Aliens: Colonial Marines

[Kori-Maru]

ROJM, you make me want to play Outtrigger again. Loved that game's multiplayer mode. My cousins and I use to go at it with bouncing plasma blasts.

[max_cady]

@Trippled

I do.

Speaking of which, how does this game play versus the Aliens vs Predator game that came out in 2010?

[Barry the Nomad]

Here are my thoughts on the situation. As usual, please correct me if I'm wrong on points.

Aliens: Colonial Marines really is a remnant of SEGA West's past - during the rocky SEGA of America/SEGA Europe days. I mean, look at early articles on the game and look at SEGA West's output at the time. Way the hell back in 2006 SEGA and Gearbox announced that a game (which ended up being this game) was in development. What else did SEGA release in 2006? Yeah, Sonic '06. Not SEGA West per se, but it wasn't a strong year for SEGA titles in general. Really, Creative Assembly were the real Western stars at this time (still are, IMO. They do their thing and do it well).

Then development continued, and meanwhile SEGA of America/SEGA Europe (mainly SoA) continued to release shit like the Marvel titles, Daisy Fuentes Pilates, Golden Compass...

Eventually, SEGA wised up, reorganized into SEGA West, cut the crap and in my opinion were far smarter with their releases from 2012 onwards. But Aliens: Colonial Marines, that game born in a period when SEGA was making some pretty awful titles, was still alive and kicking and SEGA just wanted to release the damn thing and be over with it. Not to say that SEGA is to blame. Gearbox had more than enough dev time. SEGA just wanted a return on their investment from '06.

I'll give SEGA West credit, they did a pretty good job marketing the title as best they could. The community team's efforts have been strong on the social networks over the past months.

Really, I blame Gearbox. SEGA's purchase of the Aliens franchise electronic rights may not have paid off in the long run, but Aliens vs. Predator and Aliens Infestation were decent games that were a step up from a lot of the other externally developed content from the same era of SEGA. From SEGA's perspective, they had the rights, they had a competent developer (or so we thought) and they had the potential to make a game that could have been a step up from the past two franchise titles. Instead it appears Gearbox didn't give a shit and in turn screwed SEGA and more importantly screwed themselves by making a game that will hurt their reputation.

I hope SEGA does no more business with Gearbox and focuses on their internal Western teams like Creative Assembly, Relic and Sports Interactive. Those are innovative, competent developers. Gearbox... not so much, it turns out.

[MadeManG74]

Really, I blame Gearbox. SEGA's purchase of the Aliens franchise electronic rights may not have paid off in the long run, but Aliens vs. Predator and Aliens Infestation were decent games that were a step up from a lot of the other externally developed content from the same era of SEGA. From SEGA's perspective, they had the rights, they had a competent developer (or so we thought) and they had the potential to make a game that could have been a step up from the past two franchise titles. Instead it appears Gearbox didn't give a shit and in turn screwed SEGA and more importantly screwed themselves by making a game that will hurt their reputation.

I don't think we can really throw blame at Gearbox just yet. Don't forget this series seems to have radically changed directions over the years from a survival horror game into a horrible COD clone.

That reeks to me of the Publisher saying 'GUYS WE WANT THE COWADOODY AUDIENCE' and Gearbox sighing heavily, taking a belt of whiskey, and then erasing a lot of their work and starting again while Sega reps stand over their shoulders and yell "-And make the Alien easier to kill, we don't want to lose the casuals because this game is too hard!"

[ROJM]

Here are my thoughts on the situation. As usual, please correct me if I'm wrong on points.

Aliens: Colonial Marines really is a remnant of SEGA West's past - during the rocky SEGA of America/SEGA Europe days. I mean, look at early articles on the game and look at SEGA West's output at the time. Way the hell back in 2006 SEGA and Gearbox announced that a game (which ended up being this game) was in development. What else did SEGA release in 2006? Yeah, Sonic '06. Not SEGA West per se, but it wasn't a strong year for SEGA titles in general. Really, Creative Assembly were the real Western stars at this time (still are, IMO. They do their thing and do it well).

Then development continued, and meanwhile SEGA of America/SEGA Europe (mainly SoA) continued to release shit like the Marvel titles, Daisy Fuentes Pilates, Golden Compass...

Eventually, SEGA wised up, reorganized into SEGA West, cut the crap and in my opinion were far smarter with their releases from 2012 onwards. But Aliens: Colonial Marines, that game born in a period when SEGA was making some pretty awful titles, was still alive and kicking and SEGA just wanted to release the damn thing and be over with it. Not to say that SEGA is to blame. Gearbox had more than enough dev time. SEGA just wanted a return on their investment from '06.

I'll give SEGA West credit, they did a pretty good job marketing the title as best they could. The community team's efforts have been strong on the social networks over the past months.

