EA studio boss keen on Bullfrog remakes

By Matt Martin Published 11 August, 2009

Populous and Theme Park considered.

EA Bright Light boss Harvey Elliot would "love" to see classic Bullfrog games like Populous and Theme Park remade for today's systems.

"For me, I love the old Bullfrog IP, it got me really passionately into games, and I'm really proud that Bullfrog is part of the heritage of Bright Light," Elliot told Kikizo. "I'm personally a huge fan of Populous and Theme Park, they were some of my favourite games - many years ago, obviously - and I'd love to see both of those remade."

Harvey said that the studio is likely to look at the viability of recreating Bullfrog franchises in the future, but it's important to reassess classic IP realistically rather than through rose-tinted spectacles.

"The thing is, the romance of the idea is often detached from the reality of executing it. If you remember all the old classics you played, if you go back and play them now, they're not the same," he offered. "They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now.

"I'm going to look at them at some point, I think there's an opportunity to bring those back in the future, but only if it's right for the time and not just a 'remake' or something. We'd need to do it in a way that's true to the original values, but would still make a great game today."

Other classic Bullfrog IP includes Powermonger and Magic Carpet. A new title in the Syndicate series is also in the works at The Chronicles of Riddick studio Starbreeze.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hantheman #1 3 years ago

    Populus the beginning!

  • SirDespard #2 3 years ago

    Dungeon Keeper definitely

  • triple_a #3 3 years ago

    Magic Carpet would totally deserve a remake.

  • Fatbobbybob #4 3 years ago

    come on it would have to SYNDICATE. 4 Player co-op with the ability to go third person or pull out for a classic over view. Those memories of the chaingun and calling in air raids are some of my fondest gaming moments.

  • Darren #5 3 years ago

    Remakes of Dungeon Keeper 2, Magic Carpet and Populus for the current consoles and PC would be very nice. They wouldn't have to tamper with the gameplay too much, just update the engines the games ran on.

  • ZuluHero #6 3 years ago

    Seconded for Syndicate here.

    Its was really great and has such an indepth background that it would be a shame to let it die forever. Plus the setting is really cool.
    Edited by 1 at 11/08/09 @ 15:50

  • Les #7 3 years ago

    ""They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now."

    Depends on the audience you want to reach. People that loved them back then (and aren't obsessed with graphics) will love them now. But for newcomers where the nostalgia bonus doesn't count, re-releases would probably be a hard sell.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #8 3 years ago

    I don't see the point in remaking Theme Park as Roller Coaster Tycoon does it so much better, and the last couple of Theme Park games were a bit cack.

    But Syndiacte, that's a no-brainer, and stuff like Dungeon Keeper, Magic Carpet, or Populous could work.

    Personally though, I'd like to see a new Theme Hospital. Loved that game, till it got ridiculous and frustrating with all the infections. Less of that, and more people shitting in corridors, please.

  • comedian #9 3 years ago

    Syndicate!

  • RexRunti #10 3 years ago

    New syndicate game??? Yay!

    Also do a new Dungeon Keeper, if just to show Overlord how evil should be done.

  • Shadders #11 3 years ago

    Theme Park DS was great, I'd buy a straight port of Theme Hospital too.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #12 3 years ago

    SYNDICATE FFS

  • Eraysor #13 3 years ago

    THEME HOSPITAL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

  • StooMonster #14 3 years ago

    Magic Carpet please.

  • StooMonster #15 3 years ago

    Dungeon Keeper too. Thanks!

  • Eraser #16 3 years ago

    Wait, an article about remaking Bullfrog IP and not a single mention of Dungeon Keeper?
    Come on!

  • TheBoyChris #17 3 years ago

    Dungeon Keeper!!! :D :D :D

  • Petulant_Radish #18 3 years ago

    Theme Park! I want to charge more foolish thrill seeking perverts well over the odds for a small portion of ice cream, and place all my burger stalls just before the rollercoaster so they all puke on themselves. It’s my theme, I can make it what I want.

  • AnusMcphanus #19 3 years ago

    Forget about remakes, this calls for proper sequels and in particular Dungeon Keeper 3!

  • lennon #20 3 years ago

    You can get Theme hospital and populous the beginning on the ps3 and then download them to the psp.

    Would love to see Populous 2 and syndicate remade though

  • mingster #21 3 years ago

    Yup
    Populous, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper & Syndicate.
    All spiffed up with HD graphics

    That'l do me.

  • Spekingur #22 3 years ago

    Powermonger, tyvm.

  • IronCladChicken #23 3 years ago

    I'd be happy if they polished off and released the shelved Dungeon Keeper 3 title.
    I'm a little surprised no one has ever come up with a decent DK alternative in the past 10-15 years

  • Silvervein #24 3 years ago

    While I like all the classic bullfrog games, I dread the thought of EA doing a 'remake' of those. Judging by what they did to command and conquer (compare tiberium sun with c&c3), next dungeon keeper will most likely be a first person shooter with demon as player character.
    Rose tinted glasses my behind. Those games are still good (in fact, I played dungeon keeper two days ago). What's with suits trying to turn everything into shooters or rts's nowadays?

