Game News Bloodlines in 2005

[Ausir]

Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Because of the stolen source code, Valve's Half-Life 2 has been futher delayed to summer 2004. Unfortunately, according to <a target=_blank href=http://money.cnn.com/2004/02/02/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/>CNN</a> it's not the only delayed game.
<br>
<uL>"Half-Life 2" wasn't the only game delayed by the source-code theft. Valve had licensed out the game's "Source" graphics engine to developer Troika, which was hard at work building "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines," a PC role-playing game. That game, initially set to be released this year, had to be delayed to implement the same security fixes needed on HL2. It now has a target release date of Spring 2005, said Trokia co-founder Jason Anderson. </ul>
<br>
The delay might be a good thing, though. Maybe at last we'll get a polished Troika game.
<br>
<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com/">Blue's News</A>

 

[Sol Invictus]

I have only two words for the hackers who stole the source code:
MOTHER FUCKER

 

[Trash]

Fuc fuck fuck fuck fuck

Well at least the game could be troika's first polished title, AND I might be able to buy a pc that's capable of running it.
Always trying to look at the bright side,

Trash

 

[Voss]

Feh. Blame Valve.

It sounds like the did the rough equivalent of wandering through a rough neighborhood flashing a thick wad of cash. Yes, blame the ones who stole it, but smack Valve in the back of the head for giving them the opportunity.

Oh, yeah- thats a hell of a delay. How far along is Bloodlines? Because if it's close to done, and I were Troika and had to sit on it because of someone elses stupidity, I'd be pissed.

 

[Moondog]

Were the culprits who did the thieving ever caught?

 

[HanoverF]

Well just because there's more time, doesn't mean they will be paid to work on it past a certain date (of course that hasn't always stopped them) Plus its hard to know how much time the security changes will take.

 

[Nightjed]

i dont get it, why do they have to pull vampire back ? its not multiplayer based like hf2, its not really hurt by the code theft maybe its just an excuse to delay the release

 

[suibhne]

Crazy. I wonder how much of this is Valve ensuring they're first to market with their own tech.

Makes it all the more imperative for Troika to start on a second project, if they haven't already. I'd like an announcement sooner rather than later, thanks.

 

[Transcendent One]

While this may ensure Troika will have enough time to polish the game off (if it ships in an unfinished state like ToEE I'd be totally pissed off), this is indeed bad news. Fuck whoever stole the code and fuck Valve for not being careful with their property.

 

[Nightjed]

the whole delay is pointless, hf2 will get cheats in less than a month anyway, it doesnt matter what they rewrite, they had to have another reason for delaying it.

 

[Anonymous]

Also gives more time for ToEE patches, yay (and possible mod tools)!

 

[Ausir]

ToEE and Bloodlines are made by 2 different teams anyway.

 

[EEVIAC]

i dont get it, why do they have to pull vampire back ? its not multiplayer based like hf2, its not really hurt by the code theft maybe its just an excuse to delay the release

Valve were never going to allow another game to come out before HL2 using their tech. They don't want Vampire taking potential sales away from their own game.

 

[Nightjed]

Valve were never going to allow another game to come out before HL2 using their tech. They don't want Vampire taking potential sales away from their own game.

well that takes me to another issue, wth did they license an engine that is not even finished yet ?, woooo lets make halo2 with the duke forever engine so that the game never goes out as well

 

[EEVIAC]

well that takes me to another issue, wth did they license an engine that is not even finished yet ?, woooo lets make halo2 with the duke forever engine so that the game never goes out as well

I don't think its a matter of engines being finished, its a matter of market placement. A publisher (Activision) licensed the engine and offered Troika the chance to make a game using another of their licenses (Vampire.) A lot of people are waiting for a the next Half Life game, yet a decent proportion of those are just waiting for the next-gen tech. I'm just assuming that Valve would have stipulated some "non-compete" agreement in the contract so that they can get as many of those initial sales for their product as possible. Its the same reason we won't see Quake 4 before Doom 3, I guess.

This is just idle speculation on my part by the way, I've tried to think about it logically - yet I understand that speculating about an industry where Occam's Razor doesn't apply is not likely to get you any closer to the truth.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

You would think Valve would be more careful, especially with the coding to their HL2 engine, which has been one of the most awaited games. I mean, did they not think anyone would try a little B&E?

