Hock and Sock leaves Ubisoft

[Murdoc]

So a friend sends me this link today, which isn't surprising news since they cancelled a project he was working on.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/03/splinter-cell-far-cry-2-designer-clint-hocking-leaves-ubisoft/

Whats even funnier is the source is Idlethumbs(Chris remo twitter) like his twitters is the unofficial fan site for Clint Hocking.

I am also disapointed that he had to trump my announcement from leaving Ubisoft, always has to be the center of attention, right Clint?

Edited May 4, 2010 by Murdoc

[Lu]

Hopefully onward to bigger and better things with Clint! All the best to that guy.

[brkl]

Did he design the new Splinter Cell? Because I didn't know about him working on those games, and if he did, I might pick that up.

[gdf]

Nah, think he worked on the first two and Chaos Theory. The latter is amazing in so many ways. Conviction isn't subtle at all; by no means a bad thing, but you can tell Hocking didn't work on it.

Hope he does a couple of wee indie projects, but it's a shame one of "our guys" won't have access to stacks of money and resources and the backing of a big publisher.

Well, maybe he will if he starts his own company, could give him more creative freedom, but that's not to say he didn't get that at Ubi.

[Psych]

Hopefully onward to bigger and better things with Clint!

Like becoming the fourth (fifth?) Idle Thumb.

A man can dream damnit!

[syntheticgerbil]

Why is this in Idle Banter?

[brkl]

Chaos Theory is good then? Hmmmm..

[Patters]

Chaos Theory is good then? Hmmmm..

Chaos Theory is the best one, easily. The PC version is pretty slick too.

The main projects he worked on were the Splinter Cell, Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2; though he was also involved in the GBA versions of Splinter Cell and SC Pandora Tomorrow.

[Garple]

Patters will talk about Chaos Theory at every possible opportunity. It's his Far Cry 2.

[Patters]

Patters will talk about Chaos Theory at every possible opportunity. It's his Far Cry 2.

Send your Chaos Theory stories to questions@idl.... WAIT!!! I could explain how Chaos Theory is a Masterpiece far greater than any single artist could ever hope to achieve, but I won't.

[Murdoc]

Why is this in Idle Banter?

Where would you have put it? It's not a video game... unless...

Ubisoft Presents, Jorder Mechner's Resigning Ubisoft Spectacular, Extravaganza, Featuring Klint Socking!!!

[Garple]

I could explain how Chaos Theory is a Masterpiece far greater than any single artist could ever hope to achieve, but I won't.

Why do you? I'd like to read it. I almost bought Chaos Theory at the local video store that's going out of business (1 of 3 doing so in the last few months) but hesitated because XBOX Live was going down and I had the vague idea in my head that people mostly liked Chaos Theory for the multiplayer.

[syntheticgerbil]

Where would you have put it? It's not a video game... unless...

Ubisoft Presents, Jorder Mechner's Resigning Ubisoft Spectacular, Extravaganza, Featuring Klint Socking!!!

There you go, it mentions Ubisoft. That would have been a great thread title. We've had much worse in the past (or best!).

I figure everything game related belongs in gaming, whether it's an actual game you play or someone in games.

[Thompson]

There you go, it mentions Ubisoft. That would have been a great thread title. We've had much worse in the past (or best!).

I figure everything game related belongs in gaming, whether it's an actual game you play or someone in games.

But what if life as we know it is just some sort of Sims style video game, then everything is video game related because we are a video game.

OH SHI-

I'm an idiot.

[Garple]

But what if life as we know it is just some sort of Sims style video game, then everything is video game related because we are a video game.

"Want some milk?"

"No thanks, I don't like video games."

[gdf]

Send your Chaos Theory stories to questions@idl.... WAIT!!! I could explain how Chaos Theory is a Masterpiece far greater than any single artist could ever hope to achieve, but I won't.

Way ahead of you.

Groucho, get that game. Best ninety-nine pence I've ever spent.

[Quanta]

Way ahead of you.

I'm sharing the authors opinion about the character shift of Sam Fisher for the worse. I always avoided killing anybody in Chaos Theory. The game even encourages you to do so even if it isn't mission critical by rating you down during the debriefing (in the form of a dull percentage admittedly). In Conviction the reward for acting merciful is gone and I miss it.

Death. It's a bit of an issue in this game. This scenario occurring in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory's infancy, my inexperience with such sensitive operations reared its ugly head. There I go again; head, that's where I shot the two mercenaries in turn. Soccer (or football) was about to become the least of their concerns or, more accurately, absolutely equal to all other concerns in that it wouldn't exist seconds after their final words had been spoken.

So I killed them in cold blood. Big deal, right? I've murdered probably tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of virtual goons in infinitely more gruesome, painful and humiliating ways than a modest, silent bullet administered swiftly to the old medulla oblongata. This time, though, they became more than just cannon fodder.

This reminds me of a similiar situation in No One Lives Forever where two goons have a talk. The one tells the other that he plays in a jazz band and invites him to attend their next session. They sound like guys you want to hang out with, but shoot them into the face instead.

[Murdoc]

HOCK WATCH

*annoying radio sound effect of either a hawk or someone spitting*

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/65048

So yeah, thats, um, interesting.

Just curious if anyone knows the state of Lucas arts, I remember listening to their GDC presentation(last year?) where it was all about the rebuilding of Lucas Arts and how Force Unleashed had a lot of hurtles but everything is ok now and Lucas Arts will return to be an awesome developer, then literally a month afterwards I thought they fired everyone(people who did the presentation included) and said they were going to be more of a publisher with third party developments.

But since then I've seen them out hiring developers and now they have Hocking; which makes me more then curious/excited; but just curious as to wtf Lucas Arts is doing right now as a company, I guess they are back to being a developer?

[MrHoatzin]

Whoa! He's OBVIOUSLY working on a GRIM FANDANGO sequel!

Diegetic interfaces. QED.

[pabosher]

HOCK WATCH

*annoying radio sound effect of either a hawk or someone spitting*

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/65048

So yeah, thats, um, interesting.

Just curious if anyone knows the state of Lucas arts, I remember listening to their GDC presentation(last year?) where it was all about the rebuilding of Lucas Arts and how Force Unleashed had a lot of hurtles but everything is ok now and Lucas Arts will return to be an awesome developer, then literally a month afterwards I thought they fired everyone(people who did the presentation included) and said they were going to be more of a publisher with third party developments.

But since then I've seen them out hiring developers and now they have Hocking; which makes me more then curious/excited; but just curious as to wtf Lucas Arts is doing right now as a company, I guess they are back to being a developer?

Star Wars Open World Point 'n' Click Adventure confirmed.

[syntheticgerbil]

I don't think LucasArts has specialized in any sort of point and clicking for a while now, except when remaking the old Monkey Islands.

[brkl]

So that's ol' Hockmeister lost to us in LucasArts muck.

[Kolzig]

Lets see, crazy hopes that Hocking will bring a new age to Lucasarts.

[syntheticgerbil]

Lets see, crazy hopes that Hocking will bring a new age to Lucasarts.

Sounds good to me.

[toblix]

Sounds good to me.

This post made my week. Thanks!