BioWare Teams Up With Ex-Black Isle Boss

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the Yahoo-hosted press release announcing a development relationship between BioWare Corp. and Obsidian Entertainment, notable because Obsidian is headed by Feargus Urquhart, ex-head of Interplay's Black Isle Studios, and someone who helped bring Icewind Dale and Planetscape:Torment to life, as well as working with BioWare to publish the Baldur's Gate series. Urquhart commented that "A collaboration with BioWare gives Obsidian the opportunity to explore development projects on established game franchises with proven technology and brand loyalty from the fan community."

Comments

Feargus + Bioware + Aurora = Fallout 3?

[Txiasaeia]

Feargus + Bioware + Aurora = Fallout 3?

Oh please God, let this be so! :) Well, since Cain isn't in the alliance, maybe they'll call it "Nuclear Aftermath" or "Post-Apoc" or something like that. Come ON, we've been dying for some RPGs that ain't fantasy-based!

Re:Feargus + Bioware + Aurora = Fallout 3?

[JFMulder]

Then if you have an Xbox, or are willing to wait a few months for the PC port (no PS2 or GC port planned), get Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic. It's one of the best RPGs I ever played and has been getting rave reviews for a month now.

Re:Feargus + Bioware + Aurora = Fallout 3?

[jklee]

There's been a lot of talk on the Interplay boards that stongly suggest that their current project (Van Buren) is Fallout 3.

Re:Feargus + Bioware + Aurora = Fallout 3?

[cbuskirk]

I agree, I have friends at Black Isle who would love nothing more that to get Fallout 3 out. I got a strong impression that they truly appreciate the fans of Fallout and to want to give them a new game that is truly worthy of the franchise.

Outsourcing

[W33dz]

From what I understand, Obsidian is very strong on the dev and game design end of things. They are not, however, very strong in distribution, marketing and supply chain management. Bioware has partnered with the big boys (Microsoft et al) and has shown the ability to market and distribute its titles. The combination of these two companies should (hopefully) mean that we will get edgy, indy style games into a more mainstream distribution channel.

Planescape : Torment

[Gr33nNight]

I just finished this awesome game, and I'm praying for a sequel. Even though the sales wernt that great, I hope that there is enough of a fan base to warrent a new game in this great universe.

Re:Planescape : Torment

[JLester]

I agree. I still consider it the best game I've ever played, particularly as story goes.

Jason

Re:Planescape : Torment

[Jeranon]

Actually, no, they haven't lost it. Yet. Interplay have those rights, IIRC, until 2005 which includes starting development in that year. They have all of Planescape and the Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms to make games from due to contracts and such from TSR - before WotC and before Hasbro and before Infogrames. However, they won't be making another Planescape game likely due to pure sales reasons and the fact that Interplay seems to want to play it safe at the moment. They did go and make the two Icewind Dale games (which themselves are solid games, but more hacky and slashy in a strategically good way) though because FR is more "traditional" than Planescape was, but the developers seem a bit tired of that at the moment and were looking for something different (like Fallout 3).

There was no BG3. Closest thing to that was Throne of Bhaal, the BG2 expansion which was pretty much a whole game in its own right, though much shorter than BG2, but just as epic. Technology just moved on as review after review as time went on kept complaining about the "outdated" graphics, so I suppose that's why they stopped (as well as the increasingly hacked up code required to make the Infinity engine do neat things).

What are they working on now?

[Dachannien]

It would definitely be interesting to see what they are planning to work on in the near future. BioWare and Black Isle have each put forth some very impressive games under the D&D license. Maybe a more faithful rendition of the 3rd Ed (or now 3.5th Ed) rules is in the cards.

From the looks of it, though, Obsidian is working on web page design.

Greyhawk: Temple of Elemental Evil

[2megs]

You've heard about Greyhawk: Temple of Elemental Evil, right? It's supposed to be using the 3.5 edition rules very faithfully. Faithfully as in being unapologetically turn-based, the way the D&D rules are meant to work, which is something of a rarity in 2003. More at Gamespot and IGN.

Disclaimer: I work at one of the companies involved, though my work isn't related to the project.

Re:Black Isle Going Downhill

[WWWWolf]

Neverwinter nights, although terrific graphically, was little more than a diablo sequel using the D&D engine.

Will people PLEASE forget the Official Campaign already, please... NWN is more than that!

I tell you, NWN: Shadows of Undrentide campaign was far better and had quite a bit of the magic already. Picked a ranger character, talked to the dogs, ended up in a well-laid-out ambush, saw a wolf chasing a deer, had meaningful discussions with dragons... wow. And FAR less l00table bArr3lz and Cr8tz. =)

Not to even mention the community-made mods... great stuff.

Re:Black Isle Going Downhill

[Jiles]

?
Black Isle didn't make NWN.

Re:Black Isle Going Downhill

[green.vervet]

You have to use fire or acid on trolls or else they regenerate.