Topic: Sega gets Aliens licence, passes them to Obsidian and Gearbox?

[idolminds]

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (December 11, 2006) - SEGA® of America Inc., SEGA® Europe Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising today announced a worldwide exclusive agreement to bring game content based on the critically-acclaimed Alien film franchise to next-generation gaming systems. Multiple titles, including a first-person shooter and a role playing game, are currently in pre-production with the first to be released in 2009. Securing the rights to produce Alien titles reinforces SEGA's strategy of combining premium licensed content with original IP to aggressively expand its global business.

"As a direct result of Fox's efforts over the past 27 years, Alien has become one of the most recognized franchises in the motion picture industry," said Simon Jeffery, President and Chief Operating Officer, SEGA of America, Inc. "SEGA will utilize the power of next-gen systems to blend the time-honored story with leading edge design technology to deliver a riveting and suspenseful gameplay experience."

"Alien is one of those special franchises that has continued to thrive in licensing long after it has left theaters. The L & M program has been very successful over the years because we have partnered with the best companies in each category and created appealing products that become must-haves for the extremely loyal Alien fans." added Elie Dekel, Executive Vice President, Fox Licensing & Merchandising. "We look forward to partnering with SEGA, a known leader in the gaming industry, to expand the program to the next generation gaming systems and bring the franchise to life with the newest technology and gameplay."

Since its 1979 debut, Alien and its three sequels have grossed more than $557 million worldwide, garnering numerous awards, including two Academy Awards®. In 2002, Alien was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. For more information, please visit www.sega.com/aliens

A FPS and a RPG based on Aliens. Gaming Target noticed on the official Sega Aliens site that both Obsidian (NWN2) and Gearbox (Brothers in Arms) were listed in the copyright section. This has since been changed.

[Quemaqua]

That's... odd.

[Xessive]

Haha I can imagine how that went down

Sega1: Aliens.. Hmm, what the Hell are we supposed to do with this that hasn't been done before?
Sega2: Let's just pawn it off to someone else, we really need to make a decent Sonic game! The fans are pissed man!

Meanwhile at Obsidian headquarters:
Urquhart: Aliens?! Oh fuck, Bioware have never done this before! What chance do we have?!
Monahan: Just relax! Let me do the talking! I'll run this by the 3 Chris's.

After Obsidian completes the first look on the new "Aliens" game:
Bioware: What?! You just took Mass Effect and "rethemed" it in an Alien-esque style!
Obsidian: Sorry officer, we didn't know we couldn't do that.

Gearbox: Can we at least do a mission pack for it anyway? Or how about you guys make it for the consoles then we'll port it to PC!

[Pugnate]

A FPS and a RPG based on Aliens. Gaming Target noticed on the official Sega Aliens site that both Obsidian (NWN2) and Gearbox (Brothers in Arms) were listed in the copyright section. This has since been changed.

 

[MysterD]

Obsidian doing an Aliens RPG?!?!?!? WTF?!?!?!?!?

[Pugnate]

Not as interesting as Bethesda doing Fallout 3.

God I hope they don't fuck it up.

[Xessive]

I can see an Aliens RPG. If you can be an alien, well we already know there are several classes of aliens, and some pretty interesting ones if you include the Predator-Alien hybrids. But if they do it, they would have to make sure that the combat is real-time.

I can totally see them just borrowing the Mass Effect game mechanics. It could work, but they'd have to do quite a bit of work to transform it into a worthy member of the Aliens­™ franchise.

[Pugnate]

I can't see an Aliens RPG, but the Aliens are about stealth, speed and numbers. Even if you are playing as a group of marines, I don't know how you an capture the pace of what makes a game involving Aliens frightening. They work best in shooters. I have pretty much enjoyed all AvP games.

[Xessive]

I can't see an Aliens RPG, but the Aliens are about stealth, speed and numbers. Even if you are playing as a group of marines, I don't know how you an capture the pace of what makes a game involving Aliens frightening. They work best in shooters. I have pretty much enjoyed all AvP games.

Action RPG maybe? Something with game mechanics like Deus Ex or System Shock, I can see that potentially working. Though I wonder if they'd make it linear (like every single Aliens themed game out there) or free roam.

[Pugnate]

You are right, that could work. Actually that has the potential to be really good.

Or they could do it The Sims style. Like an Alien who has needs and you have to fullfill them. And then the Aliens can have a family. We could have a pappa Alien and a mamma Alien.

No?

[idolminds]

Just an update, its official Obsidian is working on the RPG.

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (December 11, 2006) – SEGA® of America Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced that Obsidian Entertainment will create a role-playing game based on the Alien film franchise with license from Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising. This title will be developed for the next-generation systems and the PC.

Obsidian Entertainment draws upon their wealth of design knowledge creating successful games such as the best-selling Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords and the award-winning Neverwinter Nights 2 to bring the Alien franchise to role-playing gamers for the first time. The role playing game will build upon the distinctive look and feel of the original films while utilizing next-generation technology to create an entirely different and unique Alien experience.

"With Obsidian Entertainment's development pedigree, they were our first choice to bring the Alien franchise to the RPG universe," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "They are the only developer for us that could effectively combine the Alien mythology with compelling RPG gameplay to create the ultimate Alien experience."

"We are thrilled to be working with the great production and publishing teams at SEGA to deliver the ultimate in-depth Alien experience to gamers worldwide," said Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment. "Building an epic RPG with a license as heralded as the Alien franchise is truly a great honor."

[MysterD]

WTF??!!?
Obsidian says that the Aliens RPG that was canceled was finished and ready to ship.

[Xessive]

May we hope for a leak?

[MysterD]

May we hope for a leak?

Oh, that'd be funny and mad crazy - especially if the game is actually really good.

[gpw11]

WTF??!!?
Obsidian says that the Aliens RPG that was canceled was finished and ready to ship.

That's not what he said at all.

He said it "felt" like a finished game.  That could mean anything, especially (as the posts in the article point out) since Obsidian is not known for releasing games in a finished state at all. And I imagine that if the game was really good, it wouldn't have been cancelled so close to release.  The only reason to do that would be because of a sudden market or consumer opinion shift of some sort (didn't happen), or because your product sucks balls and you figure it'd be a better fiscal move to cancel it and claim it as a loss.