2013 Video Games Thread

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Black Ops 2 begs to differ

To be fair though, that has been the exception rather than the rule. Sports gaming, which used to be that kind of a thing, has taken a major downturn. Those franchises were churning money like crazy compared to what they do now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

To be fair though, that has been the exception rather than the rule. Sports gaming, which used to be that kind of a thing, has taken a major downturn. Those franchises were churning money like crazy compared to what they do now.

But it's still out there, definitely part of the equation. I mean, it's hard to argue with all-time sales record after all-time sales record.

I think the sports games are hurting with adults but anecdotal evidence (i.e. my own kid & his peers) suggests to me that the younger gamers aren't being affected.

Behind the COD franchise shooters, the most played and most commonly purchased are still the classic sports genres. From about 12-24, those are still what they play night after night, interspersed with the major FPS titles. And they play 'em until the next one comes out, and for most they're still a first day (or at worst first week) purchase.

Beyond those, I see them playing a pretty mixed bag. Usually any other major title has maybe 2-4 owners among his core group of 15 or so players. And because of that limited number, those games get less play (because of the shortage of regular MP partners).

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

To be fair though, that has been the exception rather than the rule. Sports gaming, which used to be that kind of a thing, has taken a major downturn. Those franchises were churning money like crazy compared to what they do now.

Is it really going that way though ? dunno how trustworthy these numbers are, but here´s what i found with a quick look around one website : http://www.vgchartz.com

According to them NBA 2k13 sold 3,3 mion on 360+ps3, whereas 2K12 sold just 2.5 and 2k11 sold 2.3 mio units (both counted at dec 31st of the release year), FIFA had yet another record year and not small increases either, going from about 8 mio to 9,7 360/PS3 combined.
And that´s not considering the fact that EA and 2K (and other firms) is making more and more money for comparably low cost input with their digital content.
Even Madden 13 sold more copies in 2012 than Madden12 in 2011 (2.2 mio, up from 2 mio for both platforms).

And then you have all those sequels (and onwards ...) in other genres selling like crazy as well.

[rowech]

This game has me excited...

Matrix Games - Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager

[JediKooter]

It would be awesome if you can punch conspiracy theorists with Buzz's fist.

[stevew]

http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walki...e-walking-dead

Walking dead game out in March. Seems early.

Gah, one too many Dixon's in this game.

[mckerney]

J.J. Abrams, Valve in talks for game and Half-Life or Portal*film | Polygon

J.J. Abrahms and Valve are looking to team up for a movie and a game.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I think the next generation is screwed. Why would I buy an XBox 720 over something like an Ouya? It will cost me 4-5 times as much for the system, games will be $60 and there will be about 2 titles a year that interest me. If the Ouya and it's competitors take off I bet within a year or two there will be piles of games coming out that are interesting and fun for a fifth of the price of the AAA titles on the XBox. I think there is a massive consumer shift happening right now that Sony/MS/Nintendo are not fully understanding, and it's going to bite them huge.

This is what I'm more interested in. Looking forward to seeing what comes out in the next year for devices that will let me just pause my game on the PC, pick up a controller and resume playing on my TV in another room.

[Matthean]

Completed Act I in PoE. Clarity rocks on a witch. I'm almost near being on auto pilot with Freezing Pulse, and I'm going Ice witch as well. I had to be reminded support gems need to be linked to do anything. Once I can get some better items to link up some stuff I'll be even happier with the build. I'm really wanting to try out Fork with Ice Shard even though Fork is dex based and that's really low on my witch right now.

[Thomkal]

Played a little bit with Path of Exile-a nice innovation or two like the fact that you don't sell stuff for money but instead for various items to improve your items and such. A new take on the skills tree too-its huge and you can take many different routes around it-makes you really plan out how you want to play your character.

[mckerney]

Many Questions: System Shock 2 Comes To GOG | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Perfect way to get ready for Bioshock Infinite.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So I finished Ni No Kuni last weekend. Great game, but there are some flaws that hold it back from that upper echelon of RPG's.

