Homeworld Goes Hi-Res in New Remastered Screens

[StewShearerOld]

Homeworld Goes Hi-Res in New Remastered Screens


Gearbox showed off new Homeworld: Remastered screens at PAX Australia this past weekend.

If you're anything like me, then your most highly anticipated game for 2015 is <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126166-Gearbox-Announces-HD-Remakes-of-Homeworld-1-And-2>Homeworld Remastered. The original is probably my favorite real-time strategy game and I've been chomping at the bit to get a closer look at the improvements and polish Gearbox is applying to make <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126319-Gearbox-CCO-Homeworld-Meant-Something-to-Me>Homeworld and Homeworld 2 look new and shiny for modern audiences.

The studio, represented by CEO Randy Pitchford, provided gamers like myself that chance this past weekend at PAX Australia panel where it unveiled screenshots from the upgraded version of Homeworld. The screens showcase smoother textures and modified ship models that, taken altogether, look a lot nicer than the aging visuals of the original release. Pitchford also highlighted alterations made to the game's cutscenes aimed at maintaining much of the game's original look while also reducing the stretched appearance that occurs when the aging game is played on the larger, high definition screens that are generally now standard.

Sadly, this reveal didn't include an exact release date. That said, Pitchford and company reaffirmed their intention to bring <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/132704-Homeworld-Remastered-Site-Launches-Fan-Input-Still-Wanted>Remastered to market by February 2015. Speaking as a fan, I'll confess to wanting it sooner. That said, if the improvements shown here are any indication, it looks like Gearbox is doing a good job and I'm willing to wait if the end product does the series justice. Take a look for yourself and let us know your thoughts.

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Source: VG247


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[Weaver]

I'll admit I was pretty skeptical with Gearbox owning the IP, but it looks like they're on the right track with this so far. Granted it's "just" an HD re-release, but I'm hopeful.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I'll admit I was pretty skeptical with Gearbox owning the IP, but it looks like they're on the right track with this so far. Granted it's "just" an HD re-release, but I'm hopeful.

In fairness to Gearbox, they've done fairly well by their own IP, it's only been fustercluck situations like Duke Nukem Forever and whatever the hell was going on with Aliens: Colonial Marines that have left stains on their record.

Colonial Marines was completely terrible though, I'd love to know in detail exactly how that situation came to be.

 

[Vigormortis]

I still can't shake this feeling that Gearbox is going to fuck this up. I can picture Pitchford sitting in a board meeting, smirk on his face, as he says, "Okay. We've got them suckered in and the pre-order sales are flowing. Now let's divert 90% of the money to Borderlands: Further Adventures of DLC Packs."

I could be wrong, and will be positively, and apologetically, ecstatic if I am, but like I said....I just can't shake the feeling it'll all go south before release.

I'm just glad they gave Blackbird Entertainment the rights to use the brand name. I can't wait for Homeworld: Shipbreakers.

 

[Toilet]

Homeworld Remastered?

The games already have HD mods and they still look great today. I have a feeling they will just add a groggy ass filter, motion blur and up the lens flare and call it a day.

 

[RicoADF]

In fairness to Gearbox, they've done fairly well by their own IP, it's only been fustercluck situations like Duke Nukem Forever and whatever the hell was going on with Aliens: Colonial Marines that have left stains on their record.

Colonial Marines was completely terrible though, I'd love to know in detail exactly how that situation came to be.

If reports are correct Gearbox put the funds that Sega paid them to make A:CM into Boarderlands 2 and then paid a 3rd party to make A:CM, this resulted in a poor job as the 3rd party as I suspect they weren't paid as much as Gearbox had been. They basically stole from Sega and arguably commited fraud. Not exactly a company I feel comfortable giving a preorder to even though Homeworld is my favorite space RTS.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Homeworld Remastered?

The games already have HD mods and they still look great today. I have a feeling they will just add a groggy ass filter, motion blur and up the lens flare and call it a day.

but how good do they look compared to what gear box has done?

In fairness to Gearbox, they've done fairly well by their own IP, it's only been fustercluck situations like Duke Nukem Forever and whatever the hell was going on with Aliens: Colonial Marines that have left stains on their record.

Colonial Marines was completely terrible though, I'd love to know in detail exactly how that situation came to be.

