Aliens: Colonial Marines

Aliens: Colonial Marines Overhaul Mod Version 5 released

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Aliens: Colonial Marines might have released as a huge disappointing game with a ton of broken promises but that isn’t stopping fans from fixing the 2013 disaster piece of a game. The peeps over at Templar GFX Modding have now released the fifth version of their Aliens: Colonial Marines overhaul mod which aims to make the game a somewhat more playable video game.

According to the version five update changes the game will improve visuals on all levels. This includes things like permanent decals and improved Pixel Shader for graphics. The mod is also aiming at improving the AI on both human and xenos including the dodging and jumping. You can see all the changes below. I’m honestly sad that SEGA mishandled the Aliens license the way they did, seeing as how the game’s fans are passionate enough to fix the terrible game, even half a decade after release. The saddest part is, SEGA should have shut and fixed it themselves. Regardless, you can see the notes after the jump and download the latest mod right here.

[Via: DSOGaming]

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SEGA says Gearbox just as involved with marketing Aliens: Colonial Marines

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Seems that the drama never stops for SEGA of America and Gearbox Software, continuing with details on a new court filing by SEGA on September 2nd. According to SEGA’s attorney that despite what Gearbox said about them not being responsible with marketing. SEGA disagreed and stated that they had equal part and would sometimes overstepped their boundaries. SEGA went as far to say that they were kept in the dark about certain promotional decisions.

One of these claims is that Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford wold go to events and state to the press that the demos where “actual gameplay” which of course is false.

SEGA has already admitted to wrong doing and will pay $1.25 million dollars, Gearbox was allowed to join in with SEGA if they would agree to pay a additional $750,000 in the settlement, but it seems they will continue to fight on. According to Gearbox they operated as a contractor and that SEGA had final word on the game and marketing.

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SEGA agrees to pay $1.25M in Aliens: Colonial Marines suit, Gearbox will continue to fight

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Aliens-CM1As you know there is a class-action suit that has been brought against both SEGA and Gearbox Software for falsely advertising Aliens: Colonial Marines by using  fake demos at trade shows such as E3. Gearbox recently filed a request to get dropped from the lawsuit.

SEGA submitted their settlement agreement for approval on Monday for the class action settlement agreement. We won’t find out till September 17th if the courts will approve it.

Want to know how SEGA’s $1.25 million will be split up if this is approved? Hit the jump.

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20th Century Fox trademarks Alien: Isolation for their next game

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If you didn’t know Twentieth Century Fox has been really trying to push the Aliens brand and really wants to break through into the video game industry. Their latest effort was with SEGA on Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now they’re tradmarking the name “Alien: Isolation” for another game. Who is developing it? Who knows. Could this be that ‘Creative Assembly’ Aliens game?

Even if  Creative Assembly did an Aliens game, would you still want to play it after Colonial Marines?

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My Life with SEGA Season 2 kicks off with Alien Trilogy: Revisited

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My Life with SEGA: Season 2 opens with a three-part episode detailing the Alien franchise, from Alien Trilogy on SEGA Saturn to Aliens vs. Predator on PS3, even Aliens: Colonial Marines. Ugh! I think I just vomited a little. In my pants.

Anyway, in this week’s episode, I’m revisiting Alien Trilogy. You may be thinking, “Jesus, what more does he have to say about it? Move on already!” Well, I wasn’t entirely happy with that video to begin with, and my feeling’s towards it have changed a bit since….2011? Good lord.

Without further ado, I give you Alien Trilogy: Revisited. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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New Aliens: Colonial Marines trophies point to extended single player DLC

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Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn’t a great game at all, we reviewed it here and hated it. But SEGA did sell a season pass for the title and seems that Gearbox and SEGA are making good on their DLC promise with this upcoming DLC pack titled ‘Stasis Interrupted’. You can view the extra trophies here.

