[AlektorophobiA]

Apparently they didn't even bother to delete the GOG-specific files from the game before they released it on Steam.


Anyone can prove this?

[DustFalcon85]

Drek, on 15 July 2014 - 06:19 AM, said:

ohhhh General Arcade retweeted this one. Good luck guys, here's hoping!
https://twitter.com/generalarcade

And another.

https://twitter.com/...798892784615425

[Jimmy]

My body was ready to have my name included on the Blood credits.


Then I realized Blood was already widescreen friendly.

[TerminX]

I think this release is a mistake. Whenever Blood comes up in the future, no doubt Atari will point to the lukewarm reaction to this (despite that reaction being entirely their fault due to putting zero effort into it) as evidence that the IP isn't worth doing much with. Blah.

[Kyanos]

Atari's official position:
https://twitter.com/...681507717181440

Quote

Glad to be @GaymerX! @pridefestgame #comingsoon #everyonegames pic.twitter.com/M2Uq7O6NXC

[Jimmy]

Gaymer? Is this a fucking joke?

[MetHy]

Drek, on 15 July 2014 - 02:21 PM, said:

Atari's official position:
https://twitter.com/...681507717181440

*image*

That's the cherry on the cake.

[Kyanos]

Jimmy, on 15 July 2014 - 02:24 PM, said:

Gaymer? Is this a fucking joke?

No joke.

Quote

The company then says it's planning to capitalize on "other rapidly growing markets--including LGBT, social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube

LINK: What can save Atari?

[Idiotska]

This only helps to prove my Atari self-destruction theory.

[Lunick]

AlektorophobiA, on 15 July 2014 - 09:56 AM, said:

Apparently they didn't even bother to delete the GOG-specific files from the game before they released it on Steam.Anyone can prove this?

It's not like it is illegal to reuse GOG stuff, just lazy I guess. A retail Rayman collection I bought real cheap from Ubisoft has GOG wrappers all over it

Jimmy, on 15 July 2014 - 02:24 PM, said:

Gaymer? Is this a fucking joke?

There is a convention called GaymerX and you'd be surprised by which game companies actually attend and support them. Not that Atari would provide a whole lot of that though, it is probably just a few guys like Devolver Digital now...

[Jimmy]

Oy vey, the pandering. THE PANDERING.

[Idiotska]

Pandering to people who barely even buy video games.

[Jimmy]

[The Albino Ape]

Idiotska, on 15 July 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:

This only helps to prove my Atari self-destruction theory.

I don't know why, but I laughed out loud at that.

[Micky C]

Didn't Termit once estimate they could probably make a million dollars with a proper Blood steam port?

[Lunick]

Judging by their current sales, they were probably better off not releasing it...

[Micky C]

Well when 90% of the discussion threads over there are to either release the source or do a proper port (or at the very least add basic steam features like achievements), you can see why.

Are they ever going to do anything even remotely video game related? Or is this simply an attempt at cashing in on every little asset they have?

[Marphy Black]

Lunick, on 15 July 2014 - 11:55 PM, said:

Judging by their current sales, they were probably better off not releasing it...

You can't judge the success of a low key DOS-era, singleplayer-focused game re-release on Steam by Steam's player count. The simultaneous peak player count doesn't indicate the number of actual unique people who have played the game during the course of a whole day, and a lot of people hold off playing games they buy until the weekend anyway. There are also the buyers who are guaranteed to wait until a sale to purchase, so future daily deals, weeklong deals, and the lucrative holiday sales are guaranteed purchase spikes. Not that this has any assured chance of changing Atari's/WB's stance on the Blood IP, but you can't say this Steam release won't ultimately end up being profitable for them, especially given how little effort they've put into it.

[MYHOUSE.MAP]

Marphy Black, on 16 July 2014 - 12:57 AM, said:

You can't judge the success of a low key DOS-era, singleplayer-focused game re-release on Steam by Steam's player count. The simultaneous peak player count doesn't indicate the number of actual unique people who have played the game during the course of a whole day, and a lot of people hold off playing games they buy until the weekend anyway. There are also the buyers who are guaranteed to wait until a sale to purchase, so future daily deals, weeklong deals, and the lucrative holiday sales are guaranteed purchase spikes. Not that this has any assured chance of changing Atari's/WB's stance on the Blood IP, but you can't say this Steam release won't ultimately end up being profitable for them, especially given how little effort they've put into it.

This. Most old FPS re-releases on Steam are done with minimal effort. I think that people tend to forget that Steam rereleases exist mostly so a company can slowly get some extra long term profit from people purchasing old games instead of simply letting old games rot. In fact, you could probably argue that for a lot of PC rereleases, not just old FPS games. :S

Plus, I think there are several cases where people simply buy old FPS games on Steam so they have their old games with the rest of their games on Steam instead of having to fuck with things like CD installs. It took me a while to migrate my main UT99 experience from an old disk install I did back in 2003 that I transferred to another HD to my copy on Steam simply because I viewed the Steam version as something I would use when I changed PCs. Eventually I said "fuck it" and started using the Steam version as my main way to play UT99 because it was way more convenient for me. I imagine there are quite a few unplayed copies of old FPS games on Steam because of this type of thinking.

