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[G-Pink]

Holy shit, this whole thing is fucking nuts.

If that RPS summary is to be believed, then there was a period of time just before Borderlands 2 went gold, where Aliens was supposed to hit beta, and less than 15% of the campaign was finished? Did no one at Sega even look at what was going on?

I just can't wrap my mind around the shitstorm that would have exploded on Gearbox if Sega had pushed the point and not given those additional 9 months. Would Borderlands 2 have even shipped? Even if it did, would DLC even be a plan with an open and shut lawsuit in front of GBX?

Jesus, and they...they didn't even give the game more than 4 months out of those 9?

What the fuck.

 

[Vaati]

After Borderlands I'm surprised people still support Gearbox.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Man Gearbox are looking real bad now. Still don't get why SEGA didn't cancel the game years ago if Gearbox was doing this shit. Surely the producers knew the state of the game.

I dont really care for Borderlands, but everything surrounding release of Duke Nukem Forever was kind of scummy to me, and now there's this. Gearbox even did a shitty job with the wii port of samba de amigo a few years ago.

Sega sure has fallen a long way from their glory days to actually have Aliens as a core franchise. When was the last time the franchise even had a good game? The arcades?

 

[antitrop]

Sega sure has fallen a long way from their glory days to actually have Aliens as a core franchise. When was the last time the franchise even had a good game? The arcades?

Aliens vs. Predator 2 on PC from 2001.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Gearbox really fucked over fans with this one. Seriously, its such bullshit.

If I were Sega I would be pissed.

 

[d0c_zaius]

After Borderlands I'm surprised people still support Gearbox.

seems like BL2 tricked a bunch of people

 

[Warm Machine]

Why was Timegate involved at all? If the contract was between Gearbox and Sega how did Timegate get in there? Especially for the part if the game that should be the focus.

Even if Timegate made the game the blame still drops to Gearbox as the Dev studio producing the game. It was their responsibility to keep tabs on it and direct it.

I loved Section 8 Predjudice. It was probaby one of the best games of 2011 and ridiculously ignored. I have heard that Timegate is a meat grinder of a studio which is very unfortunate.

Someone needs to write a book about the development of this game. Seems really terrible. When working on a licensed game there is the ever present ticking clock of the license expiring. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that if they didn't ship the game when they did they may not have been able to ship it at all.

 

[Adam Blue]

Why was Timegate involved at all? If the contract was between Gearbox and Sega how did Timegate get in there? Especially for the part if the game that should be the focus.

Even if Timegate made the game the blame still drops to Gearbox as the Dev studio producing the game. It was their responsibility to keep tabs on it and direct it.

The only thing I can think of is GBX wanted to focus on other things so they sub-contracted it out (which I'm sure has been mentioned before). We just need official word.

And you're right - even if another studio was handed the game, GBX needed to be on top of that shit. They are totally responsible.

This is Aliens. There's no excuse for a game this long in development by with GBX overseeing should come out this poorly. No excuse at all. Come on. Aliens. Do we not deserve better?

 

[Aselith]

Shit is shady.

 

[Technosteve]

From giantbomb this game was in developement for seven years?

 

[BajiBoxer]

So they bullshit us with a spiel about how much they love aliens and want to do a game worthy of being a sequel, and show a nice looking demo that apparently had nothing to do with the game they were actually making. Meanwhile, they outsource most of the game because they can't be bothered with it.

Seems like fraud to me, maybe not legally, but it all seems pretty unethical.

 

[Pikma]

seems like BL2 tricked a bunch of people

Me included.

 

[Pctx]

I literally called my mom to tell her not to buy this game for my bday next week after I saw the Alien gig walking bullshit AND the split development snafu.

I am the biggest Alien fan on the planet but someone needs to burn for this bullshit.

 

[BajiBoxer]

From giantbomb this game was in developement for seven years?

Was Gearbox supposed to be in charge of development this entire time, or was it more of a Duke Nukem scenario?

 

[Technosteve]

Was Gearbox supposed to be in charge of development this entire time, or was it more of a Duke Nukem scenario?

From Alex's review he says

Aliens: Colonial Marines makes Prometheus look vital by comparison. Gearbox Software, who were ostensibly in charge of the seven-year operation required to bring this thing to fruition, have spent much of that time talking about just how much they loved Aliens.

 

[duckroll]

Was Gearbox supposed to be in charge of development this entire time, or was it more of a Duke Nukem scenario?

Gearbox was attached to this project the entire time. They are the ones who signed the contract with Sega to make the game. Any outsourcing to other developers is done by Gearbox, not Sega.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

Was Gearbox supposed to be in charge of development this entire time, or was it more of a Duke Nukem scenario?