The season pass promised four pieces of downloadable content and this would mark the fourth released. The previous released DLCs: Reconnaissance Pack, Movie Map Pack, and Bug Hunt Pack. According to Randy Pitchfork, CEO of Gearbox, that after they finish the DLC for Aliens: Colonial Marines they will cease development on current generation consoles. Meaning that this ‘Statis Interrupted’ could be the last time Gearbox Software creates anything for current generation consoles.

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Sega Sammy sees fiscal net profit, Aliens shipped 1.3M, All-Stars Racing shipped 1.36M

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Via Joystiq a bit of good news for SEGA fans, and even better news for SEGA parent company Sega Sammy Holdings. Sega Sammy revealed their financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2013, making note of a net profit of ¥33.5 billion ($331 million), an annual growth of 53.3 percent. However, Sega Sammy’s operating profit decreased year-on-year by 67.3 percent, down to ¥19.1 billion ($189 million). A large part of the net profit was through the sales of “investment securities” and transfers of employees’ pension benefits. Fun stuff.

Sega Sammy made note of a decreased demand for packaged games, and that the company has to adapt towards games on social networks and mobile devices. Don’t freak out, as the packaged games that SEGA has released have been quite successful. Aliens: Colonial Marines, despite all the bad press and low review scores, shipped 1.31 million units. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed shipped 1.36 million units. SEGAbits reader, and tipster ROJM notes that Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed just might be the most succesful non-Mario related spin-off Sonic game in the third party Sega era. Football Manager 2013 is noted as selling just under 1 million, however Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson has recently tweeted that the title has since passed the 1 million mark. Yakuza 5 shipped 590,000 units. It should be noted that as a result of SEGA’s lessening of packaged games that the total number of packaged shipments saw a decline (down 10.8 million overall), but the decline makes sense and was surely expected.

The biggest success, gaming-wise, is Phantasy Star Online 2, with a subscription base of over 2.5 million on the the PC and Vita. As the game is free-to-play, this large number isn’t exactly a gauge for how much the game made in sales, but the company says in-game purchases have “exceeded forecasted levels.” So, the game is exceeding expectations. It’ll be interesting to see how these numbers change once PSO2 releases to the West. As for the future of SEGA, the company forecasts 11 games on PC, 7 on Wii U, 7 on PS3, 6 on 3DS, 5 on Vita, 4 on Xbox 360, and 2 on PSP in the fiscal year ending March 31 2014. The company estimates a 41 percent growth in net profit for the next fiscal year, up to ¥47 billion, or $464 million.

Update: SEGA’s future game forecast is SKU numbers, not game numbers. So say for example, the new Sonic game comes out on 3DS, that counts as one SKU for each region, so that would leave 3 SKU’s for 3DS, one of the other 3DS SKU’s is probably japan exclusive hatsune miku, so that leaves 2 3DS SKU left. Digital games aren’t taken into account for SEGA’s SKU forecast.

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SEGA and Gearbox claim Aliens: Colonial Marines lawsuit is “without merit”

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Just a few short days after a class-action lawsuit filing in the California court system claiming that SEGA and Gearbox released and sold Aliens: Colonial Marines to the public under the pretense of false advertising, the two companies have responded by unsurprisingly dismissing it .

“SEGA cannot comment on specifics of ongoing litigation, but we are confident that the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously,” the publisher said.

Gearbox, however, wasn’t quite so soft of the wording, defending its use of unlabeled demonstration walkthroughs.

“Attempting to wring a class action lawsuit out of a demonstration is beyond meritless. We continue to support the game, and will defend the rights of entertainers to share their works-in-progress without fear of frivolous litigation.”

As it stands, there’s little doubt that due to the very focused nature of the lawsuit that this whole scenario will ultimately end up just being withdrawn or thrown out by a judge. The damage has likely been done in the eyes of players however in terms of the public relations perception, more so for the developer Gearbox than Sega.

The response comes after news that co-developer Timegate Studios has filed for bankruptcy.

