Homeworld IP bought up by Gearbox

[KaOTiK]

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/22/homeworld-gearbox-ip-purchase/

Now we know who has it. I hope we see a rerelease of the games.

 

[Phynaz]

I'm giving this a solid meh. I own several Gearbox games and really can't stay engrossed in them. Colonial Marines sucked hard too.

 

[KaOTiK]

I'm giving this a solid meh. I own several Gearbox games and really can't stay engrossed in them. Colonial Marines sucked hard too.

I like the Borderlands games but I don't like anything else they have done. I just want H1/H2 to be released again (GOG/Steam).

 

[Aikouka]

I like the Borderlands games but I don't like anything else they have done. I just want H1/H2 to be released again (GOG/Steam).

I talked about it a bit in the other thread, but as much as I enjoy Borderlands, I am quick to point out that Gearbox cannot program good artificial intelligence! Before Borderlands 2's release, I was happy to see that they talked about improved AI quite a bit, but after playing the game, it's still a buggy piece of junk... that can jump. Anyone that's played Borderlands 2 should be able to recount at least one time when trying to create a God-liath where the almost-fully-upgraded Goliath just stopped moving. :\

 

[Kudro]

I wonder if they'll outsource the development to a subpar studio and put the money budgeted for it towards the development of Borderlands 3.

Had high hopes for Colonial Marines.

 

[Maximilian]

Meh... couldve been a lot worse, couldve been a lot better.

Have to wait and see how this pans out for a potential homeworld 3 or some kind of reboot etc.

 

[Texashiker]

I have not been very impressed with what gearbox has been doing lately.

Borderlands was good, Borderlands 2 seems like the developers focused on console gameplay rather then making the game fun to play.

 

[giantpandaman2]

Anyone that's played Borderlands 2 should be able to recount at least one time when trying to create a God-liath where the almost-fully-upgraded Goliath just stopped moving. :\

I'm over 200 hours into that game. That's never happened to me. The worst bug I've seen is killing raid bosses that are supposed to give Seraph crystals but that didn't. Pretty rage inducing.

 

[Aikouka]

I'm over 200 hours into that game. That's never happened to me. The worst bug I've seen is killing raid bosses that are supposed to give Seraph crystals but that didn't. Pretty rage inducing.

I've seen it quite a few times, but I've also tried to create a lot of God-liaths. I mean... it's rare if I run into a Goliath and don't try to level him up. I probably lose just as many of them to enemies killing them as I do the AI bugging out.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Oh, no GODDAMNIT. ARGGHHHH.

 

[blackened23]

This is literally the WORST thing that could have happened. Sigh. Duke Nukem Forever in space anyone?

 

[KaOTiK]

This is literally the WORST thing that could have happened. Sigh. Duke Nukem Forever in space anyone?

Gearbox had very little to do with DNF. The game was essentially done when they got it. Gearbox has their own screw ups, but DNF isn't the one to place blame on them.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Well, Aliens: Colonial Marines in space doesn't really work, y'know?

 

[blackened23]

Gearbox had very little to do with DNF. The game was essentially done when they got it. Gearbox has their own screw ups, but DNF isn't the one to place blame on them.

That's not entirely accurate. Gearbox actually did spend quite a bit of time polishing the game up and adding additional features/sequences to it; I'm on another website that is frequented by 2 members of GB's (then) team. They spent a lot of time on it. In fact, I remember one of the team members amusingly discussed that they spend several hours in meetings regularly (then) talking about how to spice up some of the encounters to give them a Duke feel. They added a ton of sequences and voiceovers, the game was definitely not complete when it was passed to GB. Their in house team worked on it.

That said, I do recognize that a lion's share of the work proceeded them - but they did not just release it after acquiring the rights. Anyway, , we obviously know that the game turned out to be junk. I can think of 2 good games to GB's credit and a whole slew of bad ones - which is why I believe this would have been better for a different studio. GB just does not have a positive reputation for this in my mind.

 

[Dankk]

Gearbox had very little to do with DNF. The game was essentially done when they got it. Gearbox has their own screw ups, but DNF isn't the one to place blame on them.

To expand on what blackened23 said: Although Gearbox released an awful game, they didn't have to. They had complete liberty to hold back the game and develop it into something good. It's theirs now. I don't see any reason why they should've pushed it out the door in the state it was in.

So yeah, I'm definitely going to place some of the blame on Gearbox. They were in charge of putting out one of the most highly-anticipated games ever; why didn't they take the time to, you know, make sure the game was actually good before shipping it?

