Jeff,
Nice post. :-) Here's some of my thoughts, FWIW.
Regaring Crystal Dynamics, I agree with your assessment of the writer's over-optimism. I've read several other articles about the agreement, and they point out that the agreement only covers "The Holy Wars." On the flip side, Eidos and CrDy have not denied that they will partner for the other games -- just that they haven't done so yet. Moreover, The Holy Wars will ship with demos of Soul Reaver and Akuji, so I think that might be the reason for the author's ebullience.
Like Bleeker, I'm also long on THQ. And as a gamer, I totally understand what you mean about their games being less than spectacular. Basically, two things convinced me to invest in THQ. One is an improving game pipeline, as you mentioned (the franchises aren't there yet, but there's potential in the next year or so). The other is THQ's ability to make money on non-mega-hit games, something few companies in this industry can do consistently. I'm sure Bleeker can provide a much better bull case for THQ, but those're my two main reasons.
About the TR engine, I'm not 100% sure, but I think the upcoming game Ninja uses the TR engine. Also, the TR engine is the property of Core, not Eidos, so my guess is that it's up to Core whether they license the engine out or not. Anybody have real info about this, as opposed to my musings? :-)
Anyway, just my two cents.
Harry |