Really, I blame Gearbox. SEGA's purchase of the Aliens franchise electronic rights may not have paid off in the long run, but Aliens vs. Predator and Aliens Infestation were decent games that were a step up from a lot of the other externally developed content from the same era of SEGA. From SEGA's perspective, they had the rights, they had a competent developer (or so we thought) and they had the potential to make a game that could have been a step up from the past two franchise titles. Instead it appears Gearbox didn't give a shit and in turn screwed SEGA and more importantly screwed themselves by making a game that will hurt their reputation.

I hope SEGA does no more business with Gearbox and focuses on their internal Western teams like Creative Assembly, Relic and Sports Interactive. Those are innovative, competent developers. Gearbox... not so much, it turns out.

It isn't Sega west as who was in charge of Sega west or specifically Sega of America at that time. Simon Jeffery when he was brought into Sega was charged to improve Sega's standing in the west by market share and improve their brand in the west.  He succeeded in that aspect because Sega marketshare in the states did go higher than it was. He was also responsible in getting the likes of Obsidian, Gearbox, Bio, Silicon Knights, the Marvel license and ALIENS. I don't remember people complaining at the time. Unfortunately similar to what happened with Lucasfilm, for whatever reason his plans failed for whatever reason. Poor dev times producing poor titles IE Secret Level:IRON MAN, GOLDEN AXE BEAST RIDER.(even though IRON MAN 2 was actually succesful) Silicon Knights got sued over engine copyright and patents and that game got sold on to THQ(oddly enough) poor marketing on several of the decent games like SONIC CHRONICLES whose developer ended up geting brought by EA, too many contracts to crap developers on important licenses(Marvel license) companies getting shut down halfway thru development on a game contracted by sega of america. Regardless, Hayes ended up having to clear up the mess Jefferies made and a lot of games got canned including games that had the potential to be good. ACM was one of the titles that got up in this mess and it seems to have showed although i'm reserving final judgement until i actually play the game. I understand what happened with GBX because this game was canned by sega and then greenlit again. By that time GBX had other titles to do and ACM fell well behind to the point they decided to outsource the game. Shame. I blame Sega for letting it happen because the main fault lies with them but GBX has questions to answer as well.

[max_cady]

Regardless of how we think, I don't think Gearbox, as a developer, will suffer all that much... I mean, they championed the revival of Duke Nukem Forever and that game was... well... Not exactly GOTY by any standard.

It's a bit upsetting, because Gearbox was also championing this game for the longest time.

The only other major SEGA collaboration would be the Wii port of Samba De Amigo.

SEGA still wants to do Aliens games, 'cause well, they still own the license... I just hope Creative Assembly can do something good with the game.

[ROJM]

This is turning into a fiasco....

Segam and GBX stand by work on game...
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/sega-and-gearbox-software-stand-by-studios-work-on-aliens-colonial-marines-amid-critical-drubbing/

WiiU version canned or not canned..Sega says....

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-14-sega-uk-denies-that-aliens-colonial-marines-has-been-cancelled-on-wii-u

Funny, a game that sega was counting on to have strong sales is suddenly the target of fanrage and criticrage alike. You'd think they were paid to be outraged.
 

My point is there's been shite ALIENS games before but you'd think someone important was murdered by the reaction of whats going on. There's definatly flaws in the game but I dont think that this witch hunt that's going on is deserved or fair considering numourous games based on big licenses or not have had the same scenario of looking unfinished or whatever this game has been accused of. first the whole Inzuma level 5 fiasco and now this with Sega coming across as the bad guy. But just in time to dent the sales on what was considered a key title for them. Well done guys!

[Ben]

My point is there's been shite ALIENS games before but you'd think someone important was murdered by the reaction of whats going on. There's definatly flaws in the game but I dont think that this witch hunt that's going on is deserved or fair considering numourous games based on big licenses or not have had the same scenario of looking unfinished or whatever this game has been accused of. first the whole Inzuma level 5 fiasco and now this with Sega coming across as the bad guy. But just in time to dent the sales on what was considered a key title for them. Well done guys!

This game has spent years in the Hype Machine, with Gearbox talking it up at every opportunity, with Sega talking it up, with 20th Century Fox approving the script and with the promise of this basically being a sequel to Aliens. It was incredibly hyped and anticipated. Nobody expected (well, I didn't, anyway) a bad game to be the result.

And as a Sega fan it's disheartening because with Sega's packaged goods future to focus on only 4 franchises going forward, (  ) it sucks that they don't seem to mind releasing a bad game.

[Radrappy]

This game has spent years in the Hype Machine, with Gearbox talking it up at every opportunity, with Sega talking it up, with 20th Century Fox approving the script and with the promise of this basically being a sequel to Aliens. It was incredibly hyped and anticipated. Nobody expected (well, I didn't, anyway) a bad game to be the result.

And as a Sega fan it's disheartening because with Sega's packaged goods future to focus on only 4 franchises going forward, (  ) it sucks that they don't seem to mind releasing a bad game.

it's pretty terrifying considering as of now, this was their biggest game of the year. 

