South Park RPG coming late 2012 from Fallout: New Vegas developer

South Park is no stranger to video games. However, today's newly announced South Park: The Game is easily the most ambitious title the franchise has ever attempted.

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Update: THQ has confirmed that a PC version is also in the works.

South Park is no stranger to video games. However, today's newly announced South Park: The Game is easily the most ambitious title the franchise has ever attempted. No, this isn't an HD remake of the N64 first-person shooter. And no, this isn't another tower defense game. South Park: The Game is a "full-scale RPG" for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, developers of Dungeon Siege III, Fallout: New Vegas, and Alpha Protocol.

Game Informer's upcoming January issue promises a first look at the THQ-published game. According to the cover reveal, series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are writing the script, performing the dialogue, and overseeing the development of the game.

You'll control "the new kid" to South Park, and you'll have to make friends and defend the town from "a wide range of threats." Hopefully, the game will take a page from Mass Effect 2, and will have you recruiting characters from around town for an epic, galaxy-threatening suicide mission.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 1, 2011 9:30 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, South Park RPG coming to PS3, Xbox 360 from Fallout: New Vegas developer.

    South Park is no stranger to video games. However, today's newly announced South Park: The Game is easily the most ambitious title the franchise has ever attempted.

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      December 1, 2011 9:34 AM

      how does obsidian keep getting projects?

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        December 1, 2011 9:40 AM

        Because they fucking ROCK, that's why.

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          December 1, 2011 9:41 AM

          they rock so hard that they collapsed their QA department and never rebuilt it

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          December 1, 2011 9:45 AM

          They really don't

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            December 1, 2011 9:47 AM

            They make really great worlds, and games, they just have problems with polish(bugs and such). Ambitious games is kind of what they do, sometimes maybe too ambitious given certain time constraints?

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              December 1, 2011 9:48 AM

              I bet Kenny won't even be killable whether from bugs or ratings.

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              December 1, 2011 9:53 AM

              They take existing worlds and take a big dump on them

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                December 1, 2011 10:02 AM

                This is wrong

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                December 1, 2011 10:12 AM

                By taking a dump you mean making them better? KOTOR 2's story was more interesting, NWN II expansions had great stories and New Vegas was a lot of fun. The story was less dry than FO3.

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                  December 1, 2011 10:22 AM

                  Yeah, they'd be one of my favorite studios if they could polish up before release... or after release...

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                    December 1, 2011 10:41 AM

                    Yeah, that's my hate for KotOR II. When I finished the game, half of the stuff didn't make sense, and was glitchy as hell.

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                December 1, 2011 12:25 PM

                This is so wrong it hurts, if for no other reason than Fallout: New Vegas, which was much more true to Fallout than Fallout 3 ever was.

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                  December 1, 2011 2:09 PM

                  Other than a horrific array of crash-to-desktop issues, New Vegas is the only remarkable thing they've done since they were Black Isle. A stack of average NWN expansions, bland KOTOR2 and gutting Dungeon Siege make me wonder what people see in them.

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                    December 1, 2011 3:09 PM

                    You're nuts if you thought KotOR 2 was bland. Buggy? Yes.

                    Bland, hell no. The story was way better than KotOR 1. I don't know how you could objectively state things differently.

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              December 1, 2011 1:30 PM

              To put this in perspective, Dungeon Siege III is the only game they've ever made that wasn't riddled with nearly game breaking bugs, and I suspect that has a lot to do with being a Square Enix game.

              Alpha Protocol had such amazing potential that despite some of the shittiest controls in any game I've ever played, generally broken AI, and a fairly boring plot, it was still a great game. It could have been so much better though. :(

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        December 1, 2011 9:51 AM

        Obsidian is one of the most innovative, ambitious developers out there.

        It'll be a fucking sorry-assed shame if they stop getting projects and we all have to continue getting Call of Duty 928 shoved down our collective throats.

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          December 1, 2011 10:15 AM

          yeah because those are the only options. shittily developed games from obsidian or Call of Duty.

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          December 1, 2011 10:38 AM

          Wow I never imagined they had cheerleaders like this...

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            December 1, 2011 1:41 PM

            I'm not a cheerleader, but I get annoyed by the hypocrisy of the community in their lamentations of a perceived lack of innovation when they trash one of the only devs who has consistently demonstrated that they're willing to push the envelope in one or more directions.

            I'd be the first to acknowledge that their games are often buggy and unpolished, but to state that they're not a worthy developer! That's ridiculous and unfairly hyperbolic.

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              December 1, 2011 2:27 PM

              I don't understand what envelope they've pushed though. All they've done are sequels to existing properties and expansion packs. The one game they *did* change from the original was completely dumbed down to being unrecognizable from anything else in the franchise.

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                December 1, 2011 3:05 PM

                I play a lot of RPGs, so maybe my opinion is skewed.

                One of the biggest things that Obsidian does super well and with a ton of innovation is story.

                In Alpha Protocol, for example, do you realize how many branching outcomes there are in that game? Even minor things that you do can have a profound impact on the game. It's insane and just incredibly well done from a storytelling point of view.

                The games that they have done that are "sequels" have had way better stories than their predecessors and have been critically lauded as having been able to confer storyline in a much more organic fashion (read any reviews of Fallout: New Vegas or KotOR II). They've got some top-notch writers and they know how to design their games around the storylines too.

                Another example of innovation is Dungeon Siege III. In DS III, the combat system is drastically different from all action RPGs out there right now; it's clever and requires way more skill and thought than conventional action RPGs. They based your magical abilities on using your primary attacks (and these aren't vanilla either, there is variety in different types of ranged weapons or styles), so you build up what essentially amounts to a mana gauge. There's also a special ability pip that builds up on attack or receiving damage, and they can be used to augment you or heal you. So essentially, it's a great risk-reward system where you have to decide when to build up your resources, and when to spend your resources (mana/special ability pips) while simultaneously ensuring that you're still in combat. Compared to conventional action-RPGs where it's just about guzzling potions. That's pretty much the extent of the risk-reward management.

