Fatal Inertia hits Xbox 360 in September, 'delayed indefinitely' for PS3

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jul 2nd 2007 at 5:45PM }

Though the distinct lack of dynastically-inclined warriors may convince you otherwise, futuristic racer Fatal Inertia is indeed a product of Koei. The first game from the company's Toronto-based studio has now been assigned a release date on half of its originally intended platforms, with the Xbox 360 version arriving on 11 September 2007. The PS3 version, unfortunately, received no such date and has been "delayed indefinitely."

The game's unfortunate status, as conveyed to Joystiq by a Koei representative, is as a result of developers awaiting completion of the game engine for the PS3 platform specifically. Fatal Inertia is built using Epic's Unreal 3.0 engine, which debuted on Xbox 360 last year in testosterone vs. chainsaw epic, Gears of War, and was more recently seen on PS3 with Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas. Koei explained that the game had not been canceled outright, but offered that progress on the PS3 engine was "out of our hands."

We next talked to Epic's VP Mark Rein, who thought that the Unreal 3.0 engine was incomplete only in the sense that it's constantly being upgraded. "Unreal Engine 3.0 is running quite well on PS3 and people will have the chance to see that when we show Unreal Tournament 3 next week."

Tags: Epic, Fatal Inertia, FatalInertia, Koei, racing, Unreal, Unreal 3, Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Tournament 3, Unreal3, UnrealEngine3, UnrealTournament3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kingofwale @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:49PM

well, Wipeout will ease the pain. It's sad when developers (after given the engine) don't know how to use it properly

fawazr @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:59PM

An unfortunate release date for what appears to be a game about flying vehicles.

Supino @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:03PM

what? this gen is crazy.

Evan @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:03PM

There are two possibilities:

The developer is telling the truth, the game engine isn't polished and ready for prime time yet. If this is true, other developers are likely also struggling, so expect to see other games being delayed or lower quality games as developers wrestle with the technology.

The developer is lying, in which case there must be another reason. Perhaps they feel the PS3's install base is too small to warrant a release. Whatever the reason, it's likely that other developers are facing the same thing.

So, regardless of who's telling the truth, it doesn't bode well for Sony.

quazi @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:04PM

@2 god how long will that last? do you hate do dial 911 because it reminds you of planes taking down buildings? get over it we got them in iraq so we dont have to fight them here! right?

mccomber @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:04PM

Sucks for the ps3, but then again with news of Wipeout it sort becomes a 'we're missing what?" sort of thing.

Moe @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:06PM

Is't Rainbow six vegas running on Unreal Engine 3? That game run really well on my ps3. I don't see what these developers are talking about.

Jake @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:10PM

And another one gone and another one gone and another one bites the dust. That just popped into my head when I read the headline.

Supino @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:12PM

Maybe it's the online code thats the bottleneck.

a racer like this should support good online play.

fragglefart @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:13PM

LOL Sony.

muppetmeth @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:16PM

Whatever. If it is exclusive to 360, then the world will have balance.

Nintendo gets F-Zero
Sony gets Wipeout
and Microsoft gets Fatal Inertia.

All will be well.

gameforall @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:32PM

I smell fear, the fear of being out out gunned by Wipeout

Thad @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:42PM

"Fatal Inertia delayed indefinitely."

I'm pretty sure there are some Phantom and Duke Nukem Forever jokes I could make.

Sloar @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:42PM

I'll wait to see how the game is before I claim a "victory" for Microsoft. If the game sucks, then is Sony really out anything? I love it when some people see that a certain game isn't coming out on the PS3 and immediately start crying for Sony to throw in the towel. It could be another Atari E.T.-ish game at which point you would need to ask, "who is the real winner and loser?" This could be a blessing in disguise for Sony if this game completely sucks.

Digi Smalls @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:07PM

wow. this was one of the very first games ever shown running on PS3 hardware. and not only is it now coming to 360, but its coming out on 360 first.

anyone thinking that "Fatal Inertia" would be the perfect name for a book on what happened to the Playstation brand?

.

deaftly @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:15PM

rough day at the office for the ps3 today, wait, thats every day

Rubang B @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:21PM

Fatal Inertia is what happens when heavy things move very fast through the air into buildings. The name and release date are a hilarious coincidence.

Hey quazi, here are 2 things about Al-Qaeda you might not know. 1: they were never in Iraq, 2: they are not a hive and Bin Laden is not their Mother Brain so you can't just kill their leaders or one sect or whatever; they're more like a WORLDWIDE terrorist organization with independently operating cells, kinda like Project Mayhem, but bigger and crazier.

