Hard Light Productions Forums
Announcements => Announcements => Topic started by: Black Wolf on January 23, 2013, 07:37:48 pm
-
As part of THQ's bankruptcy process, Volition Inc., the company behind Freespace, was sold recently to Koch Media for a cool $22.3 million. (http://kotaku.com/5978425/thq-is-getting-sold-off-today++heres-everything-we-know) Obviously, it's still early days, and there's no news regarding what the sale will mean for the company or any impact this may have on the Freespace franchise (if any at all).
-
PLEASESOMEONEBUYFREESPACEANDMAKEITOPENDOMAIN! I can dream right?
-
you have every right to. also i think there's your new custom message :P
-
hmm so Koch Media is responsible for X2 and X3 and Volition is responsible for Freespace 1 and 2.
Maybe my fool's hope but Freespace 3 in near future maybe ?
-
Ha.
They should just hire the people here to make their Freespace 3 for them.
It's not even that farfetched a thing to say. This is a dead genre. Who really has experience making such games these days? Meanwhile, people here have been doing it for years.
EDIT: Just the thought of EVERYONE who's anyone on here all on one big team to make a single game with a developer's budget behind them is mouthwatering.
-
I have nothing but horrible feelings about all of this.
-
I have nothing but horrible feelings about all of this.
Why? Surely nothing bad can come of it?
Chances are they won't do anything at all, I'd be very surprised if they actually wanted to create a Freespace 3, and if they don't, then nothing happens.
-
I have nothing but bad feelings because all of a sudden everyone and their kitchen sink is getting ideas about the Freespace license, be it on the dev side or the fan side. And NOTHING good can come from that.
If FS3 happens or even seems it could happen, I give days before the community fragments itself to oblivion. This is really scaring me to the highest level.
I'm at a point where I'd rather Volition had been closed instead.
-
FreeSpace 3 (getting the overpriced license, marketing the franchise all over again, etc) is so far from cost-effective that they would, in all likelihood, not use the license. The best we could hope for is a spiritual sequel.
-
I have nothing but bad feelings because all of a sudden everyone and their kitchen sink is getting ideas about the Freespace license, be it on the dev side or the fan side. And NOTHING good can come from that.
If FS3 happens or even seems it could happen, I give days before the community fragments itself to oblivion. This is really scaring me to the highest level.
I'm at a point where I'd rather Volition had been closed instead.
Oh, get over yourself already. Speculations about FS3 do not hurt anyone. Speculations about Volition's fate do not hurt anyone. Even if FS3 happens, it would not have the apocalyptic consequences you seem determined to believe in (I would like to think that we, as a community, are more resilient than you give us credit).
And wishing that Volition would have closed? What kind of bull**** is that? :v: makes more (and more profitable!) things than FS these days.
-
You don't get to tell me what I have to do. I'd rather someone here thinks about the **** that is eventually going to happen, rather than we all happily head straight into the wall.
-
The thing is, you choose a pessimistic stance on the issue by the default, while I choose an optimistic one.
-
What is the issue? Why would this place tear itself up?
-
You mean between those that would like to create a new forum to deal with FS3, those that would rather everything FS stays at HLP, those that will think FS3 ruined FS, those that will think FS3 is better than FS1 and FS2, those that will think we should port all FS2 mods to FS3, those that will think we should stop developing FSO, those that will think it is good FS3 brought new people, those that will think it invalidated all post-Capella mods...
Oh look, I've already come up with more than half a dozen ways for the community to tear itself up in about 30 seconds. You've got enough or you want me to go on ? I've just started to scratch the tip of the iceberg here.
-
What is the issue? Why would this place tear itself up?
Because with a new installment of the series new cannon lines will be drawn (not necessarily moving the canon forward) ... and the FS-Community as produced some really good fanon/fan-fiction over the years that might find itself invalidated. Add to that there is no pleaseing everyone, conflicts based on personal tastes are bound to appear and since they will run along the fanon-vs-canon- or installment-X-vs-Y-lines they might get bitter very fast.
EDIT: Okay, this is much of the meat of what Matth just posted
I'm sceptical if something FS-related other than a spiritual successor will come out of it, and even that might be years away. Volition's current market-value is solely based on Saint's Row: The Third's rumoured successor and possible profits it holds for Koch Media. So sit back, don't get excited and have another beer.
