Status of 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' muddled in Gearbox layoffs
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Nov 24th 2008 at 7:50PM }
Originally, Shacknews reported that Gearbox let go of about 15-25 employees, with the site's sources claiming Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway's poor retail performance and the "stoppage of work" on Aliens were the reason for the layoffs. Pitchford reiterated to the site that it was an "inaccurate characterization" that production on the game had been "halted." Questions about Aliens: Colonial Marines' quality and condition have hung over the title since E3.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rentaro @ Nov 24th 2008 8:03PM
Anyone else here remember the Alien vs Predator game for the PC a few years back?
Metkis @ Nov 24th 2008 8:06PM
Duh, that game wasn't actually bad.
Ihavepants @ Nov 24th 2008 8:07PM
There were two, they were awesome and very well known.
Metkis @ Nov 24th 2008 8:09PM
I still have the second sitting on my shelf, staring at me just like my UK copy of Farcry 2. Poor buggers...
FSK405K @ Nov 24th 2008 10:44PM
They were okay I guess. Not nearly as fulfilling as Aliens Online, probably my all-time favorite multiplayer game (although it's dated as hell by today's graphical and UI standards).
JoeTheBlow @ Nov 25th 2008 4:11AM
Of course, they were fantastic.
With an ace enemy, meaty weapons, and that beep-beep motion tracker adding tension, its hard to imagine how they could fuck up a next-gen version of this.
Haggard @ Nov 25th 2008 8:15AM
Weren't they both like 95%+ rated?
Metkis @ Nov 24th 2008 8:08PM
The first two movies were actually good films. I would be upset to see this game be thrown away or tossed aside like a second-rate title. Truth be told, though... I don't have a lot of hope for it. I don't think there's that big of a fanbase for it either which would hurt its chances at being a commercial success otherwise.
Obie @ Nov 24th 2008 8:19PM
A shame, I do hope the game makes it.
In an interview I read Randy said that he wanted to make a 4 person co-op game, each character with a different set of tools.
After playing L4D, I really want this to continue.
Lord Negatron @ Nov 25th 2008 9:32AM
There's a fan base big time(i assume). Plenty of games (Halo, Dead Space to name a few) base concepts & themes off of Alien(s). ie: Guns with digital ammo readout, drop ships...
If the game is marketed poorly or just crappy in general there's no hope. Obie, you mentioned L4D and this. Omg i would love it! A group of 4 (or 5!) on a campaign to find survivors on a derelict ship/base. Equipped with weapons, and 1 flamethrower. 2 flamethrowers would be over kill and a lag fest...
Mr Khan @ Nov 24th 2008 8:11PM
For a second i failed to make the connection to the movie, and figured that Gearbox had run out of ideas for names for scifi shooters
Mindkiller @ Nov 24th 2008 8:15PM
I really, really want this to succeed. I remember the original Colonial Marines project on PS2 and Xbox, and how upset I was when that got canned.
Right now, I am pretty worried as to the quality of this final product, assuming it gets released.
I want it to do justice to the franchise, not vanish into obscurity with most other licensed games.
Obie @ Nov 24th 2008 8:17PM
Game over man! Game over!
xGeneral DEATHx (Mr ESC Welcome Back Party Ultimate Mega Action Force) @ Nov 25th 2008 7:53AM
You just HAD to go there, didn'tcha?! :-p
jumpshot @ Nov 25th 2008 1:04PM
"She's just a little girl and she survived longer than that"
"They put HER in charge!"
classic.
jumpshot @ Nov 25th 2008 1:06PM
Umm, I meant "Then..."
xGeneral DEATHx (Mr ESC Welcome Back Party Ultimate Mega Action Force) @ Nov 26th 2008 9:22AM
"Hey Ripley...have no fear! Me and my team of Ultimate Bad-Asses are here to protect you!"
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 24th 2008 8:31PM
Does anybody remember the Aliens v. Predator game for the PC? you could play as Aliens, Humans or Predators. Thrown together in an all out death match.
