Obsidian Entertainment, developers of Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas, and the upcoming South Park game, has been hit with layoffs. While the company has yet to return Shacknews' request for comments, messages on Twitter and the company's message boards appear to confirm the downsizing.
Read more: Next-gen project canceled, up to 30 people affected »
Every developer needs a pet project to unwind. In the case of Obsidian, the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas and the upcoming South Park RPG, that came in the shape of a coin-op classic arcade machine called "Obsidian: The Game," chronicling the tale of the studio owners.
More details have come out regarding the upcoming South Park RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment, including its various homages to old-school RPG design. The game borrows from such varied sources as Mario titles and Final Fantasy.
Bethesda games have, simply put, not performed well on PS3. From Fallout 3 to Skyrim, PlayStation gamers have commonly experienced sluggish performance, especially as file sizes balloon up.
Fallout: New Vegas project coordinator Joshua E. Sawyer recently talked about the memory limitations on PS3, which may provide some insight to Skyrim's performance issues. The PS3 suffers when dealing with large file saves, an "engine-level issue" caused by PS3's restrictive memory.
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.
Now that the full slate of downloadable content has run its course for Fallout: New Vegas, Bethesda has announced that you can snag it all together in the upcoming 'Ultimate Edition.' The package is coming February 7 to North America (February 10 in Europe), and includes all of the DLC and associated level cap raises.
Fallout: New Vegas is a game about choices, political strife, ethical grays, and also blowing stuff up. With the attention going towards the recent Lonesome Road downloadable content, it's easy to forget that Bethesda teased a veritable truckload of new guns coming next week. Fortunately, we got a little reminder with highlights of some of the weaponry we can expect.
Bethesda Softworks and Obsidian Entertainment are continuing their steady stream of downloadable content for Fallout: New Vegas with the fourth add-on pack, Lonesome Road. The DLC is due on September 20, for $9.99 on PlayStation Network and PC (or 800 MSP on Xbox Live).
Dungeon Siege 3 will be adding a new piece of downloadable content this October, which will raise the level cap, add a new quest, and bring in a new enchantment system. The "Treasures of the Sun" pack is set to launch for $9.99 on Steam, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live.
The fourth Fallout: New Vegas downloadable content pack 'Lonesome Road' is now slated to arrive on September 20, following its delay. On top of that, publisher Bethesda has announced two new DLC packs. One contains all the retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses, and t'other packs stacks of new guns and ammo.
Lonesome Road adds another new area, natural disaster magnet the Divide, where the Courier will meet the original Courier Six. Bethesda hasn't announced the price yet, but it'll most likely cost the same as previous New Vegas add-ons, $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points).
Courier Six's secrets at the end of the Lonesome Road will remain unknown for a while longer, as Bethesda confirmed today that the final announced Fallout: New Vegas downloadable content release has been delayed. Lonesome Road now won't launch this month, as was planned, and has no firm release date.
If you thought that the PlayStation Network service beginning to come back online meant that Bethesda would release the newest Fallout: New Vegas DLC pack on time, the publisher has some bad news.
In a blog post today, Bethesda has noted that the "Honest Hearts" downloadable add-on for Fallout: New Vegas will still be delayed on the PlayStation 3. The DLC will be available for Xbox 360 and PC gamers beginning tomorrow. Read more »
Obsidian Entertainment, located in Irvine, California, is a developer best known for making a stable of high-quality sequels for successful role-playing franchises. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Fallout: New Vegas, have been largely regarded as worthy sequels, due in no small part to Obsidian's respect for the established worlds and characters pioneered in their precursors. Dungeon Siege 3, based on the series created by Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games, is Obsidian's latest endeavor.
Last week at the Dungeon Siege 3 hands-on preview event held at Obsidian's offices, I had a chance to sit down with CEO Feargus Urquheart and pick his brain about how Dungeon Siege 3 came to be, the key considerations when rebooting a well-liked franchise, and the challenges of adapting the series' gameplay for consoles. Read more »
The Obsidian developed spy RPG Alpha Protocol will not be getting a sequel from publisher Sega. Speaking with CVG, Sega West president Mike Hayes told the outlet "Let's speak very commercially; the game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel."
