Sources tell Kotaku that Sega has pulled the plug on their upcoming Aliens Roleplaying Game under development by California-based developer Obsidian.
We've also been told that Obsidian, no longer working on the Sega project, laid off more than 20 people last night. With lack of official confirmation from anyone at the two companies involved, take this with a grain of salt.
Aliens Roleplaying Game was a title that Obsidian said would be "instilled with the action of Aliens and the terror of Alien" and take place in the "heart of science fiction horror." The title was under development for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Obsidian, located in Irvine, first worked on Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. They also created a number of Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion packs.
In a thread on the still-active forums for the Aliens Roleplaying Game, a developer said earlier this week that they would like to show the game at E3 or the New York Comic Con but that it was up to Sega.
We've also heard that the future of Gearbox-developed Aliens: Colonial Marines is also in doubt, with Sega reviewing the title. Of course, this is a rumor that has surfaced before.
The rumors come the day after Sega announced that a new Aliens vs. Predator game coming out in early 2010. In that announcement Sega said they had "strategically updated the release of the other upcoming Aliens titles currently in development within its portfolio."
"The innovative new AvP game presents an exciting opportunity for us," CEO of SEGA West, Naoya Tsurumi, said at the time. "It represents a fantastic addition to our growing Aliens franchise and the reinvention of one of gaming's most cherished iconic titles. By adjusting the release of our other Aliens titles to accommodate it, SEGA will ensure that every title lives up to the high expectations of Aliens and AvP fans."
Emails to Sega, Obsidian and Gearbox have not yet been returned.
Source (http://kotaku.com/5152193/rumor-aliens-rpg-canceled-layoffs-hit)
Whoops!
HAHA!! Just like the movies, we wait years for a sequel to the franchise, and it gets iced in favour of AvP!
But in all fairness, although I was excited by the prospect of the RPG, I could never get my head around how it would really work and if it would have been any good.
Sucks about A:CM though. BIG TIME!! >:(
Well that is a lot of BS...hope that A:CM doesn't get screwed.
How...disturbing. I've emailed Sega. I hope this is bullshit.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 12, 2009, 06:12:40 PM
How...disturbing. I've emailed Sega. I hope this is bullshit.
BTW, I don't mean to keep pestering you about this Hicks, but did you get any further with the Colonial Marines interview? Was anything about ths new plan Sega have mentioned? ;D
As soon as. It should have been done by last monday but the guy was busy. Should be done by this weekend hopefully.
I couldn't care less about this game being canned, we haven't really had anything info on it. Plus the RPG genre isn't my favourite.
maybe sega is turnig their efforts on the new AVP game.
or maybe the whole Aliens RPG project was a cover-up 0.O
I generally don't like RPGs, but I ended up loving both 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' games. Part of that is because I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and part of that is because they were good games.
I'd play an Aliens RPG game partly out of curiosity to see how it's handled, and partly because it's an ALIENS game.
The 'update' from Sega nearly confirms it's dead as they could have used the spotlight to reassure fans it's still in development, but instead they said:
"We do not respond to speculation or rumor questions."
:-\
Well that pretty much confirms it...it's dead.
Well to be somewhat optimistic, they might be in the "let's reevaluate" stage right now, because if they say outright "yes it's cancelled", then people get all upset and then they have to do damage control later if they change their mind. Likewise, if they say "no it's still going" and then pull the plug after reevaluating, then everyone gets disappointed after getting "reassured" that things were still going to happen.
That's true, I just don't have much faith at this point. If AvP3 is slated for 2010 release and these are to come out sometime after (lets say 2011), that's a massive development period. It's possible they could be shelved for a later date, but that essentially is canceling the current development cycle, and possibly the current builds altogether.
I'm willing to wait and see what happens. :) If it get canceled, well that sucks I guess, but maybe it'll happen some other time down the road. :)
Hey, I'm willing to wait too when I don't have a choice! :P I mean, I'll still buy the games when I'm f*cking 65.5 and retired. :)
Although I'm more of an FPS kind of gamer, this is very sad news. The RPG could have been AMAZING! Plus it would have been cool to see the series go in a new direction.
It's so annoying that so many alien/pred games get cancelled, i'm still optimistic but I have to say that I think the outlook for this game is bleak...AND A:CM... >:( >:( >:(!!!!!!!!!!
I just hope the new AvP game lives up to its expctations... :(
It better make up for the slaying of these two games!
yeah...it will be so annoying if they do a shit job, especially when the other games looked quite good
Well, we've only seen shots of A:CM...unless i missed something on the RPG.
Quote from: Vulhala on Feb 12, 2009, 05:19:43 PM
HAHA!! Just like the movies, we wait years for a sequel to the franchise, and it gets iced in favour of AvP!
