BlackSite loses online co-op, PS3 version lacks voice support

by Justin McElroy { Oct 23rd 2007 at 11:30AM }

IGN's preview of Area 51: BlackSite is sort of a mixed bag. Sure, we loved hearing new game modes like Abduction and how weapons would affect running speed, but imagine how disheartened we were when the preview ended with the news that online co-op had been cut from the game. It was like an awesome birthday party with a cake made of SARS.

In other disappointing news, the article says that while the 360 version will feature ranked and unranked play as well as constant chatter for teammates, the PS3 version won't, and the PC version is still a question mark. Sure, there's cause for concern, but, luckily for Midway, we really, really hate aliens.

Tags: area51, blacksite, midway, ps3, xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

gonk @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:38AM

ouch

Wes @ Oct 23rd 2007 8:11PM

Boooooooo!!!! No online co-op, no purchase from me. Maybe if there is still offline co-op play(I hope there is?) and the game retails for $39.95 or less.

Cellien @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:40AM

Man... PS3 gamers have to have a boiling point. How much can they take?

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:10PM

Well, now that the games drought is over for the PS3 news like this is immaterial. A failure like Lair is only intolerable when there aren't gaming alternatives.

Whatever happens this way forward, I think any console owner will have more than enough to occupy their time.

mfed3 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:45PM

they take a lot. up the ass. zing. ps3 blows

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:58PM

"they take a lot. up the ass. zing. ps3 blows"

Perdon a me. Yo no hablo douchebag.

ukickmydog (NDF - Earth) @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:40PM

lol, where are the sonybots touting their free "better than xbox live" online?

Steve @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:41AM

Oh shit, here it comes.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:43AM

My opinion is that any Midway game not named Mortal Kombat (And they even manage to screw that one too) is bound to suck.

Really I never did care about online co-op having extra controller and a big ass HDTV also because I can't stand the lag or the long periods of time it takes to start, that totally killed Crackdown for me.

The game looks a generic, unimpressive like Half-life wanna be and for that sort of experience we have Haze thank you very much.

JS @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:21PM

No freaking way. The Blitz and Hitz games are the only games (with 1 exception of Mario Party) that I still play from "previous" generations.

Jeff @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:49PM

Unreal Tournament ring any bells?

joe @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:45PM

no jeff, they only publish UT3, epic is developing that game. blacksite is being developed, however, by midway. also, there's not excuse for this since other ps3 games have this support is some way or another.

GRANTED @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:55AM

well, that just moved it from my "rent then maybe buy" list to "don't even bother". too many good games coming out this season to care about another lackluster fps. still unhappy about 30fps ncaa08... don't really care about this.

harrison_schaerr @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:56AM

'it was like an awesome birthday party with a cake made of SARS'

haha ;)

FOXHOUND @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:14PM

Ohhh, so they were describing a birthday cake from Wal*Mart...

Marty @ Oct 23rd 2007 11:58AM

Who is actually anticipating BlackSite? I mean, it sucks that the PS3 lost out on something most other gamers now take for granted, but this doesn't exactly look like a 5 star title to begin with.

Chris @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:00PM

"but, luckily for Midway, we really, really hate aliens."
thats what I call alien racist.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:09PM

Well Aliens always visit the earth to destroy it for some generic reason I mean WTF? Only E.T was the only one with good intentions but he was kind of a Special child if you know what I mean oh and he leave us with an awful game.

I wonder if Aliens have videogames about Humans going to their planets to kill their Childs and wives, eat babies and burn their cities…huh.

FOXHOUND @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:19PM

ET was pretty funny in that Robot Chicken skit as "Gleeborg the Retard"

NATO_Duke @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:01PM

I dunno, the game isnt doing much for me and now no coop. I have learned to like that feature a lot, and am bummed they would cut it out.

Also, no voice on the PS3 - c'mon, doesn't this stuff piss off fanboys at all?

Matt B @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:51PM

I know that I wasn't even interested even if the PS3 version had voice and the 360 didn't. There is nothing about the game that screams 'Must Play'.

There are too many good games coming out in the same time frame.

todd @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:05PM

This game looked sort-of promising, without co-op no way I'm buying. What is happening with these titles, delay of Army of Two, no co-op in Kayne and Lynch... next we are going to hear that Ass. Creed is delayed again.

754Boy @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:07PM

I aint gonna lie, the first Area 51 was pretty good. But I played the Blacksite teaser on 360 and well, I wasn't that impressed. The 2 biggest things that pissed me off was that there was horrible framerate drops. I hope that gets fixed in the retail. Also, I ran outta ammo halfway through the demo. WTF???

FOXHOUND @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:17PM

PS3 version doesn't have voice support? *whew* ...I couldn't speak in Ballchinnian anyway. :p

...In all "truthiness", I really don't think any PS3 owner(or any other system owner)will feel that bad about the lack of options with this game; because it's a discount rental of a game at best. Especially when this holiday season is jam-packed with so many other titles to bother with.

rdj75 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:17PM

LoL, thats pretty funny. Anyway it would be a damn shame if this thing came out at $60. I also like the first one and surprisingly so did my girlfriend but after playing the poor excuse of a demo thats on the marketplace it would have to come out as a budget title for me to even consider buying it.

