Many Star Wars and role playing fans were mightily disappointed by Knights of the Old Republic 2 when it was released in 2004, particularly with the game's weak ending and many glitches.
Thumbing through a recent copy of Edge magazine, Gamesmaster noticed an extraordinary comment from Obsidian's lead designer Chris Avellone regarding the game in a feature on their new project called Alpha Protocol. "I'll probably be found dead a week later for saying this," Avellone tells Edge, "but I felt that KOTOR2 was perhaps a C+ because it wasn't finished. That's my fault. It was an ambitious project but that doesn't excuse the fact that you should work within the resources that you have."
The refreshingly candid admission reminded me of Atari's tardy (but still very welcome) apology for releasing the appalling Driver 3 in an unfinished state, and made me wish that other developers and publishers might follow suit. Today I'm keen to hear your nominations for overdue apologies, and have listed some of my own.
- Activision and Harmonix/MTV for not agreeing to a standard format for music game peripherals, forcing many people to buy two sets of peripherals to enjoy both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, cluttering countless living rooms around the world.
- Developers Rare for the disappointment that was Perfect Dark Zero.
- Eidos for churning out yearly and increasingly inferior Tomb Raider games on PSone, then serving up the travesty that was Angel of Darkness (and having the hide to put all the blame on Core).
- Sony for removing backward compatibility from the PlayStation 3.
- Atari (the original American version) for the worst arcade conversion of all time, Pac-Man on the Atari 2600. And for the disgraceful ET…
- Time Warner Interactive for starting the trend of graphics over gameplay with Rise of the Robots in 1994. It was one of the most hyped games ever because of its dazzling graphics, but turned out to play like a dog of Saint Bernard proportions.
- Sega for the 32X. And the MegaCD. And for so often treating Sonic fans with contempt.
- Gametek for tarnishing the legend of Elite with First Encounters, a sequel that had so many bugs that it wouldn't run on 95% of PCs.
- Titus for the atrocity that was Superman 64, a permanent fixture in any "worst game ever" list.
- Acclaim for BMX XXX. Topless bike riding? Really?
- Nintendo for the Virtual Boy. Did anyone ever seriously think it was going to work?
- Virgin for The 7th Guest, which almost single-handedly paved the way for full-motion video adventures and the likes of Myst. Thanks for nothing. In fact, whoever thought it would be a good idea to add any full-motion video to games should also apologise immediately.
- Every publisher in the entire industry for using ridiculously glossy high-resolution "target renders" (bullshots) to misrepresent their upcoming games.
- Midway for closing talented Adelaide-based developer Ratbag just four months after buying the studio. And they could also say sorry for every Gauntlet sequel (since Gauntlet II) while they're at it.
- Nokia for the original N-Gage, especially the ridiculous taco version.
- The whole Australian games publishing/distribution industry for the ongoing inequities in game pricing compared to elsewhere in the world.
- The bastards that flood my email box with spam comments about World of Warcraft leveling services, porn sites and random gibberish.