The Gaming News Thread

[TevashSzat]

Sega Sammy cuts 560 jobs

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sonic house solicits voluntary retirement from 18 percent of workforce, plans to close 110 arcades; full-year earnings revised downward.

Another day, another massive round of layoffs for the gaming industry. In tandem with grim fiscal results earlier this year, third-party publishers such as Electronic Arts and THQ as well as first-party hardware makers such as Microsoft have cut head count in bids to staunch hemorrhaging losses. Today, Sega Sammy stepped up to the plate, announcing as part of its disappointing nine-month earnings report that it will cut 560 jobs, or 18 percent of its workforce.

Sega Sammy plans to enact its head-count reduction by calling for an early retirement of the specified number of employees. The company expects to issue this call in two weeks, and plans to conclude its cuts by March 31, 2009, the end of its current fiscal year. It also plans to close an additional 110 amusement facilities, as well as scale back its research-and-development expenditures by 20 percent compared to last year.

Sega Sammy's deep cuts come in the face of slipping revenues and mounting losses. For the first nine months of its current fiscal year, Sega Sammy posted shrinking revenues of ¥309 billion ($3.41 billion), which was down from ¥342 billion ($3.78 billion) during the year-ago period. Losses hit ¥10 billion ($119 million) for the nine-month period, which was actually an improvement over the ¥15 billion ($174 million) Sega lost during the same period last year.

"During the first three quarters of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, the Japanese economy faced more severe hardships as pressure on corporate earnings from the ongoing and sharp rise in the yen, the country's worsening job picture, and other factors amid continued turmoil in the global financial markets, raised concerns that the real economy would slow further," Sega Sammy said in a statement.

Though Sega Sammy's primary area of business remains its profitable pachinko machines, the company also draws a significant amount of its revenue from its less-than-profitable video game division. During the reporting period, the segment posted an operating loss of ¥5 billion ($62.4 million) on revenues of ¥96 billion ($1.06 billion) for the period. Sega Sammy said that game sales were led by current fiscal-year releases Sonic Unleashed and Football Manager 2009, as well as continued sales of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

Sega Sammy doesn't expect its fiscal fourth quarter to prop up flagging financial results for the full year. As part of its earnings announcement today, Sega Sammy revised its full-year sales outlook downward 7.4 percent to ¥435 billion ($4.77 billion), with losses expected to total ¥26.5 billion ($290 million).

Nintendo opening new $141M R&D facility

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Kyoto-based Wii maker plans to consolidate product development efforts in 40,000 square foot campus near current headquarters.

As part of its nine-month earnings report in January, Nintendo severely disappointed investors by revising its full-year earnings downward 9 percent and cutting its profit projections by an onerous 36 percent. The thing is, even despite the hit, Nintendo still expects to pull in a record-setting gob of cash for the year, to the tune of ¥230 billion ($2.54 billion) on revenues of ¥1.82 trillion ($20.1 billion).

Sufficiently flush with money, the Kyoto, Japan-based game maker has revealed plans to build a new research and development office near its current headquarters. As reported by Japanese financial news service Nikkei Net, the facility will be constructed in close proximity to its current headquarters on a 40,000 square meter lot Nintendo purchased for ¥12.8 billion ($141.6 million) in December.

After a poor showing from the GameCube, Nintendo's R&D department turned the tide during the current hardware generation, thanks to the innovative input methods of the Wii and DS. Through December, Nintendo's console had sold 44.96 million units globally since launching in late 2006, while the DS had sold 96.22 million units over the course of its three iterations since the original system launched in 2004.

Nintendo representatives informed Nikkei that the new facility will be devoted to creating new game consoles as well as software for the Wii and DS. Previously, Nintendo's R&D department operated out of two different facilities, and the new setup is intended to help the teams more effectively collaborate, a Nintendo representative said. Nikkei notes that Nintendo has not yet determined when it plans to integrate the two facilities.

Nielsen: US game marketing tab = $823 millio

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

According to an oft-quoted--and oft-abused--axiom, one has to spend money to make money. Given that the US gaming industry posted record retail sales of $22 billion last year, it stands to reason that tens--if not hundreds--of millions of marketing dollars were spent to reach that figure. However, given that historically no study has quantified the game-industry's overall advertising expenditures, it has remained a mystery exactly how much publishers and platform holders spend hawking their wares.

