Game News Bloodlines confirmed for the 16th

[Ortchel]

merry andrew is persecuting me.

 

[Visbhume]

To release Bloodlines at the same time as HL2 seems a bit risky to me. Aren't they concerned that the game might be ignored amidst all of the HL2's brouhaha ?

 

[dojoteef]

To release Bloodlines at the same time as HL2 seems a bit risky to me. Aren't they concerned that the game might be ignored amidst all of the HL2's brouhaha ?

It probably will by most people, but definitely not by me. I've got a pre-order of Bloodlines waiting and have yet to decide whether I'm going to get HL2 yet or not. I probably will just not soon. I really dislike their copy-protection scheme that they've set up this time. Having to go online to unlock the game in order to play it. It's similar to Windows XP copy protection. We've seen how easily people crack these things, it just ends up being a hassle to those who are doing honest business.

In my case, I'm currently behind a NAT so I can't connect to Steam. If that's the mechanism they use for online activation of the product I'm screwed (because they don't even have a phone line set up in case people can't activate online like Microsoft has for XP). It actually pisses me off, because I got a HL2 voucher off of eBay so I tried to download the game using Steam and it didn't work. I figured I'd at least be able to connect to Steam, just not play any online games, but I when I read the FAQ for Steam I found out they don't have any support for people behind NATs. They basically say tough luck or get a new ISP. Considering that I get 'free' broadband internet through my apartment complex, I don't think I want to pay for additional internet access as well since the 'free' internet access is essentially part of my monthly apartment payments.

I just feel sorry for the casual gamers who don't keep up on all the gaming news and see HL2 in stores and get it without knowing about the online activation. They'll go through a really big hassle if they can't activate online, since most places don't like to take back opened PC software.

So, until I have a solution to that problem, I'm sure as hell not going to buy HL2. I just hope Bloodlines doesn't end up having that same bs, though I'm pretty sure they won't since it's a different publisher and they aren't using Steam .

 

[Briosafreak]

I love how all the major releases are crammed into a single month every year, thats some super brainy marketing there.

It`s silly. In december 98 Half Life, Blade Runner and Fallout2 were released in my country. I got them all eventually, when i wanted to exchange info and impressions about the games the guys i knew only talked about Half Life, it took a while until non-pirated games freaks had
all the games. By then Fallout2 and Blade Runner where already considered underperformers by the publishers.

Not good news for Troika, i`m afraid, still i have to try the game before i buy it, so i have some time to find the money (somewhere...probably...)

 

[The Exar]

Even if Bloodlines has an excellent advertisement, half-life2 will surely "devour" him. That's sad. Why the hell are all these hesitations?

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Whenever they release bloodlines this holiday its going to get swamped, just look at all the freakin games coming out. Even if they release the game at a quite time next year people would still not give a fuck.

Also, Exitium not supporting piracy is comedy gold.

 

[suibhne]

Ths is olp nwss I chkd eb gams & gamestp daysagoe nd thy sad 16th so wht big dal.

(I'm still happy, just you're lame and I'm not.)

Yeah, sure, except that those dates are almost always wrong. Distributors are legally required to list dates, with the result that said dates are generally pulled out of their corporate asses.

This most recent announcement, on the other hand, you can take to the bank.

In other news: "English, motherfucker. Do you speak it?" :D

 

[The Exar]

Also, Exitium not supporting piracy is comedy gold.

It's going to be a long discussion....

 

[kumquatq3]

While releasing on the same day as HL2 sucks, it's not like a week or two later would matter all that much.

In fact, 6 days later "Pirates!" comes out and shortly there after Prince of Persia 2 comes out for the PC, as does World of Warcraft. So then you would have to worry about HL2s wake and other high profile PC games. And thats just it, thats just the PC releases. There are plenty of big games coming out on other systems that multiplatform gamers will have to choose from. Metroid Prime 2 and Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater literally bookend the release day of HL2. Its nuts.

I guess Atari and Trokia are thinking that the earlier you get the game out the better, so sales of other big games won't cannabilize the market before your game even gets out. That and they couldn't wait on releasing it post holiday. Lets face it, January is a waste land for games, and Febuary 2005 will have several high profile PC games too. Most notably KOTOR2 for the PC which, regardless on your feelings on it, I can't imagine Vampire doing that well against, even with the delayed release. There is Republic Commando, a FPS, that would give it competion too, among others. Plus you don't have holiday sales helping you out now.

So you would have too hold it for a quarter of a year more to find some open market space, imo. I don't think Atari or Troki was prepared to do that.

