[themaniacboy]

Mad Max RW, on 19 April 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

There's more. It's sounding like negotiations really did fall through and Human Head is off the project. A little more public info about how long development has been suspended...

http://www.shacknews...-since-november

So my suspicions were right, fuck, i hate to be right.

[Martin]

Yeah, even though "it's not cancelled", it's all-round bad news that Human Head are gone. They're good developers. God knows who 2K will put in charge of it, if anyone at all.

[Mad Max RW]

Martin, on 20 April 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

God knows who 2K will put in charge of it, if anyone at all.

You mean Bethesda. And they have a HORRIBLE track record here.

[Mr.Deviance]

If they let a new dev team resume the game, I believe shit will ensue.
That game appeared to have a really great art direction, one which was the creation of the people that left it.
Putting new people in charge of that unique game and letting them be creative with it, will most likely give us another stereotypical shooter.
If the people that started work on it, would have been respected and allowed to finish their vision, I am sure the game would have ended up awesome.
Now, I don't even want to imagine what a new dev studio can make out of it.
The game appeared to have the potential to be a memorable thing but luck was against us again.
These days, everything will happen just to stop the development of great games.

[themaniacboy]

Mr.Deviance, on 20 April 2012 - 04:37 PM, said:

If they let a new dev team resume the game, I believe shit will ensue.
That game appeared to have a really great art direction, one which was the creation of the people that left it.
Putting new people in charge of that unique game and letting them be creative with it, will most likely give us another stereotypical shooter.
If the people that started work on it, would have been respected and allowed to finish their vision, I am sure the game would have ended up awesome.
Now, I don't even want to imagine what a new dev studio can make out of it.
The game appeared to have the potential to be a memorable thing but luck was against us again.
These days, everything will happen just to stop the development of great games.

Yeah, but don't let your hopes get down yet.
If we're lucky human head can still develop the game, but it seems to me that won't be the case.

[Tetsuo]

DSO Gaming has reported that someone at Neogaf has pointed out that Bethesda has removed Prey 2 from their product lineup. Doesn't sound too promising. http://www.dsogaming...roduct-line-up/

[Mr. Tibbs]

That doesn't sound too good. On certain Human Head linkedin pages, http://www.linkedin....n/davidrlorentz for example, implies that the game will still be published by Bethesda in 2013. Might not be up to date though. Chris Rhinehart's twitter account (http://jp.twitter.com/ChrisRhinehart) still lists him as the Project Lead, although there have been heavy hints in the past couple of months they might be looking to make Rune 2 (http://www.facebook.com/RuneGame complete with concept art, publishing Rune Classic on steam and this interview http://www.neogamr.n...ut-rune-revival). That obviously doesn't bode well for Prey 2.

The last update on Prey 2 was back in early June: http://www.eurogamer...a-big-franchise

"What we said was it was not coming out this year and we're still trying to sort some things out with Human Head," Hines told Eurogamer. "That really hasn't changed. I don't have an update for you on that, other than it's not coming out this year."

Has Bethesda switched developers?

"I don't have anything else I can tell you right now."

Here's naively hoping everything works out and Human Head gets to finish the project.

[t800]

Sorry for derailing this topic a bit, but I just had to...

Did I just read in previous post that Human Head consider sequel to Rune?!
Prey was ok game. But Rune... HOLY SH*T! I loved that game.
Duke3D, Mafia, Max Payne 1+2, Heretic II and Rune were my beloved video game masterpiecies from my childhood.
(I know oddly large spread of absolutely different genres.)
I dont want to offend fans of Prey, but your previous installment was made 6 years ago and I patiently waited for
sequel of Rune 12(!) years. So Human Head - go ahead, continue your works on Rune 2, I really wont mind if Prey get delayed
due to works on Rune 2.