Today, that changed. The Nielsen Company, the industry research firm best-known for issuing the television ratings that make or break shows, revealed its estimate of US expenditures on advertising and marketing games. The company puts the figure at $823 million for 2008, a little less than 4 percent of the total game-industry market.

Nielsen was assisted in its calculations by the game-industry intelligence firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. The figure was announced as part of a new collaboration between the two companies which will integrate Nielsen's Monitor-Plus advertising-tracking service with EEDAR's Game DNA historical database of game features. Information gleaned from the joint effort will be available in subsequent studies from both companies

Wanted dev: Multiplayer hurts games

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Executive producer Pete Wanat says studios spend too much time and money shoehorning feature into games that don't need it.

When Wanted: Weapons of Fate arrives for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC next month, gamers who pick up the interactive sequel to last year's action film will get the chance to try out their bullet-curving technique on the game's many assassin adversaries. However, they won't be able to twist lead into one another, given that the third-person shooter lacks a multiplayer mode.

During an appearance on the latest installment of GameSpot's HotSpot podcast, Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group's Pete Wanat--the executive producer on Weapons of Fate--explained the reasons behind that decision. Wanat said that most people who play multiplayer games just play the best of the bunch, and that developers spend too much effort putting multiplayer modes into games that don't need them.

"For the most part, we waste our money and our time building multiplayer levels," Wanat said. "And why do we do this? Because a couple years ago the press was all about saying, 'This game has to have multiplayer, there's no replayability.' F*** that. That's a bad joke."

Wanat added that oftentimes the pressure to make a multiplayer version of a game comes from a publisher's marketing department. Just having that feature on the back of a box, the argument goes, makes it easier to sell a game.
"What it does is it hurts the single-player game," Wanat said. "You don't get to add multiplayer [at] no cost. If you're going to make a multiplayer version, you take people, time, and money away from the single-player experience. And that all goes to hurt the single player. ... Not everybody is Bungie. Not everybody can have 100 guys working on their multiplayer. The Call of Duty 4 guys? If they want to do multiplayer, then do multiplayer. We'll play the f*** out of multiplayer in Call of Dut

[TevashSzat]

Activision Blizzard posts Q4 loss despite record revs

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[UPDATE] Call of Duty: WAW, Guitar Hero World Tour, and Wrath of the Lich King help mint $2.3 billion in three months; megapublisher still loses $72 million but rules out "mass layoffs"; Wii DJ Hero confirmed for this year, Starcraft II beta coming in "next few months."

The past several weeks have seen a steady stream of dreary financial results, with THQ, Sega, Sony, and Electronic Arts all announcing losses and layoffs. However, several companies have issued positive earnings reports, including Ubisoft, Take-Two, and Nintendo.

Today, the biggest third-party publisher of them all, Activsion Blizzard, weighed in with an earnings announcement that's both good and bad. On the one hand, the company's record $2.3 billion in October-December net revenue beat the $2.15 billion a Thomson Reuters survey of analysts had predicted. On the other, the company posted a $72 million loss during a quarter when it launched new entries in its three biggest franchises: Guitar Hero World Tour (October 26), Call of Duty: World at War (November 10), and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (November 13).

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick played down the loss with a backhanded dig at staff-cut-beset competitors. "We won't be distracted by layoffs and restructuring and things that other companies are going to be distracted with," Kotick told Reuters. "We don't respond to managing our operating expenses because there's a financial crisis, we do it all the time."

Despite Kotick's upbeat tone, the markets reacted swiftly and negatively. In after-hours trading, Activision Blizzard's stock was down over 5 percent, trading at $9 as of press time.

Speaking with analysts in a conference call, Activision Blizzard CFO Thomas Tippl said that the company may take advantage of the dismal economic climate to add talent to its internal roster. "A long, challenging economic environment may provide acquisition opportunities due to strong cash position," he said. According to Kotick, Activision Blizzard currently has over $3 billion in cash reserves with zero debt load.

[UPDATE] Looking ahead, Activision predicts revenues of $4.2 billion for the full 2009 calendar year (not the current fiscal year, as was initially reported). The company said that figure included $600 million in downward revisions--$400 million due to a stronger-than-expected US dollar and $200 million "from the company's lower margin distribution and the co-publishing businesses."

In a conference call with analysts, executives noted the $200 million revision was in part due to the delay of the next James Bond game. The title, rumored to be a driving-centric game from Bizarre Creations, is being pushed back into calendar year 2010 "to avoid head to head competition with Call of Duty: [Modern Warfare 2.]"

