Flagship has sunk and Hellgate is closed
 

Let me be the first to say, sucks to be Flagship.

http://kotaku.com/5024558/flagship-s...ge-of-hellgate

Better luck next time I guess.

Seil's maxim to the rescue!

Apparently HanbitSoft, a korean MMO developer or something are saying that they'll buy Hellgate up and make it into a better game.

Somewhat laughable coming from a KMMO developer.

Because all Korean MMOs suck terribly. I mean, Ragnarok Online is terrible. So terrible.

If you take a look at the original revealing of the game, and then look again at what it turned out to be, its really no surprise.

I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not, but I agree with it anyway. So there.

I'd heard some interesting things about Hellgate when it was first announced. Granted I never got around to playing it, but I suspect that Hellgate as it is known now will cease to be. Even if under new management, it's hard to believe the new persons will keep faithful to the original.

I.. just bought Hellgate Thursday because my roommate was saying good things about it. I really do hope that the new company doesn't give it a shocking makeover.

It is.

I don't think it has anything to do with them being Korean. I think it has everything to do with them being *shudder* MMOs.

Well, you could always play single player.

As for Flagship, I think they had two big problems. One was rushing out the game through budgetary constraints; such a mad rush that not only was the game released unfinished but in the process they lost sight of the bigger picture and missed that there's no big market for a stat-based shooter that looks like Quake 2 and plays like Diablo 2 if you replaced the skills with talents from WoW. Or whatever the Hell they were going for.

Secondly I think the transition from the throne of the PC gaming world to basically indie, the change in the scale that they would have to operate, didn't register until it was too late. They go and hire hundreds of people and start up a big damn company from nothing and try to force out a blockbuster - or more appropriately a Diablo 2 buster - when a maybe more useful approach would have been to make something small and manageable that wouldn't make or break your fortune but could have been something personal, even meaningful. But I guess they didn't want to have to get used to not getting Blizzard-sized paychecks. I'm ranting.