I have a question for Obs, how will the game be marketed?

 

Scott took the realistic approach wanting something similar in believability to Kurbicks 2001: A Space Odyssey, but obviously with very different aesthetics and a supernatural element in the alien. Cameron and Fincher mostly followed through with that ideal.

 

Is this the ideal the Aliens CRPG is going for?

 

Or is it going for a more comic book approach as seen in Alien: Resurrection / AvP?

 

Or maybe you guys are going for a more ambiguous approach and trying to combine the two.

 

Its hard to tell with what information we have at the moment. But I would really appreciate an answer, if possible.

I always felt SEGA was a bit weak on the marketing side... For example, Condemned 2 is now coming out this March, and I haven't seen even a gameplay video yet, or a ready website. Nada.

Sega sucks at marketing, they always have and in my opinion it's their biggest short coming and was a big part of their downfall.

 

I hear they plan to step it up in 2008 and 09 so hopfully by the time these games come out they'll have be marketing well.

It's not too farfetched to say that sucky marketing doomed Dreamcast...

 

And I had no idea Condemned 2 was coming out!

Me neither, but I found this user video on GameTrailers.com

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermov...aylist=featured

 

I loved the first one, C2 is looking better. Not sure I like the bit with the baby throwing though, even if it is a mutant baby. I did like the way the enemy stalked you in the original. It would be cool to have the aliens in Obs RPG do some stalking in a similar fashion. Rather than a direct encounter / attack.

Considering that Condemned was only in development for 15 months (quite a feat, especially as a X360 launch title), it's not too far fetched to assume that C2 should be a lot better. Combat and forensic investigation should get some major improvements....we'll see. Too bad I have to wait for the PC port (this time real 4:3 support please).

The only thing I don't like is the main character himself - I liked Ethan Thomas from C1 as the sober and genuinely investigator. In C2, he now turned into a pissed off Emo drunk.

I wonder what David Fincher movie it will shamelessly ape this time.

 

Probably Se7en, again.

Me neither, but I found this user video on GameTrailers.com

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermov...aylist=featured

 

I loved the first one, C2 is looking better. Not sure I like the bit with the baby throwing though, even if it is a mutant baby. I did like the way the enemy stalked you in the original. It would be cool to have the aliens in Obs RPG do some stalking in a similar fashion. Rather than a direct encounter / attack.

That's not a baby. It's a doll. Looks like a doll-bomb.

Exploding doll-bombs, huh. Thank fooook for that.

 

I don

Edited January 16, 200818 yr by Sh0dan

I guess marketing is more SEGA's thing than OE's.

Surely SEGA have given them a few pointers though. Not just blindly handed them the licence and said do what ever you wish. Even if SEGA set no ground rules, Obs must have a clear idea of where they are going with the material.

 

I suppose marketing was the wrong word.

Edited January 16, 200818 yr by Sh0dan

I suppose marketing was the wrong word.

I'll have to speak in vague terms for now, but I can confirm that our direction is different from Gearbox's direction. Just as Alien is more of a film about human interaction and horror and Aliens is more action-packed and militaristic, I don't think it will be a challenge to make our two Alien games feel significantly different in tone, themes, and play styles. I do think we will have a challenge in making people "see the RPG" in the Aliens franchise, but I've always been confident that it's a good fit. I believe when we show people how we are integrating RPG aspects into things that have already been established in the films, it will make a lot more sense. So in that regard, I believe we will have to show before we tell.

God I hate teases.

 

If Sawyer was a jailbait girl at a party she just raised her top halfway, danced like an Egyptian then turned off the lights.

 

From reading and listening to reactions to the idea of an Aliens RPG, people usually focus on things like the action in Aliens or the horror elements in both films, often marginalizing the role of the characters and how they fit into the plots of the films. But ultimately, I think the preferences people show for certain Alien films has a lot more to do with the human characters and how they are portrayed than with how action-y or horrific the Aliens are. Aliens wouldn't be the same without Hudson and Vasquez, just as Alien wouldn't be the same without Ash. And that also ignores how important the central character of the franchise has been to the series' success. While that doesn't mean that a property based on Aliens absolutely has to have Ripley in it to be any good, I think that films and games are much better received when the characters and their interactions are well done and receive a large amount of attention. That's something that RPGs often excel at. So while people may not initially think, "Oh yeah, Aliens = character development," it's actually a really important element.

JINX

 

I do think we will have a challenge in making people "see the RPG" in the Aliens franchise

This is an understatement. To be frank, everybody I know who isn't an Obsid fanboi like all of us yet is still interested in talking about CRPGS finds the concept of an Aliens RPG to be odious and a mistake on Obsid's part. I think it's part of the widespread belief that Alien is a bankrupt property, in the film world and elsewhere. Which itself is unsurprising, given 3, 4 and the AvP films (nay, the AvP franchise, which is rightly seen as a welding of two tired, dying properties together for no good reason other than it'll appeal to mooks and remove them from their money)

 

Gearbox will have an easier time of it.

Edited January 17, 200818 yr by Pop

That

Edited January 19, 200818 yr by Sh0dan

I'm still worried about SEGAs shoddy PR/Marketing. Now Condemned 2 has been confirmed for a March 14th release, yet all I've seen are some screenshots and one trailer. Yesterday I digged up some nice dev diaries, but no mention either on a homepage or some press news, nada.

I'm seriously worried that the Alien games might suffer the same lack of attention. Although Alien has the benefit of being a well known brand, but Condemned ought to have a greater chance to get known more widely.

Well, this situation is a bit different. Obsidian and Gearbox are well known companies and word of mouth for them will be pretty strong. Further, these games will probably be marketed in tandem with the new movie. I can only imagine that any marketing for one is bound to carry over to the other.

 

But yeah, Obsidian and Aliens are well established. That means the marketing needs to target exposure and saturation of a maximum amount of people rather than explanation of the product and convincing the consumer.

Are we 100% sure there is in fact a new movie? And wouldn't they be making official games of the movie?

Besides which, being marketed as "the official game for the movie" will probably get some casual sales, but cause disquite within the hardcore community. I for one have never bought one of those, because they've all been horrible. This is likely a different situation, but Obsidian doesn't really have a big name status yet (most people think Bioware made NWN2 and K2, which was probably a mistake by Fergie & co, or just an inevitable tragedy) as well. Lots of people may think, "another random developer making a crappy official game for the movie. Also, RPG for Aliens? What?".

 

It will be interesting to see how Obsidian works to dispel that (if they can).