Scott: I think the Beast is almost run out, personally.

[Jonesy1974]

The Demogorgon is a pretty shit design to be fair.


It's the characters (and 80's Nostalgia) that make the show successfull.

Very much so. The Demogorgon could be any old generic design and it wouldn't harm the show in the slightest.

[reecebomb]

Nobody is asking for a straight Alien remake. Exploring space jockey was the right path, the result was a lacking but it was still possible to make it work with the sequel, Covenant blew that out of the airlock. The potential was immense, it's really sad. it's not just the questionable ideas that are the culprit, the prequels are lacking in just about every area compared to the original trilogy. The quality just isn't there anymore.

Haven't seen Stranger Things yet, but IT is another film that relies heavily on nostalgia.

[Jonesy1974]

Nobody is asking for a straight Alien remake. Exploring space jockey was the right path, the result was a lacking but it was still possible to make it work with the sequel, Covenant blew that out of the airlock. The potential was immense, it's realy sad. it's not just the questionable ideas that are the culprit, the prequels are lacking in just about every area compared to the original trilogy. The quality just isn't there anymore.

Haven't seen Stranger Things yet, but IT is another film that relies heavily on nostalgia.

That's what I mean, it had to evolve.

Its just that when you evolve something it isn't going to do that in a direction that pleases everyone, that's just not possible.

Some like it, some don't.

[reecebomb]

Nobody is asking for a straight Alien remake. Exploring space jockey was the right path, the result was a lacking but it was still possible to make it work with the sequel, Covenant blew that out of the airlock. The potential was immense, it's realy sad. it's not just the questionable ideas that are the culprit, the prequels are lacking in just about every area compared to the original trilogy. The quality just isn't there anymore.

Haven't seen Stranger Things yet, but IT is another film that relies heavily on nostalgia.

That's what I mean, it had to evolve.

Its just that when you evolve something it isn't going to do that in a direction that pleases everyone, that's just not possible.

Some like it, some don't.

It didn't necessarily need to evolve in a way that it changes how we look at the classic movies, but space jockey was one of the obvious routes to take. There was no need to completely demistify Alien in the process.

And what's Alien Isolations financial success got to with anything, it didn't sell huge numbers cause it's a niche genre in gaming and Aliens:Colonial Marines didn't do it any favours. The story was simple and succeeded what it was set out to to, give us the Alien experience in videogame form. Covenant missed the mark, it was so-so at horror, sci-fi, action and philoshophy.

[Paranoid Android]

The Demogorgon is a pretty shit design to be fair.


It's the characters (and 80's Nostalgia) that make the show successful.

That's the point!

Stranger Things does Lovecraft, and does it well, while implementing an inferior design to the alien.

[Jonesy1974]

Nobody is asking for a straight Alien remake. Exploring space jockey was the right path, the result was a lacking but it was still possible to make it work with the sequel, Covenant blew that out of the airlock. The potential was immense, it's realy sad. it's not just the questionable ideas that are the culprit, the prequels are lacking in just about every area compared to the original trilogy. The quality just isn't there anymore.

Haven't seen Stranger Things yet, but IT is another film that relies heavily on nostalgia.

That's what I mean, it had to evolve.

Its just that when you evolve something it isn't going to do that in a direction that pleases everyone, that's just not possible.

Some like it, some don't.

It didn't necessarily need to evolve in a way that it changes how we look at the classic movies, but space jockey was one of the obvious routes to take. There was no need to completely demistify Alien in the process.

And what's Alien Isolations financial success got to with anything, it didn't sell huge numbers cause it's a niche genre in gaming and Aliens:Colonial Marines didn't do it any favours. The story was simple and succeeded what it was set out to to, give us the Alien experience in videogame form. Covenant missed the mark, it was so-so at horror, sci-fi, action and philoshophy.

So when Isolation, which you liked, wasn't a success its because its niche and other factors did it no favours but when Covenant, which you didn't like, isn't a success its just because its rubbish. I see.

I personally don't think Isolation is relevant at all. On account of it being a game not a film.

[reecebomb]

So when Isolation, which you liked, wasn't a success its because its niche and other factors did it no favours but when Covenant, which you didn't like, isn't a success its just because its rubbish. I see.

You got it, bad quality of the film was one of the factors why the film wasn't a hit. The numbers on Covenant speak for themselves, bad word of mouth spread really fast, that pointless and boring marketing material didn't help either.
I did have my issues with Alien:Isolation, but being a videogame  made it easier to swallow, ultimately it succeeded what it was set out to do and understood the source material, unlike Covenant.

Mr Obvious here, just in case: i believe box office success does not mean or guarantee the film is good. These days it's more likely the other way around.

[skhellter]

Stranger Things does Lovecraft, and does it well

Stranger Things is Lovecraft regurgitated for manchildren and nostalgic adults.

does it well

[Jonesy1974]

So when Isolation, which you liked, wasn't a success its because its niche and other factors did it no favours but when Covenant, which you didn't like, isn't a success its just because its rubbish. I see.

You got it, bad quality of the film was one of the factors why the film wasn't a hit. The numbers on Covenant speak for themselves, bad word of mouth spread really fast, that pointless and boring marketing material didn't help either.
I did have my issues with Alien:Isolation, but being a videogame  made it easier to swallow, ultimately it succeeded what it was set out to do and understood the source material, unlike Covenant.