[Micky C]

Yeah but there's a case for simply contracting someone like General Arcade, have them do all the work, and then sell the re-release at double the price (minus a small commission for GA), but also having it much more appealing due to the improvements in graphics, controls, usability, and proper full steam integration.

[MetHy]

Micky C, on 16 July 2014 - 06:12 AM, said:

having it much more appealing due to the improvements in graphics, controls, usability, and proper full steam integration.

I really like what was done with the Steam versions of Duke3D and SW (especially the workshop on one side and being able to play the addons on the fly on the other side; that's really cool), however I wouldn't consider them improvements on the 'graphics' side of the games. The problem is the forced 32-bit look in those versions, while I'm a 8-bit guy and genuinely believe Build games will always look better in 8-bit, no matter the improvements done on the looks of 32-bit renderers.

Would Blood get a 'proper' Steam re-release, how I see it is that it'd probably be forced 32-bit as well which means to me I'd stick to playing the game in Dosbox.
Though it would be cool for Blood itself and for most players I guess (=people who won't even realize the game is using a different renderer)

[Hendricks266]

Micky C, on 16 July 2014 - 06:12 AM, said:

Yeah but there's a case for simply contracting someone like General Arcade, have them do all the work,

I wouldn't like such a scenario because the source needs to be released freely so fan ports can keep GA sharp.

• Mandatory 32-bit Polymost (and an outdated one until I patched it)
  
• Vert-minus widescreen
  
• Any speedrunner will tell you how Megaton has become their version of choice. Read: Glitchy.

Not to mention that Megaton and Redux are customized JFDuke3D and JFSW. I don't know if GA has the experience to port Blood straight from DOS. Granted, the engine (the hard part) is already done, but Blood has the most complex internal design of any BUILD game.

If GA were ever offered such a thing, they should point at id Software and say it would ultimately be to their technical benefit to release the source under the LGPL or the GPL.

[termit]

Just forget about it. Nothing will happen. Not even worth to discuss. Atari is not interested in anything related to Blood.

[Micky C]

termit, on 17 July 2014 - 02:18 AM, said:

Not even worth to discuss.

Welcome to Duke4.net

[DustFalcon85]

termit, on 17 July 2014 - 02:18 AM, said:

Just forget about it. Nothing will happen. Not even worth to discuss. Atari is not interested in anything related to Blood.

Hmmm. Maybe off-topic. If Atari is not interested then how a/b this; hypothetically. What if General Arcade/Devolver Digital started talks w/ Interplay to work on a Megaton-like port of Redneck Rampage (Rides Again) & Suckin' Grits on Route 66? I've heard somewhere that the Redneck IP is back in Interplay's hands from Activision-Blizzard.

If Interplay still has the source codes to the Redneck Rampage games.

[Hendricks266]

Someone got in contact with RR's programmer about the source. He didn't rule out still having it, but he wasn't even going to look for it without official permission to release.

[Micky C]

Who do we need official permission from then?

I do own the RR collection, but it would really be nice if there was a port available with better controls and modern conveniences, plus a mod to actually make the game more fair and balanced (more visible keys, better combat balance etc). I hear it has issues.
I'm not implying anyone specific should do it, just that as with Blood, it would be the hypothetical ideal.

[TerminX]

The guy we need to talk to next is Greg Goodrich, formerly of EA/head of the Medal of Honor games before that was all killed off. The programmer I talked to was Rafael Paiz. After that, I got in touch with Alex Mayberry back when he was still at Blizzard, who told me that Blizzard having rights to RR was only a temporary transfer when things were shuffled around regarding the Blizzard/Activision acquisition. He's the one who told me he thought the rights lied with Greg Goodrich, who was the producer on RR.

I never got around to upgrading my LinkedIn account to get in touch with him... oops! I'll be sure to do that when I have however much that costs to blow on what is probably a dead end again.

If the IP is back in Interplay's hands (and not just publishing rights to the existing titles), they sure didn't care when I contacted them to ask about it. I made it pretty clear that handing over the source would likely result in support for RR being added to EDuke32, giving them a way for people to play a title they presumably still make some amount of money on via GOG sales without having to rely on DOSBox. Oh well.

[MetHy]

Thanks for the trying. Rides Again In Arkansas deserves more recognition.

What about Powerslave/Exhumed ?

[Hendricks266]

MetHy, on 18 July 2014 - 07:55 AM, said:

What about Powerslave/Exhumed ?

I'm not clear on the specifics but a trustworthy person I know has been looking into this. He's actually gotten further with regard to the Saturn version than the PC one.