Jan 8, 2014

Alien: Isolation Devs Talk Xenos, Horror & the Ripley Dynasty

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Brendan Caldwell)

We sent Brendan to Creative Assembly to meet the star xenomorph of their new first-person survival horror, Alien: Isolation. While he was able to file yesterday’s extensive hands-on report from the field, he has not been seen since. But a crack team of RPS androids infiltrated the facility and recovered a sticky voice recorder with his name on it, containing an interview with Al Hope, Creative Lead on the project and Jon McKellan, Lead UI Art & Design. Here is a transcript of that interview, in which they discuss why this is true to Alien, who else players may encounter, how they think they can keep a single foe scary throughout, hiding in lockers for ten minutes and how and why Ripley’s daughter is the protagonist. (more…)

Jan 7, 2014

Hands on Alien: Isolation

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Brendan Caldwell)

We have all been burned by past Alien games and I would like us to maintain a healthy scepticism about Creative Assembly s recently unveiled Alien: Isolation, which I went to see and play just before the turn of the year. With this in mind, I believe it an obligation, before we begin discussing this new threat, to observe a moment of silence in which we can all remember the brave souls we lost to the Colonial Marines disaster.

*an eerie hush envelopes the world as billions of people solemnly mute Spotify>*

Thank you.

The good news is that, despite keeping that scepticism intact, my recent hands-on with Isolation has given me cause for hope. With luck (and no small amount of effort from the development team) we are a little closer to having an Alien game that actually captures the feel of the original movie. (more…)

Jul 29, 2013

Michael Biehn: voicing Hicks in Aliens Colonial Marines “wasn’t fun at all”

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection

Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn't a fun game to play, it was no fun to make, and I wouldn't be surprised if the poor sales assistants stocking it all got nasty cuts from the box - like the tomb of Tutankhamun, anyone with any connection to it seems to have suffered in one way or another. And now we have another casualty: Michael 'Corporal Hicks/Kyle Reese' Biehn.

Not only was Biehn's character shoehorned into the game in the most ridiculous manner (although part of me is grateful the team invented a way to reverse Hicks' pointless death at the start of Alien 3), it seems lending his voice to the project just "wasn't fun at all".

As Biehn explained in an interview with Game Informer, Aliens: Colonial Marines "seemed kind of passionless. I think in movies, television, and the gaming world, you get some people that are really, really passionate, and some people that are just going through the paces. They think that because they have a brand name they’re going to get a hit game or hit movie out of it. That certainly was the situation on ."

By contrast, Biehn had a much better time providing the voice for hero Rex Banner Colt in Ubisoft's 80s sci-fi love letter Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

" is such an interesting and creative presence. He has such energy and such passion," Biehn continued, conforming to at least seven Hollywood cliches. "One of the things that I really, really enjoy working still in this business is finding people that have that kind of passion."

If you want to hear more of Biehn not having a good time, Gearbox and friends recently released a single-player expansion to Colonial Marines called Stasis Interrupted, which as you may have guessed is the surprising sequel to Girl, Interrupted tells the story of what happened to poor old Hicks when he was supposedly being killed in that stasis pod.

Ta, Joystiq.

Jul 22, 2013

Aliens: Colonial Marines Update Released

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection - Valve

General
• Adjusted melee encounter animations
• Various AI Improvements
   o Adjusted Xeno behavior to only allow for tail attacks when they’re on ceilings
   o Fixed an issue that could cause Xenos to walk upright on ceilings
   o Adjusted Lurker AI to retreat a bit after a close encounter
   o Fixed a bug where AI marines would occasionally default pose if incapacitated from a melee encounter
   o Fixed a bug where AI would still be targetable by Xenos while incapacitated
• Changed the close encounter lighting to fade out instead of abruptly turning off
• Addressed an issue where player weapons would possibly continue to fire during melee encounters
• Adjusted the dissolve effect for Xeno head pieces and particles in Bug Hunt and multiplayer
• Adjusted the attack angle for the Xeno tail stab to prevent stretching
• Addressed an issue where Xeno gore effects would occasionally play twice
• Addressed an issue with the ‘Eat This!’ achievement from not being unlocked when using the double-barreled flush gun
• Addressed a rare crash bug when using interactive objects
• Addressed an issue where the motion tracker ping would play when you didn’t have a motion tracker available
• Addressed an issue where some particles would not appear when the World Detail slider was set to the minimum. NOTE: This may require some users to re-configure the World Detail slider (under Settings -> Video ) to ensure the setting is applied properly.

Campaign
• Adjusted “Recruit” difficulty to be easier. (Other difficulty options have not changed)

Versus
• Adjusted a broken Extermination Point in Excavation
• Addressed an issue in Extermination where the last two Extermination Points used would sometimes immediately reactivate
• Addressed an issue that wouldn’t let you select spectator cameras when joining games in progress

Jun 11, 2013

New DLC Available - Aliens: Colonial Marines - Movie Map Pack

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection - Valve

Aliens: Colonial Marines - Movie Map Pack, all new content for Aliens: Colonial Marines is Now Available on Steam!

Fight head-to-head against other players on familiar grounds with 4 exciting new maps set in locations from previous aliens movies; Alien™, Aliens™ and Alien 3™

May 9, 2013

Game Over: TimeGate Shut Down, Most Staff Laid Off

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Nathan Grayson)

Welp, seems that time’s up for TimeGate. After the Section 8 and Aliens: Colonial Marines campaign dev filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, reports recently surfaced that the entire operation’s now kaput. I did a little digging of my own, and sources very close to the company confirmed the reports to RPS without hesitation. Details are still fairly scant at the moment, but you’ll find a few after the break.

(more…)

May 9, 2013

Colonial Marines devs TimeGate Studios reportedly laying off all staff

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection

Last week, we heard that Aliens: Colonial Marines co-developers TimeGate had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following poor reception of the game and a false advertising lawsuit. As of today, Kotaku reports that its sources are saying the studio's staff has been laid off.

The reason for the closure may have to do with an attempt by Colonial Marines publisher SouthPeak to force a liquidation of the studio in arbitration. We have no official word yet on whether this is the case, but we are continuing to follow the story as more details become available. TimeGate, founded in 1998, was probably best known prior to Colonial Marines for the sci-fi FPS Section 8.

TimeGate was known to be working on a new, free-to-play project called Minimum, which was scheduled to enter a closed alpha last month. The fate of the project is unknown, but a total liquidation of the studio would seem to leave little chance of its eventual release.

May 7, 2013

New DLC Available - Aliens: Colonial Marines - Reconnaissance Pack

Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection - Valve

Aliens: Colonial Marines - Reconnaissance Pack, all new content for Aliens: Colonial Marines is Now Available on Steam.

Battle it out against other players across 4 all new maps in the 'Aliens: Colonial Marines - Reconnaissance Pack' and instill fear into enemy marines with horrifying new xeno customisation content. Users that have purchased the Aliens: Colonial Marines Season Pass receive this content automatically and do not need to purchase it separately