[UPDATE] Highlights from the conference call are listed below:

--DJ Hero reconfirmed as coming out in 2009 on a variety of platforms, with the Wii specifically mentioned; no price point yet.

--2009 will see a new Tony Hawk game on the Wii. It is unclear if the game will be the widely rumored skateboard-peripheral-based Tony Hawk's Adrenaline.

--Upcoming Tony Hawk again described as being radically different. "We said we would reinvent this franchise from the ground up and we've developed an interactive approach for Tony that should allow us to broaden the appeal of skateboarding beyond the core to mass market audiences," Activision Publishing president Michael Griffith told analysts. "More details later for competitive reasons."

--Yet another Guitar Hero game coming to DS. No word on whether it will use the Game Boy Advance slot, which the forthcoming DSi does not have.

--New Greatest Hits Guitar Hero games for 360, PS3, and Wii, which will feature full-band renditions of top songs from earlier, guitar-only GH titles.

--Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now officially official.

--New racing game from Activision-owned Bizarre Creations confirmed by year's end. Again, no details for now "due to competitive reasons."

--Starcraft II beta test will begin "in the next few months." No launch date yet.

--Guitar Hero "installed base" now tops 32 million worldwide. Executives later clarify that this figure is the total number of Guitar Hero units sold worldwide and doesn't take into account multiple guitars and games owned by the same person or in the same household.

--Guitar Hero outsells Rock Band 4 to 1 in terms of overall series sales, say executives.

--The PS2 edition of Guitar Hero: Metallica will trail the other versions, due in March, by several months.

--Activision says its continued support of the PS2 will depend on whether Sony cuts the console's price down the line.

--Tippl admits Activision "could've done better on the cost front in terms of the launch of Guitar Hero World Tour." Says production issues raised the per-unit cost, and Activision is making adjustments to prevent the same problems occurring in the coming year.

--The sinking cost of petroleum--which is used to make the plastic in the guitars and drum kits--will also improve Activision's profit margins on Guitar Hero hardware in the coming year.

Midway bankrupt

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Faced with $240 million debt deadline, the once-mighty Mortal Kombat-maker files for Chapter 11 protection; Mortal Kombat vs. DC shipments near 2 million.

After months of slowly twisting in the financial wind, Midway Games has finally filed for bankruptcy. The Chicago-based publisher today submitted a petition in a federal bankruptcy court in Delaware to seek protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The company blamed the move on last November's "change in ownership," when then-majority stockholder Sumner Redstone sold off his 87 percent stake in the company--valued at $30 million--for $100,000.


"This was a difficult but necessary decision," Midway Chairman, President, and CEO Matt Booty said in a statement. "We have been focused on realigning our operations and improving our execution, and this filing will relieve the immediate pressure from our creditors and provide us time for an orderly exploration of our strategic alternatives. This Chapter 11 filing is the next logical step in an ongoing process to address our capital structure."

Today's move will allow Midway to reorganize to pay off its creditors, to which the company owes $240 million--or $72.5 million more than the company's $167.5 million in total assets as of September 2008. Currently, the company's worth is substantially more, as it has now shipped (not sold) nearly 2 million copies of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The publisher also played up the fact that its TNA Impact! title also shipped over 1 million units, with its Game Party franchise selling over 3 million units as of the end of 2008. Its overhead has been drastically decreased as well, with the company announcing plans to lay off 25 percent of its workforce last December.

Though today's filing might sound final to the layman, Midway's bankruptcy is actually a beginning, not an ending. "These filings tend to be fairly drawn out and slow-moving, and business can take place normally while the bankruptcy proceeds play out, so I would expect any games coming out over the next 2-3 months to be safe, so that would include the Wheelman launch," Signal Hill analyst Todd Greenwald told GameSpot. "As for whether the company can recover long-term, I certainly hope so, but can’t say with any certainty. The fact that Eidos is getting a bid from Square Enix is potentially a good sign, though. "

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter was similarly upbeat about Midway's ultimate fate. "The creditors will decide, but my guess is that Midway recapitalizes (the creditors turn debt into stock), and gets some new financing so that it can either recover or be sold," he explained. "A going concern is worth a lot more than a liquidation, given that the key talent will leave if the company is liquidated. Look at Acclaim, 3DO and Interplay, where there was nothing left after liquidation, and contrast with Eidos, which has a bid for £84 million on the table. The creditors have to realize that they can collect $100 million plus if they can get this thing turned around."