Hahaha.
Does Sega just hate us?
Well, this seems to be true sadly.. Some insider's have come out confirming the layoff's, and pretty much confirmed the project being dead. Wait and see, but even Sega just announced that they are canceling games, laying off employees, closing arcades..so..
Whats even more unfortunate is that development sounded steady, although not perfect.. But it seemed they were at the stage that they wanted to show off the game, and this news from Sega came sudden.
Here's hoping when things are official that things arent as bad off as they seem.. Otherwise it seems the rumors about Aliens: CM are true also...
I hope you guys understand that we really can't say anything. You guys are our community and I think you deserve some kind of comment, but unfortunately that comment is "no comment."
Yeah, I think it's safe to say the RPG is gone. : http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=51628&st=30
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6204611.html
GameSpot is saying it's indefinitely been suspended:
Yesterday, Sega announced that it was pushing back Gearbox's shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines to make way for a new Aliens vs. Predator game. Today, GameSpot has learned that the Japanese publisher has indefinitely suspended work on its other Aliens-inspired project, an untitled role-playing game for consoles and the PC. The game had been actively in development at indie shop Obsidian Entertainment, whose cofounder Feargus Urquhart told GameSpot that it was "coming along nicely" at last year's D.I.C.E. Summit.
Game over?
Despite rumors of an outright cancellation, the Aliens RPG remains officially on the books--for now. When asked to confirm reports that the game had been shut down, Obsidian reps directed all inquiries to Sega, which offered a less-than-comforting comment.
"We will have more news to share about our Aliens franchise games in the near future," said the rep. "Sega does not comment on rumors or speculation about its products... Please stay tuned for future correspondence regarding our products."
If development is not resumed, it's likely that little will ever be known about Obsidian's Aliens RPG project, which was first announced with great fanfare in December 2006. Over the next two-plus years, though, the game was never shown to the press or public, unlike Aliens: Colonial Marines, which graced the cover of Game Informer last March. Inquires sent to Gearbox about that game's status had not been returned as of press time.
Also reading that Aliens CM is puched back in favour of what will almost certainley be a junk AvP game.
Well its time to make a stand and make it well known to Sega or whoever that WE than fans dont want a freaking corny AvP game unless its based on the old PC game but it will no doubt be based aound the junk films we were force fed. I for one wont be buying an AvP game, i want Aliens CM been waiting since the PS2 game was cancelled.
Not good enough Sega, stinks of FOX's dirty AvP fingers to me!
Quote from: dave1978 on Feb 13, 2009, 12:03:56 PM
what will almost certainley be a junk AvP game.
Considering who's making it and their track record with AvP games, I doubt that.
Didn't they make the PSP AvP too though that got a whopping five.fail (5.5) on IGN?
Considering what they had to work with and the platform they were producing it for, I wouldn't say they did a bad job though.
The point is that they made AvP1 on PC, and that game kicked ass and won awards. I doubt they'd just... "forget" how to make that game. :P
Yeah, I guess my worry is more of if it's going to be a game like that or some movie tie-in game (new AvP movie? 2010 will have been 3 years from AvP-R and AvP-R was 3 years from AvP...).
AvPR was a rush job, which IMHO was amazing considering the time and source material they had for it.
Quote from: Cellien on Feb 13, 2009, 05:05:43 PM
Yeah, I guess my worry is more of if it's going to be a game like that or some movie tie-in game (new AvP movie? 2010 will have been 3 years from AvP-R and AvP-R was 3 years from AvP...).
Im fairly sure if there was a movie coming out in 2010, we would of heard of it before the game, or at the very least, a joint announcement. Hopefully it will be a standalone AvP game, with nothing to do with the movies, as well as being the 3 years after Requiem, im sure the kids will of found a new fad by then.
Quote from: Xenomrph on Feb 13, 2009, 05:00:41 PM
The point is that they made AvP1 on PC, and that game kicked ass and won awards. I doubt they'd just... "forget" how to make that game. :P
That game may have been good for it's time, but now it's extremely outdated. It has no story. It's just another Doom-clone really.
Now AVP2, that game nailed the look and the atmosphere of the alien and predator movies perfectly, and it had a great story. So I'd rather see Monolith making it.
I completely disagree -- you don't play AvP1 for the story (mostly because it doesn't have one, like you said), you play it for the gameplay. I much prefer the gameplay in AvP1 over AvP2; the Aliens are mostly randomly spawned (both in number and location), so ever play-through has the opportunity to be different.
Sure it's outdated by today's standards, but then again AvP2 is pretty dated by modern standards as well.