The Good:
Graphics, Sound, Presentation:
The game is beautiful. Rendered anime style with cell shading, it really appears as if you're playing an anime. Similarly, the music is fantastic, really setting the tone of the game well. The voice acting is also superb, and really adds a lot of personality to the game.

Gameplay:
The battle sequences are intriguing, with a dynamic combat system that allows you to wander around the battlefield in real time in an effort to get better position on your opponents for an attack or to get away for defense/evasion. The party system allows you to fluidly swap between 12 different characters in any single battle, and while that sounds like a lot, you only have three characters active at a time, one each from three 'teams' of four. Two of the three active characters are controlled by the AI, and there are some pretty simple commands you can give to have your compatriots either engage all out or go on the defensive on the fly. There are also literally hundreds of creatures that you can recruit to have on your team, enabling you to concoct a diverse team that has a wide array of talents, from physical attacks to magic attacks, high defensive units and healers as well. Though I'll go over its shortcomings in a bit, the combat system is fun as hell and stays interesting throughout the 50-ish hour game.

The Story:
The story is quite well done, with a good bit of behind-the-scenes type subterfuge going on while you follow the main theme. You get to develop a real sense of the main characters involved and why they are doing what they are doing.

The Bad:
Difficulty:
The game is ridiculously easy. There are two difficulty levels, Normal and Easy. On Normal, I was able to plow ahead for nearly the entire game with my stock group of characters without running into ANY problems. Early on in the game, I actually ended up taking on a mini-boss during a side quest with a team that was entirely unsuited for it (Fire damage mob, my team was entirely fire damage dealers and my main physical damage guy had on a fire sword), and we still steamrolled it pretty easily. Not only that, they hold your hand completely throughout the entire game, telling you exactly where to go, when to go there and what to do there when you get there. There are a couple of side quests that make you actually use your head, but they are very few and far between. The game is fun enough that this isn't a major detriment, as it's easy to enjoy even while you're steamrolling it, but it would have been nice if there was a little more difficulty.

Timing in the combat system:
The game is active battle, and some of the spells/abilities/effects have a cast time and/or an animation. Certain animations stop everything and simply cancel any other casts that are going off at the time. It's incredibly frustrating to be in the middle of a heal on your main active character, and have one of the AI controlled characters fire off a spell that literally cancels the ability you were using on your main character. This wouldn't be as bad if it weren't so inconsistent. Some abilities aren't interruptable, and your cast will finish just fine after the animation. Others aren't. Some only get interrupted sometimes.

Similarly, one of the major mechanics of the game is keeping an eye on the enemy to be able to see when they are about to launch a massive attack. When they do, you have a limited amount of time to hit "Defend" so it doesn't crush you. It's a pretty neat system, and once you start to get the hang of it, it's a really fulfilling experience to time it right and nail a defense down before a huge attack lands. However, some of the enemy animations are so long that it doesn't matter if you hit defend at the last moment or not, the animation will take the time of the entire defend action and you are powerless to avoid it...which sort of renders the whole system moot when that happens, and it incredibly annoying.

The AI:
For a game in which the majority of the time you are only controlling one of three characters, the AI is horrendously limited. You have several options on the 'tactics' screen, but what they really amount to are just two choices: "Blow all your MP as soon as humanly possible" or "Never use MP at all." So basically you turn your companions' abilities off until you reach a boss, then have them go all out. There is very little in the way of middle ground here.

Production Value:
The game is utterly phenomenal at this for about the first 35% of the game (15 hours or so). Voice acting (which is superb) everywhere, lots of cut scenes which are short enough that they aren't intrusive. Then, abruptly, the voice acting stops almost completely for the next 20-30 hours of game play. At the end, you get a nice burst of it again, but the gap in the middle just screams "we ran out of money or time during development."

