Delays in Store for Alpha Protocol?

[Logan Westbrook]

Delays in Store for Alpha Protocol?

Online retailers have cast doubt over whether or not Obisidian's Alpha Protocol will meet its imminent release date.

When not dilligently working on sequels to Bioware games, Obsidian has been toiling away on Alpha Protocol, an espionage themed RPG, scheduled to be released on October 6th.

But online listings from GameStop and Amazon.ca both list that the game will be release in June next year.

Alpha Protocol's publisher Sega has yet to make any kind of statement regarding the game, so it is unclear whether or not the game has actually been delayed. It's worth mentioning however, that the game has been delayed once already and that a recently leaked internal Sega document had some very scathing things to say abut the game.

With just over a week remaining until the game's release, any announcment is going to be incredibly last minute, so we'll keep our eyes open and let you know if anything appears.

Source: 1up [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3176247]

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[Monkeytacoz]

WHAT?? no no no no!! there better not be any delay whatsoever

 

[bjj hero]

This game really appeals to me. We need more modern setting RPGs. If delays mean we get a better game I have no problems waiting.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

I pre ordered it last week. THERE HAD BETTER BE NO DELAY.

 

[Monkeytacoz]

if it does get delayed, i will at least have Borderlands to play that month

 

[ghalkhsdkssakgh]

I don't know why, but I originally misread that as 'Daleks in Store for Alpha Protocol?' Damn. Now I want that to happen so much.

 

[WrongSprite]

Wait, that's just under a year of delay....

Very unlikely, probably a typo.

 

[FloodOne]

Considering the last footage I saw of the game, a delay will only be a positive. The game looked absolutely terrible, which saddens me. There is a ton of potential in this concept, and I don't want to see a half assed effort hit the shelves.

 

[Swaki]

geez, i had absolutely no interest in this game what so ever and now that it may be delayed i want to play it next week.

and kinda on topic, damn the box art is ugly, its so ugly every time i look at it in the steam shop i cant get myself to buy it.

 

[Jandau]

Excellent! This is in fact great news! Why? Because Obsidian is known for buggy and unfinished releases. If they have learned enough from their past mistakes to know when to delay a game in order to make it presentable, I applaud them. I'd preffer a shiny and polished Alpha Protocol a few weeks late, rather than a half-baked version earlier.

 

[Echolocating]

If Obsidian is going to be around much longer, they'd better take their time and do this one right.

KotOR II showed promise, but failed when they didn't finish the story. There was apparently bits and pieces of unused cinematics and such that point to the game being rushed out the door... basically, unfinished.

Next, we had NWN2 which had tons of room for improvement, but managed to take a step back in almost every aspect. From bad AI pathing, camera and interface design to needlessly high system requirements for arguably bland modeling, it's as if there was no one managing the project from start to finish. The game was rushed out the door with a lot of bugs, much to Atari's delight because they needed some cash quick due to their own financial woes.

So now Obsidian is working on Alpha Protocol and... surprise, it needs more time. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but it's a sign that Obsidian, perhaps, just doesn't have the right stuff. Could Atari be blamed for the problems of the previous two games? It's clear that was a mutual thing and I think Sega realizes that now. Like I said, Obsidian needs to finish this game properly or they'll be in serious trouble.

 

[Insomniactk]

It's probably just delayed for the PC because of performance issues

 

[Woodsey]

Delayed by just under a year a week before launch?! What the f*ck!

Seems pretty unlikely to me for such a long delay at such short notice, unless they're trying to avoid Mod. Warfare 2 as well.

Besides, I thought it was coming at the end of October, not the start?

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Now I'm pissed off. Everyone is going to buy the price-hiked Modern Warfare 2 because every other game decided to delay to 2010 to avoid it, and because of that Acti"Bobby Kotick eats babies"vision will decide all games should be that expensive.

 

[brewbeard]

If they need the time, they should take it. Hopefully by doing so they can avoid another KotORII fiasco where they've made a really enjoyable game that peters out three fourths of the way through.

 

[The Austin]

NO! NO DAMN IT NO! NO!

FIRT BIOSHOCK NOW ALPHA PROTOCOL! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[More Fun To Compute]

This game is still coming out? First semi official news I have heard about it for a while.

 

[Therumancer]

I have mixed opinions.

The three games I invested my limited funds in for the rest of the year (unless something comes up to give me more money) are "Dragon Age: Origins" (for me the messiah of 2009), "Brutal Legend", and "Alpha Protocol". All fairly differant types of games. Risen, Borderlands, and others being put on the backburner for those.

Having not only pre-ordered, but paid off Alpha Protocol, I am going to be seriously POed if it doesn't see a release at the beginning of October.

Normally I wouldn't care (I mean I can always cancel and get a differant game), BUT this game was already put under a major release. Generally speaking going from a week or so from release, to "we need another year" is simply catastrophic, I mean that implies that they need to re-work the whole bloody thing, and if that's the case how the heck did they get a "hard" release date?

At any rate, I have mixed opinions on the news for other reasons as well.

See, according to some RUMORS I've picked up over the years, Atari is one of those spineless companies that is afraid of the censorship movement. Allegedly "Neverwinter Nights 2" suffered in quality for similar reasons to what happened with "Temple Of Elemental Evil". It included adult material, and at the last moment Atari went "noes, we can't have this" and forced the game back to an earlier build. Similar things were implied about KoTR 2 (like lesbian romance options, and an S&M relationship with a certain blind sith) but in that case I didn't hear quite as much about them. This kind of thing being the reason for a lot of the problems and bugs.

Now Obsidian is working for Sega, but the big question is whether or not Sega is acting the same way. I have not heard any rumors about that per se, but I *DO* notice that one of the big discussions about the game is how "hawt" it's going to be (or not) with people joking about the revealed achievements for both romancing all the possible women in the game (James Bond Complex) or romancing none of them.

I can't help but wonder if the game is actually getting clotheslined by Sega at the finishing line since they want to be good little fascists and make the lives of the thought police just that little bit easier.

In such a case it wouldn't be Obsidian's fault, but there was speculation about how NWN 2 had the brothel from the first game turned into a dance hall, along with how (in regards to Troika) Atari had the entire brothel from Temple Of Elemental Evil written out, despite code for it (and some connected quests) remaining in he game. Troika having left behind one rather famous bit involving a gay pirate dentist though in alleged retaliation for being forced to use an earlier (buggy) build.

Still I am kind of hoping that the game is done, Sega is trying to force an earlier build/more development, and will decide not to do this and the game will be released on time (and will rock). Wishful thinking for me on a lot of levels...

 

[Adam]

Im almost glad for the delay. It means they wil lspend a little more time on the game, polishing the gameplay, adding new features or replacing old ones and a good old bug blitz...I hope anyway.