Wow. Today's big money games are seriously lacking in the originality department. It's becoming and epidemic. Look at these. Anyone can poop out a game like this, call it "Space Marine Assault War 2008" and as long as it looks pretty everyone will love you for it. I'm so tired of seeing a prettier version of the same game over and over and over again.
Great graphics don't make a great game. Expect better.
I was hoping to find info about that old "Dreadnought" 64-bit game demo AMD released (developed by Torc Interactive). It was a very interesting tech (physics, design, and visuals) for an FPS at the time and they clearly had "retail product" aspirations.
For those who played Ascendancy by the Logic Factory you know it to be perhaps the greatest space strategy of all time, with beautiful graphics and great gameplay (only lacking in AI a bit, which was remedied with a patch).
In 98 the Logic Factory, a small dev house released the Tone Rebellion, which was also well received, but not quite as grand.
They were supposed to then be working on a secret 3D engine project for an MMO game. They said they had sunk millions into producing the engine, but nothing ever was released.
Then came rumors starting around 2001 that a sequel to Ascendancy with shiny graphics, etc. was plan. The few die hard fans of Ascendancy (like myself) were thrilled.
No news came the next year, the year after that,etc. Then in 2006/2007, some German language websites claimed to be emailed by the logic factory, which said itd be releasing the game FINALLY in 2007. But it never came.
To this day I've not heard definitively what happened to the Logic Factory OR Ascendancy II, and I've read a lot of fan communities.
This seems a perfect time to bring up RyderMark; there was supposed to have been a game being developed using the same 'engine' as the benchmark. To this day, AFAIK, F(r)uad still maintains that Rydermark was real, so we should have the benchmark and game by now right?
Then again, I don't know of any game that you can play using Photoshop!
Check out Gamespot. They have a 20min video showing 2 of the character classes (barbarian and something resembling the necro/druid class). Graphically it looks VERY nice, lots of cool lighting, destructible environments, and good shadows. Best thing about this is you know it's the GAMEPLAY that matters with any Blizzard product. I doubt we'll see it before summer/fall of 2009, but it's definitely in production.
If you heard that, it certainly wasn't from Blizzard. They will almost certainly do another Diablo at some point, but when? Given WoW and SC2, I think it will be a while before Diablo 3 is released... though it's probably under development to some degree already.
Check back after the Blizzard World Wide Invitational (starting today I think). Rumours are pretty heavy they are announcing Diable 3. Blizzard have been dropping hints, and a lot of people are certain they point to D3. We'll see soon enough.
Personally, if you seen one... you might as well have seen them all. For me, I am not holding my breath for any of them or even compelled. Unless someone can convince me otherwise...
If 2 Days to Vegas was dropped from the consoles that is a warning sign that the developer was not up to the task, financial troubles, could not meet certain QA goals etc from Sony/MS.
Most games die before being seen by the public the ones that make are the lucky few and many of the ones you have listed are unfortunate enough or stupid enough to announce/show early builds only for the project to be canned. I'd say no more 2 of the games you listed will ever see the light of day.
FYI the Indiana Jones game was never in development, Lucasarts is staffed by a bunch of lier's these days and the screenshot you used was from a tech demo not an actual game. The game was only just recently green lit but don't expect it any time soon especially if SW: The Force Unleashed bombs. Lucasarts plan to dig itself out of it's grave is to outsource everything so someone like EA/Activision will probably pick up duties for making any future Indy games and the in-house project will be killed off.
Thanks for the list, it opened my eyes to a few titles I missed over the past few years and even some I forgot about.
Maybe someone from one of the development companies will stumble on this list and realize they have an unrealized gold mine waiting to be worked on... the golden rule always applies - Money talks.
I am glad to see some game articles popping up here and there, in actuality the articles have been very informative and some have tackled titles that I was previously unaware of.
I am all for Anandtech expanding its focus (just not too far). Obviously many of it's regular readers share a love for games, this just makes sense IMHO. Great work, keep the great articles coming.
...but I've come to Anandtech for literally years for reliable hardware reviews. If the kind of fluff that's been showing up on the front page lately is a deliberate change in editorial direction, well, no sir, I don't much like it.
