Stardock laments “disastrous” launch.
The “disastrous” launch of turn-based fantasy game Elemental: War of Magic forced layoffs at publisher Stardock.
“Technical issues” at launch led to poor reviews and sales, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell told Joystiq.
“Elemental’s revenue was anticipated to provide the revenue both for our main games team’s next project as well as a second team,” Wardell wrote in the Elemental forum.
Pregnant wife in hospital.
One of the chief developers at Relic Entertainment died after a car crash involving an allegedly high 21-year-old.
Lead designer of Company of Heroes Online Brian Wood, 33, died after Jordyn Weichert, 21, tried to take off her sweater as she was speeding along a highway near Seattle, according to a report by the Seattlepi (via Kotaku).
Weichert’s Chevy Blazer swerved as front-seat passenger Samantha Bowling, 22, held the steering wheel.
Pushing the 3D Realms of possibility.
Gearbox now owns the “full intellectual rights” to Duke Nukem and all associated “future projects”, top-cat Randy Pitchford has said.
His comments were made in a press release posted in the Gearbox Software forums.
The leaders of 3D Realms – the company that created Duke Nukem – were pleased about this.
It’s a free-to-play online shooter.
Red 5 Studios, the company set up by former World of Warcraft team lead Mark Kern, has unveiled its first game.
Titled Firefall, it’s described as “a team-based action shooter that thrusts hundreds of players together into a lush, dynamic open world combining intense competitive multiplayer and large-scale cooperative gameplay”.
The game is set 200 years in the future. In a bid to find a clean energy source called Crystite, a hostile energy storm known as the Melding is unleashed. With the planet all mashup, the surviving humans must band together to continue the species and fight against new, bloodthirsty race The Chosen.
Contains everything.
The BBFC – Britain’s game-rating body (at least for now) – has outed an Ultimate Edition of Dragon Age: Origins.
Inside is all of the content released for the traditional fantasy role-playing game so far: DAO: Awakening, Leliana’s Song, Witch Hunt, The Golems of Amgarrak, The Darkspawn Chronicles, Feastday Combo Pack, Return to Ostagar, Warden’s Keep and the Stone Prisoner.
There’s no indication of how much this Ultimate Edition will cost nor when the collection will be released, but we’re trying to find out.
New version of add-on available now.
Microsoft has released a new version of the Crackdown 2 add-on which was causing problems for players.
As reported last week, the downloadable content made the game crash and introduced a couple of bugs.
“These issues were caused by problems mastering the DLC package,” reads a statement on developer Ruffian’s website.
Gearbox shines a light.
Resurrected first-person shooter Duke Nukem Forever might have been the talk of PAX over the weekend, but developer Gearbox Software still found time to reassure gamers that its other in-development title, Aliens: Colonial Marines, is still alive.
CEO Randy Pitchford flashed screenshots of the SEGA published game during a panel during the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle over the weekend (reported by Kotaku).
According to the site, Pitchford said Gearbox “is continuing to work with Aliens movie studio 20th Century Fox and Aliens games publisher Sega to bring the project along”.
Less than two weeks ago, I reviewed G.G Series Ninja Karakuri Den, a two-dollar microgame that is part of a Japanese series of budget downloadables. It was a decent game that could have used a little more zest, which is why I’m pleased to discove…
PAX 2010: CEO Randy Pitchford announces purchase of all future rights to 3D Realms’ storied action hero; Borderlands free update with raised level cap coming soon.
Who was there: Gearbox Software claimed the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo as its own on Friday with the shock announcement that it would see Duke Nukem Forever to the finish line in 2011. On hand to discuss the move, as well as the rest of Gearbox’s announced development slate, was CEO Randy Pitchford, chief creative officer Brian Martel, creative director Mikey Neumann, licensing head David Eddings, and cinematics director Brian Thomas.