 

[bobbob]

i dont get it, why do they have to pull vampire back ? its not multiplayer based like hf2, its not really hurt by the code theft maybe its just an excuse to delay the release

Valve were never going to allow another game to come out before HL2 using their tech. They don't want Vampire taking potential sales away from their own game.

Yeah right you must be smoking something. HL2 will do well no matter what, valve certainly doesn't fear Troika. Only one pc game can affect HL2 sales and thats Doom 3. All the angry gimps in the world saying how they hate valve won't change the fact that HL2 will have a massive advertising campaign, great gameplay and be the sequel to the shooter that changed shooters and inspired many uninspired clones.

 

[Astromarine]

don't worry, noone here is threatening your masculinity and virility ba criticizing your favorite online game

You mean that Valve, being the froody hunks of man-meat they are, would just say "fuck that, we don't fear anyone" and allow another game to come before the game they've been hailing as a revolutionary, never-been-done-as-good-before, piece of genius? OF COURSE, why could I not see? Fuck market strategies, what matters is to appear butch to our fans who, if not for their faith in our supreme hunkness, would be revealed as the pathetic wimps they are.

 

[Nightjed]

bobbob: what did hf do that "changed shooters and inspired clones" ? i dont remember anything special from it, the ai ? it might have been a little better than usual but not THAT much, graphics ? they were average at the time, multiplayer ? quake did that allready, game design ? system shock 1/2 are older, have a similar story and a much better design.

so what did hf do other than having an extra share of hype ?

 

[Psilon]

Valve has done practically nothing themselves beyond the initial Half-Life and a hell of a lot of media manipulation. PowerPlay and CS: Condition Zero never materialized, Steam's a laggy mess, TeamFortress 2's up there with Duke Nukem Forever on the vaporware lists... Don't give them credit for Counter-Strike, either; that was popular well before Valve hired Gooseman.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Yeah right you must be smoking something. HL2 will do well no matter what, valve certainly doesn't fear Troika. Only one pc game can affect HL2 sales and thats Doom 3. All the angry gimps in the world saying how they hate valve won't change the fact that HL2 will have a massive advertising campaign, great gameplay and be the sequel to the shooter that changed shooters and inspired many uninspired clones.

First off, it's a fucking game, not a way of life. Get over the crybaby shit. Fuck Halflife. While I did enjoy it the first time I played it, it didn't revolutionize shit except for to maybe add more 'story' than your average FPS does. Unreal was the game that changed how single player FPS' were designed. Quake II was the game that revolutionized the multiplayer aspect of FPS'. Besides, I personally feel that SS2 holds the top single player FPS slot. But that's my opinion. Sheesh, you made it sound like you jerk-off regularly while playing HL. :shock:

 

[Jora]

Rpgdot has new information:

Gamespy's daily news site has this to say:
On a related note, Activision is saying that a date we were throwing around for Troika's Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, (spring 2005) is incorrect, but did not say whether or not the game has been delayed or if it has a new date -- the game had been pegged by most retailers as coming out in June 2004, while Activision's official site simply states 2004.

http://www.rpgdot.com

:D

 

[Whipporowill]

Heh. Mebbeh Jason was a bit too careful in his release date estimations? Or is Activision just covering until they can say that it'll actually come out in 2005? All these fiscal reports and stuff that I-play seems to master so well... ho hum.

 

[Spazmo]

Psilon: I read the other day that some site (Voodoo Extreme, I think, or whichever site is hosted by IGN) got a couple review copies of CS:CZ, so it's apparently pretty much finished, although I still say it'll fail utterly.

As for Half Life in general, hey, now it's a great game. It was just really cool. The only bad thing about it is how all the scripted sequences inspired later FPSs to be loaded with canned events--think MOHAA. As for the multiplayer, Quake II may have done it first, but goddamn if Half Life didn't do it really, really well. An engine that runs well on all sorts of computers and is easy to mod leads to dozens of thousands of people still playing Counter-Strike (and, to a lesser extent, my personal favourite Teamfortress Classic) today.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Wasn't Quake 2 missing the MP component on its release? I seem to remember something like that.