Sega made the mistake of announcing it almost immediately upon its conception. There is no way Sega was paying for this game for a full six years and only last year finally told Gearbox to put out or pay up.

It must have been mostly on the back burner until Borderlands 1 shipped.

 

[NeededSleep]

From giantbomb this game was in developement for seven years?

Not the first time games have been in development that long and ended up like crap or in development nightmares: FF 13, Last Guardian, and Ff Versus, DNF, Diablo 3, shit they even took back ff14 from release to beta 2.0 for example.

This generation has been really weird to watch developers and publishers push and shove. Some great franchise names have been really damaged from it.

 

[Warm Machine]

The only thing I can think of is GBX wanted to focus on other things so they sub-contracted it out (which I'm sure has been mentioned before). We just need official word.

And you're right - even if another studio was handed the game, GBX needed to be on top of that shit. They are totally responsible.

This is Aliens. There's no excuse for a game this long in development by with GBX overseeing should come out this poorly. No excuse at all. Come on. Aliens. Do we not deserve better?

Yeah. Making an Aliens game is as easy as boiling water. All if the visual direction is done. The weapons are done. The look and style of the characters are done. The lore is written. There are 100 great FPS games to pull solid mechanics from, including Rebellion's original AVP game.

There is no excuse I can imagine that put this game into development hell.

I could make a decent corridor shooter in a year with a handful of people based on this seeing as though the core components are already established.

 

[HK-47]

So are you telling me we could've gotten Valkyria Chronicles 3 instead of this alien-atrocity!? Sega cancelled Bayonetta 2 for this as well?

Damn, that makes me cringe inside right now.

I was actually really excited about Aliens CM ever since I saw the cover story on GI. Can't believe this happened like this. So disappointed.

This had nothing to do with us not getting VC 3 or Sega not funding Bayonetta.

 

[Hero]

Holy shit, this is just getting worse and worse as more details are leaked out.

I know we have a bunch of Gearbox employees on the forums, guess they're laying low for now.

Really sucks but if all this is true Sega essentially had their money stolen and it's not cool.

 

[Fox Mulder]

This had nothing to do with us not getting VC 3 or Sega not funding Bayonetta.

Yeah, it sucks good games got dropped, but Sega made the choice to make Aliens a core brand of their company.

Gearbox is a scumbag company, but Sega's incompetence for 6 years helped lead to this shitty game coming out.

 

[Loxley]

Holy shit, this is just getting worse and worse as more details are leaked out.

I know we have a bunch of Gearbox employees on the forums, guess they're laying low for now.

Really sucks but if all this is true Sega essentially had their money stolen and it's not cool.

I mentioned this in the thread about the demo comparisons, but it's worth reiterating that the vast majority of these "leaked" details are from unverified/anonymous sources. Of course given the state in which the game was released, we're all inclined to believe a lot of them, but we don't actually have lot of hard evidence to back up most of the claims that are being made as of yet. At least aside from "this anonymous source who was close to the game's development said this".

The only thing that's abundantly clear, as RPS pointed out, is that clearly no one wants to take credit for making any part of ACM.

 

[Pop On Arrival]

Oh well, Segas fault for being incompetent with their money, but from the picture that's painted for me so far, seems like gearbox are a bunch of sleazy motherfuckers.

dat demo

 

[AJ_Wings]

I bet it must be absolutely wonderful right now to be a Gearbox employee.

 

[Shiggy]

The Obsidian RPG was definitely canceled because of this game.

Joke post? Aliens CM was cancelled around the same time as Aliens RPG. Unlike the latter, Cm was resurrected in mid 2009.

 

[Shaneus]

This was also one of the four games/franchises they wanted to focus on and thus was safe from the restructuring (which canceled Bayonetta 2). Sega got hurt bad out of this.

I've not read the majority of this thread, but is it safe to say that Sega will be out for blood or money after this? You'd have to say they'd be seriously thinking about it.

Everything I've read just make GBX out to be shifty as fuck. I'm getting serious Team Bondi vibes from all these anecdotes.

 

[TaroYamada]

I've not read the majority of this thread, but is it safe to say that Sega will be out for blood or money after this? You'd have to say they'd be seriously thinking about it.

Everything I've read just make GBX out to be shifty as fuck. I'm getting serious Team Bondi vibes from all these anecdotes.

It looks that way to me and it seems the majority of gaf believes similarly, still we do not yet know for sure. If Gearbox was doing anything unethical like most of us suspect them of, I'm pretty certain SEGA would pursue a court case.