If reports are correct Gearbox put the funds that Sega paid them to make A:CM into Boarderlands 2 and then paid a 3rd party to make A:CM, this resulted in a poor job as the 3rd party as I suspect they weren't paid as much as Gearbox had been. They basically stole from Sega and arguably commited fraud. Not exactly a company I feel comfortable giving a preorder to even though Homeworld is my favorite space RTS.

Oh god I know but.... dat ship model! it do things to me

 

[fix-the-spade]

If reports are correct Gearbox put the funds that Sega paid them to make A:CM into Boarderlands 2 and then paid a 3rd party to make A:CM, this resulted in a poor job as the 3rd party as I suspect they weren't paid as much as Gearbox had been. They basically stole from Sega and arguably commited fraud. Not exactly a company I feel comfortable giving a preorder to even though Homeworld is my favorite space RTS.

If that were true Sega would have litigated Gearbox into the ground, I bet the reality is more complicated than that, development started in 2006, so a long time before Borderlands 2 was in development.

 

[RicoADF]

If that were true Sega would have litigated Gearbox into the ground, I bet the reality is more complicated than that, development started in 2006, so a long time before Borderlands 2 was in development.

Well Gearbox did deliver a 'finished' game so Sega wouldn't have a clear cut case. Also they are in court over the incident which is how this came out so it's possible Gearbox will find itself with a bill once all is said and done.

Oh god I know but.... dat ship model! it do things to me

*ahem* yes I know what you mean.... *moves about uncomfortably*

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Woohoo!! To be honest though, I really hope they also release a "Homeworld: Cataclysm" remastered. As much as I loved Homeworld, I thought Cataclysm was a better game overall.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

Woohoo!! To be honest though, I really hope they also release a "Homeworld: Cataclysm" remastered. As much as I loved Homeworld, I thought Cataclysm was a better game overall.

Agreed, Cataclysm took Homeworld and just improved every aspect of it, although I'd say I still prefer some of Homeworld's stand-out levels and I think its story is better overall. It's close though. Shame they're ignoring cataclysm really.

 

[Rawbeard]

I am still not convinced Gearbox is capable of getting anything but Borderlands right and the remastered cutscene's change in artstyle is worrysome to me.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Looks good, I too would like to see Cataclysm remastered. Multibeam frigates ahoy

More than that though, gief Homeworld 3. Well, at least if they can manage not to screw it up.

 

[StewShearerOld]

Woohoo!! To be honest though, I really hope they also release a "Homeworld: Cataclysm" remastered. As much as I loved Homeworld, I thought Cataclysm was a better game overall.

I really loved the whole "small mining clan versus the evil alien force" story of Cataclysm, but there some elements of it that kept me from fully loving it.

Namely, I hated how it gimped fighters. In the original Homeworld, mass drivers and other smaller weapons weren't perfectly accurate. As a result you could send in a squadron of strike craft against a larger more powerful ship and have them conceivably win. In Cataclysm, they changed it so that most small arms fire had homing qualities. In other words, if you sent fighters in on an attack mission you were guaranteed to lose a good portion (if not all of them).

Certainly not a game ruiner, but I loved using fighters.

 

[Hiramas]

Well, you got my hopes up there. The new screenshots are fine, but I hoped for something moving maybe?
Homeworld 2 has still an amazing modding community and I really hope Gearbox will acknowledge them.
The new version HAS to be moddable.

Also, I have to actively PREVENT myself from preordering this awesome model of the collectors edition.
At this point I would have to import it from the UK and that would be bloody expensive. No news of it in Germany, yet.
You know, this is maybe one of the few cases this is done right.
A collectors edition of a game a lot of people really love, not of something nobody knows will be. And not even a bad remake could make your fond memories of the originals go away!
And no "iconic" baseball cap!

 

[Fdzzaigl]

I really loved the whole "small mining clan versus the evil alien force" story of Cataclysm, but there some elements of it that kept me from fully loving it.

Namely, I hated how it gimped fighters. In the original Homeworld, mass drivers and other smaller weapons weren't perfectly accurate. As a result you could send in a squadron of strike craft against a larger more powerful ship and have them conceivably win. In Cataclysm, they changed it so that most small arms fire had homing qualities. In other words, if you sent fighters in on an attack mission you were guaranteed to lose a good portion (if not all of them).

Certainly not a game ruiner, but I loved using fighters.

I sort of disagree with this assessment tbh. It's true that Cataclysm nerfed fighters, but I distinctly remember using tons of Acolyte class fighters linked together to form corvettes with great success.

