What vaporware game are you most looking forward to?

[GUTS]

Its a tough choice.

[grahf]

I remember when Duke 3d came out. I was really into Quake at the time, but completly lost interest after a few games of Duke. The level were nothing special and the graphics were a step back from Quake in most ways, but the game was just so fucking fun. Duke is so damn obnoxious he borders on being cheesy, but somehow doesnt cross the line. Or maybe he does but it doesnt matter. He reminds me of the Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead films.

Who knows if Duke Nukem Forever will ever come out. If it does, I think all that really matters is if they capture the whole persona. Its what made the game.

[Keranu]

The un-named shooter by MindRec is called Xymati, by the way.

Tough choice for me. It's between Neutopia III and PC Gunjin.

[TR0N]

Hmm no Nights on the list for the Wii foshame 

[Keranu]

...wait a minute. They are making a new NiGHTS game for the Wii?

[TR0N]

...wait a minute. They are making a new NiGHTS game for the Wii?

Rumor has it.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/753/753174p1.html

[ParanoiaDragon]

Wait, doesn't vaporware mean games that never appeard & never will?  If that's the case, Duke Nukem is a possible vaporware(I say that, since, you never know, it could end up happening).  All the rest are coming(& some you don't know about ), though I know BT is going thru some rough times right now with work, so their games could be awhile unfortunatly, but I can speak for us, that we're still working, maybe a little more then you think

[CrackTiger]

Vapoware or not, I voted for PC Gunjin, because I've seen more of it than the other (hopefully)soon to be real games.

I've seen a bunch of early screenshots of the formally unnamed shooter, but it doesn't relay enough about the game to me. Also there are already lots of great PC Engine shooters but no side scrolling 'run & gunner's' that I can think of at the moment.

In the end, I'll probably enjoy Neutopia III the most. But again, I've seen pretty much nothing of it yet, so there's not enough for me to get excited about.

Mysterious Song may turn out to be the funnest RPG I've ever played, but from the few screenshots I've seen so far, it just looks like a decent PCE RPG.

Duke Nukem 3D for Saturn with Netlink is enough to hold me over for a lifetime.

Duke is so damn obnoxious he borders on being cheesy, but somehow doesnt cross the line. Or maybe he does but it doesnt matter. He reminds me of the Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead films.

That's because most of his lines in the game were lifted from Army Of Darkness. There are also a couple from They Live, but thankfully Duke Nukem doesn't conjure up any images of flamboyant homosexual Roddy Piper.

I remember I got a demo for the game Blood when I got my first PC. It was basically an Army Of Darkness version of Duke Nukem. And within the first few seconds of the actual game, it already used two lines from AOD.

[Joe Redifer]

Probably Shenmue 3 or Sonic X-Treme.  Both have release dates of next Tuesday.

Then again Moon Dancer for the Mega Drive should be good, too!

[CrackTiger]

Probably Shenmue 3 or Sonic X-Treme.  Both have release dates of next Tuesday.

Then again Moon Dancer for the Mega Drive should be good, too!

Come on, nobody's looking forward to Sonic Xtreme. 

[Keranu]

We have a lot of stuff planned and being made at Frozen Utopia. I promise you all will see something cool soon .

[Seldane]

Damn! I wanna spill the beans! So many secrets to tell!

At least you won't be disappointed, I can tell you that.

Some real vaporware I'm looking forward to is Stalker.

[Dark Fact]

Who knows if Duke Nukem Forever will ever come out. If it does, I think all that really matters is if they capture the whole persona. Its what made the game.

It'll be out when it's done.

I actually wish they made a new Shadow Warrior game for the PC instead of Duke Nukem this and Duke Nukem that.  I thought Lo Wang was much more funnier than Duke mainly because he was a horny asian man who spoke broken english and kicked loads of ass.

[OldRover]

We (Frozen Utopia) haven't released a lot of screenshots of our in-progress games because first of all, we don't want to give too much away at once, and second of all, it's a rather bummer to have new screenshots come out and then get the game ages later (remember Darkwing Duck?). Unlike professional game studios, we have only a limited amount of time to work on things, plus we're not getting paid for the work we do so it's not like any kind of time schedule or 9-to-5 routine. You can rest assured that none of the Frozen Utopia games are vaporware, and there will actually be a demo of one of them rather soon...to not ruin the surprise, I won't say which one.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Damn, you reminded me about Darkwing Duck......I'd rather forget about that game

[Joe Redifer]

I hope Frozen Utopia's games are burnable to CD to be played on real hardware because I'd rather not play them at all than to be stuck playing them on an emulator.