-
If it used the same physics style as FS, and had an active multi, I'd sure "move my focus", but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy FS2 like I enjoy FS1 now (well okay, FS1 > FS2, but still.. *grins at Battuta*) and it doesn't mean I wouldn't be around for the FSO guys if they continued on (which, honestly, why wouldn't they? they've done amazing work so far).
-
I can see a bigger divide/argument over :v: post sale not being canon. I'm sure it's come up before somewhere..
This is all hypothetical anyway. Unless Admiral Bosch and a Vasudan end up in Saints Row 4 i doubt we'll see the Shivans this side of actually colonising Capella.
-
I do not think, that this will affect Freespace anyway. It is the same after THQ bought Volition back then... you never heard from Summoner 3, Descent 4 or FreeSpace 3 again.
And i have to say, i do not want a FreeSpace 3... a few years ago one from HLP interviewed one of the :v: guys and we know, they never thought about how to solute this shivan problem created in FreeSpace 2 with a fleet of juggernaughts that can blow up stars or what happened to Aken Bosch.
We have many theories we can play in fan-made campaigns and we can choose which continuiation we like the most. An official sequel could destroy it, i think, because we would know "No, it is a complete different story". And because :v: do not have a master plan when they created the story of FreeSpace 2, they would think about a story for FS3 only today, where their thoughs can be already influenced by Blue Planet, Inferno or other "Sequel-Total Conversions" they heard of... i do not think, that this is worth it, at all.
I think the best official sequel is, if there are no official sequel... :-)
-
But they had a script and a reference bible :p
-
You mean between those that would like to create a new forum to deal with FS3, those that would rather everything FS stays at HLP, those that will think FS3 ruined FS, those that will think FS3 is better than FS1 and FS2, those that will think we should port all FS2 mods to FS3, those that will think we should stop developing FSO, those that will think it is good FS3 brought new people, those that will think it invalidated all post-Capella mods...
Oh look, I've already come up with more than half a dozen ways for the community to tear itself up in about 30 seconds. You've got enough or you want me to go on ? I've just started to scratch the tip of the iceberg here.
So you're saying that once the community has differing opinions about something, we'll no longer be able to work together? :wtf: :lol:
-
Volition will do a Dead island style game in Freespace universe so zombie vasudans here we come!
-
You mean between those that would like to create a new forum to deal with FS3, those that would rather everything FS stays at HLP, those that will think FS3 ruined FS, those that will think FS3 is better than FS1 and FS2, those that will think we should port all FS2 mods to FS3, those that will think we should stop developing FSO, those that will think it is good FS3 brought new people, those that will think it invalidated all post-Capella mods...
Oh look, I've already come up with more than half a dozen ways for the community to tear itself up in about 30 seconds. You've got enough or you want me to go on ? I've just started to scratch the tip of the iceberg here.
The community is not going to tear itself up. That is completely without foundation or precedent. The most likely scenario is that General FreeSpace Discussion will be revitalized with a plethora of new threads on a regular basis on comparative canonicity, possible ways to retcon popular campaigns, alternate universe scenarios, is FS3 the best thing since sliced bread or the worst thing since Windows Vista, etc. It is also possible that we may need to create a new General FS3 Discussion board for these specific things. But to say the community would tear itself apart is utterly ridiculous.
Where was the "controversy" about Awakenings when FS2 came out? Where were the people saying "I'll never play ST:R and the community should never accept it because it's contradicted by Silent Threat"? Where are the people telling MjnMixael he's wasting his time on BtA because everyone knows FS2 is the most recent story?
The most "controversy" this community has ever had are the fires that pop up every once in a while saying "X should be the community's FS3". Recently, people have been saying it about Blue Planet. Several years ago, they were saying it about Inferno. If BWO had been released in 2006, they would have been saying it about that. None of those arguments came anywhere close to disrupting the community.
The only threat to the community is if Volition's new publisher decides that FreeSpace mods shouldn't be permitted and starts coming after HLP. So far I haven't heard anyone talking about that.
-
I think the threat is hollow. I could have dreamed up all the stuff that's been said, but I dismiss them.
Surely people around here are too smart to let such things get in the way, right? I think this place would simply need to expand to incorporate FS3 material, and that would be all that would be required.
And Post FS2 scenario campaigns wouldn't suddenly become garbage due to a true canon being created. If you absolutely had to think in those terms, the best thing would be to consider them "What If" or "Alternate History" scenarios.