                Granted, it's also too short of a game, actually. They also removed the whole town-inventory layer where you have to drop your junk off to sell loot. I actually enjoyed that part (which it still has, but it's a loot list with no weight limitations like in Mass Effect). However, you can't deny that Dungeon Siege III is more cleverly designed than, say, Torchlight (which is still an awesome game), Titan Quest, and Sacred 2.

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              December 1, 2011 2:31 PM

              they have made a career on making expansion packs, and follow ups to successful franchises that arguably are inferior in almost every case to the original games. the one original game that i can think of ended up being a clusterfuck.

              they are the modern day Raven. they make mediocre games, none of which are particularly bad, but are never really great. the one exception is NV and that game is lauded because its more in the spirit of the original games. say what you like about Obsidian, but pushing envelopes and innovation is not their strong suite IMO. they also have a notoriously bad reputation for pretty much broken games on release.

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                December 1, 2011 3:08 PM

                How weren't their games innovative?

                Not only are they innovative, they also have the ability to refine systems to a high degree.

                Although KotOR started a rudimentary form of influence, now all Bioware games that have party influence take ideas from Obsidian games.

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        December 1, 2011 10:26 AM

        [deleted]

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          December 1, 2011 11:10 AM

          it was a rehash of a bethesda game. the only thing it really added were factions and even more bugs than FO3.

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            December 1, 2011 11:10 AM

            not saying it wasn't good but the reason why it was good was all laid out by FO3

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              December 1, 2011 12:26 PM

              From a formula already borrowed from the Elder Scrolls series, and a world stolen from another developer.

              Yeah, Bethesda sure are geniuses. That's not to knock them, because god knows I loved Fallout 3, Morrowind, even Oblivion, and am currently spending way too much time with Skyrim. But Bethesda aren't some godly studio, they just know how to make -one game- really well.

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              December 1, 2011 1:26 PM

              You're ridiculous. You do realize that a lot of the original Fallout devs work at Obsidian now, right?

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                December 1, 2011 2:44 PM

                did they also make fallout 3 or did they just piggyback on the mass success of FO3 (which is a total reboot of the series gameplay wise is it not?) and put out FO3.5?

                i'm not saying either game is bad, i enjoyed both a lot between crashes. it's just that obsidian is known for putting out stuff that is full of bugs (moreso than even bethesda), often to the point of wondering if they had time to finish the game.

                i would like to check out the south park RPG and it disappoints me a bit that it's going to be made by a developer that lacks enough sense to thoroughly test games before release.

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                  December 1, 2011 3:13 PM

                  The gameplay of Fallout 3 is really not that great. Do people regard its gunplay as great? No.

                  Do people think of Fallout 3 as having high quality RPG elements? Not really. The dialogue is sparse to non-existent.

                  What about Fallout 3 makes it compelling? For me, it's the setting, the world they've created, and the ability to travel about in that world.

                  You know who first created that world and all the accoutrements that make that world so interesting? A lot of those guys are in Obsidian right now. That's why I brought up that point.

                  Plus I agree that their games are buggy (although I have personally been able to play every one of their games with only minor issues on day 1), but I am only imploring you guys to put more thought into your criticisms rather than completely writing Obsidian off, which is what many seem to have done.

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              December 1, 2011 7:34 PM

              Did you just spin improving on a AAA game by a top developer as a negative?

              They're a hired gun who did a fucking excellent job at what they were supposed to do: develop a fun game. (insert caveat for often being bad about bugs)

              It makes no sense to take a dev who seems to mostly be a contract developer and criticize them for not building their own IP from the ground up. They don't seem to be in that business.

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        December 1, 2011 10:31 AM

        With generous use of liquor and whores I assume.

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        December 1, 2011 1:12 PM

        Alpha Protocol, EOT!

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          December 2, 2011 6:53 AM

          is that game still a buggy mess? EOT indeed.

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        December 1, 2011 7:31 PM

        Judging by Fallout: NV and their reputation, it seems they are good at making fun games but bad at fixing bugs or getting the budget/schedule to do so or something. Maybe they quote low.

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        December 1, 2011 7:39 PM

        they make broken games but the are good games that cater to a certain audience that forgives them the flaws. just don't buy any of their games on release.

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      December 1, 2011 9:46 AM

      GOTY!

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      December 1, 2011 9:53 AM

      My name is Cartman and this is my favorite item on the menu.

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      December 1, 2011 9:56 AM

      there is no god

      jesus christ what a fucking waste

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      December 1, 2011 10:08 AM

      N64? Play that shit on PC the way it's meant to be played!

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      December 1, 2011 10:19 AM

      However, today's newly announced South Park: The Game is easily the buggiest title the franchise has ever attempted.

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      December 1, 2011 10:26 AM

      [deleted]

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      December 1, 2011 10:32 AM

      Not sure if I can get back into South park after all these years.

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      December 1, 2011 11:56 AM

      a south park rpg? oh god no

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      December 1, 2011 1:26 PM

      Kinda sounds like costumn quest. If this was a cheapy $15 game I'd be sooooold

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      December 1, 2011 3:14 PM

      No PC :(

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      December 1, 2011 4:44 PM

      I think I will probably buy this. Obsidian has great writers and creativity.

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        December 1, 2011 7:25 PM

        they have many people there from Interplay.

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      December 3, 2011 3:23 PM

      I remember the N64 game being a fun rental for fucking around with friends.

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