Based off a translation from Spanish site Neverwinteros, IGN reports that a new Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion is in development. Obsidian confirmed that the expansion, called Storm of Zehir, will include full party customization and "free exploration of a non-linear game world via an Overland Map."

Players will take control of their party during a post-war economic recovery period, choosing whether to ally with syndicates or obtain items through nefarious means and sell them on the black market. There's currently no announced timetable for a release.

[Via Big Download]

Following some early warnings about the operation, Sega has officially acknowledged the existence of espionage RPG Alpha Protocol. Obsidian Entertainment (Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2) is developing the game, which is expected to release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in early 2009.

Sega currently has no images of the game to share. All we know is that you play as a "young agent cast out by his government" and "Alpha Protocol embraces everything [Obsidian] enjoy[s] about making RPGs from a fresh perspective." So, the best current guess would be ... Mass Effect with spies?

The latest issue of Game Informer reportedly has details on Obsidian Entertainment's next title: an action RPG called Alpha Protocol (via Obsidian forums and NeoGAF). The game will feature third person gameplay described as being similar to Mass Effect, and a storyline that comprises Bond-like romances and Bauer-like espionage. We haven't managed to snag a copy yet of the latest Game Informer to confirm it.

Players take on the role of Michael Thorton, an inexperienced secret agent who has to deal with the ramifications of a mission gone haywire. An open-ended approach to objective-based gameplay seems to be at the core, with skill trees allowing players to build up particular play-styles. It all sounds nice on paper, but we'll have to see if Obsidian is up to the task of melding Mass Effect with 24.

One of the many games being shown off at this year's Penny Arcade Expo was the expansion to one of the biggest RPGs from last year, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. Obsidian's Nathan Davis, the Assistant Producer for the title, was on hand to tell us a bit about the highly anticipated expansion. Read on to see what he says on how they've fixed some of the lingering problems from NWN2 and details on some the cool stuff they've added.

Early on one of the major complaints with Neverwinter Nights 2 was with the camera system. Have you guys worked on making it better in the expansion?

We have improved our camera system quite a bit. So we have two new modes now including a character camera mode that is similar to the one in World of Warcraft and also a new strategy camera mode that is more reminiscent of what you would see in Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale. The character mode is great for exploration and general activities, while the strategy mode is great for big combat scenarios where you want to have a good feeling for where all your teammates and enemies are.

One of the other problems with Neverwinter Nights 2 initially, was poor system performance. It was helped a bit by later patches, but you still needed a fairly powerful machine to run it. Have you been able to optimize this at all for the expansion?

Yeah, we've done a lot to improve that, we brought in programmers specifically work on performance issues and to fine tune everything. So we've gotten a better and more responsive game engine now. We're really trying to reach for a much improved graphical look to the game without creating a heavy draw on systems. We've tested the expansion on a number of different systems and it's running reasonably well. In general I think it's running better than the original NWN2.

Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart has some strong words for single-player RPG developers. With the rise of MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Everquest, old-style role playing games need to re-think their strategy or face extinction. "It used to be fine to make an RPG that was just wandering around and hacking things up with the player having very little effect on the world around them", explains Urquhart, "Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO?"

The key is to define what single-player RPGs offer over the online experience and bring that into sharp focus. Dungeon hacking is a thing of the past, now players want as much control over their character and surroundings as possible. But what does solo role playing offer that the online experience doesn't? Is there still a demand for epic single-player RPGs in the world, or are we moving to a strict MMORPG diet?

Not quite done casting Magic Missile and attacking the darkness of Neverwinter Nights? Well, good. Atari has announced an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2, ominously entitled Mask of the Betrayer. Slated for release this Fall and developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the game promises more spells, more monsters, more weapons, more levels, more modding possibilities and presumably, more heartless backstabbing.

"Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer's engrossing campaign will conclude the storyline that began in the original Neverwinter Nights 2 and focus on combat, exploration and classic D&D dungeon-crawling," says Obsidian CEO and plausible fantasy character, Feargus Urquhart. He also notes that the expansion will see enhancements made to the companion Influence System, as used in the base title and Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. Of course, it's probably best to just avoid adding any masked strangers to your party during this particular adventure.

