Time is money, some say. So it remains that this is one of the aspects of the gaming industry, a place where more time and money consumed during development usually results in a better game; or at least this used to be the case. As hardware has advanced and development has become cheaper, more and more independent devs are proving that money isn’t always needed to make a fantastic idea come to fruition. Certain triple AAA developers are also proving that time doesn’t always make a great game either. Whilst there are probably a number of examples of great games that were made very quickly, this article will focus on the other end of the spectrum; those games that took so long to develop but didn’t justify the amount of time invested in any way. Read on for seven of the worst games that took an outrageous amount of time to develop.
1. Daikatana - 3+ Years
The first previews of Daikatana arose some three years before its retail release, but it's unknown how much time John Romero's infamous flop spent in development before then. Even disregarding its lengthy development time, the sheer amount of hype and famously arrogant marketing lavished on Daikatana set it up for a fall. We were told John Romero would kick our asses, but all the Doom designer wound up doing was disappointing us irreparably.
2. Perfect Dark: Zero - 5 Years
As the sequel to one of the most regarded shooters of the 32-bit generation, Perfect Dark: Zero already had a lot of hype to live up to. That it spent so long in development and was a high profile launch title for the Xbox 360 did little to alleviate the pressure as well. Though it offered mild highlights through its diverse multiplayer modes, Zero's weak story, cruddy voice acting and dull level design failed to endear it to fans who had waited half a decade for the next Perfect Dark.
3. APB: All Points Bulletin - 5 Years
Initially touted as an MMO answer to Grand Theft Auto, APB had a great concept, an all star cast of development talent and a long enough incubation period to bring its myriad ideas to successful fruition. Somehow though, things just didn't work out when Realtime Worlds launched APB for public consumption. Concern was roused immediately when reviews were embargoed until a full week after the game's release, a desperate marketing tactic that belied the game's quality. Despite a lengthy beta test, APB was riddled with bugs and poor design elements. The game was so bad that Realtime Worlds went into administration just six weeks after launching APB.
4. Dead Island - 5 Years
Though Dead Island was fairly successful when it launched last year, it never seemed like a game that spent nearly five years in development. Dead Island, though it offered an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse, has become synonymous with games that are totally outclassed by their trailers. The trailer for Dead Island had everything the game lacked, namely the presence of some mature themes, an element completely missing in the rap-infused, drunken mess that was the game's prologue. Surely five years in development should have made something slightly less brain-dead.
5. Ultima 9: Ascension - 5 Years
Ultima was once one of the defining series for PC RPGs, a fine tradition that was entirely slain by the misdeeds committed by Ultima 9. After a five year break, the best that developer Origin Systems could come up with was a buggy and broken sack of turd with little to no relevance to the rest of the Ultima franchise. Granted, Ultima 8 saw weak sales, but adding in a series of plot inconsistencies wasn't the way to revitalise the Ultima franchise.
6. Uru: Ages Beyond Myst - 5 Years
Delayed for a huge amount of time on account of Uru Live, the Myst series' first foray into semi-online modes, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst failed to capture what made the previous Myst titles so special. With five years spent developing a new modern Myst world and awesome graphics, the game was still undercut by awful controls and a total lack of the promised multiplayer features.
7. Star Trek Online - 6 Years
Lukewarm Star Trek games aren't exactly a new phenomenon, but we hoped for more with Star Trek Online after the game went through six years of incubation under two different development teams. At the end of the day though, long development times and interesting licenses just weren't enough to mask the many shallow and weak gameplay elements that made up the core of STO.
Via: gamingbolt.com
A comb over or combover is a hairstyle worn by bald or balding men in which the hair on one side of the head is grown long and then combed over the bald area to minimize the display of baldness.
So, in tribute to those men who have decided that make-believe is better than reality, here’s a gallery of some of the better combovers out there.
Reflections bring out the splendor of many things, and global cities old and new are no different. These metropolises stand out magnificently when reflected in water – that of the lakes, rivers and oceans on which they lie. Whether made up of age-old stone structures or towering glass skyscrapers, cityscapes literally take on another layer of beauty when their mirror images descend beneath them in perfect reflections.
17. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Photo: Bigstock / Dudarev Mikhail
Kuala Lumpur has a large population, with 1.4 million in the city itself and a whopping 7.2 million in the greater metropolitan area. Still, it’s hard to tell that the Malaysian metropolis is so big when you see the pristine buildings and airy space between them reflected tranquilly in water, as here.
16. Ghent, Belgium
Photo: Bigstock / gvictoria
Ghent is one of the largest cities in Belgium as well as one of the most beautiful. Its architecture is a mix of new and old, with medieval structures still standing. The city has a quaint look, as you can see in the spectacular image of gabled houses reflected in the city’s canal. As of a 2008, Ghent had 594,582 inhabitants.
