Random Wednesdays

The old-school RPG that began its Kickstarter campaign last week, the one being worked on by Brenda “Wizardry 8” Brathwaite and Tom “Anachronox/Dopefish” Hall has a name this week: Shaker. The Kickstarter campaign is still ongoing, of course; the project hasn’t quite reached 25% of its goal, but continues to amass funds.

Maybe first-person turn-based RPGs just don’t command the same interest anymore as do isometric RPGs of the Project Eternity sort. Or maybe people don’t care about Anachronox and Wizardry anymore. Hopefully, it’s the former…the latter is too painful a reality to contemplate. This editorial certainly takes a dimmer view of the project. But it also labels Ultima cloth maps as mere “pedestrian” in-box trinkets, so make of that what you will.

Cryptic Studios have licensed the Simplygon 3D optimization tool for use on Neverwinter, and have announced a Halloween writing contest…the prize for which will be Neverwinter beta keys.

ArcheAge’s pet system was detailed this week. It’s interesting, to say the least.

Irrational Games is holding an election as to whom should be the subject of its next BioShock Infinite trailer. They’re also looking to hire an environmental artist and a level designer. Oh, and Ken Levine is apparently a playable character in the new XCOM game. Go figure!

Torchlight 2 received a minor update this week. Max Scahefer of Runic Games sat down with I.Eat.Games, and Torchlight 2 continued to rake in the (mostly) rave reviews. Perhaps the most amusing praise it has won, however, is Geek.com’s dungeon crawler showdown, in which Torchlight 2 doesn’t quite win out over Diablo 3, except in the really important categories.

3 Responses

  1. Infinitron says:

    They can put Ken Levine in their game because Firaxis and Irrational are both under Take Two.

  2. Infinitron says:

    The problem with Shaker is that their pitched sucked and they don’t have enough “star power” for the money they’re asking for.

    They could have done a lot more to differentiate themselves from the other RPG Kickstarters (“They’re bringing back isometric, but we’re the only ones bringing back first person!”

    • Sergorn says:

      Indeed, I’ve seen a few peope saying their pitch felt like it ripped of Obsidian’s.

      And honestly: having John Romero associated with it could be nough to drive some people away.