People debate about these kinds of things all the time for actual history. "What if General X didn't make that mistake, or General Y didn't die at X time..."
-
There will be no "Freespace 3", come on. It's dead.
Try turning on the brains for a moment people. Do you really think a modern company will produce a new game based on flimsy evidence that the genre is "wakening up" from its grave, then marketing it as a follow up, a sequel to a game that very few little people are even aware of it?
Are you even aware on how preposterously suicidal that project would be from the very start?
The *best* you can ever hope is a *new* franchise that will be marketed as such and leave as little confusion in the heads of potential buyers that it will be *not* a follow up of anything that they never played before. And that franchise is already being built by the guy who made Wing Commander.
-
To be fair Luis, I don't think anyone here really believes that. It's all just self-aware pipe dreaming and fantasising.
-
Waitwaitwaitwait. I'm surprised nobody's picked up on this. Koch Media (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Media) owns Deep Silver, who helped co-develop most of the X-Universe games. If we're really going to blindly speculate about the potential for FS3, then Volition could have done a lot worse than to be acquired by a publisher who has a subsidiary with space game experience.
-
Waitwaitwaitwait. I'm surprised nobody's picked up on this. Koch Media (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Media) owns Deep Silver, who helped co-develop most of the X-Universe games. If we're really going to blindly speculate about the potential for FS3, then Volition could have done a lot worse than to be acquired by a publisher who has a subsidiary with space game experience.
I posted about it back on page -
- hrm apparently there are two threads on this topic
-
I have nothing but bad feelings because all of a sudden everyone and their kitchen sink is getting ideas about the Freespace license, be it on the dev side or the fan side. And NOTHING good can come from that.
If FS3 happens or even seems it could happen, I give days before the community fragments itself to oblivion. This is really scaring me to the highest level.
I'm at a point where I'd rather Volition had been closed instead.
I mighty be a wrong person to say this all the years i been here i can say HLP is a very strong community and if there would be a FS3 (i doubt we ever seen it) the community would just grow stronger i mean just look at the people here what they are capable of, and in 2004? the united front against Derek smart it was something awesome even if nothing happened.
-
The odds of them coming after HLP for making mods are very low methinks.
If they make an FS3 they kind of owe us for keeping the base alive this long anyways. It just doesn't seem like something they would do.
'Those jerks are writing fanfiction for a game that came out 14 years ago! TAKE EM DOWN!' <--- Seems kind of silly.
Also I kind of think the FS3 would be more of a boon to the community then a deathblow. Think about it. We've been compiling Freespace related stuff forever. We have a comprehensive wiki, experienced players, oodles of discussion for the lorehounds, and mods and old backstory for the people who start new at FS3 and want to learn more. If anything I think HLP is poised to become the premier hub for all things FS in a much larger community, should FS3 come out and make this series popular again. I doubt Volition would even try to prevent that. Vibrant and natural communities like this are always better for building a game's popularity and appeal then a ham fisted company developed site that no one likes.
This is of course, IF it comes out. And yes, while I am an undying fan of the old games (we're coming up on the 15th anniversary guys!) I am firmly in the camp of wanting FS3. What's the worst that could happen? It's bad? Whatever. Do you really think the people here at HLP are gonna let a little thing like ****ty canon stop them from writing damn good alternate reality mods?
Edit- I am also salivating at the new tools that may be available for said mods with a brand new game.
-
Seriously, there's a certain massive franchise that's a prime example against the idea of, "The terrible sequels ruined the original!" And that's with the creator of said franchise doing his damnedest to ruin said originals over more than a decade. In the incredibly-unlikely event that something ever came out, and in the compound-unlikely event that it was horrible, we'd just do the same thing as with that franchise: pretend that the new product doesn't exist, and blissfully continue about our business. And who knows, maybe we'd even cook up a Plinkett-style review of it. :p
-
Seriously, there's a certain massive franchise that's a prime example against the idea of, "The terrible sequels ruined the original!" And that's with the creator of said franchise doing his damnedest to ruin said originals over more than a decade. In the incredibly-unlikely event that something ever came out, and in the compound-unlikely event that it was horrible, we'd just do the same thing as with that franchise: pretend that the new product doesn't exist, and blissfully continue about our business. And who knows, maybe we'd even cook up a Plinkett-style review of it. :p
And what franchise might that be?