Hayes believes the concept was "brilliant", but cited generally below-average reviews as one of the factors of the decision: "You know this whole thing with Metacritic where you have to be in the high 70s to mid-80s minimum [to have any success] - well, with RPGs you have got to be in the late 80s." Read more »
The PC edition of Fallout: New Vegas will use Steamworks for its digital rights management, publisher Bethesda has confirmed, meaning that the RPG will require players to have Valve's digital distribution client and platform Steam installed.
"Fallout: New Vegas will fully utilize the Steamworks SDK," senior producer (and former Shacknews staffer) Jason Bergman revealed in a fan interview, explaining: Read more »
Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol developer Obsidian is working on a third entry in the action RPG series Dungeon Siege, publisher Square Enix has announced, with "input" from Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege 2 developer Gas Powered Games.
"It has been a great pleasure to collaborate with Obsidian," GPG founder and Dungeon Siege designer Chris Taylor said in the announcement. "They are a very talented developer who really knows what it takes to build a deep and engaging RPG experience, and I can't think of a better group to continue the Dungeon Siege series." Read more »
Fallout: New Vegas and Neverwinter Nights 2 developer Obsidian Entertainment will join Red Eagle Games in working on its video game adaptations of Robert Jordan's acclaimed fantasy novel series 'The Wheel of Time,' the pair announced today.
"The Wheel of Time is one of the greatest and well-received fantasy series of all time," said Obsidian chief creative officer Chris Avellone. "Games set in Robert Jordan's universe have the chance to deliver on the epic storylines and the complex characters that the series is known for - and this is one of Obsidian's strengths. It's a natural fit." Obsidian was founded by veterans of Fallout and Planescape: Torment dev Black Isle. Read more »
Developer Obsidian and publisher Sega have officially confirmed that the Aliens RPG project has been canceled.
In a post on the company's official forums, noticed by Giant Bomb, Obsidian said that it was "no longer working on the game," adding that Aliens RPG is "no longer a product that is in development." Read more »
Though Obsidian's Aliens RPG was thought to be cancelled, Sega has confirmed that it still plans to release the title along with its other two announced Aliens games.
Asked about the Obsidian's Aliens RPG and Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines at E3, Sega told Joystiq that it will have "have more news to share about the other two games in the near future so stay tuned," adding that "[Rebellion's] Aliens vs. Predator will be the first to ship out of our triplet of Aliens titles; hence it was shown at this year's E3." Read more »
At a press event in the United Kingdom, Fallout 3 developer Bethesda today announced a new externally-developed entry in the post-apocalyptic role-playing series.
Titled Fallout New Vegas, it's being developed by Obsidian Entertainment (Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II) with PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions planed for a simultaneous launch in 2010.
New Vegas will be an RPG in the style of Fallout 3, Bethesda noted, but the company did not confirm if it uses the same engine. The studio also stressed that it approached Obsidian to make a new Fallout entry, not the other way around. Read more »
"i really hope the next bethesda fallout uses the RAGE engine."
- retarded talking dinosaur
See all 107 comments
Rumors that publisher Sega has canned Obsidian's long-in-development Aliens RPG have apparently been confirmed by former Obsidian designer David Kondor.
Kondor's LinkedIn lists him as a "designer for canceled third-person action Aliens RPG" at Obsidian from April 2008 to February 2009, as noticed by Strategy Infromer. Read more »
Update: On top of the previous report, Joystiq's sources claim Sega has stopped funding both the Aliens RPG and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Obsidian's layoffs are also said to have affected the team for Alpha Protocol, which Sega is publishing this year.
Original: Sega has reportedly cancelled the Aliens role-playing game that was being worked on at Knights of the Old Republic II and Alpha Protocol developer Obsidian. Read more »
Neverwinter Nights 2 and Knights of the Old Republic 2 developer Obsidian has revealed the first details on Alpha Protocol, the studio's upcoming spy-oriented action role playing game.
Due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next spring, the game follows Michael Thorton, a super spy in the making. According to the latest issue of print magazine Game Informer, which broke the news, Thorton's adventures are in the vein of such renowned badasses as James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne. Read more »
"Obsidian don't suck. They have released some really great games GIVEN THE TIME AND FUNDING THEY ..."
- Peterborough See all 18 comments