If they are to be CD, ISO releases would be great, rather than ISO+MP3 or some such thing.

[Keranu]

I hope Frozen Utopia's games are burnable to CD to be played on real hardware because I'd rather not play them at all than to be stuck playing them on an emulator.

If they are to be CD, ISO releases would be great, rather than ISO+MP3 or some such thing.

Don't worry, we'll have ISO releases for the demos and full versions of our games, mainly because the games use CD audio tracks, but it's nice to play on real hardware too.

[Joe Redifer]

Sweet!

Also let me know if you need any voice acting.  I have extremely limited acting skills and would be perfect for any game project.  You'd think I worked for Working Designs or something, I'm that bad!

[Keranu]

Sweet!

Also let me know if you need any voice acting.  I have extremely limited acting skills and would be perfect for any game project.  You'd think I worked for Working Designs or something, I'm that bad!

Hey cool, old skool, WD-style voice actors rule! I don't think we need any for Mysterious Song, but you could definitely be a help for Neutopia III when we the voice acting parts are needed.

[Hobo Xiphas]

I certainly hope Neutopia III doesn't come out, as being the eternal pessimist that I am, I told Keranu I would actually get a Turbo if it was ever released.

[Keranu]

And you totally are because there is no way in hell Neutopia III's not coming out  .

[ParanoiaDragon]

Wait, we're for sure doing voice acting for Neutopia 3?  Cool!  So, maybe we'll be using my idea for the cinemas as well, that would rock   I'll say no more then that, because I don't think we want to give too much away at this time.

[Keranu]

Wait, we're for sure doing voice acting for Neutopia 3?  Cool!  So, maybe we'll be using my idea for the cinemas as well, that would rock   I'll say no more then that, because I don't think we want to give too much away at this time.

I don't know for sure, but I don't see why we wouldn't have it.

[Joe Redifer]

Be sure to have lots of "Working Designs-isms" in the game like characters making references to current events and pop culture (like the constant "Hans & Franz" talk in Popful Mail) and make fun of politics and do all of the things Victor Ireland would do to ruin improve the game tenfold!

[GUTS]

Working Designs was awesome, the voice acting wasn't half bad in their games considering the time they were made.  IIn fact their later releases had some pretty decent voice acting work in them.

[Keranu]

I loved WD's humerous, cheesy voice acting.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Word up!

[Joe Redifer]

Here are a couple voices I recorded from Popful Mail to show how awesome Working Designs is:

Sample conversation 1 - Glugg and Tatt - 144K
Sample conversation 2 - Mail and Sven - 584K (Yeah.  The dialog is THAT awesome).

[GUTS]

Yeah sounds like cartoon voice acting for a cartoony game.  If you went into Popful Mail expecting the video game equivalent of a Dostoevsky novel then I can see where you'd think that was lame, but since Popful Mail is basically a saturday morning cartoon caliber RPG that voice acting completely fits.

[Joe Redifer]

Sure, but did they have to steal their "humor" from Saturday Night Live?

This is a first, people actually defending Working Designs?  The world must be coming to an end, just like the Working Designs company did because they couldn't make enough money due to all of their burnt bridges.

[CrackTiger]

Sure, but did they have to steal their "humor" from Saturday Night Live?

This is a first, people actually defending Working Designs?  The world must be coming to an end, just like the Working Designs company did because they couldn't make enough money due to all of their burnt bridges.

I'm surprised that this is the first time you've encountered this. Working Designs are untouchable around here.

Now before I'm shunned from the Turbo community, I haven't actually questioned anything WD has ever done yet.

But instead of quitting while I'm ahead ( )I'll just say that I too did not appreciate the Hanz 'n Franz character in Popful Mail and that that was the breaking point when I began skipping through the dialogue entirely.