Sega has revealed that Brothers in Arms creator Gearbox will develop its Alien FPS. The announcement comes padded with a lil' promise, as Sega has declared the shooter "will retain the atmospheric look and feel of the original films" -- we'll interpret this line to be a reference to Alien and Aliens, not the additional sequels (and certainly not AVP).

With the game not scheduled for release until 2009, neither Sega or Gearbox is saying much else. Should we assume, given Gearbox's history, that this Alien FPS will be squad-based, with a touch of strategy?

See also:
Alien games to burst out of Sega's chest
Obsidian to helm Aliens RPG for Sega

Sega is bleeding acid, slowly, with each drop another hint of where it will take its new Aliens license. The first major announcement is of an Aliens RPG, currently under development by Obsidian Entertainment (Neverwinter Nights 2, KOTOR 2).

Although officially unveiled today, the Aliens RPG is likely the mysterious project announced in March by Sega and Obsidian, which has been in development under the name Project Georgia. The game is scheduled to be released for PC and next- new-gen consoles. We're hoping to see fleshed-out Aliens lore and, much in the way Oblivion handles vampirism, the "chance" to become a Xenomorph.

IGN notes that Sega will announce the developer for its Aliens First-Person Shooter on Friday. If Sega aims to milk the franchise for all its worth, we're hoping to also see real-time strategy games, MMOs, kart racers, text-based adventures, and party games forthcoming.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Not sure how I missed this one last week. All that turkey and football must have conspired with the dark side to cloud my awareness of all things Star Wars. In an interview with Next Generation's Colin Campbell, LucasArts VP Nancy MacIntyre mapped out her company's plans to continue delivering Star Wars goodness to Force-sensitive geeks like me over the next few years.

"Our fans want a logical progression of the Star Wars story line, so we are committed to only two Star Wars experiences a year," says MacIntyre. This must be a new policy moving forward because there have been no fewer than 25 Star Wars titles released in the past seven years (not counting handhelds), and at least one of those games had some serious continuity problems.

Still, the best news is the continuation of an old favorite, as MacIntyre confirms: "We've also got Star Wars franchises like Knights of the Old Republic ... that we will not leave behind. It's very important to us that we grow those franchises." It's important to us too, Nancy! The big question now is, will Obsidian return to helm the Ebon Hawk? Feargus Urquhart indicated earlier this year they would be happy to work on KotOR 3, but whomever LucasArts selects, let's hope enough time is allocated to finish the next installment properly.

See also: Mod community strikes back, restoring KotOR2

Obsidian Entertainment has wasted little time getting Neverwinter Nights 2 into ship-shape this month. But when you consider the game already shipped at the end of last month, suffered a controversial critique, and was built by a bunch of talented Black Isle veterans, their efforts may not seem so surprising. The new 1.03 beta patch includes several multiplayer and toolset updates, in addition to some much-needed camera adjustments (fans of the first game will appreciate the modified "chase cam" view).

In case these fixes aren't reason enough to consider picking up the game, then how about a 50% discount? Through the end of Saturday, Best Buy is selling Neverwinter Nights 2 for $25.

[via GameBanshee]

It looks like the final chapter has been written in the ongoing saga of 1UP's Neverwinter Nights 2 review controversy. An updated review is now available at the Ziff Davis-owned gaming portal, and the new score is a 6/10 (upgraded from 5/10). Only this time, the review was written by Games for Windows editor Jeff Green, who just last week explained the decision to pull writer Matt Peckham's original review.

Green echoes Peckham's sentiments about D&D-based roleplaying adventures -- "success is largely determined by the understanding of a rule set that only a genius or a 13-year-old could fully comprehend" -- but he takes great care not to bash the genre with the same reckless abandon that tainted Peckham's analysis. Instead, more emphasis is placed on NWN2's performance issues, problematic camera, and faulty A.I. -- all valid criticisms. Still, you have to wonder if this is the score Green would've given Obsidian's RPG before the events of two weeks ago, or if he was somehow influenced by the score Peckham gave the game. Like the editor said last week, "there was no way to 'win' here."

