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Dear oh dear, just what happened to SEGA and Gearbox Software’s Aliens: Colonial Marines between last summer and the day it arrived in stores? The difference in what we were told we were getting and what was actually printed on discs is astonishing, but so far no one is officially talking about how this came to be.
Events began to unravel once the review embargo lifted on Tuesday morning, with floods of negative press rushing onto the internet – ourselves awarding the game a hugely disappointing 3/10. Steve asked why developers keep getting Aliens so wrong? giving his ideas on what it would take to make a game worthy of the franchise. The s*** really hit the fan once earlier released footage of the game was compared to the final version, leading almost everyone to enter a WTF state of disbelief.
Despite all the negative press it would not be a great shock to see Aliens: Colonial Marines storming to the top of the All Formats Chart on Monday. Dead Space 3 is the current chart king, recording the biggest launch of 2013 so far, but selling substantially fewer copies than Dead Space 2 managed at launch. Ni No Kuni and DmC also fell, suggesting they may not stick around for much longer.
With the PS4 expected to be announced on February 20 the week also featured plenty of next gen chatter, including new game teases from Motorstorm developer Evolution and LittleBigPlanet creator Media Molecule. There was also a timely update on The Last Guardian, sparking suggestions it too will be shown next week for PS4. What appears to be a prototype PS4 controller was also been pictured in the wild, showing the much rumoured touch pad on the front of the chunkier Dualshock. Xbox 720 rumours also continued at pace, this time a source claiming Microsoft’s new console makes Kinect 2 and game installs mandatory.
EA too managed to squeeze out a few words on the next generation, stating backwards compatibility looks unlikely, next gen Frostbite titles are looking spectacular, and that whilst it would love to eliminate the used game market, there is a place for it.
Microsoft was typically bullish about the prospect of PS4 hitting the headlines next week, stating it doesn’t believe the PS4 announcement will hurt Xbox 360 sales. Let’s hope Wii U can ride the storm – after a dismal January sales can’t afford to drop off any more. 3DS looks to be going from strength to strength, however, with interest boosted further this week thanks to news of key release dates and a port of Donkey Kong Country Returns.
It all looked over for Gas Powered Games after the Wildman Kickstarter was cancelled, but along came World of Tanks maker Wargaming to snap up the Chris Taylor fronted studio.
In other news, Take-Two confirmed it had secured the WWE license from THQ, and Naughty Dog came clean about a Last of Us delay.
That’s me done for another week, but be sure to check out the second episode of the new VideoGamer.com Podcast.
Bye.
