Game News Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky's new game at Obsidian is being published by Take-Two Interactive

[IHaveHugeNick]

The actual marketing for new Wolf was fantastic. They've had amazing ads and trailers. All the political balloney only got injected into the project shortly before the launch.

 

[Fenix]

Oh, you are talking about vulvenstain2 yeah?
That game have that strong vomit-inducing effect, I've never seen before.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

More important, even if I concede your point that fans clamoring for Obsidian to make the next title could force Bethesda’s hand, it’s still beside the point. That’s because Obsidian absolutely does not own the brand in the minds of most consumers. Those of us who prefer New Vegas are a niche audience, even if, in this one rare case, the critics and journalists actually agree with us. As far as the casuals are concerned—and they’re the vast bulk of the marketplace—Bethesda is Fallout. No matter how many clowns on Twitter ask Sawyer or MCA when New Vegas 2 is coming out, it won’t threaten Bethesda, although I’m sure it pisses them off.

Mate, it's not just niche hardcore forums taking that stance anymore. Fallout 4 may have sold well but it was hounded even on the mainstream social media, it has by far the lowest fanbase scoring across entire Fallout franchise. You really don't have to go around reading the bowels of internet, to find the message that the next one should be given to Obsidian. It's everywhere. And I can certainly see how Zenimax wants to avoid prolonging that situation any further.

 

[Iskramor]

I don’t really remember these ads, but you can’t blame them for thinking that Nazis were still the ideal all purpose bad guys. That was always a pretty safe assumption. The fact that so many people acted like this game had contemporary relevance says a lot more about them than about the game or the marketing.

The official twitter account made direct references, including posting videos of people getting punched.

Im glad i have a record in police for beating antifa #Noregret

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

The New Cucklossus

That was really creative. Can you share your secrets?

 

[Cross]

More important, even if I concede your point that fans clamoring for Obsidian to make the next title could force Bethesda’s hand, it’s still beside the point. That’s because Obsidian absolutely does not own the brand in the minds of most consumers. Those of us who prefer New Vegas are a niche audience, even if, in this one rare case, the critics and journalists actually agree with us. As far as the casuals are concerned—and they’re the vast bulk of the marketplace—Bethesda is Fallout. No matter how many clowns on Twitter ask Sawyer or MCA when New Vegas 2 is coming out, it won’t threaten Bethesda, although I’m sure it pisses them off.

Mate, it's not just niche hardcore forums taking that stance anymore. Fallout 4 may have sold well but it was hounded even on the mainstream social media, it has by far the lowest fanbase scoring across entire Fallout franchise. You really don't have to go around reading the bowels of internet, to find the message that the next one should be given to Obsidian. It's everywhere. And I can certainly see how Zenimax wants to avoid prolonging that situation any further.

Fallout 4 was hounded in large part by the same people who adored Fallout 3, so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about how Bethesda views its reception just yet. Especially since the latest installment in their other flasgship franchise, Skyrim, received the complete opposite response for doing the same thing Fallout 4 was criticized for (removal of RPG elements, quests being designed as mindless filler activities, etc.): unanimous critical acclaim.

What you describe isn't exactly accurate either. From what I've sampled of the bowels of GameFaqs for example, which is probably the biggest gaming forum there is, NV seems to be regarded as inferior to both 3 & 4.

 

[skyst]

Anyway. One of the reasons FO4 sold so good is exactly because of NV

And you think NV sold well because it was so good, rather than because FO3 sold millions before it and Bethesda put millions in advertising it and most people thought and still think is a Bethesda game, right?

You're not wrong. A lot of people fucking adored FO3, especially console gamers who didn't have a lot of open world options at the time in a setting as interesting as Fallout. They were hungry for more Fallout. FO3 did damage in communities like ours where we saw it as a huge step back from FO2. However, Obsidian was pretty beloved back then, coming off of two solid NWN2 expansions and AP. There was a reason for just about anyone to check out NV and I still think it stands up against FO2 in many ways - FO1 is a masterpiece that will likely not be surpassed by the franchise.