P.S. And I am still waiting for Heretic III, maybe some day Raven will hear voices of its fans.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Here's an update from Bethesda “Since we had already announced it wasn’t coming out this year and we don’t have anything new to say on the game at this time, we simply didn’t think it’d be appropriate to include it on the new site launch,”

http://www.eurogamer...thesdas-website

Maybe there still trying to work things out with Human Head instead of moving it to another developer.

t800, I would love to have another Rune. The Human Head Studios of 2012 is almost exactly the same team that shipped Rune in 2000 and Hexen earlier so that bodes well for a faithful sequel.

[Tetsuo]

I'm not against there being a Rune sequel or reboot or whatever it is they want to work on with that but I would still like for them to complete PREY2 and release it especially since they had already put so much work into it and it presumably is further along than a RUNE followup is. Also, I was against the change of protagonist at first but then I grew to actually start looking forward to it so this whole thing kind of pulled the rug from underneath my feet in a way.

[Mr. Tibbs]

This doesn't sound too hopeful.

http://beefjack.com/...t-expectations/

"So what is going on with Prey 2? The sequel to the 2007 shooter has seen some muddy waters in recent months, with rumours of cancellation, delays, and unfriendly terms between publisher Bethesda and developer Human Head Studios. Those terms seem to have come to a head, as Bethesda’s VP of marketing Pete Hines has stated that development on Prey 2 has been halted.

“I can be very clear about this. At one point, we looked at Prey 2 and decided that in its current state, with all the money, time, and resources we put into it, it didn’t meet our expectations. So we decided to pull the plug from our end,” Hines says to IGN.

Because Bethesda owns the Prey license, Human Head Studios can’t take the game to another publisher under its current moniker. It would have to become a new IP, and we may ultimately get a very different Prey 2 further down the line.

“It was a tough business decision, but at that point it was the right one. It’s never a good thing to have to make those choices. It’s a shame, but it comes with the territory,” Hines continues.

A damn shame. Prey 2 looked really promising, especially because it dared to break the mould of its predecessor and try something new.

Excuse me, I think I have something in both my eyes."

Did Bethesda just casually cancel the game?

Edit:

I jumped the gun. https://twitter.com/...177087720349696

"To clarify, I didn't say Prey 2 was canx. Gave an interview in English, translated to Dutch, translated back to English. #LostInTranslation"

[Mr. Tibbs]

Apologies for double posting but it seems things are looking even worse for Human Head despite a recent hiring spree.

http://www.shacknews...bleeding-talent


"Human Head Studios appears to be going through a fairly dramatic personnel shift, as reports indicate that the company has lost a significant amount of vital staff this year. The staff has either laid off or lost 13 members, which in a studio that boasted 50-70 at its peak is a pretty wide swath.


Kotaku reports that the studio has lost its COO, development director, HR manager, lead programmer, lead graphics programmer, an associate producer, an audio director, and various other programming positions.

This comes just months after news hit that Prey 2 had been delayed amid a contract dispute with Bethesda. The publisher still claims Prey 2 is coming out, but Human Head reportedly stopped working on it last year. Meanwhile, Human Head has started hinting at a Rune revival. But as the studio loses so much of its staff, it's hard to say where current projects might be in development now."

So, it's safe to assume they're no longer working on Prey 2. Any ideas who might've taken over development duties ID, Machinegames, some other external Bethesda studio?

[thatguy]

Damn that really sucks. I was REALLY looking forward to Prey 2. The game design really gave much faith to a definitive cyberpunk bounty hunter game. :/

[Mr. Tibbs]

s.b.Newsom, on 05 October 2012 - 12:15 AM, said:

Damn that really sucks. I was REALLY looking forward to Prey 2. The game design really gave much faith to a definitive cyberpunk bounty hunter game. :/

Me too! Along with Dishonored it was easily my most anticipated game of this year.

Nathan Cheever (former Monolith designer, lead level designer on Prey 2) on his personal site linked to this article with a pretty ballsy claim:

http://thenexusnews....-prey-2/852724/

"However thats not all, ZeniMax saw everything trough, although Dishonored is considered having a unique style, it still shares similarities to “BioShock: Infinite” a game scheduled for a February 2013 release. Hence why ZeniMax HAD to make sure Dishonored was released before BioShock: Infinite and would remove any chance of it being compared all together.