Working Designs was actually a good decade ahead of their time, because although cartoons didn't sound anything like that back then, now every CGI family film, whether starring forest animals or penguins in Antarctica, is all about gettin' jiggy with the hip poppin' fresh culture references.

Except of course Working Designs' at the time were older than the average player of their games.

I'll take this last opportunity to apologize for my blasphemy before the agents break down my door. 

[Hobo Xiphas]

Anyone who enjoys Working Designs' humor needs to have their head examined.  A lot of their jokes were passable when their games were new, but they haven't aged well at all.  I cringe at the Christy Love reference everytime I see it in Dragon Force. 

I don't hate Working Designs, if they didn't exist, then I wouldn't have been able to play some of my favorite games of all time.  But honestly, their humor sucks.  As does their localization for certain games - Shining Widsom being the most attrocious example that I've run across.

[Joe Redifer]

And is Lunar 2 really the most appropriate place to bash Bill Clinton?  Why would anyone on Lunar even know who Clinton is?  It makes no sense.  I bet Victor Ireland has ringworms in his anus.

The issue here isn't whether Popful Mail is cartoony and thus justified, it's that pretty much ALL of Working Designs' games are like this, serious like Lunar/Dragon Force or cartoony like Popful Mail and, umm, that's it.  They all have the same "humor" and lame references to pop culture.  CGI movies these days suck, unless they're from Pixar.  And they only get about every other movie they make right.

[jlued686]

I voted Neutopia III.  I'm a huge fan of the originals, so I'm dying to play this one.  However, I'm still really looking forward to the other games like PC Gunjin, Xymati, and Mysterious Song.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm eagerly awaiting the long delayed Nintendo e-reader series! Game and Watch, and the Mario 3 series 3 and 4! They are going to kick ass!

[GUTS]

Well I guess I need my head examined, I always enjoyed their humor.  They were capable of some damned fine serious translations too when the game called for it, like Growlanser 2 & 3, Arc the Lad, and Alundra (some jokes in there too, but overall a very serious game).  Sure some of their jokes missed, but I always felt their characters were always very well written and the jokes were in appropriate places, for example the clinton joke in Lunar 2 is some random NPC that you have to talk to twice to even get him to say it so you actually have to go out of your way to see it.

Personally I miss them, I always looked forward to their releases and really enjoyed their writing.  They're one of the few companies where I can't sell off their games because of the good memories attached to them.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Ditto!

[CrackTiger]

Well I guess I need my head examined, I always enjoyed their humor.  They were capable of some damned fine serious translations too when the game called for it, like Growlanser 2 & 3, Arc the Lad, and Alundra (some jokes in there too, but overall a very serious game).  Sure some of their jokes missed, but I always felt their characters were always very well written and the jokes were in appropriate places, for example the clinton joke in Lunar 2 is some random NPC that you have to talk to twice to even get him to say it so you actually have to go out of your way to see it.

Personally I miss them, I always looked forward to their releases and really enjoyed their writing.  They're one of the few companies where I can't sell off their games because of the good memories attached to them.

They were capable of some damned fine serious translations/writing, which is why it was disappointing when some of their titles that deserved such got the poo poo humour treatment.

Cosmic Fantasy 2 was perfectly balanced with wacky humour and from what I remember, Exile had an awesome dark dramatic plot that complemented that game.

I don't remember too many specifics after that, but I do remember being disappointed whenever a game I was enjoying got tainted with occasional lowbrow jokey/cheezy comment("The world is my oyster!!!") in the main dialogue(random npc's can say anything as far as I'm concerned, even swipes at U.S. Democats ).

But even in the worst cases, the games were enjoyable overall and I'm glad that Working Designs was around to bring so many fun titles over here and I'll always be a WD fan.

It's just crazy how at some places online people won't accept a single less than positive comment about them in any specific way, let alone in general. Plus the fact that zealous WD fans aren't content to simply say that they appreciate the writing, but insist that it's all genius. I can't think of any other publisher that I've seen fans of react to potential criticism in the same way.

I guess its the underdog syndrome, like Turbo fans that defend the TG-16/PCE so rabidly, even in the face of obvious ignorance.

[Keranu]

I agree with GUTS on this. And also, dated humor or not, I still feel it's a helluva lot more entertaining than the typical NPC conversations. I could give a crap less about the nearest inn, I'd rather hear old Clinton jokes or even better, Guy Kazama refrences.

