistic had completed the tasks it had been contracted for, and the game would be delivered on time.
StarCraft: Ghost
341723#0
StarCraft: Ghost is an unreleased military science fiction stealth-action video game previously under development by Blizzard Entertainment. Part of Blizzard's "StarCraft" series, the game was announced on September 20, 2002, and was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. Several delays in development caused Blizzard to move back the release date and the game has not yet materialized. Nihilistic Software ceded development to Swingin' Ape Studios in 2004 before Blizzard bought the company, and plans for the GameCube version were cancelled in 2005.
StarCraft: Ghost
13521161#5
In "Conan", the hero is on a quest to recover his lost armor and defeat an evil wizard. The game takes place in the world of Hyboria, a creation of Robert E. Howard for his stories about Conan the Barbarian. "Conan"s developer, Nihilistic Software, chose several Hyborian locations, such as Kush, Stygia, and the Barachan Isles, to establish a link to the literary world. Hyboria was designed to be a fantasy version of Earth around , and its civilizations were based on those from the Stone to Iron Ages. Nihilistic portrayed the plains of Kush, a fictional Africa, as savannahs with villages of straw huts. Stygia was illustrated as a land filled with structures resembling Egyptian tombs and the Barachan Isles as lushly jungled islands.
Conan (2007 video game)
22274150#24
Nihilistic Software and Disney Interactive Studios was supposed to develop a video game based on the film for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii when Disney was still involved in the project. But when Fox took over the production, Nihilistic sought out negotiations with Fox Digital Entertainment division. They failed to agree on a settlement, which resulted in the cancellation of the video game. Fox Digital Entertainment later collaborated with Gameloft to produce a mobile game for iPhone and iPod Touch which was released on November 18, 2010.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
43008502#0
The Nihilist is a 1905 American short silent film directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Sr.. It takes place in the Russian Empire and relates the story of a woman who joins the Nihilist movement and commits a suicide attack against the Governor's palace to avenge her husband who died because of police repression.
The Nihilist (film)
1185772#24
At the start of development, Nihilistic wanted to support editing of the game by the user-community, having seen the benefits to the community while working on other games. Staff who worked on "Jedi Knight" knew the experience of creating a new, customized programming language called COG that gave the programmers the results they wanted but cost time and significant project resources. With "Redemption", they wanted to incorporate an existing scripting engine that would more easily enable users to further develop the game instead of developing their own code again, which would consume months of development time. The team tested various languages, but became aware of another studio, Rebel Boat Rocker, which was receiving attention for its use of the Java language. Speaking to that studio's lead programmer Billy Zelsnak, Nihilistic decided to experiment with Java, having little prior knowledge of it. The language successfully integrated into the NOD engine without problems, providing a standardized and freely distributable scripting engine. Several designers were trained to use Java to allow them to build the several hundred scripts required to drive the game's storyline.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption
13521161#20
The critics had mixed opinions about three prominent features of the game: voice acting, artwork, and faithfulness to Howard's writings. Perlman earned acclaim for his vocal performance and gravely voice that matched the game's dialogue, but he also received criticism for not sounding like a barbarian. A few applauded Nihilistic for capturing the oil painting feel of Frazetta's art, but several others said that the graphics consisted of drab-looking environments that were jagged-edged and pixelated when zoomed in. Although the animations were rated to be smooth and vivid, the lack of variety among enemy character models was criticized. Several critics also praised Nihilistic for recreating the atmosphere of Howard's stories. The decision to have Conan use magic was, however, called a "blasphemy" by IGN. G4 Canada disagreed and forgave the game on the grounds that it was mostly faithful to the books. Ray Huling of "The Escapist" said that the game's developers misunderstood Conan's appeal to the masses. In the journalist's opinion, Howard's depiction of Conan's brutal physical nature called attention to the dull nature of their lives and offered them a temporary escape. Furthermore, Huling said that Nihilistic used the characteristics of Conan for superficial purposes, and that, in copying the mechanics of another game without any groundbreaking innovations of its own, Nihilistic missed the essence of Howard's stories and created a shell of what its game could have been.
Conan (2007 video game)