Games that fail to materialise

[Zomoniac 10]

Looks like GT PSP is about to see the light of day as well.

 

Duke Nukem Forever has of course now set the standard for 'games that failed to materialise'. Although way back in the day when Gameplay were a mail order company advertising across the inside back pages of magazines, they listed Micro Machines V3 for Saturn as 'in stock - order now' about three days before its release date. The day before its release date it was cancelled and was never released. Oops

[steelhead31 10]

Alan Wake has had some favourable press following E3... and its developer belives spring 2010 for the release, looking forward to this one.. linky.. http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/990/990713p1.html

[Guest]

Alan Wake has had some favourable press following E3... and its developer belives spring 2010 for the release, looking forward to this one.. linky.. http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/990/990713p1.html

Thanks for that. I've been looking forward to this for ages. I'll be mightily peeved if it turns out to be a over-hyped dud. It certainly looks intriguing: Stephen King meets Silent Hill. The review of the preview demo is particularly tantalising:

What I enjoyed most about Alan Wake as I moved from cabin to cabin in the eerie mountain village of Bright Falls, was how effectively Remedy has implemented strong action-oriented gameplay without sacrificing atmosphere. Alan is the only normal person in a very paranormal place, and he's not the type that can just run and gun his way through the horde of evil things surrounding him. Running away is probably the smartest strategy in the game and combining that cowardice (or as I like to call it, tactical withdrawal) with a clever use of your flashlight and gun combo is every bit as entertaining as previously 'roided up horror titles like Resident Evil 5.

[Zomoniac 10]

Alan Wake has had some favourable press following E3... and its developer belives spring 2010 for the release, looking forward to this one.. linky.. http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/990/990713p1.html

 

They gave an extended playable demo at the MS conference, I was a bit underwhelmed. It's pretty, but it looks a bit dull, boring gameplay mechanics, I was expected some really creative and interesting gameplay, not just a beautiful AITD.

[Guest]

Alan Wake has had some favourable press following E3...

It seems so. Here are a few more reviews, and snippets from them:

1

The one-two punch of the combat is complex enough to keep you in a multi-tasking panic as waves of enemies get closer, but it appears to walk just the right side of being unnecessarily fiddly. On top of that, the old survival-horror classic of making room for yourself and controlling a crowd is livened up by a couple of extra weapons, one of which is a flare gun, which cuts a blood red swathe through your attackers, while the second comes in the form of carefully placed generators, jump-started with a mini-game, which allow Wake to spark dormant streetlamps into life, blowing nearby baddies to pieces, simultaneously allowing him to progress through the darkened woods, one pool of light at a time.

Besides ducking vehicles, you'll also have to drive them, and our demo ends with Wake escaping a pitched woodland battle, and hitting the road to uncover a batch of manuscript pages hidden at a nearby lighthouse. Behind the wheel, and with a break from the carefully staged combat, it's suddenly apparent just how special Remedy's game might be. There's something uniquely promising about tooling around a mysterious mountain town, with firs wreathed in mist, and nasty things lurking in the darkness. Foggy moonlight trailing through the trees brings back all the right memories of eighties Spielberg, while the narrow tracks with their flickering streetlamps and rocky tunnels seem perfect for exploring. It's a setting that's rather standard when it comes to slasher films, but for a videogame, it seems fresh and faintly sophisticated, and ensures that, despite some pretty traditional survival-horror encounters, it's very hard to confuse Alan Wake with anything else.

2:

Alan Wake has been one of the biggest surprises of E3 2009. Locked in a seemingly endless development cycle, and only rarely seen, gamers were beginning to think this video game would never see the light of day. ...

 

Well, it has – and this exclusive for Microsoft's Xbox 360 looks set to be an absolute corker.

 

Alan, aided and abetted by a cast of decent characters, including his neurotic literary agent, Barry, embarks on a desperate journey to unravel the mystery of the manuscripts in his bid to find Alice. While Alan Wake is no free-roaming sandbox game, the vast expanses of Bright Fall’s forest are realised with such detail and zeal that the sheer scope of the game almost makes you forget you’re playing a linear adventure title.

 

The game’s developers have done an incredible job of creating a tense, oppressive and genuinely nerve-wracking environment.

