And the once scene in which we do get a full-on view of the alien suit, which Ridley Scott was smart enough to cut out, it looks completely fucking stupid. Not at all aided by the awkward crab walk it does towards Lambert. Gotta maintain that illusion or else moments like these have the potential to completely ruin the experience.
OK, everyone’s probably bored of this by now, but if you’re still wondering just how the makers of Borderlands 2 could get Aliens: Colonial Marines so very wrong, more has emerged.
Kotaku’s tracked down alleged sources close to the project, who tell the semi-familiar tale of Gearbox outsourcing ACM to Timegate in the wake of Borderlands doing so well. In theory Gearbox had been working on ACM for four years by that point, but allegedly what Timegate received was “”basically a hodgepodge” of assets which required an enormous amount of work to turn into anything like a game.
Later in the process, these sources allege that Sega were requesting a more Call of Duty-esque, manshoot experience, while writers from both studios were doing stuff on fly and the level designers had to race to adapt to frequent changes. On top of that, “You could not pick two companies whose general workflow is more diametrically opposed. Gearbox is used to ‘work, work, work, iterate, iterate.’ TimeGate is the exact opposite – they’re always about shipping the product.”
The now in-famous “in-game” demo which looked so much better than the rather murkier final game, meanwhile, was specially created to run on an ultra-powerful PC beyond the means of consumers. “We were told many times through demo production, ‘Don’t worry about performance, just make it awesome,’There was a reason [the demos] were never playable.” I’m not personally sure that entirely explains why the final game was so dialled down, as a mid-range PC could muster far more than what we did get, but apparently what Timegate had made wouldn’t run on PS3. For that reason, plus the rather important allegation that what Timegate had made was pretty rubbish, once Gearbox finally returned to ACM after shipping Borderlands 2, they felt they needed to change anything they could.
“Design elements were altered or redone entirely. It looks like a lot of [TimeGate's] assets remained intact, with the exception of lower-res textures and faster-performing shaders,” alleges Kotaku’s source.
Six years after being commissioned to make the game by Sega, allegedly Gearbox by this point felt they had to finish the damn thing by hook or by crook. So they did. And here’s the kicker: “The game feels like it was made in nine months, and that’s because it was.”
With both Gearbox and Sega keeping tellingly mum about what went on, and Kotaku also reporting rumours that the studios behind the game are worried about being sued, this may be as close to the real story as we ever get. Sure, a bad game is a bad game and to some extent the reasons for that don’t matter, but it’s fascinating/horrifying to see just how convoluted and chaotic a high-profile, high-budget game can get.
Many more details, rumours and quotes in the original story.
manshoot experience
Fix'd, goodamn hipsters and their ridiculous termsAlienshoot experience
The now in-famous “in-game” demo which looked so much better than the rather murkier final game, meanwhile, was specially created to run on an ultra-powerful PC beyond the means of consumers.
manchild experience
For some reason, I find that very hard to believe. The demo did not look that impressive and it's not like the actual game is demanding either.
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/4/406...e-aliens-colonial-marines-development-studios
Layoffs hit TimeGate Studios, the Houston, Texas-based studio that helped develop Aliens: Colonial Marines, today, the president of the studio confirmed to Polygon.
I hope Mr. Davis is ok.
E.T. Designer Howard Warshaw on Aliens: Can Rest Easy Knowing A Worse Licensed Game Exists
The release of Aliens: Colonial Marines has many feeling ripped off due to the demo being of much higher quality than the final version. We spoke with Howard Warshaw, designer of the infamous E.T. video game, on his thoughts about Aliens.
Play4Real: Thanks for speaking with us.
Warshaw: No problem. You guys know I’m just a licensed psychotherapist now, right?
Play4Real: Yeah, I would be too if I made a game as bad as E.T. Anything to convince myself it’s not my fault.
Warshaw: Well, it wasn’t.
Play4Real: That’s true. I mean, who would want to play a game based on E.T.?
Warshaw: I know, right? This game destroyed my career and almost the entire video game industry, but at least I can rest easy knowing Aliens is arguably a worse game.
Play4Real: What do you mean?
Warshaw: Again, no one wants to play a game based on E.T., but Aliens? I would have killed to make a game based on that movie. There are so many possible ways you could have made a great game with Aliens and Gearbox just blew it.
Play4Real: What about Superman 64? That’s also a pretty bad licensed game.
Warshaw: Sure, I’d give you that, but DC completely screwed with the developers on the production of that game. Gearbox had everything going for them: people who worked on the Aliens movies, the support of Sega, an actual budget and they still couldn’t release a good game.
Play4Real: What lessons do you think could be learned from this debacle?
Warshaw: Don’t trust Gearbox? Don’t get hyped? Buyer beware?
Play4Real: Sounds good to me. Anything else you’d like to say?
Warshaw: You know, I’m immortalized as that guy who made E.T. Over time, it’s not that bad. I got a neat role in this Angry Video Game Nerd movie and I appreciate the attention. Gearbox will just be known as that shitty company that can’t put a game together for the rest of their pitiful existence.
Play4Real: Harsh.
Warshaw: Not as harsh as Duke Nukem Forever.
Play4Real: Harsher. Well, thanks again for your time!
Seems to be a fairly good parody "news" site.heh he sounds like a codexer.
So does Kotaku.Seems to be a fairly good parody "news" site.