 

[The Exar]

Activision and Troika aren't such fools, preharps they think that Bloodlines is wide-known and it has the capabilities to fight for market space... Preharps it can beat all others(except Half-Life2) but i'm not so optimistic...We'll see.

 

[taks]

Don't see why not. Just got nuttin in em.

plenty in 'em... vampyre sperms eat each other before reaching their goal.
taks

 

[taks]

btw, if i'm not mistaken, atari doesn't have anything to do with V:tM... activision is the publisher.
taks

 

[The Exar]

btw, if i'm not mistaken, atari doesn't have anything to do with V:tM... activision is the publisher.
taks

Sorry, my mistake.

 

[Mendoza]

I actually think it's got a pretty high profile now. It's shot up into the top 10 most wanted games in PC Gamer (the most read pc gaming mag in the UK) for the last 2 months, following the 5 part game talkthrough on the coverdisc, so I'm guessing a lot of people were impressed. And having headlining previews in all the big gaming websites isn't something most games achieve.

Personally I think releasing it asap is the best strategy, since there's just so many high profile releases coming out in the run up to Christmas. At least if it's competing against HL2 it's not competing against another RPG. And it's possible that HL2 may help sell copies since people may be looking for another Source game once they finish HL2 (assuming they're not playing HL1 Source or CS Source).

 

[merry andrew]

Yeah, sure, except that those dates are almost always wrong. Distributors are legally required to list dates, with the result that said dates are generally pulled out of their corporate asses.

This most recent announcement, on the other hand, you can take to the bank.

In other news: "English, motherfucker. Do you speak it?" :D

Oke fine fine. You're right, I wouldn't have gone to the bank until I had an official announcement. I still need to go to the bank, but I have a few days

 

[kumquatq3]

btw, if i'm not mistaken, atari doesn't have anything to do with V:tM... activision is the publisher.
taks

Sorry, my mistake.

Mine as well. Not sure what I was thinking considering Trokia is about as likely to work with Atari again as Interplay making a FO MMORPG

 

[Volourn]

"Not sure what I was thinking considering Trokia is about as likely to work with Atari again as Interplay making a FO MMORPG"

Not if Troika gets their way. <>

 

[Limorkil]

So does this mean we might actually have a decent RPG this year? Its pretty sad that the most recent game I have is Kotor.

 

[The Exar]

So does this mean we might actually have a decent RPG this year? Its pretty sad that the most recent game I have is Kotor.

Yeah, it does.

 

[Elwro]

In fact, 6 days later "Pirates!" comes out .

It got postponed to 2005

 

[Sol Invictus]

I guess Atari and Trokia are thinking that the earlier you get the game out the better, so sales of other big games won't cannabilize the market before your game even gets out. That and they couldn't wait on releasing it post holiday. Lets face it, January is a waste land for games, and Febuary 2005 will have several high profile PC games too. Most notably KOTOR2 for the PC which, regardless on your feelings on it, I can't imagine Vampire doing that well against, even with the delayed release. There is Republic Commando, a FPS, that would give it competion too, among others. Plus you don't have holiday sales helping you out now.

January is indeed a wasteland for games, as we've seen in the past. With a ton of high profile games coming out in Febuary, including the ones you mentioned, as well as Guild Wars, Nexus (It's certainly the only high profile space game), Dungeon Siege 2, Dungeon Lords, Pirates! (which is a little of everything) and a number of others it'll be very difficult for Vampire to survive in such an RPG-heavy release environment. At least by releasing on the 16th, Vampire will not have to go up against any RPGs whatsoever, and being an Action/FPS is certainly not Vampire's primary strength.

RPGs have always been niche products, so having a single RPG released during this period isn't going to hurt its sales very much, especially not with the RPG crowd who would probably have more difficulty buying it if they had to choose between Bloodlines and other RPGs.

 

[Whipporowill]

Don't know if it's been mentioned - but Bloodlines has quite a lot of preorders in already. While not on par with the monsters like HL2, Halo2 and kind - it's pretty substantial for an rpg. Also, getting the game out in 2004 might make it win RPG of the year by the default, which might be worth quite a lot for the first few months of 2005. It's not an ideal solution - which would have been a release earlier this year, a few months after a early summer release of Hl2, which incidentally didn't happen.

Now I just need to get my comp fixed in a week...

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

In fact, 6 days later "Pirates!" comes out .

It got postponed to 2005

Yeah. Ain't that some shit? :evil:

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So, Vamps have cannibalistic semen? I really had no idea. I figured they couldn't procreate, since they're dead.

 

[fnordcircle]

kinda off topic, but can vampires ejaculate?

Not White Wolf vamps. They can get hard-ons by expending a blood point, though.