[Aki-at]

That reeks to me of the Publisher saying 'GUYS WE WANT THE COWADOODY AUDIENCE' and Gearbox sighing heavily, taking a belt of whiskey, and then erasing a lot of their work and starting again while Sega reps stand over their shoulders and yell "-And make the Alien easier to kill, we don't want to lose the casuals because this game is too hard!"

SEGA West's upper hierarchy by my reckoning now only has people who have no previous experience with the industry and with playing video games themselves. So yes, you're probably right (They screwed around with Alpha Protocol's production too)

I still think Gearbox funnelled the money from SEGA to fund Borderlands though, no way could they have survived bankruptcy and still managed to make such a hit without allocating funds from somewhere.

[Radrappy]

I still thing Gearbox funnelled the money from SEGA to fund Borderlands though, no way could they have survived bankruptcy and still managed to make such a hit without allocating funds from somewhere.

if more evidence surfaces supporting this suspicion, sega should definitely take these bastards to court. 

[MadeManG74]

But just in time to dent the sales on what was considered a key title for them. Well done guys!

You make it sound like calling out shitty games for what they are is a bad thing.

[Ben]

But just in time to dent the sales on what was considered a key title for them. Well done guys!

It's unfortunate that this crappy license title was a "key title" for them to begin with. I feel sorry for Sega on one hand but on the other, I don't understand how anyone working at Sega could have seen in-development footage of the 360 version in particular (and even the PC version) and believed that this was an AAA title.

[Ben]

Talking to GameSpot, one industry source close to Sega said the publisher became increasingly concerned about Gearbox's commitment to the oft-delayed title.
 
"Sega was very concerned that the bulk of Gearbox's resources/manpower was being spent on Borderlands and that they weren't investing the effort in Colonial Marines that they should have been," said our source, "hence it being repeatedly delayed."
 
"Obviously, judging from the end result, that issue was never resolved," they added.
Aliens: Colonial Marines received a 4.5 in its GameSpot review. Last year's Borderlands 2, on the other hand, was awarded an 8.5. Aliens: Colonial Marines was announced in December 2006 and was subjected to multiple delays before its eventual release yesterday. Borderlands 2 was announced in August 2011 and shipped in September 2012.
 
Friction between Sega and Gearbox--and the looming threat of legal action--is also mentioned in a Reddit thread titled "A lot of you are (rightfully) upset at the final product that is A:CM. Maybe I can shed some light as to how it got the way it is."
 
The anonymous poster, who said they couldn't speak publicly through fear of breaking NDAs but claims to have worked on the game for a year and a half, mentioned that Sega wasn't pleased about the game's delays but kept the project going and allowed Gearbox to outsource development of portions of the game.
 
"[Gearbox] outsourced a good portion of the game to outside companies," said the poster. "Initially, the plan was for TimeGate to take the majority of campaign, [Gearbox] would take MP, Demiurge and Nerve would handle DLC and various other focused tasks. This decision was made mostly so that most of the developers at [Gearbox] could continue working on Borderlands 2, while a small group of [level designers], coders and designers dealt with Pecan."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/did-aliens-colonial-marines-suffer-because-of-borderlands-6403830
 
Failure on the part of Gearbox to put the effort into this game and deliver a quality product to market, failure on the part of Sega to have done nothing about it.

[semmie]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/did-aliens-colonial-marines-suffer-because-of-borderlands-6403830
 
Failure on the part of Gearbox to put the effort into this game and deliver a quality product to market, failure on the part of Sega to have done nothing about it.

gearbox are motherfuckers. they screwjobbed sega. but instead of screwing sega they screwed themselve cause if they have done a better job then sega would have kept them for hire. as for borderlands? b1 was hyped but 2 wasnt that cool to me. obviously gearbox is a butlicking company. i bet if microsoft bought them then they would on purpose make colonial marines far wors.

i love alien colonial marines regardless what i say. its still an average fps. but u guys shocked me when i saw the demo.

why was the demo more pixelshaded. why did it have more details on the ground and walls,
why were the aliens in the demo aggresive?
why was the final version darker themed? cause then they wont have to add details.

this game from the root was a good game obviously
but from the fruit it get lesser good.

my opinion changed based on the comparison of demo and the final
seriously an eye opener. somewhere i wishe i never saw the comparison. ignorance sometimes is an adventage.

but at the end i really dont blame sega. cause gearbox might v bluffed black mailed. probably it was the remnant of the rotten apples of sega.  fuck gearbox. ill put a gear up their ass attach a valve and rotate till all the poop comes out. i will add a surgical tube together with a metal string to reach their heart via their freaking ass.

these companys are but remnants i guess.

but very very disturbing man
final and the demo
damn. wish i never knew





just to add. i think the final was build from scratch. and the demo was a previous build.