Brute Force-able:
I mentioned this a little in the difficulty section, but your main battle team is comprised of familiars. Each one has a bunch of different attributes, resistances and strengths to various elements. There's a ton of room for customization, and there are hundreds of different familiars you can mix and match to dial your team in as well as you'd like. The problem is that it really doesn't matter. You can use just about any team and make it win. And about halfway through the game, your main character gets so strong that you sort of stop using the team you've built up anyway.

NPC's/Side Quests:
Who cares? There really isn't a lot of personality to the NPCs in the game. Despite a robust side-quest portion of the game in which there is a lot to do, it very quickly boils down to 'walk up to person, read two lines of dialogue, pick the proper spell from the spell menu that pops up, collect reward.' There's also an entire line of quests that only pop up after you've beaten the game. I found myself wondering why they didn't just give them to me before I was done so I didn't have to go back afterward.

---

That may sound like an overly harsh criticism of the game...don't get me wrong, I loved the hell out of it. But there were some decent sized flaws that kept it from being truly fantastic. I'd give it an 8/10.

[JediKooter]

Seriously disappointed over the reviews for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Seriously disappointed over the reviews for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Same here.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Same here.

I don't get it. Aliens is just naturally set up for a FPS and if your company can make Borderlands 1 and 2, which are great games in my opinion, how in the hell do you f-up Aliens?? Just wow.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I don't get it. Aliens is just naturally set up for a FPS and if your company can make Borderlands 1 and 2, which are great games in my opinion, how in the hell do you f-up Aliens?? Just wow.

Supposedly Gearbox had a few different studios work on this. TimeGate (made the Fear games) were the ones that did most of the work.

That's the rumor anyway (and one that Gearbox didn't really shoot down when they commented on it).

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Supposedly Gearbox had a few different studios work on this. TimeGate (made the Fear games) were the ones that did most of the work.

That's the rumor anyway (and one that Gearbox didn't really shoot down when they commented on it).

Who Made Aliens? Here’s What We (Sorta) Know | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

“TimeGate definitely played a much bigger role in the development of Aliens than either Gearbox or Sega is letting on,” said RPS’ source. “Aliens: Colonial Marines is essentially TimeGate’s game. From my understanding, almost all of TimeGate has been working on it for a few years, and they are not a small studio.”

Further, our source claimed that Gearbox head Randy Pitchford’s line about TimeGate handling “20 or 25 percent of the total time” is a fabrication. Not only that, it fails to account for a smaller though not insubstantial amount of work put in by other studios. “Preproduction is a very insubstantial period in a game’s development. For him to say that the contribution was equal sans preproduction is basically saying it’s equal. You can see that Randy’s math isn’t really adding up. If Timegate did half, and Gearbox did half, where does that leave Demiurge, Nerve, and Darkside?”

Meanwhile, a Reddit post from an alleged Gearbox employee (which RPS cannot, as of writing, verify entirely – though it matches with previous reports and rumblings we’ve heard) fills in almost every blank on the Borderlands developer’s side of the equation.



It’s well worth a read, but the short version is that Gearbox kept delaying Aliens in favor of other projects (Borderlands, Duke, etc), and Sega finally cracked the whip. Gearbox, however, decided to outsource so it could keep focusing on breadwinners like Borderlands 2, which is where TimeGate, Demiurge, and Nerve entered the picture. Then things got very, very messy. The Reddit post explains:

“Somehow the schedules for [Aliens' codename] Pecan and Borderlands 2 managed to line up, and GBX realized that there was no fucking way they could cert and ship two titles at the same time. Additionally, campaign (which was being developed by TimeGate) was extremely far behind, even as Pecan’s Beta deadline got closer and closer. In April or May (can’t remember which), Pecan was supposed to hit beta, but GBX instead came to an agreement with SEGA that they would push the release date back one more time, buying GBX around 9 [month] extension.”