To tell you the truth I hate randomly spawning aliens. Primal Hunt had that and it was annoying. It's not realistic and you can't come up with any strategy because you never can guess where the aliens might come from. Like you're fighting aliens coming at you in front then an alien spawns right on top of you and kills you.
The point is you get cool scripted moments. Like it's quiet for awhile and then all of a sudden an alien bursts out of vent. So the first play-through is really awesome and suspenseful. After that, you know where the aliens are but so what? If you don't like it then play Primal Hunt.
AVP1 is just a Doom-clone. I mean, how is the gameplay so different from Alien Trilogy (besides you can play as alien/predator/marine)? The graphics are terrible and this game was released only two years before AVP2. The guy acting in the video inserts sounds silly. It has no story (which I find better for replay value).
AVP2 may be dated but I find it much more relevant to today's standards than AVP1. Particularly things like voice acting, story, graphics, sound effects, music and it's accuracy to the films.
QuoteIt's not realistic and you can't come up with any strategy because you never can guess where the aliens might come from. Like you're fighting aliens coming at you in front then an alien spawns right on top of you and kills you.
The thing is, that IS realistic... to the movies. In 'Aliens', the Aliens came from all over the place and the Marines had to react on-the-fly, they couldn't predict what was going to happen.
I happen to love that kind of gameplay, it keeps the game from getting "stale". :)
QuoteThe point is you get cool scripted moments. Like it's quiet for awhile and then all of a sudden an alien bursts out of vent. So the first play-through is really awesome and suspenseful. After that, you know where the aliens are but so what? If you don't like it then play Primal Hunt.
...or I could go back and play AvP1, where the gameplay is different every time I play it. :P
AvP2 is cool, but I can only play it once every several months because once you beat it... that's it.The enemies are scripted.
QuoteAVP1 is just a Doom-clone. I mean, how is the gameplay so different from Alien Trilogy (besides you can play as alien/predator/marine)?
AvP1 is hugely different - the enemies use the walls, playing as the Predator and especially the Alien is a different gameplay experience. Hell, as the Marine alone there's more weapons in AvP1, there's flares, and there's vastly improved graphics and lighting effects. Oh yeah, and you can crouch, jump, and aim up and down. You can't do any of that in Doom, and I'm pretty sure you can't do it in Alien Trilogy either.
Oh, and AvP1 has randomly spawning enemies. In that regard, AvP2 is closer to Alien Trilogy than AvP1 is. :)
QuoteAVP2 may be dated but I find it much more relevant to today's standards than AVP1. Particularly things like voice acting, story, graphics, sound effects, music and it's accuracy to the films.
For what it's worth, a lot of AvP2's music is remixed music from AvP1. :P
I just don't care about "cutting edge graphics". I can play the original Doom, or Marathon, or Wolfenstein3D and still have a good time. AvP1 is still a blast, and I'm sure if Rebellion made a "modern" update to AvP1 using new technology that it would absolutely kick ass and most people would love it.
Quote from: Xenomrph on Feb 13, 2009, 10:01:35 PM
QuoteIt's not realistic and you can't come up with any strategy because you never can guess where the aliens might come from. Like you're fighting aliens coming at you in front then an alien spawns right on top of you and kills you.
The thing is, that IS realistic... to the movies. In 'Aliens', the Aliens came from all over the place and the Marines had to react on-the-fly, they couldn't predict what was going to happen.
I happen to love that kind of gameplay, it keeps the game from getting "stale". :)
It's not realistic when an alien spawns out of thin air and they don't even try to hide it. And then multiple aliens keep spawning from the same place.
QuoteQuoteThe point is you get cool scripted moments. Like it's quiet for awhile and then all of a sudden an alien bursts out of vent. So the first play-through is really awesome and suspenseful. After that, you know where the aliens are but so what? If you don't like it then play Primal Hunt.
...or I could go back and play AvP1, where the gameplay is different every time I play it. :P
AvP2 is cool, but I can only play it once every several months because once you beat it... that's it.The enemies are scripted.
The only level it really matters is the first marine level. There are no aliens on that level so after the first playthrough it gets boring (besides being entertained by the story and the scripted moments involving the predator).
I don't play the games just to kill aliens though as that would get boring. I play it more for the story, graphics and atmosphere.
QuoteQuoteAVP1 is just a Doom-clone. I mean, how is the gameplay so different from Alien Trilogy (besides you can play as alien/predator/marine)?
AvP1 is hugely different - the enemies use the walls, playing as the Predator and especially the Alien is a different gameplay experience. Hell, as the Marine alone there's more weapons in AvP1, there's flares, and there's vastly improved graphics and lighting effects. Oh yeah, and you can crouch, jump, and aim up and down. You can't do any of that in Doom, and I'm pretty sure you can't do it in Alien Trilogy either.