"...but I've come to Anandtech for literally years for reliable hardware reviews. If the kind of fluff that's been showing up on the front page lately is a deliberate change in editorial direction, well, no sir, I don't much like it."
Agreed. I prefer what the site was based on. There are far better sites to get game info from.
Hardware indeed. But why do we spend our cash for powerhouse components to add to our rigs? Why the need for ultra expensive GPU's? Games. AnandTech is very much a game site, it's just been lacking a focus on the real reason visitors come here in the first place. Sure, it's about the hardware. But let's face it, it's gaming hardware and I say we talk about both. More importantly, Anand says we talk about both. : )
I'd have to agree with the original post. Game reviews are fine, but when Anandtech averages less than one article a day you really lack good tech articles. Yeah games are one of the reasons people buy hardware, but you don't need to review games for that, just benchmark them.
The recent GPU articles were excellent: very in-depth, well written and are why I continue to come to this site. But lately it seems that good tech articles are being replaced with Camera reviews, the Penny Arcade game review, and blog posts about Steve Jobs.
Meanwhile, articles like the month with ubuntu and the 780G/8200 chipset articles haven't seen the light of day. Articles like this one wouldn't be a problem if there were more of the actual meaty in-depth articles that used to be the focus of this site.
christ man, ive been visiting this site for years, just stopped posting for about a year or more, but youre freaking kidding me if you think there still isnt a hardware focus here
i also like the fact they dont mod critical posts like other pussy sites.
Ah yes... you're referring to the four major GPU articles of the past two weeks, I assume? The stuff that we've been doing for YEARS. I don't really see how adding a new person to write about games is such a terrible thing. Don't like the content? Don't read the article. I can say for sure that having Eddie write this article in no way impacted any other editor at AnandTech, other than the hour or so I spent to proof and post his article.
The comment is even more off base considering how deeply technical the GPU articles have been. If any site on the web did a better job of explaining the technical nuts and bolts of this product launch I haven't seen it.
You might want to pay attention to the authors of the various articles. As one of them (plus the guy that does a lot of the proofing and posting of articles for other editors), I can attest to the fact that Anand gives us a LOT of wiggle room in terms of what we write about. If you want to find out what's happening in regards to Ubuntu, email Ryan Smith. Posting comments in a totally unrelated article is silly, not to mention completely ineffective in getting information. After all, you don't email Dell technical support for help with your Toyota car, do you?
hhmm, i dunno, but in the past experiences that i have had with Aust. dell tech support, emailing Toyota with help for my dell pc may just be a option you know!
As far as Duke is concerned, a new teaser trailer was released within the past few weeks. Also, a new interview vid with the devs that show of some actual gameplay footage is out there. The game is hardly off the radar.
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35 Comments
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firstpersonpooper - Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - link
Wow. Today's big money games are seriously lacking in the originality department. It's becoming and epidemic. Look at these. Anyone can poop out a game like this, call it "Space Marine Assault War 2008" and as long as it looks pretty everyone will love you for it. I'm so tired of seeing a prettier version of the same game over and over and over again.Great graphics don't make a great game. Expect better.
CZroe - Sunday, June 29, 2008 - link
I was hoping to find info about that old "Dreadnought" 64-bit game demo AMD released (developed by Torc Interactive). It was a very interesting tech (physics, design, and visuals) for an FPS at the time and they clearly had "retail product" aspirations.http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6...">http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6...
GTVic - Friday, June 27, 2008 - link
Change the name to Chubby Rain...araczynski - Friday, June 27, 2008 - link
i only recognized one or two of those, but didn't care about any of them, so...JasonMick - Friday, June 27, 2008 - link
From way back in 1995... Ascendancy II.For those who played Ascendancy by the Logic Factory you know it to be perhaps the greatest space strategy of all time, with beautiful graphics and great gameplay (only lacking in AI a bit, which was remedied with a patch).
In 98 the Logic Factory, a small dev house released the Tone Rebellion, which was also well received, but not quite as grand.
They were supposed to then be working on a secret 3D engine project for an MMO game. They said they had sunk millions into producing the engine, but nothing ever was released.