Some fighters in the original Homeworld were too powerful imo. Like heavy corvettes being sort of the end-all solution to many things if you got a ton of them.

 

[WarpZone]

If you're anything like me, then your most highly anticipated game for 2015 is <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126166-Gearbox-Announces-HD-Remakes-of-Homeworld-1-And-2>Homeworld Remastered.

So is this an authentic Homeworld experience, or are they gonna nerf the Salvage Corvettes and skip the rebuilding phase like Homeworld 2 did?

 

[StewShearerOld]

I really loved the whole "small mining clan versus the evil alien force" story of Cataclysm, but there some elements of it that kept me from fully loving it.

Namely, I hated how it gimped fighters. In the original Homeworld, mass drivers and other smaller weapons weren't perfectly accurate. As a result you could send in a squadron of strike craft against a larger more powerful ship and have them conceivably win. In Cataclysm, they changed it so that most small arms fire had homing qualities. In other words, if you sent fighters in on an attack mission you were guaranteed to lose a good portion (if not all of them).

Certainly not a game ruiner, but I loved using fighters.

I sort of disagree with this assessment tbh. It's true that Cataclysm nerfed fighters, but I distinctly remember using tons of Acolyte class fighters linked together to form corvettes with great success.

Some fighters in the original Homeworld were too powerful imo. Like heavy corvettes being sort of the end-all solution to many things if you got a ton of them.

I'd say you could use them with limited success. Linking them into corvettes allowed you to EMP cap ships. You could then have them separate back into single fighters and launch their missiles which could eat a sizable chunk of even a larger ships health. That said, when you were still better off in most cases just committing the unit points it cost to build those fighters into a larger more powerful vessel.

It's probably just a matter of taste on my end. I liked how powerful the fighters were in the original HW. It allowed for some interesting strategies outside of just "build the biggest ship and murder" everything. And none of this should suggest that I disliked Cataclysm. It was actually my first HW game and I was really disappointed that the Remastered edition won't include it. Stupid IP issues.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Yeah, I agree.

Though I like building big ships, I think the good balance is by giving swarms of fighters a good chance against them, or even being equivalent in some ways.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I really loved the whole "small mining clan versus the evil alien force" story of Cataclysm, but there some elements of it that kept me from fully loving it.

Namely, I hated how it gimped fighters. In the original Homeworld, mass drivers and other smaller weapons weren't perfectly accurate. As a result you could send in a squadron of strike craft against a larger more powerful ship and have them conceivably win. In Cataclysm, they changed it so that most small arms fire had homing qualities. In other words, if you sent fighters in on an attack mission you were guaranteed to lose a good portion (if not all of them).

Certainly not a game ruiner, but I loved using fighters.

I sort of disagree with this assessment tbh. It's true that Cataclysm nerfed fighters, but I distinctly remember using tons of Acolyte class fighters linked together to form corvettes with great success.

Some fighters in the original Homeworld were too powerful imo. Like heavy corvettes being sort of the end-all solution to many things if you got a ton of them.

I'd say you could use them with limited success. Linking them into corvettes allowed you to EMP cap ships. You could then have them separate back into single fighters and launch their missiles which could eat a sizable chunk of even a larger ships health. That said, when you were still better off in most cases just committing the unit points it cost to build those fighters into a larger more powerful vessel.

It's probably just a matter of taste on my end. I liked how powerful the fighters were in the original HW. It allowed for some interesting strategies outside of just "build the biggest ship and murder" everything. And none of this should suggest that I disliked Cataclysm. It was actually my first HW game and I was really disappointed that the Remastered edition won't include it. Stupid IP issues.

Cataclysm won for me on a few things:
-Although I thought HW had the better story, I thought the missions were more well designed in Cataclysm. There was usually a greater sense of urgency to them, and a sense of "if we die here, the entire universe is screwed".

-The Beast was (were?) AWESOME. Seriously, I remember playing as them in a multiplayer game one time, and my roommate overheard their creepy as hell voice-overs: "parts are now oursssss", "parts are hurting us!", etc. He asked me to put headphones on because it was creeping him out too much. The Beast made the Zerg seem like teddy-bears.

-I actually thought Fighters were better in Cataclysm, mostly because they removed the (in my opinion) ridiculously overpowered missile frigates, which tore through fighters like a shotgun through tissue.