 

[Blaine]

That was really creative. Can you share your secrets?

Right, here's how I make Texmex soft tacos:

• spices (per pound of beef) — tbsp chili powder, tbsp garlic powder, tbsp cumin, tsp salt, tsp paprika, 2 tsp Mexican oregano (ratio is 1 tbsp:3 tsp; use 60ml)
• handful of fresh whole cilantro (skippable for anti-cilantro Philistines)
• supple, tender lime that has slight juicy give when gently pressed with fingers (here in the US, you have to feel at typical stores to make sure it's good and ripe, otherwise it might taste like battery acid)
• 1 lb (453g) 93-97% lean ground beef, with a dash of olive oil in the pan (go as fancy as you like, or fattier if you prefer, but see note)
• homemade verde salsa, or a good off-the-shelf brand (in the US, Herdez is excellent)
• 3/4 cup (180ml) coarsely-grated Oaxaca or Cotija cheese (preferably rested to room temp), or just a quality Monterey Jack if you like; optionally, no cheese
• 6 oz. sour cream (I swear by the US brand Daisy)
• the best crisp, tender, flavorful lettuce variety you can find (I usually go with a quality Romaine or red leaf here in the US), whole leaf
• 6 good-quality, soft taco-sized (about 8"/20cm diameter) flour tortillas

Totally simple to make, just drizzle a little bit of your olive oil into the pan (no more than a dessert spoon's worth), then simmer the ground beef a smidge or two above medium (6 out of 10 increments) until almost all of the pink is out of the beef. (Note: If you choose to use fattier beef, then you must drain it before adding spices, and should probably skip the olive oil.) Add your spices and 3/4 cup (6 fl.oz.) of water, then lower heat to medium (5 out of 10 increments) and simmer until thickened/excess water is mostly evaporated.

While the beef is cooking, rinse, dry, and coarsely chop the cilantro. Rinse and thoroughly dry your lettuce (probably should be done in advance of it all, but whatever works for you). Lay six tortillas out on your counter space. Spoon a dessert spoon's worth of sour cream onto each of the tortillas and spread. Break the lettuce bones if using a bony lettuce, then mostly cover the tortillas one lettuce leaf thick, ripping and trimming the lettuce when necessary but preferring as large, whole leaves as you can manage. (The sour cream "pastes" the lettuce down and the lettuce serves as a barrier between the sour cream and the meat.)

Take the cooked and spicy beef off of the heat, then spoon an equal portion in a thick line down the center of each soft taco. Sprinkle the cheese directly onto the meat to get melty, sprinkle on the cilantro to taste, spritz with lime from a slice, and finally top with two dessert spoonfuls of verde salsa (if you go overboard, your tacos will be prone to be slightly runny; if you follow my directions to the letter and experiment a bit, they'll stay firm throughout the meal).

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Right, here's how I-

Ohhhhhhhh ok. Ok ok ok. I get it. I totally get it now. You just take something you don't like, substitute the word "cuck" for part of the word describing the thing you don't like, and then you have a whole brand new word. That's actually really really funny.

 

[Blaine]

Ohhhhhhhh ok. Ok ok ok. I get it. I totally get it now. You just take something you don't like, substitute the word "cuck" for part of the word describing the thing you don't like, and then you have a whole brand new word. That's actually really really funny.

It's only funny when someone gets triggered because of it and attempts to employ (for example) terrible, faux-dry, awkward sarcasm.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

No, man. It's super funny. Color me cuckpressed!

 

[FeelTheRads]

You look more imcucked to me.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

You look more imcucked to me.

I get it!

 

[Fairfax]

Fallout 4 was hounded in large part by the same people who adored Fallout 3, so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about how Bethesda views its reception just yet. Especially since the latest installment in their other flasgship franchise, Skyrim, received the complete opposite response for doing the same thing Fallout 4 was criticized for (removal of RPG elements, quests being designed as mindless filler activities, etc.): unanimous critical acclaim.