A (confidential) source from Bethesda has assured us that after Dishonored is released, the development for further enhancing and upgrading Prey 2 will commence, and since there are no notable cyber games for 2013, it is strongly possible that we will see it released very soon.

We were told that the game is done, and if it were to be released for 2013, only a few new adjustments need to be made. Hopefully it will all work out in its favor."

That's crazy if true. I don't know if that site is reputable or not, regardless that certainly clears a few things up regarding Human Head qualms with contracts etc...

His site contains a blog of all the Prey 2 updates published online: http://www.curiousco.../prey2/p2-news/

[Kathy]

So... 13 people were fired in 2012. Is it really that big of a deal? Once a month is not that dramatic. Worrisome - maybe, especially knowing what postitions these people held.

[necroslut]

Fuck Zenimax, fuck Bethesda.

[Mr.Deviance]

I don't care about the numbers of people they fire in relation to this game.
The only important thing that matters related to this game is to not have the creative minds behind this sequel fired and replaced with new people.
No matter how talented the people that replace the fired ones will be, if they are not the same people that started the idea, chances are that the game will go in a direction in which it wasn't supposed to go originally.
Considering that this was apparently a very good rendition of the extremely rare cyberpunk ambient that I love and never get to see enough in either games or movies, almost nobody else will be able to nail this concept correctly if the level design and sfx haven't yet been implemented at least 80% in the game by the time shit went down hill.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Some never before seen Prey 2 screens from Nathan Cheever's site:

http://www.curiousco.../prey2/gallery/






I don't think any of the employees were fired. It seems the studio is in a bit of a predicament trying to get Rune 2 off the ground, possibly pitching to publishers, while trying to negotiate a better deal with Bethesda they probably had to lay people off with the promise of a job when everything gets sorted out. What's the nature of deal? Anyone's guess is as good as mine, but clearly something fishy is going on with that rumour of the game being complete and remarks like this from the studio employees:

http://twitter.com/N...257372563447809
http://twitter.com/N...391779606839296

Bethesda really threw Human Head under the bus with that delay update ("The delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards." Ouch!) so who knows if we'll ever see the game again.

All the founders remain at the studio: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted (the majority of the original Hexen team) so that's a good sign.

[Kathy]

Why do several people here call this game's setting/art direction/story/whatever a cyberpunk when it looks more like the usual sci-fi akin to Star Wars Ep. II(or Mass Effect for that matter)? And I haven't heard about cyberpunk-related thematic elements in the game's story/setting.

[thatguy]

Burnett, on 05 October 2012 - 04:45 PM, said:

Why do several people here call this game's setting/art direction/story/whatever a cyberpunk when it looks more like the usual sci-fi akin to Star Wars Ep. II(or Mass Effect for that matter)? And I haven't heard about cyberpunk-related thematic elements in the game's story/setting.

Because the style and atmosphere is derivative of Blade Runner, not to mention you are a bounty hunter of some sort.

On another note, they were trying to keep Tommy's participation a mystery until you buy the game. I almost forgot about it.

[Kathy]

s.b.Newsom, on 06 October 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

Because the style and atmosphere is derivative of Blade Runner,

Like I said, based on screenshots and trailer I don't really see that much similarity with BladeRunner's style/atmosphere. Just some futuristic world with aliens and stuff.

Quote

not to mention you are a bounty hunter of some sort.

Which doesn't really have to do with a cyberpunk much, does it?

Quote

On another note, they were trying to keep Tommy's participation a mystery until you buy the game. I almost forgot about it.

No, they had a similar screenshot with Tommy. Probably because of people's bewilderment about his absense.

[Martin]

Mr. Tibbs, on 05 October 2012 - 02:41 PM, said:

P2_Human_Tommy.jpg

Tommy!!

I so want this game to be released. I don't play games much any more, but would add this to my 360 to go with the first one. Classic game, as far as I'm concerned. Underrated.

[thatguy]

Burnett, on 06 October 2012 - 03:26 PM, said:

No, they had a similar screenshot with Tommy. Probably because of people's bewilderment about his absense.

