Blacksite director leaves Midway News • News • Eurogamer.net

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Soon after criticising game.

Midway has confirmed the departure of Harvey Smith, the creative director of BlackSite: Area 51, who recently criticised the project before it had even been released in Europe, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

At the Montreal International Games Summit in Quebec, Smith referred to the project as "...so f***ed up."

Midway said only that Smith's departure was by mutual decision, and did not comment further. It is unclear whether the mutual decision was made before the lead designer's recent comments.

When asked why he was so forthcoming about his feelings on BlackSite development, Smith said only that he believed in "personal accountability".

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About Blacksite: Area 51
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- Release date 30/11/2007
- Publisher Midway
- Developer Midway
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Comments (15) Latest comment 4 years ago

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LHH #1 4 years ago

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Wouldn't it be fun if EA's employees (or any big developers employees) believed in "personal accountability" as much as this chap.
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peppergomez #2 4 years ago

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harvey smith is a total loser- he's the one who ruined dues ex: invisible war, and now he's turned out another turkey. he should take responsibility for his own failings first.
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DanWhitehead #3 4 years ago

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Bad Boys was on TV last night, wasn't it?
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DUFFKING #4 4 years ago

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'Deusex2wasabitofadissapointmentandbythesestandardsitisobvio uslytheworstgameevermadebymanlol'
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Lexx87 #5 4 years ago

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Who writes the little Gamesindustry.biz things at the bottom of the pages? Do you have someone just sitting there making them up all day; locked in a cold room...never allowed out.
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space_ace #6 4 years ago

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someone should make a film about recent games industry developments... i see the title is already suggested above
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MaxiSleep #7 4 years ago

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I would go with ruined. Could not be bothered playing it through. Real design by numbers, horrible cramped environments and zero atmos. Such a shame after the GODLY first one.
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thepiedpiper #8 4 years ago

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Well the phrase shooting oneself in the foot springs to mind. Honourable, yet somewhat foolish.
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pjmaybe #9 4 years ago

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Well wherever he ends up next, I hope they "tear" him a new one.

See what I did there?

Peej
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BBIAJ #10 4 years ago

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He's ended up at Eidos, working on Deus Ex 3...
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mkreku #11 4 years ago

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Does that mean Deus Ex 3 will have unified ammo too?
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BBIAJ #12 4 years ago

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Dunno if it's true or not, that's what the conspiracy theorists are saying though, that it was a deliberate move on his art so that he would be fired and free to move on.
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Nithron #13 4 years ago

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It'd make slightly more sense if he was actually *about* to quit, and so decided he could say whatever he wanted.
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justin_saunders #14 4 years ago

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Haha.

Is a mutual decision when the boss yells:
"You're fired, jerk!"
and you yell back:
"You can't fire me because I quit!"

What a douchebag, maybe he'll now learn how to manage his way out of a paper bag.
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bushwod #15 4 years ago

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Well at least there are some people in this industry who want to do the best they can and are passionate about it. He's pissed of for being rushed and so quits, good on him I say.

(course he might just lying, but I'm a trusting sort of guy)
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