Easo @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:20PM

"Well Aliens always visit the earth to destroy it for some generic reason I mean WTF? Only E.T was the only one with good intentions "

Not true, there was also The Great Gazoo, Mork, and the greatest alien of all time... ALF. Man I wish Alf was still around. He could eat all those damn lolcatz.

Superstar90 @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:25PM

alf can't hold a candle to a lolcat

Mike-453 @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:24PM

Anyone who enjoys FPS gameplay and the alien invasion storyline should be able to enjoy this game.

Oh look, the story's been done before. Why would I care if it's been done before? I like that story, that story is entertaining. "The game sucks it offers nothing new", that's only someone who's bored of the genre talking, i'll play any generic FPS and have fun as long as I like the art style.

Scott @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:30PM

Why even bother releasing it then? It was already going to get lost in the deluge of titles coming out this holiday. Taking out online co-op and multiplayer features is just going to make it worse. Better to make a good game and release it in the 1st or 2nd quarter of next year when it can receive more attention.

Sean @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:37PM

Yes, because people were actually going to buy this poop in the first place.

Cyro @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:44PM

Well maybe Midway realized that PSN sucks and couldn't make it work like the rest of the developers in the gamming industry. I guess the PS3 is just a bad console for gamming and a excellent Blu-ray Player!

Matt B @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:53PM

What does voice have to do with the PSN?

GamerG @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:50PM

Talking in online games is a last gen feature

Cyro @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:55PM

That the PS2 never really had. So I guess Playstation fanboys never enjoyed it at all. That's why you think is overrated. You do not know what you are missing out on.

Ha.. Last Gen...... Like rumble right?

JJ @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:06PM

Except for that fact that Voice Chat IS possible on the pS3.. and works in a lot of games...actually, so this isn't a PS3 problem Cryo... its a lack of developing skill on midways part.

Phranctoast @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:27PM

clearly GamerG was being sarcastic. The fact that a 360 fanboy jumped down his throat is fantastic.

FOXHOUND @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:23PM

Cryo --- uh... I don't know where you're getting your information, but there was voice chat on a couple of PS2 online titles. In fact, I got one of my headsets with SOCOM(and a better one with KARAOKE REVOLUTION).

Though as of late, I've had little use for voice support in *any* game(save for TF2, and even with that, I've keyed in my response via team chat time-to-time)... so again, I personally couldn't give a rat's ass about BlackSite, or the lack of chat.

However, it's pretty lame they couldn't incorporate this into a most-likely forgotten holiday FPS shooter, when the ability has been with videogaming for ages.

Anticrawl @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:26PM

I thought he was referring to how Sony justified not having rumble, because it was a last gen feature.

Personally I feel sorry for Midway, they shouldn't have made this game. Terrible idea.

Phranctoast @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:55PM

damnit.... I really wanted to listen to a 12 year old drop the f bomb every other second!

Cyro @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:01PM

Thats the reason why they invented the mute button.

valdemiro @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:56PM

It's amazing to see how Co-Op is now a make or break for FPS shooters. Brings a tear to my eye.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:57PM

tis a shame really. I remember people threatening to not buy Halo 3 simply because online co-op was rumored to not be in the game. Seriously i wanted to slap everyone upside the head.

gonk @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:47PM

yeah i still haven't even tried halo co-op, i already played through the story and it wasn't great enough for me to play it again anytime soon (except that last driving level, it was awesome)

JJ @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:06PM

This game was never even on my radar thank god. How hard is it support voice chat? i mean really come on. and the fact that the PC versions support is still up in the air is the total kicker.

Way to go on the good job devs, thank god we have a multitude of other choices *cough* call of duty 4, haze, timeshift, crysis etc etc. *Coug* for 360, PS3 and PC this holiday season

Phranctoast @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:32PM

This also doesnt sound like something that can't be fixed with a patch a month after release (on both versions). Whether they'll actually bother is up in the air.

joelderuyter @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:46PM

what a bunch of crap. DELAY IT!!! Army of Two did it just to get things right. Whats wrong with you Midway? Lack of coop drags it down from "fun with friends" to "just another average fps." And no voice chat for PS3? What is this, 1998? You lost a sale here Midway.

Brandon @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:01PM

Damn, no co-op means no buy. I am looking forward to the games that actually have co-op. Even though nothing is more fun (with the little time I do have to play between work/wife/babies) than to be killed every 3 seconds and in multi-player game by a kid who can suddenly cus and who can spend 8 hours a day playing. Both GoW and Halo have been more fun with something more than bam I am dead.

LAZoftheTamarinds @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:47PM

Man that's a dissapointment! I loved the first one.

Shawn @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:00PM

"It was like an awesome birthday party with a cake made of SARS."

LOL@!!

That gave me a serious much needed laugh on a lousy Tuesday.

Co-Op would have been a nice addition, that's too bad.
As far as ranked and unranked play, as a PC Gamer I could care less. So long as it's got decent multiplayer. I enjoy picking off favorite servers and getting to know the people I play with, which goes a lot further than jumping into random servers all the time.