“About 5 of those 9 months went to shipping BL2. In that time, TimeGate managed to scrap together 85 percent of the campaign, but once Borderlands 2 shipped and GBX turned its attention to Pecan, it became pretty apparent that what had been made was in a pretty horrid state. Campaign didn’t make much sense, the boss fights weren’t implemented, PS3 was way over memory, etcetcetc. GBX was pretty unhappy with TG’s work, and some of Campaign maps were just completely redesigned from scratch. There were some last minute feature requests, most notably female marines, and the general consensus among GBX devs was that there was no way this game was going to be good by ship. There just wasn’t enough time.”

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Who Made Aliens? Here’s What We (Sorta) Know | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

picard_facepalm1-500x328.jpg

[Vince, Pt. II]

So I'm playing The Witcher 2, and it's fantastic. Last night I had one of the biggest laugh out loud moments I've ever had in a video game.

In the middle portion of the game, an entire chapter is devoted to curing a woman of poison. You run all over the place, gather a ton of ingredients, and a sorceress begins the process of healing her. It's a pretty dramatic cut scene, the woman is laid out with poison, and the sorceress is tending to her as you and a few dwarves stand by watching. She feeds the woman a magic potion, then uses a comically large syringe in the Pulp Fiction fashion, and finally as the last step takes a magic rose petal, puts it on her lips and proceeds to bend down to give the woman some sort of mouth-to-mouth. Suddenly, in the midst of this fairly intense scene, the dwarf next to you pipes up (voice acted, so he actually speaks):

"Ah, my favorite kind of magic. Lesbomancy."

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

So I'm playing The Witcher 2, and it's fantastic. Last night I had one of the biggest laugh out loud moments I've ever had in a video game.

In the middle portion of the game, an entire chapter is devoted to curing a woman of poison. You run all over the place, gather a ton of ingredients, and a sorceress begins the process of healing her. It's a pretty dramatic cut scene, the woman is laid out with poison, and the sorceress is tending to her as you and a few dwarves stand by watching. She feeds the woman a magic potion, then uses a comically large syringe in the Pulp Fiction fashion, and finally as the last step takes a magic rose petal, puts it on her lips and proceeds to bend down to give the woman some sort of mouth-to-mouth. Suddenly, in the midst of this fairly intense scene, the dwarf next to you pipes up (voice acted, so he actually speaks):

"Ah, my favorite kind of magic. Lesbomancy."

I'm about 35 hours into the first game and have really been enjoying it so far, though looking forward to finishing it so I can start on 2.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Attachment 4553

Gearbox is probably in a tough spot here. They don't want to admit it was mostly their work because it's terrible and hurt their reputations, though saying they had another developer do most the work would probably make publishers wary of working with them in the future more than just releasing a bad game would. Who's going to want to sign Gearbox to do their game if they're not sure they're actually going to have it made by Gearbox?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

So I'm playing The Witcher 2, and it's fantastic. Last night I had one of the biggest laugh out loud moments I've ever had in a video game.

In the middle portion of the game, an entire chapter is devoted to curing a woman of poison. You run all over the place, gather a ton of ingredients, and a sorceress begins the process of healing her. It's a pretty dramatic cut scene, the woman is laid out with poison, and the sorceress is tending to her as you and a few dwarves stand by watching. She feeds the woman a magic potion, then uses a comically large syringe in the Pulp Fiction fashion, and finally as the last step takes a magic rose petal, puts it on her lips and proceeds to bend down to give the woman some sort of mouth-to-mouth. Suddenly, in the midst of this fairly intense scene, the dwarf next to you pipes up (voice acted, so he actually speaks):

"Ah, my favorite kind of magic. Lesbomancy."

Did you end up going with Iorveth instead of Roche? That scene doesn't sound familiar to me and wonder if that's why.

I am in chapter 3 right now. Very much enjoying this game. It's awesome. Best $7.50 I've spent in ages.

[Atocep]

The Wii U sold between 45k and 59k consoles in the US in January according to NPD.

Ouch

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The Wii U sold between 45k and 59k consoles in the US in January according to NPD. Ouch

Having zero interest in a Wii anything, I'm assuming from your ouch that this is not the figure they were hoping for?