See also: Metareview - Neverwinter Nights 2

Obsidian Entertainment and dungeon masters the world over can breathe a collective sigh of relief now that the scores for Neverwinter Nights 2 are in. The single player campaign has been well received by the gaming press, and the revamped toolset is expected to afford NWN2 a shelf life comparable to its predecessor. However, not all is well in the Forgotten Realms. The 1UP reviewer seems to have overlooked the fact that Oblivion and NWN represent different styles of roleplaying. Bethesda emphasizes aesthetic presentation and open-ended adventuring, while BioWare and Obsidian have focused on a tighter combat system (hence the rules) and an extendable architecture befitting of the classic Dungeons & Dragons experience. Keeping this in mind, both franchises excel at what they were designed for.

• GameDaily (100/100) cites several improvements over the original NWN: "There are plenty of things about NWN2 that are different from its precursor. Better graphics, a much more robust and option-filled character creation process, plus deeper plotlines, with more twists and better villains help add to an already stellar feature list. Neverwinter Nights 2 is truly one of the most epic adventures found on a PC, and it should be purchased without hesitation."
  
  
• GameSpot (86/100) considers NWN2 the most authentic D&D experience to date: "If you're willing to look past a few relatively minor technical issues, you'll have a great time exploring the world of NWN2. The excellent story, characters, and quests will appeal to your sense of adventure without getting overly convoluted. When you factor in the multiplayer and the editing tools, you'll find that NWN2 is a fantastic value and a thoroughly enjoyable game."
  
  
• 1UP (50/100) fired a 3d6 Melf's Acid Arrow right at the heart of the D&D community: "With all the added rule-shuffling, NWN2 seems like it's working twice as hard to accomplish half as much. Worse -- and blame this on games like Oblivion -- NWN2's levels feel pint-sized. As if the pencil and paper 'module' approach were a virtue that computers -- by now demonstrably capable of simulating entire worlds with considerably more depth -- should emulate."

Update 1: 1UP has pulled their damning review of NWN2, so I guess there is justice in the world. Here are a few new scores: Yahoo! Games (90/100), IGN (85/100).

T-minus seven days until Obsidian's Neverwinter Nights 2 hits the shelves, and Russian web site CRPG has posted over a dozen updated screens that highlight the shiny new interface. GameSpot also has some excellent screen grabs of the enhanced NWN toolset, which at least one enthusiastic developer is already putting to good use. How many of you depleted your Halloween candy budgets to order the limited edition?

See also: NWN2 elite races, prestige classes previewed

LucasArts may or may not be guilty of pressuring Obsidian into wrapping up Knights of the Old Republic 2 before it was ready, but the Star Wars licenser isn't standing in the way of independent efforts to restore the game to its originally intended glory. In another inspiring example of mod communities taking matters into their own hands, Team Gizka (named after the small reptilian creatures in KotOR) has been hard at work restoring much of the "lost content " that is noticeably absent from The Sith Lords. You can check the Restoration Project web site for weekly updates as they near completion of a PC patch that should give fans a more complete KotOR2 experience than the standalone retail edition. Team Gizka is also considering an Xbox patch, but a decision won't be made until after the PC update is released.

See also: D&D fans fix Temple of Elemental Evil

Atari and Obsidian announced today that Neverwinter Nights 2 has officially gone gold and will be available Oct. 31. To tide us over, WarCry and Neverwinter Vault have been chronicling the emerging details of NWN2's new elite races, which include the Aasimar, Drow, and tongue-twisting Svirfneblin.

You can also find complete descriptions of the game's 17 prestige classes (including the new Arcane Trickster and War Priest) in this post from BioWare's NWN2 forum. Be sure to get the obligatory annual viewing of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown out of the way before launch day, kids.

See also:

• Planescape Trilogy planned for NWN2
• NWN2's baddie nasties revealed