They all had race-specific abilities and gadgets.
Awesome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_(computer_game)
Foetoid @ Nov 24th 2008 10:27PM
Of course, every gamer remembers that awesome game. I still think the Predator was overpowered for multiplayer matches, especially 1v1, but the whole game series was awesome.
And IMO, both movies were great.
FSK405K @ Nov 24th 2008 10:46PM
The real question is whether you remember the arcade and SNES (Genesis?) version. Screw Attack just added "Aliens v. Predator" to their videogame vault, but I was so confused that it wasn't the FPS.
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 25th 2008 1:24AM
I remember the arcade game. I'm not 100% sure but I don't remember a SNES version. Genisis would have made more sense as I was going through an AvP phase of my life at the time and definately would have had that game if it was for the SNES.
Anyways, the AvP arcade game goes right up their with the Simpsons arcade and the X-Men three screen thing.
oh, and I totally just realized I asked the same question as Rentaro
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 25th 2008 1:38AM
ok, I just did a wikipedia search (thanks internet nerds!) and there was a SNES AvP but it was different from the arcade version I was thinking of.
The arcade game I had in mind allowed you to play as a human and preditor
baby sea tuna @ Nov 25th 2008 8:33AM
The arcade game was awesome! It was a TMNT style brawler that let you play as 1 of 2 predators, Dutch (Arnie from Preditor,) or...um...that Japanese chick from the AvP books/comics.
I think that Gearbox shelved this game the second they realized they were never going to make something as awesome as that arcade game.
WiNG [Life in a Game] @ Nov 25th 2008 9:26AM
@fsk405k
Screwattack hates PC gaming, FACT.
Blank-Mage @ Nov 24th 2008 8:33PM
Damnit! If you're going to cancel a game, can you at least have the courtesy of not showing us awesome screenshots first? I'm looking at you, Starcraft: Ghost! And Tiberium! And if Brutal Legend gets canned, I'll burn down the building.
Graham Wellington (formerly tyrone washington, or marsha goldberg) @ Nov 25th 2008 1:55AM
i will assist you in burning down the building, activision building i'm guessing?
eldee @ Nov 24th 2008 9:28PM
isn't "stoppage of work" and "halted production" the same fucking thing? man I hate talking heads...
DVersion @ Nov 24th 2008 9:45PM
i'm getting mixed signals from microsoft. they want to push out more halo games but they keep firing the people making them.
Ihavepants @ Nov 25th 2008 12:51AM
Well uh, this is Gearbox Software... not Microsoft.
At all.
Beavis @ Nov 25th 2008 5:16AM
Yeah, just talked to my buddy whom, until recently, worked at gearbox. He said they're full of it when they say it isn't cancelled. He said it has been put on "hiatus" till 2010. Basically, Gearbox doesn't want to admit it's been canned. Sucks. A few months ago he was saying it was looking pretty badass... He unfortunately couldn't say the same for Borderlands.. Which blows, because that looks like it has serious potential. Hopefully GB can pull through this mess.
Mr.Ironic @ Nov 25th 2008 9:00AM
oh good real news.
Deeznuts420 @ Nov 25th 2008 8:21AM
is your friend humorously called butthead?
Genisus @ Nov 25th 2008 9:03AM
I really want this game! And hope it's kinda like L4D to a degree!
ARC Hellraiser @ Nov 29th 2008 8:38PM
AvP2 is still alive and with many players... In fact new maps ahve just been released and are in the beta testing stage.. Many of us play nightly and our Clans are still alive hopeing for this game..
On Nov 1 Game publisher Sierra SHUT DOWN our master servers for multiplayer games the #%$@!^^... But this did not stop us. The sourse code was gotten and 5 days later we were Back on line..!! This needs to be passed on to others. For gamers that still want to play ...info here----->http://www.lithfaq.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=426
thanks for your time and hope that the Game gets finished
HR