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Gearbox is probably in a tough spot here. They don't want to admit it was mostly their work because it's terrible and hurt their reputations, though saying they had another developer do most the work would probably make publishers wary of working with them in the future more than just releasing a bad game would. Who's going to want to sign Gearbox to do their game if they're not sure they're actually going to have it made by Gearbox?

I think they really screwed themselves. Borderlands is great, so they set that bar and that's what everyone expects. I think you nailed it. Any future collaborators have to consider if Gearbox is just going to call it in or they going to farm it out to a substandard 3rd party? It will be interesting to see the fall out from this in the next few months.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I think they really screwed themselves. Borderlands is great, so they set that bar and that's what everyone expects. I think you nailed it. Any future collaborators have to consider if Gearbox is just going to call it in or they going to farm it out to a substandard 3rd party? It will be interesting to see the fall out from this in the next few months.

Especially when it isn't even a game that the publisher wanted rushed out and they needed an outside crew to help finish in time. Gearbox got the project in 2006.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Having zero interest in a Wii anything, I'm assuming from your ouch that this is not the figure they were hoping for?

Yeah, the article I read said that those numbers are lower than any month in PS3 or 360 history. Probably not a good sign for Nintendo. They really need the Zelda game to get here.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Especially when it isn't even a game that the publisher wanted rushed out and they needed an outside crew to help finish in time. Gearbox got the project in 2006.

I've followed the game since it was announced and IIRC it was initially hyped as a tactical squad based shooter. Kind of like XCom on the ground.

Instead it turned into a laughable pile of shit.

My favorite bit from the RPS review:

This writing just gets better and better. “Raiders 6-5 will wait for you, but goddammit don’t make us wait for you.” Someone not only wrote that down, but an actor willingly said it out loud.

and Penny Arcade:

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The Wii U sold between 45k and 59k consoles in the US in January according to NPD.

Ouch

Going to be harder to manufacture scarcity to drive demand this time.

Hopefully they get knocked down to a 3rd party at some point. Don't want another underpowered console just for the 3-5 A+++ games I really want to play.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Yeah, the article I read said that those numbers are lower than any month in PS3 or 360 history. Probably not a good sign for Nintendo. They really need the Zelda game to get here.

A new Zelda game may give a brief boost, but it's not going to help that console overall. I'm shocked that anyone's surprised the Wii U is doing so poorly. It made no sense from the moment they announced it and it still doesn't make sense now.

The only thing worse is the leaked PS4 prototype that came out this week with a touch screen in the controller. This just in......if a system sucks (i.e. the Wii U), don't mimic its controller in any way.

[Neon_Chaos]

Looks like a Dungeon Keeper-like game sneaked up on us.

From Paradox Interactive and Cyanide Montreal: Impire.

Impire on Steam

No official reviews out, but user reviews look promising.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...Dungeon-Keeper

Dungeon Keeper + Dawn Of War sounds good.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

Looks like a Dungeon Keeper-like game sneaked up on us.

From Paradox: Impire.

Impire on Steam

No official reviews out, but user reviews look promising.

They didn't send out any copies to reviewers prior to release, which usually isn't a good sign, though I haven't read anything bad about it yet. I had seen a video TB did on it while it was in alpha and it looked alright.

Given how Paradox games recently have gone on sale 3 or 4 of them together with all DLC for $10 I think it's probably best to wait on it though.

I did think it was funny how the developers made a point of saying they weren't a part of the main Cyanide sudio.

[Neon_Chaos]

This guy is streaming the game: BigDrock

The voicework and writing has been excellent so far. Gameplay looks good.

Buying this one now. I'll give a heads up if it's cool.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Did you end up going with Iorveth instead of Roche? That scene doesn't sound familiar to me and wonder if that's why.

I am in chapter 3 right now. Very much enjoying this game. It's awesome. Best $7.50 I've spent in ages.

Yeah, went with Iorveth. I'd be interested to compare notes when we're done to see how much the game diverged because of that. I just started Chapter 3, and the game is really good.