Then came rumors starting around 2001 that a sequel to Ascendancy with shiny graphics, etc. was plan. The few die hard fans of Ascendancy (like myself) were thrilled.
No news came the next year, the year after that,etc. Then in 2006/2007, some German language websites claimed to be emailed by the logic factory, which said itd be releasing the game FINALLY in 2007. But it never came.
To this day I've not heard definitively what happened to the Logic Factory OR Ascendancy II, and I've read a lot of fan communities.
Thats my best MIA story...
2coors - Friday, June 27, 2008 - link
what about guild wars 2 i havent heard anything about this game for a while now, at least a year....johnsonx - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
This seems a perfect time to bring up RyderMark; there was supposed to have been a game being developed using the same 'engine' as the benchmark. To this day, AFAIK, F(r)uad still maintains that Rydermark was real, so we should have the benchmark and game by now right?Then again, I don't know of any game that you can play using Photoshop!
Pyrokinetic - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Where the heck is Starcraft II? There are rumors hinting at Christmas '08, but I'll believe it when I see it.phrizzo - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Speaking of M.I.A. games, how about Diablo 3? I remember hearing that it would be out in 2005, then 2006, then ... nothing! What's up with that?7Enigma - Sunday, June 29, 2008 - link
Check out Gamespot. They have a 20min video showing 2 of the character classes (barbarian and something resembling the necro/druid class). Graphically it looks VERY nice, lots of cool lighting, destructible environments, and good shadows. Best thing about this is you know it's the GAMEPLAY that matters with any Blizzard product. I doubt we'll see it before summer/fall of 2009, but it's definitely in production.JarredWalton - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
If you heard that, it certainly wasn't from Blizzard. They will almost certainly do another Diablo at some point, but when? Given WoW and SC2, I think it will be a while before Diablo 3 is released... though it's probably under development to some degree already.MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Check back after the Blizzard World Wide Invitational (starting today I think). Rumours are pretty heavy they are announcing Diable 3. Blizzard have been dropping hints, and a lot of people are certain they point to D3. We'll see soon enough.Imaginer - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
And looks like they would play the same too...Personally, if you seen one... you might as well have seen them all. For me, I am not holding my breath for any of them or even compelled. Unless someone can convince me otherwise...
I just might be showing my age as well.
GhandiInstinct - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Keep it up Eddie.You could have made the list shorter as the only good anticipated games are:
Heavy Rain
Alan Wake
Project Offset
Elveon
BTW, not even game sites do articles like this, which are important.
Thanks again.
PointlesS - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Awesome article...there's a bunch that I remember seeing but have till now left my mindDukeN - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
I'm not coming out....because I'm straight :)
Give it up folks.
Rainman200 - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
If 2 Days to Vegas was dropped from the consoles that is a warning sign that the developer was not up to the task, financial troubles, could not meet certain QA goals etc from Sony/MS.Most games die before being seen by the public the ones that make are the lucky few and many of the ones you have listed are unfortunate enough or stupid enough to announce/show early builds only for the project to be canned. I'd say no more 2 of the games you listed will ever see the light of day.
FYI the Indiana Jones game was never in development, Lucasarts is staffed by a bunch of lier's these days and the screenshot you used was from a tech demo not an actual game. The game was only just recently green lit but don't expect it any time soon especially if SW: The Force Unleashed bombs. Lucasarts plan to dig itself out of it's grave is to outsource everything so someone like EA/Activision will probably pick up duties for making any future Indy games and the in-house project will be killed off.
nycromes - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Thanks for the list, it opened my eyes to a few titles I missed over the past few years and even some I forgot about.Maybe someone from one of the development companies will stumble on this list and realize they have an unrealized gold mine waiting to be worked on... the golden rule always applies - Money talks.
I am glad to see some game articles popping up here and there, in actuality the articles have been very informative and some have tackled titles that I was previously unaware of.