Square Enix bids for Eidos

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Tomb Raider publisher's board accepts £84.3 million offer, unanimously recommends deal to shareholders.

The identity of the company with which Eidos Interactive--formerly known as SCi Entertainment--entered takeover talks in January has been revealed. Today, the board of the beleaguered publisher revealed that it has come to an agreement with none other than Japanese role-playing game giant Square Enix.

Talking about the deal, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada said: "Eidos' products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into Western markets." In the announcement of the offer, the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, Thief, Championship Manager, and Just Cause franchises were called out as being among "the world's leading video game properties."

The Japanese publisher's offer of £84.3 million ($120 million) is being unanimously recommended to Eidos shareholders by the firm's board. That total represents an offer of 32 pence ($0.46) per share, which is more than triple the company's value when the approach was made, and double its share price when the London Stock Exchange closed yesterday. Since the announcement this morning, Eidos shares have climbed further, peaking at 31.25p ($0.45)--a 123 percent rise from the opening bell.

The announcement follows the news in January, shortly before Eidos announced that it had received and was considering a takeover approach, that sales of Tomb Raider Underworld had failed to meet expectations. Last year, the company shed 20 percent of its workforce, and its CEO admitted that the company needed "immediate change" to deliver appropriate returns to its investors.

Square Enix has been looking for acquisition targets to expand its global reach for some time, with Wada saying that his firm was "talking with quite a few companies in and outside of Japan," with a view to acquisitions. The move follows the Japanese publishing house's unsuccessful $200m move for Tecmo, and comes as its own share price is in the doldrums, nearing a six-year low. The company also released its delayed revised financial projections for the current financial year, downgrading its expected net income by 62.5 percent, blaming conditions in the arcade and offline gaming segments of its business.

[Crandaeolon]

No mention of Onlive yet?

News article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10202688-235.html

One-hour video presentation from GDC 2009:
http://www.gamespot.com/shows/on-the...e_spot20090324

[Monk]

No mention of Onlive yet?

News article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10202688-235.html

One-hour video presentation from GDC 2009:
http://www.gamespot.com/shows/on-the...e_spot20090324

OnLive looks incredibly promising and at the same looks like it could be incredibly hard to implement. Imagine how many people are going to sign up on day one. Imagine the that will occur if the developers of this new community/distribution system do not have the hardware in place to cater to demand. All one has to do is recall the launch of steam. For an idea of what may be to come.

Personally? I hope OnLive works. It sounds amazing, but I won't go throwing roses at the feet of those responsible until we get the system ourselves. That way we can see, without a shadow of a doubt or flashy promos, what works and what doesn't.

[Husar]

My thoughts on OnLive:

- works ONLY online, meaning the whole data of everything is on their server and you depend even more on their server than you do with Steam
- even if you have a 100Mbps connection and their servers are lightning fast, there can be lag and I seriously doubt that there will never be lag between your input and the picture, unless you live next door to their server farm, perhaps
- you will pay quite a bit more for your games, you may not have to upgrade your own PC but you pay for them to upgrade their servers
- I'm european
- they're american
- you get the point

[Jolt]

Let me see if I get this right (I had heard about this, but didn't really care as I don't think it'll have that much success): Even with my graphics card (Something close to GeForce 2), I can buy Crysis and ETW and play them in the highest graphics without any lag (Other than Internet lag)? Even so, with a 4 MB broadband, I doubt it could bring in enough information at enough speed to run it laglessly.

[Crandaeolon]

According to their claims, you could play in standard definition with a 4Mbit connection. HD would require 5Mbit.

[TinCow]

EA strips all DRM from The Sims 2 except for serial numbers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7972677.stm

Looks like they've finally learned their lesson.

[Veho Nex]

Tincow, you are the torch bearer to our anti EA drm Olympics. Good news i say!

[TinCow]

It is a good day for PC gaming. First the EA thing, and now this:

New Syndicate game in the works.

[Veho Nex]

I think syndicate might be before my time.

[Fragony]

It is a good day for PC gaming. First the EA thing, and now this:

New Syndicate game in the works.

Now that is great news.