[Matthean]

Tweaked my Ice Witch in PoE and somehow came out worse. I did some more tweaking. I got some key gems and the right items to really use them well and now I'm very happy. I got Ice Shard backed with Fork and Increased Crit Damage and 14% quality on the Crit Damage gem.

They are doing one final wipe on passives tomorrow. I'm guessing it is to buff Duelists as that's the one class that gets ripped on.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

A new Zelda game may give a brief boost, but it's not going to help that console overall. I'm shocked that anyone's surprised the Wii U is doing so poorly. It made no sense from the moment they announced it and it still doesn't make sense now.

The only thing worse is the leaked PS4 prototype that came out this week with a touch screen in the controller. This just in......if a system sucks (i.e. the Wii U), don't mimic its controller in any way.

TBH I prefer the Wii U to the Wii. I never cared for 'waggle' and it became more of a pain in the ass when I moved out of my parents' home, since I have found exactly zero way to get the sensor bar calibrated properly in my current circumstances. I went from playing single player Wii games on a reasonably regular basis to only playing Wii games when visiting friends who have Wii consoles.

My Wii's got 4+ years' worth of dust on it for that reason - it's physically impossible to play in my one-bedroom apartment.

Wii U, at least, the sensor bar doesn't get involved unless players 2-4 are also involved, and practically speaking, I don't play multiplayer games that often anyway. So I can actually *play* Wii U, where I basically couldn't/can't play Wii.

[jeff061]

Bioshock Infinite Trailer #2.


These trailers are amazing.

[spleen1015]

I think I am going to be taking the Witcher plunge real soon.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Matthean

They are doing one final wipe on passives tomorrow. I'm guessing it is to buff Duelists as that's the one class that gets ripped on.

Looks lile somebody was full of it. I saw no patch notes and I had didn't have to patch anything in.

Still not fond of the distances between way points at times.

[MizzouRah]

I'm really enjoying the demo so far for this Indie game.



Good news! There is a demo version of turn-based tactical strategy game «Crasleen: Drums of War».
In the demo-version there are 4 missions for orc Tharshan and multiplayers (hotseat). The game supports English and Russian languages. Please, leave your comments here or on the forum of the official game site.

Unfortunately, game release postponed to 1Q 2013.
«Crasleen: Drums of War» got in the top-100 best indie-games of year 2012 according to site www.indiedb.com.

Demo-version:
crasleen-game.crasleen.com/crasleen-setup.exe

Official site:
Crasleen.com

News page:
www.moddb.com/games/crasleen-drums-of-wa...-of-war-demo-version

[mckerney]

Some more on Aliens: Colonial Marines.

We've recently been chatting with a developer who -- as you might have guessed -- wishes to remain anonymous. Under this condition, he agreed to let us publish the things he's witnessed personally and learned from fellow project members in the time he spent working on Colonial Marines.

Our man was involved with the game only briefly, between 2007 and 2008, but in just that short time he had some interesting reading for us. If his words are indeed to be believed, they further fuel the suggestion that Colonial Marines was increasingly sidelined for more "important" projects.

"Gearbox was taking people off the project to put them on Borderlands 1," he says of his time on the job. "This was before the big art style change happened on Borderlands. Our team was getting smaller by the month, making it very difficult to get the game made. Ironically several of the team members were ex-3D Realms people who were saying [paraphrasing] 'Finally, we're going to Gearbox to make Aliens, and we're going to ship a fucking game!' Hah."

According to our man with the inside track, it was later learned that SEGA actually canceled Colonial Marines, deciding to cut its losses after such a long development cycle.

"At some point in 2008, SEGA temporarily pulled the plug on the game," he said. "They caught wind of Gearbox shifting resources (despite still collecting milestone checks as if the team were full size) and lying to SEGA AND 2K about the number of people working on each project. This led to the round of layoffs at Gearbox in late 2008."

