Prey

[obsidian]

I enjoyed the 2006 game despite mixed reviews. I'm interested to see where this new game takes us.

[youtube]LNHZ9WAertc[/youtube]

[Captain]

It's got a Dead Space feel to it which isn't bad, but I wanted a proper sequel to the original Prey.

[Whiskey 7]

.............. interested to see where this new game takes us.

Yes it looks interesting. I thought I'd heard the word 'Talos' before and in the distant past

[Eraser]

I thought I'd heard the word 'Talos' before and in the distant past

Talos is a figure from Greek mythology.
I think the most recent use of the word "Talos" in gaming is the game "The Talos Principle"

[Don Carlos]

[obsidian]

Spoiler Alert:

1 hour hands-on from Rock Paper Shotgun.

[youtube]DewDLgIDA4E[/youtube]

[seremtan]

they're waiting for you Gordon, in the Test Chamberrrr

strong HL vibe

[Don Carlos]

Not unhappy with that

If Valve are going to fuck about and give us nothing I am happy for someone else to pick up the mantle as long as its done right

[seremtan]

note also the tool melee weapon and headcrabs and special suit. and the part where you escape the 'set' reminded me of that bit in Portal where you escape the test chambers

looks pretty good though. the mimics and phantoms are really well done

[MKJ]

want

[Don Carlos]

Watched again while sober...want

[Ryoki]

want

[Κracus]

Honestly the sequel to Prey has already been released. It's called Dying Light and it's an ok game. This is more like Part 3. If you've never played Dying Light you should check it out, it's not bad, the zombie mode is a lot of fun but I've played too many of these types of games to be interested in them anymore.

The story behind Dying Light was something along the lines that it was supposed to be the sequel to Prey and for some reason they decided to re-brand the game halfway through production and call it something else, hence there's a lot of elements in the game that are very similar to the original Prey game.

[Don Carlos]

Interesting snippet of info there Kracus

[Don Carlos]

The development of the game began in early 2012. Prior to the game's official announcement, several reports claimed that Dying Light was a sequel to Dead Island, another franchise created by Techland. The rumor was later denied.

From the Wiki...?

[MKJ]

Yeah I don't know where the Prey sequel tidbit comes from, sounds like wishful thinking to me.

Wasn't Prey2 in devhell for quite a while before being completely canned? This was before Dead Island even started development I think.

Speaking of which Dead Island was pretty good. Too bad we never got a proper sequel :/

[Mat Linnett]

Human Head, the guys responsible for Rune, were developing the most promising version of Prey, before they fell victim to Zenimax / Bethesda's awful good cop / bad cop double act.

That was the one that looked fantastic and wowed the crowds at E3, where you were playing an intergalactic bounty hunter. It had a real Star Wars / Blade Runner mash-up vibe going for it:
[youtube]lHfpeZkRQ-0[/youtube]

To be honest, that's the game I'd still rather play.

Unfortunately, it fell victim to the aforementioned machinations.
Basically, Zenimax and Bethesda are one company, but the way they play it, according to multiple developers who've worked for them, goes like this:

Bethesda note your independent project has promise, and offer to fund you. As development goes on and milestones are reached, Bethesda then refuse to approve them, noting that you haven't reached some nebulous level of quality in order to properly receive the financial reward that the milestone agreement entitles you to. Gradually, as more and more milestones are reached, yet you "fail" to achieve them, you run out of cash. At which point Zenimax steps in and offers to buy your intellectual property.
This has happened many times over the years to numerous developers, and I suspect it's what happened to id, but they're too proud to tattle-tale.

There's an interesting thread about it over on NeoGaf, where it's noted it goes all the way back to the founding of the company.
Basically?
Robert Altman is one shady motherfucker.

[Κracus]

The development of the game began in early 2012. Prior to the game's official announcement, several reports claimed that Dying Light was a sequel to Dead Island, another franchise created by Techland. The rumor was later denied.

From the Wiki...?

Hmmm, maybe I'm getting my games mixed up. /shrug

[Don Carlos]

Human Head, the guys responsible for Rune, were developing the most promising version of Prey, before they fell victim to Zenimax / Bethesda's awful good cop / bad cop double act.

That was the one that looked fantastic and wowed the crowds at E3, where you were playing an intergalactic bounty hunter. It had a real Star Wars / Blade Runner mash-up vibe going for it:
[youtube]lHfpeZkRQ-0[/youtube]

To be honest, that's the game I'd still rather play.

Unfortunately, it fell victim to the aforementioned machinations.
Basically, Zenimax and Bethesda are one company, but the way they play it, according to multiple developers who've worked for them, goes like this:

Bethesda note your independent project has promise, and offer to fund you. As development goes on and milestones are reached, Bethesda then refuse to approve them, noting that you haven't reached some nebulous level of quality in order to properly receive the financial reward that the milestone agreement entitles you to. Gradually, as more and more milestones are reached, yet you "fail" to achieve them, you run out of cash. At which point Zenimax steps in and offers to buy your intellectual property.
This has happened many times over the years to numerous developers, and I suspect it's what happened to id, but they're too proud to tattle-tale.

There's an interesting thread about it over on NeoGaf, where it's noted it goes all the way back to the founding of the company.
Basically?
Robert Altman is one shady motherfucker.

Can't say it worked out badly for id and DOOM

[Mat Linnett]

Debatable.

The id you and I know no longer really exist. Sure, there's still a couple of original employees left, but the rest are entirely new hires.
And id as an entity have no control over their IP at all. We're lucky that the classics were open-sourced before Zenimax bought the company.
id are to Bethesda what Raven are to Activision.

When it comes to intellectual property, Bethesda and Zenimax are very much of the opinion that whoever currently owns the IP created it. It doesn't matter what you and I know to be historically true, that Carmack, Romero and friends created the IP in the first place.
Legally, they own that story now.
See Quake spuriously being renamed "The Reckoning". That's them stamping ownership over the brand and showing their intent to rewrite history and release "Quake: A Bethesda game".

Sure, new Doom is a fantastic game. But that doesn't stop the business shenanigans behind it being incredibly dodgy.

I mean look at this quote regarding development of Doom 4 and tell me it doesn't stink of what happened to Human Head and Prey:

id Software is currently developing Doom 4. The shooter was reportedly rebooted in 2011 after the game "did not exhibit the quality and excitement that id and Bethesda intend to deliver and that Doom fans worldwide expect," according to Pete Hines, vice president of marketing and public relations for publisher Bethesda Softworks. id Software has since "refocused its efforts on a new version" of Doom 4.

[Don Carlos]

Oh absolutely it does, but I have seen some of the footage of what they tried to do with DOOM 4 (check the thread) and what was created in its place I dare say is far superior.

Also I doubt very much that even Zenimax/Bethesda can erase 20+ of Quakecon and the legend of id.

Not condoning the business practices by the way, just want to be clear about that.

[obsidian]

It's pretty clear from that Id Software Doom video interview that was posted in the other thread that Doom was indeed a failed experiment that ended up better the second time around. Numerous accounts said the game was off on a wrong start and didn't feel like a Doom title, it was probably more akin to a Rage 2.

I agree with the Bethesda Zenimax takeover being an overall poor decision though. It really feels like selling their soul. Hard to judge from our perspective though, at the time they really needed to grow their team since they were working as a small studio whereas game development is taking increasingly more manhours. They could have had issues with funding a large team independently.