Oh, and AvP1 has randomly spawning enemies. In that regard, AvP2 is closer to Alien Trilogy than AvP1 is. :)
Alien Trilogy has scripted enemies? There is a certain of number aliens to a level, so you can get the achievement of killing all the aliens. I don't know if it's scripted though, yes you might go in a room and know there are aliens in there. But I still got attacked by aliens at random moments from ones I missed or something.
And I should mention, AVP1 is so damn dark you have to use the flares. ;)
QuoteQuoteAVP2 may be dated but I find it much more relevant to today's standards than AVP1. Particularly things like voice acting, story, graphics, sound effects, music and it's accuracy to the films.
For what it's worth, a lot of AvP2's music is remixed music from AvP1. :P
I'll take your word for it until I find out, but I still found AVP2's music better anyway. :P
QuoteI just don't care about "cutting edge graphics". I can play the original Doom, or Marathon, or Wolfenstein3D and still have a good time. AvP1 is still a blast, and I'm sure if Rebellion made a "modern" update to AvP1 using new technology that it would absolutely kick ass and most people would love it.
It has the potential, but I looked over Rebellion's history of game dev. and nothing really stood out for me, besides AVP1.
If I remember rightly, it wasn't a case of spawning randomly. It was a case of different pathways. They'd spawn in vents and such and use different pathways to move about the level. But I do strongly disagree with you Gameover. I love both of the games - because yes, AvP2 has a lovely inter-weaved story but it just doesn't compare to AvP1 for gameplay. AvP1 is literally like being in the movies. Even down to lighting effects being used to hide the suits. But each to their own.
Quote
It's not realistic when an alien spawns out of thin air and they don't even try to hide it. And then multiple aliens keep spawning from the same place.
They don't spawn out of thin air, as Corporal Hicks said. They're all up in the vents, and use the vents to find you. Since the vents have branching paths, they can show up from just about anywhere.
QuoteAnd I should mention, AVP1 is so damn dark you have to use the flares.
Well, yeah, that was the point - it's meant to be dark, so that things can come out of nowhere. Things are always scarier in the dark. :P
QuoteIt has the potential, but I looked over Rebellion's history of game dev. and nothing really stood out for me, besides AVP1.
Their 2000AD tie-in stuff is cool, too. Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death.
QuoteAnd I should mention, AVP1 is so damn dark you have to use the flares.
Don't you guys ever use the image intensifier. If i remember right that was what it was called.
The only thing I don't like about AvP1 is the never ending spawning. You can't catch your breath at practically any moment throughout the game. The more cautious you are, the more in trouble you get. I guess some may like it but I definitely hated it. Especially since the aliens will always find you.
As far as I know, Aliens only infinitely spawn in two of the main campaign levels, and even then it doesn't happen every time. I've had it happen in Marine level 4 (Orbital) and I think it can happen in Marine level 5 (Tyrargo). I know for sure it doesn't happen on the other Marine levels, and I don't think it happens in the Predator levels.
As for infinite Alien spawning in the bonus levels, well... I haven't played them enough to be sure, but it's quite possible. :)
That can't be true. I remember a few locations (but for the life of me, please don't make me search them in the game to name them) where every half a minute a damn alien came. And in some maps where I spent a lot of time searching for a freaking exit I think I killed more aliens than there were supposed to have been altogether. For instance there is a large level where you need to shoot at some flashing lights on the ceiling to release a bridge and than you can continue... THAT was frustrating... Especially when I saw it was not the end of the level. ;D
EDIT; and I definitely remember such occasions for Predator, too.
Well folks, I've heard down the grapeline that the RPG isn't cancelled. Only that work on it has been suspended while Obsidian concentrate on Alpha Protocol.
Yay!.....?....!!!
Meh, that is just the precursor. Silently, the game may be cancelled when everybody forgets about it.
Quote from: Space Voyager on Feb 17, 2009, 09:06:33 AM
That can't be true. I remember a few locations (but for the life of me, please don't make me search them in the game to name them) where every half a minute a damn alien came. And in some maps where I spent a lot of time searching for a freaking exit I think I killed more aliens than there were supposed to have been altogether. For instance there is a large level where you need to shoot at some flashing lights on the ceiling to release a bridge and than you can continue... THAT was frustrating... Especially when I saw it was not the end of the level. ;D
EDIT; and I definitely remember such occasions for Predator, too.
I'm very sure. I've actually made recordings of me playing the games, you can watch them on Viddler. You can watch the first Marine level here (http://www.viddler.com/explore/Xenomrph/videos/2/), and you should be able to find the rest from there. :)
I have zero faith in this coming out. That way, if it does eventually come out, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Otherwise, I will be unaffected.