Genda
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Sega sells its arcade business due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Sega has sold its arcade business to amusement company Genda after the COVID-19 pandemic led to steep losses.
A Vanguard Retrospective
Genda of The Grouchy Gamer was a gamer with a dream; to hitch himself to Sigil's rising star. He created a one-stop shop for all news and information about Vanguard's crafting sphere, joined the Vanguard affiliate program, and gained a unique outsider's perspective to what would become one of the MMO world's most legendary disasters. It's a story of how lack of leadership and vision could turn EverQuest's spiritual successor and the hard work of dozens of talented designers, artists and programmers into tears in a parking lot in Carlsbad, California.The retrospective is in three parts. In the first, Genda tells about Brad McQuaid's departure from SOE and the first news about the game that would become Vanguard, his lunch with the late fantasy artist Keith Parkinson, and Brad's increasing absence from the Sigil offices. The second part tells how many of the best innovations in Vanguard died on the vine because the programmers were busy rewriting all the scripts from the Unreal 3 engine and the increasing trouble within Sigil. The last part brings Vanguard from its troubled beta, through its disastrous launch and acquisition by SOE.
Interview with WAR's James Nichols
Genda over at The Grouchy Gamer recently interviewed James Nichols, EA/Mythic's community coordinator for Warhammer Online. James talks about leaving Sigil Games for EA/Mythic, how their focused beta testing is coming along, and what it is like to work at EA/Mythic. Electronic Arts, you'll recall, has had trouble in the past with having people work unreasonable hours for long periods of time.Warhammer Online is in a unique position for upcoming MMOs. It's the only one that feels it has a real chance of pulling in World of Warcraft-like numbers, based on the 500,000 beta application numbers. James Nichols feels he has a tiger by its tail, and he won't know how big and mean it is until he lets go. We're all eagerly waiting for the curtain to lift so we can see the world of WAR for ourselves, but until then, we appreciate these glimpses into EA/Mythic's Waaaaaagh!-shrouded corridors.