So basically, fighting random non-related insurgents in Iraq and being on the receiving end of another special delivery from Al-Qaeda are not mutually exclusive. I'm not trying to scare anybody here; that's the government's job. I'm just saying it's still possible. Al-Qaeda are planning attacks somewhere, Bin Laden is chilling in Barbados or something, and we're fighting everybody in Iraq to clean up the mess WE made over there.

ipodfanboy @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:36PM

11. Whatever. If it is exclusive to 360, then the world will have balance.

Nintendo gets F-Zero
Sony gets Wipeout
and Microsoft gets Fatal Inertia

Hey number 11 Fatal Inertia is a 3rd party game and not an xbox exclusive unlike Fzero for nintendo and wipeout for Sony. IF your looking for a futuristic racing game exclusivly for xbox check quantum leap. Fatal Inertia will be coming out for the ps3 eventually. For one thing I really miss last gen, I really enjoyed XGRIII and XGRA for the nintendo gamecube. Breaking the sound barrier and racing at 1000mph with techno blazing in the back ground was amazing. TO bad acclaim is "kind" of gone.

LR @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:37PM

Today is not a good day for Sony news. What I'm unclear on is if it's actually taking that much longer to make the same game on the PS3 or if publishers are waiting until the audience is larger before they release a PS3 title.

J.Goodwin @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:51PM

There's not much space between one person's "lying" and a Japanese company's "saving face."

Delisting the game for some token reason then quietly canceling it would be far from unprecedented.

SPARTACVS @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:51PM

Another one bites the dust. Not that I care, this game has looked stupid and generic ever since it was announced as a Ps3 exclusive at the Sony E3 press conference.

synce @ Jul 2nd 2007 8:19PM

I know that Sony hardware in general has been difficult to develop for, and now that Sony is no longer killing the competition by a wide margin, well, we can all see the results! Other than a few Japanese developers, everyone seems to be more keen on multi-platform and 360 exclusive releases.

WhackMushroom @ Jul 2nd 2007 9:32PM

wipeout rip off anyway .. so what if its on the unreal engine .. there will be another 100 games on that engine eventually ... wipout 5 though .. drool.

Delive @ Jul 2nd 2007 9:37PM

Agreed. Seeing how Wipeout is on the horizon, I can see why they would focus on the console without a gami like this. Once wipeout comes out, FE would get sloppy seconds.

Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Jul 2nd 2007 10:39PM

Just because Epic, who makes UE3 Engine, has it working fine on PS3 doesn't mean that is the case with other developers. Xbox 360 is more PC like. Plus the GPU has an extra 10mb eDram to help prevent those bottlenecks like on PS3.

alexy @ Jul 2nd 2007 11:46PM

wow #24. and #25..
I had no idea you guys could predict the future, I never knew Wipeout6 was better than FI! WoW! when did you guys play these games I wonder? hrmmm~~~
right...Well anyway, Never judge a game because its a new franchise......
But hey! Thanks to you guys my eyes are Open and I am a Wiser man, thank you...

sheppy @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:15AM

"I had no idea you guys could predict the future, I never knew Wipeout6 was better than FI! WoW! when did you guys play these games I wonder? hrmmm~~~
right...Well anyway, Never judge a game because its a new franchise......
But hey! Thanks to you guys my eyes are Open and I am a Wiser man, thank you..."

Well, tell you what. How often has a game been delayed by massive amounts as a secondary focus from a publisher making their bread and butter from established series and when it finally dropped it was actually GOOD? Odds are stacking against them.

AND Wipeout is one hell of a shadow to loom over your future.

I was hopeful for this game but it basically disappeared since TGS of last year. That's never a good sign when a game drops out of existance only to return with an announcement like this. But I have a 360 so I'll be giving it a shot regardless.

rdj75 @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:06AM

Keep blaming the developers if it helps you sleep better at night

rdj75 @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:08AM

Keep blaming the developers if that helps you sleep better at night.

rdj75 @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:08AM

Keep blaming the developers if that helps you sleep better at night.

James @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:36AM

I never liked Wipeout. Your in this awesome futursitic hover racer yet when you tap a wall you slow to a crawl.

RPGS @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:35PM

lol, and don't forget that inbetween tapping the wall to slow to a crawl. you fell like your in a floatty car want to be. The float part(which is what it is suppose to be) never fells good like racing a car does! Float, thrust, tap, crawl!

Matt @ Jul 19th 2007 8:30PM

Hey Joystiq, you guys are journalists, why doesn't someone track down a copy of the actual court filing so we can see what the allegations are? Those files have to be available to the public, assuming this was filed in the US. Is it a federal or a state case?