What you describe isn't exactly accurate either. From what I've sampled of the bowels of GameFaqs for example, which is probably the biggest gaming forum there is, NV seems to be regarded as inferior to both 3 & 4.

Things to consider here:

• Skyrim introduced millions of people to the series and Bethesda games in general, and most of them had no idea of what had been lost/dumbed down.
• Oblivion itself was very shallow and dumbed down from Morrowind, so the Oblivion->Skyrim transition is much less jarring than FNV->FO4.
• FNV had already sold ~12 million units right before FO4's launch, so that's a shitload of people who'd played FNV before FO4.
• Look at steam reviews: FNV is at 95% positive, the 2nd highest rated game published by Bethesda on steam, just below Dishonoured. Even Skyrim is lower at 93%, and FO4 itself is at 68%.
• FO4 was a downgrade even from FO3, so it makes sense that it was criticized by people who adored FO3.
  
• FO4 came out 6 months after TW3, which embarrassed Bethesda (and BioWare) games in every aspect. It raised the bar for AAA open world RPGs and made FO4's reception even worse, since a lot of costumers had just played/were playing a strictly superior game from the same genre.
• Paid mods and an expensive season pass with shitty DLC made things worse.

FNV>FO4 is as mainstream as it gets, and it makes sense that it bothers them immensely, but they'd never make that public.

 

[Diggfinger]

What's the song playing during Tim and Leonard's part?
Makes my incline-meter run wild

 

[boobio]

And Prey. And Evil Within 2.

Was there anything polarizing or obnoxious about the marketing there? It seems to me that Prey didn't do so well because the immersive sim fad waned and Evil Within 2 struggles to reconcile mid/late-00s survival horror action and modern trends (e.g. crafting, larger levels).

I don't think Prey suffered from some sort of immersive sim fatigue, it had a lot of things going against it:

It's effectively a new IP named after another game, but it doesn't resemble that game at all, and to make it worse, the cancelled sequel to that game (with a lot of fuckery behind that) looked more interesting.
The marketing didn't even push it as an immersive sim. The trailers were all action-heavy with cheesy lines and little of what people praised about the game.
Zenimax's review policy hurt the game's exposure right before launch. They tried to replace that with a demo, but the PC didn't get it and it wasn't very well received.
The game came out with performance issues and relatively common save corruption, the worst bug a game can possibly have.

Overall I thought it had much worse marketing than Wolfenstein 2. The controversy probably helped Wolfenstein 2, since it gave it a lot of free exposure when people weren't even talking about it

All of that and shit like this that turns people off

 

[Diggfinger]

Tags: Leonard Boyarsky; Obsidian Entertainment; Private Division; Take-Two Interactive; Tim Cain

T

The role-playing veterans at Obsidian are using their Private Division partnership to reunite original Fallout creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky for a new game set in a new universe.

“It was the opportunity to work with Tim on a new IP that we were creating from scratch again, because we did it on Fallout and Arcanum and those were great experiences and I just missed doing that, says Boyarsky, who most recently worked on Diablo III for Blizzard. “I missed working on single-player, in-depth RPGs with a lot of choice, consequence, and reactivity. I like making other types of games, but there is something special about the kind of games we started with Fallout that really appeals to us and speaks to us creatively.”

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So game will be single-player only?
While personally I'm mega happy with that, I hope it wont affect the sales/appeal too much.

Mr. Brian Fargo himself made the point that Wasteland 2 suffered in sales compared to Divinity for lacking multi-players (so main focus for WL3).

Am I wrong?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Fargo would say anything to deflect blame. Next will probably be that W2 wasn't "VR-ready".

 

[Zep Zepo]

Surprised Take Two is still a thing...Was there (not a T2 employee) during Derek Smart's first BC Fiasco.

Zep--

 

[hpstg]

Isn't Take Two the publisher of Rockstar? They don't sound like they would be starving.

 

[Riddler]

And Firaxis (both xcom games were massive mainstream hits)

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah they're a publisher and owner of Rockstar and Firaxis. In other words, they're quite fine.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So anything further on this?

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

So anything further on this?