Mr Obvious here, just in case: i believe box office success does not mean or guarantee the film is good. These days it's more likely the other way around.

Your'e still making excuses for something you like and not applying the same standards to something you didn't.

Covenant did what it set out to do, you just didn't like what it set out to do.

[Paranoid Android]

And what's Alien Isolations financial success got to with anything, it didn't sell huge numbers cause it's a niche genre in gaming and Aliens:Colonial Marines didn't do it any favours. The story was simple and succeeded what it was set out to to, give us the Alien experience in videogame form. Covenant missed the mark, it was so-so at horror, sci-fi, action and philoshophy.

Alien:Isolation did sell huge numbers. This is a common misconception.

Alien:Isolation was SEGA's most profitable game of 2015, selling almost triple the amount of copies compared to Football Manager 2015 - the next game down the line. You can see it on page 6 of their financial statement for 2015:
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/201503_4q_tanshinhosoku_e_final_.pdf

The misconception is due to SEGA's own warped idea of what a success is. You see, Alien:Isolation is a AAA game, and AAA publishers currently hold a very bizarre approach to their games: It is not enough for a game to make good money - it has to make ALL the money. This is why SEGA view the game's sales as "weak". The game performed great, but it didn't break the entire market.

The Dead Space franchise actually had a similar story with EA not being content with the game simply doing well, forcefully shoving Microtransactions into Dead Space 3 and eventually bringing about the death of both the franchise and the development company that created it.

[Kurai]

The fact that one of the founding father's of the franchise can be so ignorant really makes me sad.

The Alien is only ever as good as it is used.

[Jonesy1974]

And what's Alien Isolations financial success got to with anything, it didn't sell huge numbers cause it's a niche genre in gaming and Aliens:Colonial Marines didn't do it any favours. The story was simple and succeeded what it was set out to to, give us the Alien experience in videogame form. Covenant missed the mark, it was so-so at horror, sci-fi, action and philoshophy.

Alien:Isolation did sell huge numbers. This is a common misconception.

Alien:Isolation was SEGA's most profitable game of 2015, selling almost triple the amount of copies compared to Football Manager 2015 - the next game down the line. You can see it on page 6 of their financial statement for 2015:
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/201503_4q_tanshinhosoku_e_final_.pdf

The misconception is due to SEGA's own warped idea of what a success is. You see, Alien:Isolation is a AAA game, and AAA publishers currently hold a very bizarre approach to their games: It is not enough for a game to make good money - it has to make ALL the money. This is why SEGA view the game's sales as "weak". The game performed great, but it didn't break the entire market.

The Dead Space franchise actually had a similar story with EA not being content with the game simply doing well, forcefully shoving Microtransactions into Dead Space 3 and eventually bringing about the death of both the franchise and the development company that created it.

I don't claim to be an expert on such things but that document seems to be based on units? I thought the reason it was regarded as a bit of a flop is because it had to be shifted for discounted prices.

I know I bought my copy 2 weeks after release and it was already in the bargain bucket at my local game. I only paid £14 for it and they already had dozens of used copies in store too.

I'm not a big gamer anymore though so admit I don't know much about the market.

[Paranoid Android]

I don't claim to be an expert on such things but that document seems to be based on units? I thought the reason it was regarded as a bit of a flop is because it had to be shifted for discounted prices.

It was regarded as having weak sales in terms of units, and it was in a report that stated SEGA selling overall 1 million units more than they originall forecasted.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/11/sega-laments-weak-sales-as-alien-isolation-shifts-21-million

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Alien:Isolation did sell huge numbers. This is a common misconception.

Alien:Isolation was SEGA's most profitable game of 2015, selling almost triple the amount of copies compared to Football Manager 2015 - the next game down the line. You can see it on page 6 of their financial statement for 2015:
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/201503_4q_tanshinhosoku_e_final_.pdf

The misconception is due to SEGA's own warped idea of what a success is. You see, Alien:Isolation is a AAA game, and AAA publishers currently hold a very bizarre approach to their games: It is not enough for a game to make good money - it has to make ALL the money. This is why SEGA view the game's sales as "weak". The game performed great, but it didn't break the entire market.

The Dead Space franchise actually had a similar story with EA not being content with the game simply doing well, forcefully shoving Microtransactions into Dead Space 3 and eventually bringing about the death of both the franchise and the development company that created it.

You need to factor in high development costs (it was built on an custom, in-house game engine developed specifically for the game) as well as the very pricey licensing and royalty fees due to Fox.

[Paranoid Android]

You need to factor in high development costs (it was built on an custom, in-house game engine developed specifically for the game) as well as the very pricey licensing and royalty fees due to Fox.

I don't see why.

I don't have data on Isolation's budget because it was never disclosed ,to my knowledge, but page 5 of SEGA's financial statement shows an increase in profit of 12% for packaged games, 15% for digital games and an overall 41% increase in units sold. Alien:Isolation sold more units than all of SEGA's games combined for that year, so it had to have been profitable in order for SEGA to show profits. The other games could not have carried it.

As for the license, SEGA pays Fox for having it regardless of whether or not they actually produce any content. I don't think it even factors into the costs of making the game.