[Joe Redifer]

Dude, if WD games were laced with Guy Kazama references they'd still be in business, for sure.  And RICH!

[CrackTiger]

I agree with GUTS on this. And also, dated humor or not, I still feel it's a helluva lot more entertaining than the typical NPC conversations. I could give a crap less about the nearest inn, I'd rather hear old Clinton jokes or even better, Guy Kazama refrences.

At least Clinton jokes are jokes, where as many NPC's just spout jingles like "Where's the beef?" and "Calgon take me away" like bad season 4+ Family Guy.

Speaking of Family Guy, the dated pop culture references reminded me of the episode when Stewie was in acting class and the girl says "You are the weakest link goodbye". 

If Working Designs was still around, by the time their next release made it out, it'd be filled woodsman and pixies spouting one liners like "Not gonna catch me ridin' dirty", "Seacrest out", "Kitchen Fresh Chicken" and "Deal or no deal".

[Joe Redifer]

Those lines are too new.  Remember, all WD games are delayed substantially.  So if a new WD came out on Tuesday, it'd have lines like "Phone a friend" and fantastic humor about George W. Bush choking on a pretzel.

[CrackTiger]

Those lines are too new.  Remember, all WD games are delayed substantially.  So if a new WD came out on Tuesday, it'd have lines like "Phone a friend" and fantastic humor about George W. Bush choking on a pretzel. 

That's why I said "by the time their next release made it out." 

[Seldane]

Neutopia 3 WILL have odd and hard-to-find content in it, that's for sure. Whatever it will be is a secret, but it will be there. Ha ha!

[TurboXray]

TongueMan's Logic is not on that list?

[Emerald Rocker]

I agree with GUTS, except that I don't need my head examined.  Their translations kicked ass -- the out-of-place humor was part of what made Dragon Force more fun (because otherwise it was kind of like "Dark Wizard lite", so the translation/humor helped give it its own style).

The reason I ended up disliking WD was because they started lying about things like PSX Thunder Force 5 having a hidden boss (it doesn't), and they decided to start bringing out shitty games like Silpheed: Lost Planet, RayCrisis, and the Lunar 2 remake.  Yeah, maybe Lunar 2 PSX wasn't *that* bad, but they delayed the game forever and still "didn't have time" to add the Star Tower theme?  Come on.  I could forgive the poor shooter selection as Victor Ireland's poor personal taste (he actually said RayCrisis was awesome, and DoDonPachi sucked, you know?) but the lies were inexcusable.  When asked about how to reach TF5's "secret boss" on the WD message board, he... forgot where it was.  But insisted that it was there.

It's not.

But at least their stuff up until then was perfect, and they ended off their career with some nice games there, too (Arc collection, Growlanser collection).

[ParanoiaDragon]

I personally loved both their Lunar remakes, & they became 2 of my favorite games ever.  However, I hadn't played the Sega CD versions until years later, so, it's a different experience for me.

[Seldane]

What sucks about WD is that they took ALL the credit for EVERYTHING. Even today most people believe WD actually DEVELOPED games like Lunar, etc.

Bastards.

[CrackTiger]

Although they didn't turn out the way I wanted(non-random battles), I liked both Lunar remakes for Saturn(I haven't finished LMS).

I only tried the PSX version of Lunar SSS, which wasn't total garbage after all the downgrades. But the load & save times were way to long. WD really should've tried to get them shorter like they did for Albert Odyssey(another good overall WD script I believe) and if they did, well then I appreciate the couple of hours of my life they saved me.

I've heard lots of stories of Victor Ireland being arogant in interviews, press releases, fan chats, reviews, etc, but I never got into the politics of the company.

I don't hate any publishers personally, but can understand more how some people do hate particular companies over the blind devotion that other publishers recieve.

[Keranu]

What sucks about WD is that they took ALL the credit for EVERYTHING. Even today most people believe WD actually DEVELOPED games like Lunar, etc.

Bastards.

I don't think WD took the credit for everything, but the WD fanboys made the impression.

By the way, I liked the Lunar remakes also, I don't think they're as bad as people say. I do prefer the originals more (and I even played those ones afterwards) but they're all good.