All I said was Tommy's involvement is still a mystery. Not 'oh hey its tommy', SPOILERS.


BTW, why isn't cyberpunk scifi? I don't get what you're saying. Dune is Cyberpunk. Maybe you need to learn the meaning behind it than just assume it means 'Hackers' in the 'Future'.

[Kathy]

And maybe you need to learn that being 'sci-fi' doesn't automatically mean being 'cyberpunk'.

[Mr.Deviance]

Burnett, on 08 October 2012 - 02:03 AM, said:

And maybe you need to learn that being 'sci-fi' doesn't automatically mean being 'cyberpunk'.

Actually Cyberpunk can't exist without sci-fi. Sci-fi can exist without cyberpunk but not vice versa.

There are various styles of cyber punk based on the primordial concepts of the original artists that invented a said genre.
Many people that know how to spot cyber punk but don't know too much about it are usually inclined to compare something that looks cyberpunk to blade runner.
The movie Blade Runner is truly a dystopian movie with a strong cyberpunk design, no doubt about it.
What many don't know however is that Syd Mead is the concept artist that invented that type of cyber punk that is seen in Blade Runner.
Syd Mead has been drawing retro futuristic art decades before Blade Runner existed and obviously he has made all the concept art for Blade Runner too.
So there are some cyber punk games and movies made after Blade Runner that are taking inspiration from Syd Mead's concept art but cyber punk is not limited to Syd Mead's style even though it's influenced by his style in a large part.

There is also Japanese Cyber punk which has added a lot and created new styles based on Syd Mead's concept art.
See Battle Angel Alita manga that inspired James Cameron to make Terminator 1 and 2

The term cyberpunk can usually be used to describe dystopian worlds or futuristic used up worlds inhabited by biomechanical beings that may be mixed with mechanical and biological beings.
Starwars has also taken a jab at cyberpunk and has made it's own thing out of it.
Also see Snatcher designed by Hideo Kojima in the 80's
It's a very good example of japanese cyberpunk inspired and extended upon Syd Mead's Blade Runner style.

Then there's also the Orwellian world mixed in with biomechanical beings that gives birth to half life 2's cyberpunk ambient, which was achieved with the talents and brilliant style of Viktor Antonov that has his own brilliant unique style, very different from Syd Mead.

If you haven't checked art made by the upper mentioned people, then you really should in order to understand what is cyberpunk and who really made it what it is today.

[Kathy]

Mr.Deviance, on 08 October 2012 - 02:56 AM, said:

Actually Cyberpunk can't exist without sci-fi. Sci-fi can exist without cyberpunk but not vice versa.

That was my point.

Quote

If you haven't checked art made by the upper mentioned people, then you really should in order to understand what is cyberpunk and who really made it what it is today.

I'm just saying that this advanced futuristic dystopian world, ridden with fundamental social issues(which are at least partly related to said futuristic advancements) is not present in Prey2. At least it wasn't in trailers and screenshots.

[Mr.Deviance]

Burnett, on 08 October 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

That was my point.


I'm just saying that this advanced futuristic dystopian world, ridden with fundamental social issues(which are at least partly related to said futuristic advancements) is not present in Prey2. At least it wasn't in trailers and screenshots.

Actually I'm not sure what trailers or screen shots you've seen but the city scape of Prey 2 looks statistically cyber punk any way you look at it.
The fact that biomechanical aliens roam it as civilians on the streets also makes it cyber punk.
The fact that you can go into the ghettos of a futuristic city populated by all types of aliens makes it very cyber punk.



If this city doesn't look dystopian to you, it sure as hell does to me and many others that I've talked to.
It's even more close to Syd Mead's Blader Runner style than Star Wars is even though it tends to remind you of Star Wars in some cases, mostly due to how aliens look and how varied they are and hang out in bars just like in Star Wars episode 2.

[Kathy]

Fine...

[thatguy]

Finally. lol

[Mr. Tibbs]

Another update insisting the game is not cancelled, but in limbo.

https://twitter.com/...843201396838400