Less good news, Fatal Frame for the wii was cancelled

Silent Hill game sounds good though, should fit on the wii like a glove

http://wii.ign.com/articles/971/971316p1.html

[pevergreen]

Don't know if it should be here, but one of the original creators of D&D has passed away, on the 7th
http://dnd4.com/

**RE-UPDATE** Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has officially passed away. Dave created the first campaign called Blackmoor and later worked with Gygax to create the original Dungeons and Dragons.

Here is a message directly from Dave’s family:

“Shortly after 11pm on Tuesday, April 7th, Dave Arneson passed away. He was comfortable and with family at the time and his passing was peaceful.

[Veho Nex]

Edit: Didnt see the word Co-Creator

[Spino]

THIEF 4 RUMORS!!!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/r...al-teaser.html

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thief 4 rumors reignited by Eidos Montreal teaser
Posted Apr 15, 2009 12:08 pm PT By thorsen-ink 107 comments Source: The official Web site of two-year-old developer Eidos Montreal.



What we heard: When Eidos Montreal announced that it was working on Deus Ex 3 in November 2007, many fans of the thought-dead sci-fi series rejoiced. Five months later, the same studio sparked rumors that it was working on a new version of Thief, another classic franchise created by now-defunct Looking Glass Studios and continued by the later-closed Ion Storm.

Now, one year after Eidos Montreal declared that its "AAA project" would begin with the letter "T," the soon-to-be-Japanese-owned British publisher's French-Canadian shop has posted a new teaser banner for the game. On the lower-left of its official site, the studio posted a small black-and-white notice that promises "Eidos Montreal's second project to be revealed soon."



Though no further details--such as a date--are available, the info vacuum was filled by a theory reminscent of The Onion column Fontly Speaking. One diehard fan on the dieharder Through the Looking Glass forums noticed that the font used in the teaser banner (center) is very similar to that used in previous Thief games (bottom).

The official story: Eidos reps have not responded to requests for comment.



Bogus or not bogus?: Though the font is a tenuous link at best, the not-so-subtle hints that the remake-happy Quebecois studio has dropped aren't exactly Garrett-level stealthy. Throw in the fact that Eidos' new corporate master Square Enix name-checked Thief as one of "the world's leading video game properties," and a fourth Thief is looking not bogus.

I humbly beseech the gaming gods, PLEASE let it not suck!

[Husar]

Apparently only 18000 of 120000 people playing Demigod actually bought the game!

link

I just found that quite interesting, such a high ratio.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Wasn't a (small) part of that troubling start due to Gamestop releasing the game early?

[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.

[Veho Nex]

You know... Im getting tired of the United States, I wonder what Fallout in other countries would look like.

[frogbeastegg]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Fragony]

THIEF 4 RUMORS!!!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/r...al-teaser.html

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thief 4 rumors reignited by Eidos Montreal teaser
Posted Apr 15, 2009 12:08 pm PT By thorsen-ink 107 comments Source: The official Web site of two-year-old developer Eidos Montreal.



What we heard: When Eidos Montreal announced that it was working on Deus Ex 3 in November 2007, many fans of the thought-dead sci-fi series rejoiced. Five months later, the same studio sparked rumors that it was working on a new version of Thief, another classic franchise created by now-defunct Looking Glass Studios and continued by the later-closed Ion Storm.

Now, one year after Eidos Montreal declared that its "AAA project" would begin with the letter "T," the soon-to-be-Japanese-owned British publisher's French-Canadian shop has posted a new teaser banner for the game. On the lower-left of its official site, the studio posted a small black-and-white notice that promises "Eidos Montreal's second project to be revealed soon."



Though no further details--such as a date--are available, the info vacuum was filled by a theory reminscent of The Onion column Fontly Speaking. One diehard fan on the dieharder Through the Looking Glass forums noticed that the font used in the teaser banner (center) is very similar to that used in previous Thief games (bottom).

The official story: Eidos reps have not responded to requests for comment.



Bogus or not bogus?: Though the font is a tenuous link at best, the not-so-subtle hints that the remake-happy Quebecois studio has dropped aren't exactly Garrett-level stealthy. Throw in the fact that Eidos' new corporate master Square Enix name-checked Thief as one of "the world's leading video game properties," and a fourth Thief is looking not bogus.

I humbly beseech the gaming gods, PLEASE let it not suck!

Not getting too excited here, apart from the Cradle Thief 3 was a uninspired pile of crap. Ah well, more then enough fan-missions to keep me taffin'

[Xiahou]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[TinCow]

Wow, that's strange. Didn't The Witcher sell pretty well?