-
Seriously, there's a certain massive franchise that's a prime example against the idea of, "The terrible sequels ruined the original!" And that's with the creator of said franchise doing his damnedest to ruin said originals over more than a decade. In the incredibly-unlikely event that something ever came out, and in the compound-unlikely event that it was horrible, we'd just do the same thing as with that franchise: pretend that the new product doesn't exist, and blissfully continue about our business. And who knows, maybe we'd even cook up a Plinkett-style review of it. :p
And what franchise might that be?
I think he meant the terrible prequels. That should clue you in :P
-
Seriously, there's a certain massive franchise that's a prime example against the idea of, "The terrible sequels ruined the original!" And that's with the creator of said franchise doing his damnedest to ruin said originals over more than a decade. In the incredibly-unlikely event that something ever came out, and in the compound-unlikely event that it was horrible, we'd just do the same thing as with that franchise: pretend that the new product doesn't exist, and blissfully continue about our business. And who knows, maybe we'd even cook up a Plinkett-style review of it. :p
And what franchise might that be?
Oh come on, he wasn't even trying to hide it...
-
Star Wars? It did come to mind. I wondered if it might be a straight gaming franchise though. Now with the prequels mentioned, what else could it be? But I don't understand the thing about the creator trying to bury his own creation (Eps IV, V and VI) Why would you do that? I just watched the films, and played some Star Wars games. It doesn't really go much further than that with me.
-
Well - who shot first (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first)? Hmmm? :P
-
Well - who shot first (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first)? Hmmm? :P
Tch. There's something I didn't know. Han always opened fire first for me. There's no reason to change that, Greedo just basically tells Han he's going to kill him.
Oh and let's not forget the idiocy of the fact that a bounty hunter must therefore be unable to hit a man at point blank range.
-
Well now we all know who's been living under a rock for the past ten years. :p
-
Well now we all know who's been living under a rock for the past ten years. :p
Hey-hey-hey! If I've never seen it, I've never seen it.
Did they do anything else to them?
-
Speculations at this point are mostly useless, but with two very high profile space-sims in the making (Star Citizen and Elite:Dangerous) and a dozen smaller ones listed on Kickstarter we might see a resurgence of the space-sim genre.
Space Citizen raised almost 8 mil. $ from crowdfunding alone and that is about 60-75% of the budget of a typical AAA game (single platform). This shows quite a large interest for this so-called "dead" genre. It also generated a lot of media attention so if any one of this games is succesfull, big studios an publishers will jump on old and new franchieses in the blink of the eye. So it makes sense, if that happens, that Koch Media will resurrect in some form FS. What form that "resurrection" will take is anyone's guess right now. One problem is that DeepSilver has quite a history of releasing buggy games (i.e. Gothic 3, Dead Island, Risen), on the other hand, even those games were quite good in their own rights.
One caveat... there is no mention, as far as i know, so far, that KochMedia actualy brought the rights for FreeSpace. From what i remeber :v: does not own the IP rights for FS so..
-
Well now we all know who's been living under a rock for the past ten years. :p
Hey-hey-hey! If I've never seen it, I've never seen it.
Did they do anything else to them?
Hooboy, did they ever (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases)! :)
Some of it was kinda cool (new flight scenes for the attack on the 1st Death Star), others were pretty bad (new voice for Boba Fett, new Anakin ghost, just to name some of my personal bugbears)
-
Well now we all know who's been living under a rock for the past ten years. :p
Hey-hey-hey! If I've never seen it, I've never seen it.
You don't even need to have seen what happened...it's pretty much the single-biggest focus of nerd rage ever. :p
And as far as rights go, I wonder what happened to those of the Red Faction series. Maybe :v: holds them itself.
-
One problem is that DeepSilver has quite a history of releasing buggy games (i.e. Gothic 3, Dead Island, Risen), on the other hand, even those games were quite good in their own rights.
