Sarkus said:
First, the reason for the January release, at least in the case of FOBOS, was not intentional. The short-lived Interplay/Vivendi lawsuit was the reason for that.
Just like all the *other* lawsuits. You know, Interplay/Titus might not be in such deep shit if they weren't fucking up at every turn.
As for BGDA2, it won't really matter because all the other games of that type were delayed past Christmas as well. BGDA2 will sell, as long as it isn't total crap.
Pay attention. BG
A is one of Interplay's console titles, and it really didn't do all that well given that Interplay isn't too well trusted in the console market anymore. Compared to other titles in the market, most of their stuff should be released straight to the bargain bin. BG
A also had the D&D and BIS logos slapped on it. F
OS will likely get the BIS logo, but unfortunately for Interplay they are getting quite notorious. This is especially so when the people touted to be running the show at BIS are fired or leave, leaving a few people to be pushed around as Interplay wants, milking that BIS logo until it becomes ill-known. If F
OS carries the BIS logo, indicating all that the logo stands for (read the BIS FAQ sometimes), then that would kill any respect for Interplay in the eyes of the consumer base that has followed BIS and spread like wildfire through word of mouth and gaming press. It is this potential name dragging into the dirt and using BIS' name like a cheap French whore that I object to. It is dishonesty of the highest level, morally akin to fraud since they may be expecting the reputation of BIS to float the game.
Second, people keep referring to Van Buren as being "half-done." From what the devs have said, that's an optimistic scenario. They had completed to partial levels for a demo. Sure, they had done a lot of the planning, but the implementation was just beginning. Don't forget, they didn't start on VB until late May '03. While it's possible they would have finished it by late '04, that was a best case scenario.
The development time would bhe problematic, but Interplay has become known for rushed and half-ass releases, except for one house in particular, and their time was often restrained as it is.
Third, I wish people would be a little more realistic about how successful Fallout 3 would have been. We're talking about a sequel to a game released SIX YEARS AGO (Fallout 2, Oct 1998 versus a Fall '04 estimated date). That's a hell of a long time in gameing terms. I played Fallout 2 on a Pentium II system, to give you an idea of what we are talking about. Yes, there is a core group of dedicated fans for whom it would sell (maybe, just look at some of the negative reaction to the story details just released) and yes, the game press would have given it some props, but Fallout 3 was always a risky endeavor.
Irregardless of story details (and which I think they were poor in many aspects), the time for a sequel branching that long of a time isn't that unheard of. It does get a bad reaction if it's poorly done, and in honesty, it likely would have gotten mixed reactions, especially on the orbital station. It is also funny that while you think that a license would half a very short shelf life in terms of sequels, Interplay and a number of the gaming press like to refer to it often and also follow the developments of which.
When it became clear that Fallout 3 was in development at BIS, I stopped visiting the message boards. Why? Because I love the Fallout series so much I was afraid to get my hopes up and I knew from the beginning (as did a lot of us) that the likliehood of it getting completed was very low.
I stated as much when Danien and others were trying to sell us on a revolutionary combat system that never saw reality except for some likely mothballed glyphs on some dead tree pulp.
JDelley: I understand what you mean now, and I really do pity a lot of the people there at Interplay. There's been an axe hanging over their neck for quite some time. We don't blame the people who work there. We plame the people who have little integrity, try to lie to us, or try to post utter bullshit like Pandemic Boy in the Sean K. Reynolds thread.