  • booner #25 3 years ago

    DO IT!

  • beastmaster #26 3 years ago

    There's always a worry that they'll get cocked up big time but I'd rather they have a go.

  • MORZTAN #27 3 years ago

    oh oh... Time to fire up the Amiga 500 for some nice Themepark-loving..

  • hiddenranbir #28 3 years ago

    Theme Hospital!

    Patients are reminded NOT to die in the corridors.

  • makeamazing #29 3 years ago

    Well i agree in some part that old games are not as good as we remember them, but games such as X-Com, Neuromancer, Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper are still some of my favourite retro games, and still play great today.

  • Setaro #30 3 years ago

    I've been replaying Theme Hospital (PC) just this week and it's just as superb as it ever was.

  • Chufty #31 3 years ago

    Theme Hospital is utterly awesome, today as much as ever. I've been playing it on my PSP recently and even though it's not as good as the PC version, it's still one of the best games of all time.

    Remake it perhaps, but is there any need when the original is still so good?

    What am I saying, of course there's a need. If they screw it up, we'll just keep playing the original anyway.

  • alfr #32 3 years ago

    Hurray for Dungeon Keeper, Theme Hospital & Theme Park remakes! That kind of games would be perfect fit for iPhone too!

  • MrsPacMan #33 3 years ago

    Populous on iPhone please

  • Silvervein #34 3 years ago

    @beastmaster

    It sure would be nice if someone picked those titles and did next chapter of those games. I just have very low opinion of EA in general. But that goes for majority of companies, other than 1c.

    In recent years, only russians seem to know what 'remake' of an old game really means. They did king's bounty: the legend, which was exactly the continuation that original king's bounty deserved (and a game I played to death, enjoying it a lot). Compare that to fallout 3 by bethesda, that took only couple names from fallout 1/2 and yet got number 3 at the end...
    Eh.
    But they mentioned in the article that syndicate 3 is in the works? Does anyone have any info about that?

  • Wyrm #35 3 years ago

    Syndicate YES YES YES.

    But make it mouse controlled, overhead. DO NOT MAKE IT A GTA CLONE.

  • mrpsb #36 3 years ago

    What about Flood :(((

  • AphoticCosmos #37 3 years ago

    Theme Park! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

    I played Theme Park as but a young lad. Please gief.

  • Ged42 #38 3 years ago

    Would much rather have more Theme Hospital than Theme Park. King Complex FTW!

    and Yay to more Syndicate, the gaming world needs more miniguns.

  • KillerMonkey #39 3 years ago

    Populous is still brilliant, even without nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses.

  • septimus #40 3 years ago

    Syndicate on iPhone please.... and pretty much everything else. Can never have too much Syndicate. As long as it is based on the PC version, loved the Amiga one, but it lacked something.

  • TheApologist #41 3 years ago

    Theme Hospital obv.

  • OrgasmicMutton #42 3 years ago

    My first instinct as soon as I saw that was "Magic Carpet please." i've always felt that was a franchise keen for a next gen remake or, preferably, sequel.

    it's a great concept and it would be so enjoyable to whoosh around on your carpet blasting fireballs at giant caterpillar monsters again.

  • lucky_jim #43 3 years ago

    Syndicate, Populous, Powermonger and Theme Park for the iPhone would do me nicely (although the DS version of Theme Park is pretty good). They wouldn't need huge changes, just a well thought-out control system and tidied-up graphics.

  • JMB #44 3 years ago

    I peed my pants a little when I see they are making a new Syndicate game! I cant believe this was announced in march, how did I miss this? God I hope they do a gd job of it.

  • BabyJesus #45 3 years ago

    Nice, I could do with a few new "Theme" games.

  • AhSoul #46 3 years ago

    The thought of a new Syndicate makes me horny....

  • TurboBailey #47 3 years ago

    Populous + Theme Hospital please.

    Edited by 1 at 12/08/09 @ 09:13

  • sneetch #48 3 years ago

    I'd be happy with copies of Populous 3 and Dungeon Keeper that works on a modern PC. Just don't include some stupid pet like in Black and White (would have been awesome IMO if there was no monster and had more Populous-like gameplay). Tacking on frippery like that just diluted the whole thing for me.

    I'd love to see remakes a la Monkey Island, more or less the same game with improvements to the UI and a graphical re-skinning so that it's not running in 640 x 480 block-o-vision.

  • metalangel #49 3 years ago

    Theme Park remake? Oh dear god. Theme Park World was horrible - ugly graphics, hateful character designs, horrible controls, no fun. I loved the original but simply couldn't stand it. And then EA made a few tweaks and it became Theme Park Inc (and don't forget, Theme Park World was 'SimThemePark' in North America)

    Entirely pointless... Rollercoaster Tycoon does the whole ride building thing a million times better, while Thrillville does the park management and 'kooky fun' thing a lot better.

    Besides, you know any remake of these will be dumbed down because gamers are just stupider than they were 15 years ago.

  • Lemming81 #50 3 years ago

    Just HDify and refine the games as they are and release them on XBLA/PSN/Steam. Job done.

  • Verwandlung #51 3 years ago

    Yes please