 

[Dankk]

This is really a bizarre acquisition, for a few reasons:

1) Gearbox's only critically-successful franchise is Borderlands

2) The rest of their portfolio consists of mediocre first person shooters

3) Here is an exhaustive list of Gearbox's credentials in making RTS games:























lol

 

[dave_the_nerd]

This is really a bizarre acquisition, for a few reasons:

1) Gearbox's only critically-successful franchise is Borderlands

2) The rest of their portfolio consists of mediocre first person shooters

3) Here is an exhaustive list of Gearbox's credentials in making RTS games:























lol

So... a mediocre FPS based on Homeworld... hmm...

Maybe a "board and take ships" RPG called "Homeworld: Salvage Marine?"

 

[KaOTiK]

I know they had DNF for like a year before releasing it. But realistically with the clusterfuck DNF was, a lot of time was more than likely spent just trying to get it together completely with some QA/polish. Yes they deserve some of the blame, but to dump it totally on them isn't fair either.

Anyways. I'm bummed that the runner up for the HW IP was Stardock. I could get behind them having it. As it is the best I hope for with Gearbox having it is a rerelease on GOG/Steam with it being updated a little maybe (run on modern OS, maybe Steamworks).

 

[Aikouka]

I know they had DNF for like a year before releasing it. But realistically with the clusterfuck DNF was, a lot of time was more than likely spent just trying to get it together completely with some QA/polish. Yes they deserve some of the blame, but to dump it totally on them isn't fair either.

Didn't Gearbox choose to limit the game to the whole two-gun system? I recall hearing a lot of complaints about that ( and you still do about Bioshock Infinite ).

 

[Dankk]

I know they had DNF for like a year before releasing it. But realistically with the clusterfuck DNF was, a lot of time was more than likely spent just trying to get it together completely with some QA/polish. Yes they deserve some of the blame, but to dump it totally on them isn't fair either.

Anyways. I'm bummed that the runner up for the HW IP was Stardock. I could get behind them having it. As it is the best I hope for with Gearbox having it is a rerelease on GOG/Steam with it being updated a little maybe (run on modern OS, maybe Steamworks).

Stardock was the runner up... damn dude. That makes me really sad, considering they're 100x more deserving of the Homeworld IP than Gearbox is.

 

[KaOTiK]

Didn't Gearbox choose to limit the game to the whole two-gun system? I recall hearing a lot of complaints about that ( and you still do about Bioshock Infinite ).

I can't remember. There was so much BS with DNF that it all is a just clusterfuck of not caring at this point in all honesty lol. I think they released a patch that allowed you to carry more guns too lol.

Bioshock Infinite just had to many guns that were too much alike imo. Machine gun/repeater/burst they were practically the same gun with different firing rates.

 

[Elixer]

Wow, 1.35 million for Homeworld ?
And that kickstarter peeps raised $50K...

$1.35 million from Gearbox Software, LLC, a Plano, Tex.-based developer of interactive entertainment, for Homeworld;

 

[Martimus]

Didn't Gearbox choose to limit the game to the whole two-gun system? I recall hearing a lot of complaints about that ( and you still do about Bioshock Infinite ).

Yeah, what was the point in having a bunch of weird weapons, that had unique effects if you were punished for throwing away one of the weapons that you already knew the strengths and weaknesses to? It just seemed like a completely counterproductive game mechanic having only 2 weapons.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

So... a mediocre FPS based on Homeworld... hmm...

Maybe a "board and take ships" RPG called "Homeworld: Salvage Marine?"

You know, I know you meant this as a sarcastic quip, and I sure wouldn't trust Gearbox to do it, but a Rainbow Six style FPS where your job is to plan boarding actions in space could be mega-awesome.

 

[Zenoth]

A strange acquisition to say the least, but time will tell, I have hope.

I liked Borderlands, and Borderlands 2 is significantly better, but of course they're both FPS games regardless of them being good, and Homeworld isn't about that. It should allow Gearbox to make a new type of game and maybe... who knows, it might work. I certainly don't think that Gearbox will "impose" FPS'ing on their Homeworld simply because they have made FPS games so far, they can take this opportunity to broaden their audience base by stepping into the RTS genre (and add the genre to their portfolio).

If they do that then the next Homeworld could be one of the next successful big budget RTS game released in a while since... well, I'd say maybe since Supreme Commander (but that's subjective, I just happen to consider SC to be the last successful RTS game). If there's one thing I wish is that they don't outsource too much of it in favor of developing another game, be it Borderlands 3 or anything else. Let's wait and see, and hope.