The developer confirms he later spoke with people attached to the project at the beginning of 2012, and learned they actually didn't expect the game to ship in February, given its current state. It would appear staff on the game knew the thing was a bust, and were prepared for a fresh delay. Obviously, that never happened, and now we're here.

Also, someone uploaded some alpha or beta gameplay of the cancelled Aliens game that Obsidian was working on.



Plus some info from someone who worked on it.

I've talked about this game before...

There is a lot of could-ofs, should-ofs, and all that.

The problem with making successful horror games with the Aliens franchise is that the Aliens have been revealed... a lot. There is no mystery with them anymore. After 4 movies, countless comics and novels, countless video games - where the Alien and Alien variants have been killed multiple times, you have to tread new ground if you want to do something original. The horror with the Aliens no longer lies in the unknown, so we were going for the environment.

For example, the second or third time you watch Alien, it is no longer scary. My second playthrough of Amnesia was easy and scare-free.

NOT COUNTING JUMP SCARES! Jump scares are not true horror, though they can be used to effectively alter the tension temporarily.

Josh did have some ideas though on how to add horror and tension, and we had several scenarios into the game. Most of us were or had played SS2, Amnesia, and Call of Cthulu, but horror was not the goal of the game, survival was.

This was a game of limited resources and perma-death. If a party member got face-hugged, your choices were to mercy kill them, put them in a sleeper and wake them sparingly if you need them, or let them pop - but the bottom line was that once they got impregnated they had an expiration date.

As for the Alien variations, there are things that are simply expected by publishers and the fan base. The xenomporph variations also have a history in the aliens universe anyway. The first thing Josh and the concept artists did was to create the lifeforms the xenos would impregnate first. We also used some insect themes for the various xeno roles, from drones and scouts, to soldiers and queens. As covered in countless comics, novels, and films, the xenos take traits from their host, the idea being it would better enable them to survive in a dangerous habitat. One of the big mysteries Josh and the writers were exploring was what the caldera and how were the engineers (space jockeys) doing with the xenos.

The goal was not to kill all the bugs, but to simply escape from the caldera where you were trapped. Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of killing of both xenos and humans in the game. Combat was real time - but we had a companion wheel to context system so that you could issue commands to your squadmates. For example, you could highlight a door with your reticule, and then based on what your squard could do, it would show you your options, like weld door, open door, or if you had a bomb, plant bomb on door.

As far as tech goes, we were using an earlier version of Onyx - which would later be used to create DS3. Our tech was stable, but we had pipeline issues to resolve but by milestone 25 or so were in pretty good shape.

[mckerney]

Well that's disappointing.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I'm really enjoying the demo so far for this Indie game.



Good news! There is a demo version of turn-based tactical strategy game «Crasleen: Drums of War».
In the demo-version there are 4 missions for orc Tharshan and multiplayers (hotseat). The game supports English and Russian languages. Please, leave your comments here or on the forum of the official game site.

Unfortunately, game release postponed to 1Q 2013.
«Crasleen: Drums of War» got in the top-100 best indie-games of year 2012 according to site www.indiedb.com.

Demo-version:
crasleen-game.crasleen.com/crasleen-setup.exe

Official site:
Crasleen.com

News page:
www.moddb.com/games/crasleen-drums-of-wa...-of-war-demo-version

Orcs Vs Everything: Crasleen – Drums Of War Demo | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I think everyone is kind of waiting to see what the hell happens, but the PS4 announcement is at 6:00 EST tonight. Should be interesting to see if the leaked prototypes resemble the final product they reveal.

[Matthean]

PoE needs to extend the time a portal can last. Killed the boss for the end of Act II. I went to town to dump my earnings and go back to grab more. Without walking away from my PC the portal went away before I was done. From the way point onward was reset. Um, yeah.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Yeah, went with Iorveth. I'd be interested to compare notes when we're done to see how much the game diverged because of that. I just started Chapter 3, and the game is really good.

I would be interested in that as well. Very curious to see how different things end up depending on that one choice.

