Aliens: Colonial Marines is Still in the Fight

[Andy Chalk]

Aliens: Colonial Marines is Still in the Fight

All eyes may be on Aliens: Colonial Marines [http://www.amazon.com/Duke-Nukem-Forever-Pc/dp/B002I0JAJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286915084&sr=8-1].

It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I'd forgotten all about Aliens: Colonial Marines, the squad-based FPS Sega unveiled almost Aliens website [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/81649-Sega-Reveals-Aliens-Colonial-Marines-Details] is dated from March 2008 and a search for Colonial Marines on the main site turns up a big fat zero. But the project isn't dead, according to Pitchford, Sega just seriously jumped the gun with the announcement.

"We're very, very committed to Aliens: Colonial Marines and we're very excited about that project," Pitchford told NowGamer [http://www.nowgamer.com/news/4393/aliens-colonial-marines-announced-too-soon] at a Duke Nukem event in the U.K. "I know it's been 'radio silent' for long and we know that must be frustrating for some people, but the game was announced too soon."

"There was so much excitement and I know a lot has changed at Sega [http://www.sega.com], but they were very excited, they did the deal with Fox and before the ink was even dry they issued a press release announcing it," he continued. "At the time we hadn't written a single line of code yet. It takes time to build games, but it's going great and I'm very excited about it. It won't be long before we break radio silence and we're able to show it."

Pitchford said that more than 200 people are employed at Gearbox [http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/], while "at any given moment" another 100 to 200 people outside the studio are also working with it. "Duke Nukem Forever is consuming about 70 staff, so there's still a huge amount of push power behind our other projects," he added. He did not, however, offer any kind of update to Sega's original, long-overdue launch target of late 2008.


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[Sarah Kerrigan]

The last time I saw this game was I believe 2 years ago in Gamepro. A year later, that had updated screens, then a week later, they said that Gearbox could not decline or agree to rumors that they canceled it.

I bought AvP the Game and felt as if I was not satisfied...I'm waiting for this and I'm glad they post something on it finally.

Great to hear there still committed.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I want Colonial marines to come out already... and Duke Nukem.

Glad to see it's not dead, they could have reassured us for quite a while now though -.-

 

[silver wolf009]

Good. I want four player alien co-op. (If I remember right thats a feature)
Though I really can see why Duke Nukem would be higher on their priorities, dont let this one pass from memory Gearbox.

 

[Therumancer]

I can't say that the idea of the game ever excited me. To be honest when "Aliens" first game out many years ago the whole idea was cool, and it became highly inspirational. However in the years since many people have done the same basic set up (armed marines alone in a spooky area, infested with monsters) a lot better in books, movies, and even TV shows. To some extent when you look back at the original that inspired all of this (especially if you had never seen it before) it seems trite and predictable largely because it was the prototype and it has actually been improved on.

When it comes to first person shooter games, they have been "cooridor crawls" almost from the very beginning, and "Aliens" has been inspiring them from the very beginning. Indeed some of the very first mods for FPS shooter games like "Doom" were to turn the enviroment into Aliens with the iconic monsters and so on. This is to say nothing of things like Halo's "flood", and even top down games like "Alien Shooter", "Alien Breed", and others.

While an inspirational classic, I really don't see what the original source material can do with a FPS game that hasn't already been done. Indeed at this point I sort of suspect the original source material would hold it back.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Yes! this made my day. after being so let down by everything Aliens in the last 10 odd years. Finally something good might come out.

 

[MercenaryCanary]

*Ahem*
FUCK YEAH, ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES!

I've been waiting so long. It's nice to know it's still going to be released.

 

[Kenko]

Fuuuuck yeeeaaaah! This'll kick ass.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I can't help but hear Hudson's epic quote echoing in the back of my head; "It's game over, man! It's game over!"

 

[RoyalWelsh]

I am excited for this. I hope to god it's actually good though.

 

[Dok Zombie]

Wasn't this originally announced for the PS2 then scrapped?

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

I hope this turns out good, I really had high hopes for it before!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Why? It looked incredibly generic and mediocre.

 

[r_Chance]

Why? It looked incredibly generic and mediocre.

Two years ago. Kind of hard to say what it'll look like when it's next spotted...

 

[Gunner 51]

Excellent, though don't beat yourself up over forgetting the game. I forgot about it too after the latest AvP game.

If they can make the gameplay slow and claustrophobic when going up against one or two aliens and fast, brutal and crazy when facing a slew of Aliens - the devs could very well have a classic on their hands.

 

[Felgy76]

As long as I get to wield the M56 I'm buying this game.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

Alien Fanboy here. CANNOT WAIT.

 

[Javex]

What I really like about this press release is that it's not the usual.

Usually a publisher or studio will say "No, this game is not cancelled, it'll be done when it's done!"

But here he says the exact reason for the delay, gives some insight as to how the studio operates, and it seems like an honest, reasonable explanation for the delay.

That being said, I can't wait to blast me some xenomorphs!

 

[JediMB]

Last I heard about this was when Sega said that it might not be released if the new AvP did not do well enough.

Like they were trying to blackmail us into buying the unexciting AvP so that we could get Colonial Marines.