 

Alan Wake plays on the perceived norms of action games and psychological thrillers, and re-packages it in a new and dynamic way.

3:

It's hard to predict whether Alan Wake will be scary. But it is definitely spooky. Remedy is using their creepy forest environment well, letting distant but mysterious shaking in the treetops or the nearby flocking of dark birds (or were they bats?) strike the wonderfully discordant note of a menacing other presence making itself known.

 

Good Fighting: Combat in Alan Wake was smooth. That's not a big deal, unless you consider that many other thriller games that are great on atmosphere are often clunky with combat. Not here. Alan Wake is no super-hero of a demon-fighter, but he can run, duck and shoot like you would hope that you would, if possessed woodsmen and Jeeps were messing with you.

 

Final Thoughts

Alan Wake has the right mood: that something in its world is very wrong. The mechanics are promising, though potentially repetitive. As long as having to shoot enemies with light and then guns doesn't become tiresome, the game could play quite well. Whether it can present the intellectual and tonal sophistication that some fans have been hoping for is something we could not judge at E3, unfortunately. But those potential qualities could make Alan Wake transcend the pack of thrillers and horror games it's still among.

[babybel 10]

I emailed Game about Ghostbusters last week, they apparently aren't selling the 360 version but are selling it for PC, PS2 and 3, DS and the Wii!

 

Game can kiss my you-know-what, I'll buy it from Play.com, I want the 360 version for the achievements.

 

Hmm, on that note just remembered utter disappointment when Hunter wasn't reissued on xbox 360 especially as it was the first game my OH got me reaaallllly into!

[PuressenceUK 10]

Originally Posted by Rich

I emailed Game about Ghostbusters last week, they apparently aren't selling the 360 version but are selling it for PC, PS2 and 3, DS and the Wii!

 

Game can kiss my you-know-what, I'll buy it from Play.com, I want the 360 version for the achievements.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Er Rich, the 360 version of Ghostbusters is not being released in Europe until November 2009 as Sony have it as an exclusive in the European region until then.

 

You can order it from the states though as it's not region locked (although your TV will need to be able to display NTSC format)

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8095205.stm

[Guest]

Er Rich, the 360 version of Ghostbusters is not being released in Europe until November 2009 as Sony have it as an exclusive in the European region until then...

This is true, but to be fair the announcement of the Sony exclusive was only made last month and Rich's post is from early last year; at that time all the Ghostbusters' release dates were up in the air. God knows where Game were getting their info from 15 months ago. Some collective bodily orifice, perhaps.

 

Shame about the delayed Xbox release date though. Was really looking forward to getting my hands on that this month.

[PuressenceUK 10]

This is true, but to be fair the announcement of the Sony exclusive was only made last month and Rich's post is from early last year; at that time all the Ghostbusters' release dates were up in the air. God knows where Game were getting their info from 15 months ago. Some collective bodily orifice, perhaps.

 

Shame about the delayed Xbox release date though. Was really looking forward to getting my hands on that this month.

 

Plenty of places importing the disc from the USA and selling on E-bay. Mine is already on order.

[Karis 11]

It really is a desperate attempt from Sony to sell more PS3s based on one game...

 

Holding back Ghostbusters from the 360 is a low blow, really.

 

/grumbles

 

And if we're talking games that fail to materialise, none is more legendary than Duke Nukem Forever!

[PuressenceUK 10]

It really is a desperate attempt from Sony to sell more PS3s based on one game...

 

Holding back Ghostbusters from the 360 is a low blow, really.

 

/grumbles

 

And if we're talking games that fail to materialise, none is more legendary than Duke Nukem Forever!

 

Not that low given that Atari made it region free, effectively sticking 2 fingers up at Sony

[Beakerzoid 10]

It really is a desperate attempt from Sony to sell more PS3s based on one game...

 

Holding back Ghostbusters from the 360 is a low blow, really.

 

 

Kind of like how PS3 owners had to wait longer for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 over here (again, multi region so if you wanted could just import)

 

Swings and roundabouts really. One exclusive one way, one the other. Low blows all round.

 

The sad thing is that the software developers allow it, just taking the money and running.

 

 

 

 

Back on topic : Now I've checked out the E3 footage, I can see why GT5 is taking so long. It looks fantastic, and included a full WRC mode and Nascar mode so far.