[Drake]

Witcher 3 articles starting to emerge. It's going to be open world.

Fuck me. There goes 2014. And I was finally going to start that exercise regimen and quit smoking, too.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I think they really screwed themselves. Borderlands is great, so they set that bar and that's what everyone expects. I think you nailed it. Any future collaborators have to consider if Gearbox is just going to call it in or they going to farm it out to a substandard 3rd party? It will be interesting to see the fall out from this in the next few months.

Oh boy, looks like it could be really bad for them. Allegations that they used the money SEGA gave them for ACM to work on Duke Nukem Forever and Borderlands. Though since all they had to do was ship ACM to hold up their end of the contract they may be in the clear legally.

Gearbox 'embezzled' Aliens: Colonial Marines money - Destructoid

"SEGA is also responsible for not permanently cancelling the game in 2008. I don't know who found out about the mishandling of funds by Gearbox, but [canceling Colonial Marines] had to be one of the few right decisions the board has done, or this person is one of the few board members who knew what they were doing (from what I heard, this person may have left the board a while ago when SEGA decided to start the project again). This game should have been cancelled permanently, and the final product is undeniable proof of it.

"Despite that, I believe SEGA wanted to try to get some of the money back, at the fans' expense. So another blame for SEGA there. SEGA should have also watched the project and development a lot better, because there was a lot of warning signs that said this was a disaster in the making. So whoever was assigned to watch Gearbox and the game has some responsibility too, unless the board was forcing him to do it. SEGA and their lawyers also have some blame on the wording of the contract too, but more on that later."

The blog then moves onto the main event, addressing the involvement of Gearbox Software and its CEO, Randy Pitchford. In no uncertain terms, the studio is accused of robbing its publisher and lying to its face.

"Now here is the company that should get most of the blame: Gearbox Software and Randy Pitchford. Gearbox stole from SEGA, they robbed us, lied to us about the game, and tried to get another company to make the game instead. Let's see where the funding went shall we? Everyone said the game went to both Borderlands games, but Duke Nukem Forever gets a mention as well, but it's pushed out of the spotlight, because people want to forget about that game, and I don't blame them! Duke Nukem Forever had a big impact on Aliens: Colonial Marines as well."

A Gamasutra article was used to back up the claim. The article in question is an interview with Pitchford, in which he explains how his studio got the rights to Duke Nukem Forever.

"It clearly shows that Pitchford and Gearbox wanted to focus heavily on Duke Nukem Forever, but how would they get the money to hire some of the 3D Realms team and even buy the intellectual property? Sure, they made a lot from Borderlands, but guess where they got the money to fund Borderlands in the first place? Yup, SEGA.

"So Gearbox essentially lied to SEGA, mishandled funds, broke agreements and contractual obligations to work on other projects, didn't want to work on a game they were contractually obligated to work on and gave it to another team, poor organization and direction on ACM, took on too many projects from different companies at once, and other things that we may not even know about. Hell, part of me believes that Gearbox wanted this thing delayed as much as possible so they can get more funding money to embezzle from SEGA."

Danielson concludes by saying he's heard rumors of possible legal action being taken by SEGA, but admits the contract may preclude such a step from being taken. All Gearbox apparently had to do was ship the game to fulfill the agreement, which it's now done. He added that SEGA should have canceled A:CM and taken the studio to court, rather than try to make the fans pay for the investment. The writer even goes so far as to suggest SEGA ought to have published Borderlands, given it paid so dearly for it.

"In this case, what happened clearly was SEGA had a decent eye on the project, rightfully cancelled it, when they saw the problems, then someone decided to restart the project, leading to this massive mess," he concludes. "Where is our money Randy? We should get sales from Borderlands 1 and 2, since it was our money that funded it."

[mckerney]

Seeing as its from Team Meat and sounds bizarre I'll have to give this a try when it's out.

edmundm.com/post/43820398014/mew-genics-official-announcement-on-gameplay

[Matthean]

Legend of Grimrock 2 announced - Destructoid