Gameguru Mania

[ggrobot]

Gamemag.ru conducted an investigation to clear up what's going on with
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -Shadow of Chernobyl: of November THQ made a decision to stop financing the development and to conduct a thorough revision to gain control over the development process. uot;We don't care what shape the game will ship

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Source: GGMania headlines
GGMania.com - Daily Gaming and Tech news

[Jelster]

Ouch.

Think its time THQ grabs what it can and just walks away.

Shame the developers BS their fans for so long*. Ripping off a company is one thing but dragging fans around with the same crap is pretty low.

* If the article is entirely true.

[VideoGamerJ]

[rockin]

[Uranium - 235]

STALKER to me was what Half-Life 2 was back in 2003. It looked like the greatest thing ever. It had great graphics, great innovations, and a lot of hype around it.

Then it mysteriously didn't appear on store shelves. Valve fabricated a net of lies and the game never showed up. In the meantime, other games got released. In a year, new, upcoming technologies were revealed.

And when Half-Life 2 finally came, I simply didn't care anymore. The graphics looked dated. The gameplay had been beaten out by far more intuitive games. In the end, HL2 was just a 'same-old' game. Four games were the 'most anticipated' for 2003. Far Cry. Half-life 2. STALKER. Doom 3. Only two shipped. Doom 3's graphics blew me away. The gameplay wasn't superb, but it definitely was beating HL2. Far Cry blew HL2's outdoor graphics away in areas Doom 3 didn't. In addition, the AI in FarCry was far superior, smarter, and more impressive than HL2, and the... 'Linear/Open ended'-style outdoor environments really gave FPS games a new edge.

HL2 came out a year late and a dollar short. Laughable AI. A poorly-presented story (it felt like reading a book, and I skipped fifty pages in the middle). Stale gameplay. The only thing innovative was tossing some boxes around, which accounted for, from an optimistic point of view, 2% of the actual game. The parts that impressed me were the scripted sequences, which, to be honest, aren't really anything to be proud of nowadays.

STALKER is in the same boat. It looks VERY dated. Back in 2003, seeing all the rungs on the cranes and wires all in the same shot, as real, tangible objects was mind-blowing. Seeing the bump-mapping in the tile walls was total sex. Nowadays, it looks like what it is - a game that should've come out three years ago. THQ is right to push out whatever they have. STALKER has done nothing but hemmorhage money from them, and it has nothing to show for it. The development team has been lying more then Valve.

STALKER was second in line to becoming the next Duke Nukem Forever. I wouldn't pay full price for a four year old used car, would you?

[yhancik]

obviously it's just some hoax

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=133377



aside from that, i don't really agree with the "Stalker is now so dated we don't give a fuck anymore"

it surely makes sense if your only interest in the game is about the 3D egine or something, but hey !
Deus Ex, Morrowind or Operation Flashpoint might be "dated", they're still great, valuable gaming experiences in 2006

it's terrible, it just sounds like "Return of the Jedi is crap, special effects in The Phantom Menace are just better"
(well, bad example, but i guess it speaks to more people)

so, if what they said is true about the game, Stalker still is something unique in term of gameplay', something that i would still enjoy even with a "dated" engine
(mh and actually even if some engine like Crysis looks way better, i prefer to look at Stalker... a question of aesthetics... but i feel like almost nobody cares about that)

[Jelster]

Stalker could still be a great game but the constant "We're close, oh no it'll be a bit longer" is wearing a bit thin that even a rumour/hoax/leak is believable.

I wonder why THQ hasn't sent out a press release backing up GSC?

This wouldn't be the first time someone has denied any foul play only to follow it up two weeks later by saying the project is close etc etc.

I'm a gamer, I hope GSC just get the game out and get it out in good condition. But if wishes could bring out a good game, I'm be playing Soldner instead of writing this.

[Nosferatu]

I still have confidence in GSC, I think they'll make it a great game. Some may probably say 'pff, what's this?', but I'll appreciate their work no matter what the result may be. We'll all have the opportunity to make our final judgements this autumn.

[mustangsvt]