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Area 51 Sequel Revealed - briefly(hx) 07:16 PM EST - Jan,16 2007 - Post a commentFiringSquad reports that the newest issue of Game Informer magazine has the first info on BlackSite: Area 51, the upcoming sequel to Midway's 2005 console-PC sci-fi first person shooter Area 51. Developed once again by Midway's Austin studio (which they bought while the original Area 51 was under development), the sequel will be using Epic's Unreal Engine 3 as its graphical base. It will also be more serious in tone than the somewhat campy original game with references to Iraq, global warming and other political issues mixed in with the alien conspiracy storyline. Look for new alien weapons to be mixed in with conventional FPS firearms along with an advanced squad based tactical system as well. The Game Informer article states that BlackSite: Area 51 is due for release this summer on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
BlackSite: Area 51 Patch [November 17, 2007, 3:29 pm ET]The BlackSite: Area 51 Website now offers a new patch to update Midway's just-released shooter sequel to version 1.1, updating the game's multilanguage support and addressing some bugs. The 84 MB download is mirrored on Gamer's Hell.
"This project was so fucked up," said Smith, by way of explanation.
Smith spent the last few minutes of his speech on a postmortem of the game. In part, he blames himself for Blacksite's less-than-warm critical reception.Before it was released, Blacksite garnered some fame for its political message. It wasn't going to just give a general statement on morality or politics: Blacksite was supposed to be a first person shooter with a satirical look at the war in Iraq, the treatment of veterans and the whole military industrial complex. However, it was only in the last twelve months of work on the game that those political themes took shape.At first, the game just didn't intrigue Smith. "I wasn't excited about this Area 51 game," he said. While making the game, Smith was overseeing two projects, and Area 51 was not his favorite. That didn't help, and he accepts some fault. "We got hammered so hard, and we deserved it."
"Everyone was forced to share tech. It took eight months to get one thing working." He wouldn't specify what that one thing was, but did note that technical problems set the team back, time and time again. Another of Smith's complaints was "the fact that we had four days to orange box something," meaning to fix and polish a level. Smith called this "completely reprehensible."That lack of polish, of being able to sit with a final product and make sure it is up to the standards they wanted, was one of the biggest problems for Blacksite and for Smith. "With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails." There were long delays just getting Blacksite playable, and once it was he says, "it went straight from alpha to final."
Doesn't someone here know him? Maybe they can ask him what the hell is going on.
Maybe D lives down the street from them, maybe he could go and have a chat?
Naw, I don't...But, not too far from my current job actually is Irrational Games Boston/2K Games Boston...
Harvey Smith "Resigns" [November 30, 2007, 5:10 pm ET] - Viewing CommentsShacknews has word that designer Harvey Smith is no longer at Midway Austin. At first it was unclear whether this parting of the ways occurred before or after his recent statements blasting the production of BlackSite: Area 51 (story), but a subsequent follow-up indicates he was indeed still with Midway when he criticized his own game, but that Midway CTO Michael Weilbacher allegedly referred to Smith's outburst as "his public resignation."
Where is there to go next when you get fired from Midway.
* Quemaqua makes "whoosh" sound.
