The Gaming News Thread

**frogbeastegg** · 04-20-2009, 16:26

Originally Posted by TinCow

Next Fallout game announced.

Fallout: New Vegas
Not a sequel to FO3, just a different story set in another part of the US.
Being developed by Obsidian (KOTOR2, NWN2), not Bethesda.

This is very exciting RPG news! Obsidian has members of the Fallout 1 and 2 teams, including the lead director. They're also a team which excels at rich story and strong characters - the major aspects I found lacking in Fallout 3.

**johnhughthom** · 04-20-2009, 16:30

Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

This is very exciting RPG news! Obsidian has members of the Fallout 1 and 2 teams, including the lead director. They're also a team which excels at rich story and strong characters - the major aspects I found lacking in Fallout 3.

I agree, lets just hope they can release a more polished game than some of their more recent efforts.

**TinCow** · 04-20-2009, 16:43

Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

This is very exciting RPG news! Obsidian has members of the Fallout 1 and 2 teams, including the lead director. They're also a team which excels at rich story and strong characters - the major aspects I found lacking in Fallout 3.

Based on conversations with my Bethsoft friends, I think Bethsoft is still working in the FO universe, but their next release is going to be on their next-gen engine. I expect we'll see ES5 released by Bethsoft next on a new engine, followed by FO4 on the same engine. The Obsidian FO release is a stopgap game to keep interest in the universe alive while Bethsoft works on their new technologies.

**frogbeastegg** · 04-20-2009, 17:56

Originally Posted by TinCow

Based on conversations with my Bethsoft friends, I think Bethsoft is still working in the FO universe, but their next release is going to be on their next-gen engine. I expect we'll see ES5 released by Bethsoft next on a new engine, followed by FO4 on the same engine. The Obsidian FO release is a stopgap game to keep interest in the universe alive while Bethsoft works on their new technologies.

I'm far more excited about the stop gap than the next 'proper' game in the series. Bethesda are good at making worlds; they're not so good at making those worlds fun to be in. Plot, character, smart quests - these are the things I crave in RPGs. ES5 and FO4 I shall play when they turn up because there aren't so many RPGs of that style, but I don't care how long I'm waiting.

Bethesda's world inhabited by Obsidian's characters and plot - it's a match made in heaven! Or it had better be! Obsidian plus KOTOR should have been equally glorious; publisher greed ruined it.

**TinCow** · 04-20-2009, 18:13

Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

Bethesda's world inhabited by Obsidian's characters and plot - it's a match made in heaven! Or it had better be! Obsidian plus KOTOR should have been equally glorious; publisher greed ruined it.

I agree, and I don't think we've got much to worry about. Bethsoft are the publishers, and despite the many complaints about their games, I've never seen "unfinished" being one of them. The odds of Bethsoft forcing Obsidian to push out an unfinished game seems pretty low to me, especially since Bethsoft will want to keep critical opinion on the FO universe high for their own FO4 sales.

**Xiahou** · 04-23-2009, 04:53

Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

Bethesda's world inhabited by Obsidian's characters and plot - it's a match made in heaven! Or it had better be! Obsidian plus KOTOR should have been equally glorious; publisher greed ruined it.

Not to be a party pooper, but Obsidian doesn't really have a good track record does it? They kind of have a reputation for getting farmed out sequels to games and turning them into disappointments....

KOTOR2 was a good game, but unfinished and ultimately disappointing compared to the first. NWN2, to me at least, was an unplayable mess when it first came out. Two expansions later and I hear its finally starting to come together, but I've stopped caring.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but when I hear Obsidian is getting to do another sequel to a different devs game, its more likely to elicit a sigh from me than excitement.

**Lemur** · 04-23-2009, 05:27

Originally Posted by Xiahou

I'd love to be proven wrong, but when I hear Obsidian is getting to do another sequel to a different devs game, its more likely to elicit a sigh from me than excitement.

They need to negotiate a lot harder before accepting deals, that's obvious. Since they can't fund their own development the way Valve and BioWare can, they need to get guarantees of development budget and post-release support budget before they sign another contract, or their reputation will be forever destroyed. More than it is. Now.

**frogbeastegg** · 04-23-2009, 11:32

Originally Posted by Xiahou

Not to be a party pooper, but Obsidian doesn't really have a good track record does it? They kind of have a reputation for getting farmed out sequels to games and turning them into disappointments....

KOTOR2 was a good game, but unfinished and ultimately disappointing compared to the first. NWN2, to me at least, was an unplayable mess when it first came out. Two expansions later and I hear its finally starting to come together, but I've stopped caring.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but when I hear Obsidian is getting to do another sequel to a different devs game, its more likely to elicit a sigh from me than excitement.

KOTORII was shoved out early by LucasArts. I doubt any company could have made a success out of that. Even so, the game is more famous for what it wasn't than what it was.

NWN2 is less excusable. It seems they made some changes to the engine after people complained the game wasn't pretty enough, and those changes caused a raft of problems they weren't able to purge before release.

Obsidian is not so hot at technical stuff. This was true of their earlier, pre-Obsidian games too. Planescape: Torment had a lot of problems, so did the Fallouts, so did Icewind Dale. This announcement gives me hope - this is a mature, well made engine with mature, well made tools, and Bethesda are supporting Obsidian on the technical side. The development won't be rushed, the game won't be shoved out, and, as Tincow said earlier, I can't see Bethesda allowing a dodgy game to rain on the name they are working so hard to build back up.

Please, please do give NWN2 another go. In its current form the game easily stands next to the classic Infinity Engine titles; it's the closest thing we have to a modern Baldur's Gate 2. I played the game at release and hated it; I gave it a second go because I kept seeing people talking about how good it had become. I'm so happy I did.

I made a dedicated topic for the game as the discussion here is starting to take over the news thread.

**FactionHeir** · 04-28-2009, 19:15

Yesterday a Polish Gaming News site reported just after office hours that The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf was cancelled on short notice.

ShackNews today confirms the same story, in English along with the statement of a CD Projekt RED PR Manager who stated that a comment would be forthcoming soon in an ominous turn of events, though the actual fate of the game has yet to be revealed.