I am all for Anandtech expanding its focus (just not too far). Obviously many of it's regular readers share a love for games, this just makes sense IMHO. Great work, keep the great articles coming.
iamauser - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
...but I've come to Anandtech for literally years for reliable hardware reviews. If the kind of fluff that's been showing up on the front page lately is a deliberate change in editorial direction, well, no sir, I don't much like it.RamIt - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
"...but I've come to Anandtech for literally years for reliable hardware reviews. If the kind of fluff that's been showing up on the front page lately is a deliberate change in editorial direction, well, no sir, I don't much like it."Agreed. I prefer what the site was based on. There are far better sites to get game info from.
EddieTurner - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Hardware indeed. But why do we spend our cash for powerhouse components to add to our rigs? Why the need for ultra expensive GPU's? Games. AnandTech is very much a game site, it's just been lacking a focus on the real reason visitors come here in the first place. Sure, it's about the hardware. But let's face it, it's gaming hardware and I say we talk about both. More importantly, Anand says we talk about both. : )Natfly - Friday, June 27, 2008 - link
I'd have to agree with the original post. Game reviews are fine, but when Anandtech averages less than one article a day you really lack good tech articles. Yeah games are one of the reasons people buy hardware, but you don't need to review games for that, just benchmark them.The recent GPU articles were excellent: very in-depth, well written and are why I continue to come to this site. But lately it seems that good tech articles are being replaced with Camera reviews, the Penny Arcade game review, and blog posts about Steve Jobs.
Meanwhile, articles like the month with ubuntu and the 780G/8200 chipset articles haven't seen the light of day. Articles like this one wouldn't be a problem if there were more of the actual meaty in-depth articles that used to be the focus of this site.
TejTrescent - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
I don't see the problem--honestly, I'm just glad to see there are other people still hoping Alan Wake comes out.at80eighty - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
christ man, ive been visiting this site for years, just stopped posting for about a year or more, but youre freaking kidding me if you think there still isnt a hardware focus herei also like the fact they dont mod critical posts like other pussy sites.
JarredWalton - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Ah yes... you're referring to the four major GPU articles of the past two weeks, I assume? The stuff that we've been doing for YEARS. I don't really see how adding a new person to write about games is such a terrible thing. Don't like the content? Don't read the article. I can say for sure that having Eddie write this article in no way impacted any other editor at AnandTech, other than the hour or so I spent to proof and post his article.Sunrise089 - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
The comment is even more off base considering how deeply technical the GPU articles have been. If any site on the web did a better job of explaining the technical nuts and bolts of this product launch I haven't seen it.Eri Hyva - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Wassup, Anand?
Bill paying your bills?
Where is the article?
Last time you informed us was in April.
http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=43...">http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=43...
And originally:
http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=38...">http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=38...
Are you going to do it?
Be a man,
Do It or Cancel It.
(
some discussion 3 weeks ago, no reply from AT staff:
http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=45...">http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=45...
)
at80eighty - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
i'll have what he's smoking!JarredWalton - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
You might want to pay attention to the authors of the various articles. As one of them (plus the guy that does a lot of the proofing and posting of articles for other editors), I can attest to the fact that Anand gives us a LOT of wiggle room in terms of what we write about. If you want to find out what's happening in regards to Ubuntu, email Ryan Smith. Posting comments in a totally unrelated article is silly, not to mention completely ineffective in getting information. After all, you don't email Dell technical support for help with your Toyota car, do you?4wardtristan - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
hhmm, i dunno, but in the past experiences that i have had with Aust. dell tech support, emailing Toyota with help for my dell pc may just be a option you know!at80eighty - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
JARRED - BE A MAN ; DO IT OR CANCEL IT™IvanAndreevich - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Strangely enough I didn't know about ANY of these.PS Duke Nukem Forever? :)
EddieTurner - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
As far as Duke is concerned, a new teaser trailer was released within the past few weeks. Also, a new interview vid with the devs that show of some actual gameplay footage is out there. The game is hardly off the radar.at80eighty - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
good grief IvanAndreevich, do yourself a favour & look at the videos for Alan Wakedespite it being wrapped up fairly well i was hoping for another edition of Max Payne - but i was pretty ecstatic about Remedy making A.W.
i really hope that title comes out , or atleast is still in the works
JarredWalton - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - link
Read the intro.