Gone Home Goes To Consoles

[Andy Chalk]

Gone Home Goes To Consoles

Console gamers will soon be able to dig into the indie PC darling Gone Home.

The Fullbright Company announced today that Gone Home, which made a big splash among PC gamers when it came out last year, is on its way to consoles. Fullbright Company co-founder Steve Gaynor wrote in a blog post that while it made sense to go with Windows, Linux and Mac for the initial launch, the studio had always hoped to eventually get the game to consoles.

The console edition of Gone Home will be handled by Midnight City, a new indie publishing label operating under the Majesco flag. "The folks at Midnight City know exactly what an indie needs out of a publisher these days - to take on the role of a service provider that gets all the logistics done to the highest level of quality possible and helps get the word out to a new audience about why they should care about this game, without trying to own the IP or get in the way of the existing relationship we have with our players," Gaynor wrote.

The choice of a Majesco label as a publishing partner is an interesting one. "We weren't looking for a traditional publisher - and Midnight City is anything but," Gaynor said. But Majesco is also mired in financial trouble, and a announced [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127338-Majesco-Dodges-Nasdaq-Delisting] last month that it wants to implement a reverse stock split to get its price above the required mark, but that plan has yet to be put into action. More worryingly, the last game publisher to take that gamble was THQ, which was nonetheless unable to stave off a spiral into insolvency and non-existence.

Gaynor said that platform specifics and a launch date for the console version of Gone Home will be revealed "in the coming weeks and months."

Source: The Fullbright Company [http://thefullbrightcompany.com/2014/03/10/gone-home-is-coming-to-consoles/]


Permalink

 

[The_Darkness]

Good, I've been wanting to play thi-

"...launch date...revealed in the coming weeks and months."

Dang.
Okay, PC version it is.

 

[The Lunatic]

Consoles don't really strike me as the type to enjoy a brief 2 hour walking simulator.

 

[shogunblade]

I kind of want to play this game, even though I have heard that it is less of a game, but I really want to experience it. Now, if it is a PS4 exclusive, I'll just make a Steam purchase.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Consoles don't really strike me as the type to enjoy a brief 2 hour walking simulator.

For me, it has far less to do with the fact I'm a devoted console gamer and it's a walking simulator (as I'd really like to play Dear Esther or Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Stanley Parable, etc.) and more to do with the fact it's a pretentious walking simulator that sold itself as some sort of atmospheric pseudo survival horror game only to pull a bait-and-switch on the audience just so they could go, "Lesbians! Now give us praise and awards, otherwise our fans will call you homophobic."

 

[Nurb]

Doesn't everyone know the story by now?

Knowing its "big reveal" sort of removes the whole reason for playing it.

 

[Nimcha]

Consoles don't really strike me as the type to enjoy a brief 2 hour walking simulator.

For me, it has far less to do with the fact I'm a devoted console gamer and it's a walking simulator (as I'd really like to play Dear Esther or Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Stanley Parable, etc.) and more to do with the fact it's a pretentious walking simulator that sold itself as some sort of atmospheric pseudo survival horror game only to pull a bait-and-switch on the audience just so they could go, "Lesbians! Now give us praise and awards, otherwise our fans will call you homophobic."

Where did it present itself as a horror game? I never got that impression.

 

[Clovus]

Consoles don't really strike me as the type to enjoy a brief 2 hour walking simulator.

For me, it has far less to do with the fact I'm a devoted console gamer and it's a walking simulator (as I'd really like to play Dear Esther or Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Stanley Parable, etc.) and more to do with the fact it's a pretentious walking simulator that sold itself as some sort of atmospheric pseudo survival horror game only to pull a bait-and-switch on the audience just so they could go, "Lesbians! Now give us praise and awards, otherwise our fans will call you homophobic."

So, a game is not allowed to use horror tropes to create a specific mood? (Spoilers ahead). Yeah, the game does a lot of stuff to make the player (especially a player going in blind) assume that a monster or something is going to pop around every corner. This provides a sort of tension that is reinforced throughout the game. To call that a "bait-and-switch" is absolutely ridiculous. You're basically saying that misdirection (an extremely common story technique) is not valid - or maybe just not valid for games you didn't like.

Do you really think they went with that particular love story just to get awards and avoid complaints? Have the actual creators of the game ever said anything like that? Have they called anyone homophobic for complaining about their game?

Also, I don't think you understand what "pretentious" means. The best thing about Gone Home was that it presented a very close to normal family dealing with a type of common family issue. There was no great horror here (outside of the Uncle's hinted at actions), no monsters, no big reveal. Just some normal people dealing with their problems. That is the opposite of pretentious. There is nothing in the game that indicates there's some great, deeper meaning that the player is too dumb to understand or something. You could claim that the younger sister is a bit pretentious, but that's her character: a creative teenager.

I guess that's just something that drives people nuts about this game. I really, really enjoyed it, and I think it's an important game. So, when someone goes into the game wanting to know what is so AMAZING, they get mad when they are presented with a simple story about fairly normal people. But that is exactly why the game is important. Games can be about normal people.

 

[Mister Chippy]

Consoles don't really strike me as the type to enjoy a brief 2 hour walking simulator.

For me, it has far less to do with the fact I'm a devoted console gamer and it's a walking simulator (as I'd really like to play Dear Esther or Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Stanley Parable, etc.) and more to do with the fact it's a pretentious walking simulator that sold itself as some sort of atmospheric pseudo survival horror game only to pull a bait-and-switch on the audience just so they could go, "Lesbians! Now give us praise and awards, otherwise our fans will call you homophobic."

Umm, I never saw anyone claim it was a horror game, and I most certainly never saw anyone mention anything close to survival. The game did a very good job generating tension, which in the context of the story was most certainly realistic (who wouldn't feel tense in that situation), but just because you're in a tense situation doesn't mean there's bound to be a monster somewhere. Tension doesn't equate to horror, it's just that very few videogames have every used it for anything else before. Personally I think it's really cool to see a game (ok, walking sim) using tension to tell a different sort of story. The problem here wasn't the story or the game, it was that you had expectations for this game that were completely unfounded and that I don't think most other people shared.

Also, I haven't heard anyone accusing people of homophobia for saying that they didn't like the game, I've only heard the vaguest hints of such accusations when people say that the reason they didn't like the game was because of the subject matter. I haven't heard anyone called a homophobe for saying that they don't like that it was a walking sim or for saying that they thought other games should have won various awards.

 

[AldUK]

I enjoyed Gone Home a lot for what it was. That being an interactive experience akin to watching a movie but less passive. Essentially that is what the game is, less of a game and more of a visual, interactive story. I had no expectations going into the game and as the credits rolled I sat back and dwelled on the past couple of hours and realised I was satisfied with my experience. It's not for everyone, but I really believe that people who appreciate a good story will enjoy this.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

what a missed apportunity for a headline

"Gone Home Goes to Home... Consoles"

you had one job Andy Chalk, one job