What they talked about: Though Friday’s revelation that Gearbox would be finishing up 3D Realms’ Duke Nukem Forever was perhaps the biggest news out of the Penny Arcade Expo, the studio followed it up with another headline-worthy announcement. Namely, Pitchford revealed in front of the PAX 2010 collective that Gearbox has acquired the Duke Nukem intellectual property, including Duke Nukem Forever and all future developments in the franchise, from 3D Realms. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Explaining how the deal went down, Pitchford noted that he and Martel had actually met while working at 3D Realms, way back in 1997, and Gearbox still had a strong relationship with George Broussard and others at that studio. “I feel like I owe Duke Nukem my career,” he said, before bringing up last year’s turmoil of 3D Realms’ closure and the lawsuits that resulted. “That day sucked, but you can’t kill Duke.”
He said that even with the game’s future grim, about eight or nine former 3D Realms developers continued to work on Duke Nukem Forever, including Allen Blum, who has been working on the franchise since its inception in 1991. The game they were making is the same that is being made at Gearbox, he said, noting that Blum and the others–but not Broussard–are still on the team. He also said that the game is currently in the polish phase, and that “arrangements need to be made with first-parties and retailers.” Apparently, 2K Games hadn’t even informed retailers of the game’s existence until it was announced on Friday.
“The game that is happening is 3D Realms’ game,” he said. In an emotional moment, Pitchford went on to say that, “I didn’t buy [Duke Nukem] from them, they sold it to me,” emphasizing how protective 3D Realms has been of its quintessential action hero.
“Gearbox was the only home appropriate for the Duke Nukem brand,” Broussard said as part of a statement. “They are very talented and possess the perfect perspective and understanding of the brand. Their vision for its future direction is exciting and unbelievable. I personally cannot wait for fans to see their unique take on the franchise.”
“The Gearbox Software team and I are ecstatic that we have grown to a position to be able to pick up and carry the torch and help Duke rise back to glory in his time of need,” Pitchford added. “Fans of the legendary hero and all the incredible talent that have ever helped him all deserve the very best support that we can bring.”
For more information on Duke Nukem Forever, check out GameSpot’s hands-on with the game from PAX 2010.
As for the rest of what Gearbox has been working on, the team first discussed what was going on with the Borderlands franchise. Namely, Pitchford noted that Borderlands’ fourth, and ostensibly final, downloadable content add-on–Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution–will arrive on September 28. He also noted that all Borderlands owners will receive a free patch for the game that rebalances it and increases the level cap to 69.
Of that innuendoed number, Pitchford said that they did not want to alienate Borderlands fans who purchased General Knox for the sake of gaining that DLC’s 11-level cap increase. “We realized that if we added eight levels, with the cap at level 61, it wouldn’t piss off people who paid for the General Knox DLC.” A release date for the free patch has yet to be determined, but Pitchford noted that it should arrive some time around the launch of Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution.
Martel then briefly discussed Gearbox’s Brothers in Arms franchise, saying that they had nothing to announce today. However, he did emphasize Gearbox’s commitment to the franchise, hinting that the series may branch out from the characters established in recent installments. “We’ll have some things to talk about soon. We’re not ready quite yet to bring it out,” Pitchford added.
Martel also didn’t have any news about Aliens Colonial Marines, noting that it has been difficult to talk about the game due to involvement from rights owner 20th Century Fox and publisher Sega. However, Pitchford seemed to bend the rules a bit, calling for a rapid-fire succession of screenshots of the game to be shown on the conference hall’s big screen.
Though brief, the shots showed a group of marines engaging richly detailed alien drones in what appeared to be a space station’s corridors. The shots were highly reminiscent of the tone established by Ridley Scott’s 1979 original Alien.
Quote: “Always bet on Duke.”–Randy Pitchford.
Takeaway: The next game Gearbox will deliver is the Duke Nukem Forever that has been more than a decade in the making, with many of the original developers still working on the project. Of course, fans of the series probably won’t believe it until they see it, a fact Gearbox recognized and promised to do something about as soon as possible.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
That’s it. Show’s over. Say your tearful goodbyes, then pack it up and get moving. Back to reality!
Because of PAX, the news this weekend has been as slow as molasses, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t score a few tasty niblets. For one, Duke Nukem…