 

[@MUWANdo]

Weren't Free Radical doing the same thing? That is, weren't they taking money from Lucasarts for some Star Wars game but spending it on Haze?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

gearbox were probably hoping their interns and timegate would put together a 7/10 game. Just enough to scrape by barely acceptable standards and sell a few million copies with the license and marketing behind it. Instead they ended with alpha software and a colossal shitstorm.

I'd fucking love it if timegate were pulling a dyack on gearbox as well, skimming money from the aliens project to fund their own stuff. That would make the perfect story.

 

[angular graphics]

gearbox were probably hoping their interns and timegate would put together a 7/10 game. Just enough to scrape by barely acceptable standards and sell a few million copies with the license and marketing behind it. Instead they ended with alpha software and a colossal shitstorm.

I'd fucking love it if timegate were pulling a dyack on gearbox as well, skimming money from the aliens project to fund their own stuff. That would make the perfect story.

Ahahahahahahaha LOL!! Perfect story indeed XD

 

[Goon Boon]

Ahahahahahahaha LOL!! Perfect story indeed XD

I'm with you angular and fizzel, the perfect story, haha.

 

[Dram]

Yeah, it sucks good games got dropped, but Sega made the choice to make Aliens a core brand of their company.

Why would Sega do that? Wouldn't it make better business sense to make IP's they own their core brands?

 

[milkybar1983]

if you want something doing properly do it yourself

 

[SkullplateMurray]

Why would Sega do that? Wouldn't it make better business sense to make IP's they own their core brands?

Because the kids want Aliens, apparently, not Skies of Arcadia.

 

[dab0ne]

seems like BL2 tricked a bunch of people

I'm easily tricked by fun games with replay value.

 

[SuicidalSteve]

Wii U version is cancelled?

 

[bomma_man]

Scummy as fuck by Gearbox, of course, but seriously negligent by SEGA if they didn't know.

Will be following the inevitable legal proceedings keenly, surely there must be something in the contact pertaining to subcontracting?

 

[@MUWANdo]

Wii U version is cancelled?

"Indefinitely postponed".

 

[Hot Coldman]

I wonder if Furious Four is being similarly outsourced.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

I wonder if Furious Four is being similarly outsourced.

That has already been stated as yes.
hence they took BiA off the title due "gearbox been unhappy with the direction"

Is Gearbox just a management studio now? 8 people with macs talking on facetime to "there developers"

 

[Princess Carl]

I'm easily tricked by fun games with replay value.

The DLC sucks pretty bad. Outsourcing DLC after promising a quality product through a season pass only to not develop it yourself is pretty shady.

 

[CTE]

The DLC sucks pretty bad. Outsourcing DLC after promising a quality product through a season pass only to not develop it yourself is pretty shady.

DLC is fine. Hammerlock is a bit lacking overall, but the value is good for what you get considering all three so far. Moxxi's Underdome was lacking in the first game, too. Not that it's an excuse for this situation. I'm saying the DLC is along the same lines as the first game so far and those were great DLC's looking back.

 

[Hindle]

I don't understand how they could have messed this up. Gearbox are a talented team, yet they make a game like this.

 

[AOC83]

I don't understand how they could have messed this up. Gearbox are a talented team, yet they make a game like this.

Are they?

 

[v1oz]

This sounds a lot like what Silicon Knights was doing, taking projects that no one gave a shit about and syphoning the money to their baby project. Silicon Knights did that awful Xmen game that was delayed a bunch to help fund early development of Eternal Darkness 2, GBX did it with ACM to fund BL2.

This. Sega should sue the hell out of them.

But I wonder how Sega's QA team didn't avert this disaster from happening in ample time.

 

[firehawk12]

You know, I'm suddenly reminded of what Silicon Knights did with X-Men Legends... the difference being that Gearbox at least had Borderlands to keep the company going.

 

[Sentenza]

Gearbox: "Hahaha, it's not not like we actually worked to that stinker"
SEGA: " Uh, yes. Yes, you totally did"
Gearbox: "But we just, you know... did tiny bits here and there"
SEGA: "Uh, no. NO, YOU DIDN'T"

I don't even care about who's right, I just find this hilarious.

 

[Bedlam]

What I wonder is will Pitchford ever again be the visible, smiling spokesman in front of cameras and in trailers now that this PR disaster completely destroyed the reputation of him and his company? He can't, can he?

 

[Queen of Hunting]

What I wonder is will Pitchford ever again be the visible, smiling spokesman in front of cameras and in trailers now that this PR disaster completely destroyed the reputation of him and his company? He can't, can he?

ofcourse, once borderlands 3 is announced everyone will be praising the fuck out of them and come running bk to buy games, and shit will carry on as normal.