15. Montreal, Canada
Photo: Bigstock / fintastique
Named for the three-peaked hill in the middle of the city (Mont Royal), Montreal is home to 1,620,693 people (as of 2006) and is the second largest city in Canada. You can't see it in this wonderful reflection of the city’s skyscrapers, but Montreal is made up of islands.
14. Sacramento, CA, USA
Photo: Bigstock / Andy777
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California and has a population of 466,488. The city’s famous Tower Bridge can be seen reflected in this exquisite image.
13. Lisbon, Portugal
Photo: Bigstock / gvictoria
This stunning city is one of the oldest in the world, and even a mere glimpse of it shimmering in the water suggests it has a style all its own. The reflection in the river almost makes the skyline look like a multi-colored crocodile! Lisbon has a population of 545,245 within its city limits and is one of the most visited cities in Europe.
12. Los Angeles, CA, USA
Photo: Bigstock / rebelml
Los Angeles is the second most populous city in America with a population of 3,792,621. With Hollywood in its bosom, it’s often called the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’, and this brightly lit reflection only adds to that aura.
11. Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Photo: Bigstock / Yarchyk
Luxembourg is actually a commune that has been given the status of a city in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The old quarters and fortifications have been marked as UNESCO world heritage sites. The metropolitan area, which includes some other communes, has 103,973 inhabitants. The image shows the river Alzette, as still as glass, with houses backing right up to its banks and reflected in its waters.
10. Boston, MA, USA
Photo: Bigstock / fintastique
The old New England city of Boston has a population of 617,594. Founded by Puritan colonists in 1630, those settlers would surely never recognize this modern skyline, reflected wonderfully in the Charles River.
9. Milwaukee, WI, USA
Photo: Bigstock / stevieg
Reflected in this lovely lagoon are some of Milwaukee’s modern skyscrapers – a sign, perhaps, of its change from being almost exclusively a beer town (it was once home to four massive breweries) to one with many different facets. Milwaukee’s population is 594,833.
8. Madrid, Spain
Photo: Bigstock / Jo Chambers
The modern meets the ancient in this photo: the relatively recent buildings reflected in the water abut the ancient Egyptian gateways of the Temple of Debod. Madrid itself is the capital of Spain and a major economic force with a population of 3,273,049.
7. Atlanta, GA, USA
Photo: Bigstock / aberenyi
Atlanta is sometimes known as the 'City in a Forest' because of the number of trees it contains. This reflection of modern buildings meeting nature was photographed at Lake Clara Meer in Piedmont Park – a treasure the population of 420,003 must surely enjoy.
6. Hong Kong
Photo: Bigstock / fintastique
Hong Kong has an incredible natural harbor, which you see here reflecting some of its 7,650 skyscrapers. Its population of over seven million people is squeezed into an area just 426 miles square, making it one of the most densely populated places of the planet.
5. Manila, Philippines
Photo: Bigstock / benigs
With 1,660,714 inhabitants (as of 2007), Manila is one of the most heavily populated cities in the Philippines and is also considered the world’s most densely populated city. Even so, this reflection of its buildings in the harbor gives a sense of airy space.
4. Perth, Australia
Photo: Bigstock / PeteC
Tied for eighth place in the Economists’s 2011 list of most livable cities is Australia’s Perth. This photograph – which was taken from verdant Kings Park and shows the city center reflected in Swan River – gives you one idea why. A large city, Perth has a population of 1,696,062.
3. Singapore
Photo: Bigstock / palangsi
Singapore is a city-state made up of 63 islands, with a population of 5,183,700. It is a mix of green spaces and urban development – but the authorities are fast reclaiming land for the latter. Here we see the metropolis’ skyline reflected wonderfully in water.
2. New York City, NY, USA
Photo: Bigstock / Zigi
The most populous city in the United States, the beehive of activity that is New York is home to 8,175,133 million people inhabiting an area of just 305 square miles. Yet at night, the shimmering beauty of the Big Apple’s famous skyline reflects magnificently in the waters around it.
1. Vancouver, Canada
Photo: Bigstock / Tunde Pecsvari
Vancouver is a large city on the west coast of Canada with a population of more than 640,000 people. There are some stunning scenes to be found here – like this one. As photographer Tunde Pecsvari describes it: “The skyline made of skyscrapers and modern buildings meets a piece of nature in Stanley Park. Everything reflects on the calm water of the sea.” Wonderful.
Bonus: Hama, Syria
Photo: Bigstock / Javier Gil
The giant wheel reflected in water in this photo is called a noria – a machine that was used for irrigation in times gone by, but whose value is purely aesthetic nowadays. Hama is the fourth biggest city in Syria, with 696,863 inhabitants as of 2009.
Source: environmentalgraffiti.com