[Via Kotaku]

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Aliens: Colonial Marines co-developer TimeGate studios files for bankruptcy

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TimeGates Studios, who where previously known for their Section 8 games and now for co-developing the controversial Aliens: Colonial Marines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas Southern Bankruptcy court yesterday.

The guys over at Polygon obtained the court papers, which stated that the developer is in debt to more than 50 creditors and owed total liabilities ranging from $10-$50 million dollars. Their top creditors include Epic Games (Unreal Engine), Agora Games (online game service), and DJ2 Entertainment. Funny enough, a local pizza shop was listed in the documents, which TimeGate owes $34.80. Wow, are these developers all in the 7th grade that they can’t pay a $35 dollar bill?

I guess life isn’t good for TimeGates Studios and the recent class action lawsuit isn’t going to help them. Weird seeing them lose all this money and still announce a game last month.

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SEGA, Gearbox Served Class-Action Lawsuit For Aliens: Colonial Marines

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Aliens: Colonial Marines drew ire from gaming fans due to its shoddy gameplay and overall lackluster production. The quality, or lack thereof, was so substantial that a lawsuit was filed in a Californian court on Apr. 30 by law firm Edelson LLC at the behest of Damion Perrine for false advertising.

Within the lawsuit, Perrine claims that builds shown off at events such as PAX and E3 were in no way indicative of how the final product would ultimately turn out. The suit further claims that the enforcement press embargoes, which were lifted the very morning of the game’s release, meant that game media could not alert early adopters of the disparity in quality between the demos and the final. It finally claims damages for players who pre-ordered the game or purchased the game on launch.

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Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines officially cancelled

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Though it shouldn’t come as such an unexpected move given the universally negative reception Gearbox’s Aliens effort has received thusfar, there’s still something fairly surprising about SEGA, through a vague statement to IGN, announcing the Wii U version’s cancellation after all this time.

SEGA can confirm that the Wii U sku of Aliens: Colonial Marines is no longer in development.”

Maybe it’s because this was, as some of you may remember, said by Randy Pitchford on multiple occasions to be the definitive console version of the title, though its quiet cancellation lends far more credibility to recent rumors that it was actually the worst. Maybe it’s because it’s rare to see a game that’s spent this long in development being given the axe, for any reason.

We may never fully know why the Wii U version won’t be seeing the light of day, though I suppose it isn’t too hard to speculate. Regardless, it’s been a game that’s played such a major role in SEGA’s identity throughout its protracted development, and if nothing else, this cancellation serves as a final and symbolic closing chapter in the Aliens: Colonial Marines saga.

Here’s hoping that better decisions are made in the future, from all parties involved in this project.

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SEGA Europe admits Aliens: Colonial Marines trailers don’t reflect final product

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Hey, after the game has sold a truck load of copies over in Europe, SEGA is finally going out of there way to tell people they were right. The trailers they created and posted are a bunch of hog wash. Do they reflect the final product? Nope!

“Sega Europe acknowledged your objection that the trailers did not accurately reflect the final content of the game, [Sega] agreed to add a disclaimer, both on their website and in all relevant YouTube videos, which explains that the trailers depict footage of the demo versions of the game. The disclaimer will be visible when each online trailer is played.” – Niall McVeigh, Advertising Standards Authority

The ASA has received four complaints of misleading advertising. Thanks to Reddit, SEGA will now put disclaimers on their trailers. A bit too late, since the game has already sold a ton of copies. Oh well, justice is justice.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines gets a massive 4GB patch

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SEGA & Gearbox Software have released a patch for the PC version of Aliens: Colonial Marines, the patch promises to improve textures, fix bugs, and much more. Personally I installed the game, did what I had to do for our review and uninstalled it. I don’t see myself playing through it again with a new patch. Sorry SEGA, you should have gotten it right the first time.

But if you want to try it, load up steam and enjoy downloading the patch. If you look at the YouTube video, it seems that the improvements are minimal.

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