Not to open up another controversy but you shouldn't cite Gothic 3 here ... Deep Silver only handeled distribution outside the capabilites of JoWooD (who were the primary publisher on this) and it was JoWooD who enforced the unrealistic dead-lines Phirana Bites set themselves in the contracts for the project... leading to short cuts in development time and QA
Note: JoWood went backrupt sometime ago and will never ever ruin a franchise again (too late for Gothic and SpellForce though) - the remains of that company too were absorbed into Deep Silver
-
Not to open up another controversy but you shouldn't cite Gothic 3 here ... Deep Silver only handled distribution outside the capabilities of JoWooD (who were the primary publisher on this) and it was JoWooD who enforced the unrealistic dead-lines Phirana Bites set themselves in the contracts for the project... leading to short cuts in development time and QA
Note: JoWood went backrupt sometime ago and will never ever ruin a franchise again (too late for Gothic and SpellForce though) - the remains of that company too were absorbed into Deep Silver
Fair point! Also i should note that DeepSilver developed/published some great games, and (from what i heard form some devs that had contact with them) don't put a lot of pressure on developers
-
http://www.kochmedia.com/press/news/news-details/koch-media-aquires-ip-rights-for-saints-row-metro-and-development-studio-volition.html
Seems like they don't care to mention any games other then the ones that are just released. With INTERPLAY still holding the rights to FreeSpace, I don't see how volition has any other option other then to put it on their hall of fame next to Descent & Red Faction and forget about it. If they do decide to make it, I'll buy several copies!!!
-
Oh yeah, who was it killed Red Faction? Any possibility that Koch could decide to resurrect it?
-
Oh yeah, who was it killed Red Faction? Any possibility that Koch could decide to resurrect it?
THQ killed it. The problem was that, instead of building on the rather good RF: Guerrilla, they decided that the best next step for the franchise would be a more linear Third-Person Shooter; And while RF: Armageddon was a rather solid effort, it wasn't really all that outstanding. Their misguided attempts to turn RF into a cross-media franchise (They did commission a SyFy Movie for it!) didn't help either.
-
There is going to be a FS3?? HELL YEAH!! ;)
-
There is going to be a FS3?? HELL YEAH!! ;)
Where did you hear that?
-
RF2 was best :P
-
There's already a FS3. Why people are orgasming and/or gnashing their teeth about a potential future that already exists is beyond me.
-
:wtf:
-
inb4bpis/isnotfs3
-
Yeah, let us not go there again. I still am interested in hearing how Windrunner seems so certain that there's going to be an FS3 though.
-
Yeah, let us not go there again. I still am interested in hearing how Windrunner seems so certain that there's going to be an FS3 though.
from the winking smiley I think it's a piss take
-
Yeah, let us not go there again. I still am interested in hearing how Windrunner seems so certain that there's going to be an FS3 though.
from the winking smiley I think it's a piss take
This dude got it right. I was just yanking your chain. Every time there is news about Volition people get excited/upset about FS3 and the IP rights, hence the half-ass attempt of a joke :).
-
inb4bpis/isnotfs3
Don't be ridiculous. I'm referring to the widely acclaimed FS3 Search for Bosch that was one of the highlights of last year in HLP.
-
I was not a registered member back then but I miss xX_LORD_ULTRA_DEATH_Xx :(
The horrible spelling, the crazy objective shenanigans, and the **** load of missiles that can blow up colossuses in a single hit were the pinnacle of FRED modding.
-
I was not a registered member back then but I miss xX_LORD_ULTRA_DEATH_Xx :(
:eek: Did he died?
-
I was not a registered member back then but I miss xX_LORD_ULTRA_DEATH_Xx :(
He's still around. It's just that the admins aren't revealing whose alt-nick he was. Usually alt-nicking is punishable by a ban, but in this case it fit the theme of the campaign so perfectly that we're quite happy to leave it as a mystery who he was.
I did point out at the the time that it wasn't one of the usual suspects. :p
-
Wasn't the real author mentioned in the FS3 release thread?
edit: spelling!!!
-
I never figured it out :mad:
-
when in doubt blame axem
-
Wasn't the real author mentioned in the FS3 release thread?
edit: spelling!!!
IIRC the real author posted on that thread and I said as much. But my recollection may easily be faulty and I'm not giving out any more hints.
-
I remember that thread...
Turned into a "We know and you don't! Na nana nanaa naaa!"
-
I checked; the real author did indeed post in that thread. :)
-
It's up to the real author to reveal himself and claim his much deserved credit for it.
-
And much praise will be due to him. After all, he was the single modder able to conclude the unfinished Freespace trilogy.
-
It really does smell like Axem...... The UEF assault at the end.
I absolutely FAP over that.