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Gearbox Readying WWII Shooter For UbiSoft?

Posted by simoniker on from the band-of-chiefs dept.

Thanks to IGN PC for its news story discussing rumors that Halo PC and Half-Life add-on developer Gearbox Software is creating a World War II team-based shooter for publishers UbiSoft. The piece points to the WarStory.net webpage, which is trailing a Gearbox product with screenshots and quotes, and IGN PC claims that: "According to several sources in the know, it's temporarily called Baker's Dozen", although "the name isn't finalized just yet" - an official announcement is expected in the next few weeks.

38 comments

  1. Maybe they should finish Halo first! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Hmmm perhaps they should be finishing PC halo before setting out on new projects...and finish the damn HEK (Halo Editing Kit) that was promised "soon" back when Halo PC was released. Count me out of any future gearbox titles!

    1. Re:Maybe they should finish Halo first! by BladesP9 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      From what I understand - Microsoft has put the brakes on the Halo Editing Kit... I remember reading that somewhere. I think it had something to do with the PC/Mac version of Halo not being "more valuable" than their Xbox title by making it "modable". I want to also predict that you will never see Halo II for the PC or Mac.....

    2. Re:Maybe they should finish Halo first! by RealityMogul · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      So how much is MS losing per XBox sold now? If I buy and XBox and just one $50 game, are they making a profit or still losing money?

    3. Re:Maybe they should finish Halo first! by realdpk · · Score: 1

      They'd make $wholesalecost more than what they were making before you bought 'em.

  2. Band of Brothers by antime · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Looking at the Warstory.net pages it's quite obvious they wanted to do a Band of Brothers game but couldn't get the license (or didn't try to).

  3. ANOTHER ONE? by Lord+Graga · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Am I the only one who believes that the PC game market already have WAY too many WWII games?

    1. Re:ANOTHER ONE? by Methuseus · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, but you are probably in a small minority (including me, of course).

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
    2. Re:ANOTHER ONE? by RealityMogul · · Score: 1

      No, you're not. I was going to buy one of those games but then figured I'd just be supporting stupidity so I stopped myself.

    3. Re:ANOTHER ONE? by Jesselovesscripts · · Score: 2, Funny

      No your not alone at all. There are lots. Personally, i prefer the different war games, weither they be WWII, vietnam, etc, because they actually happened, and your using guns that actually exsited, in an environment that's meant to emulate places where people actually faught. Kind of a "sim" element added to the FPS genre. Without this, I wouldn't play these games any more. Even UT2004. wtf is that? a bunch of laser's and hovercrafts, as gamers get older, they get tired of fake ass plasma rifles and elecro-shock guns. Not to mention graphics. WWII games will always look better, make more people's jaw drop, because they have something to compare the in-game images to, (as in; life) you don't know what a shock core looks like in real life. (and wtf is with the shock core, and all the other fake weapons that suck? if your going to make a up an imaginary weapon, don't make it suck, I hate ut2003/4's weapon set.) Call of duty has a real dirty, blown up feel to it. I loved it.

    4. Re:ANOTHER ONE? by Danse · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even UT2004. wtf is that? a bunch of laser's and hovercrafts, as gamers get older, they get tired of fake ass plasma rifles and elecro-shock guns. Not to mention graphics. WWII games will always look better, make more people's jaw drop, because they have something to compare the in-game images to, (as in; life) you don't know what a shock core looks like in real life. (and wtf is with the shock core, and all the other fake weapons that suck? if your going to make a up an imaginary weapon, don't make it suck, I hate ut2003/4's weapon set.) Call of duty has a real dirty, blown up feel to it. I loved it.

      Ok, counterpoint. People get tired of reality and realistic games. UT is great because it doesn't have to try to be realistic. It lets you drive fun vehicles, do weird acrobatic things like wall-jumping, use all sorts of powerups, and run around in levels limited only by the imagination of the designers. There are tons of weapons available. Many of the weapons are great, including the shockrifle (which happens to be one of my favorite weapons). Nobody is expected to like all the weapons, but with such a large number of them, everyone should be able to find a few that they like. I thought Call of Duty was a lot of fun, but I like UT2K4 as well. They are different games that try to do very different things. Both succeed in my opinion.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  4. Yet another WWII game? by Vexware · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In recent times, we have been what one could call "plagued" by first-person shooters based on events of the second World War, with the Medal of Honor series, Call of Duty, Battlefield 1942 and others of which I have forgotten the name or the existence. Now, game developers are milking a new money cow with the sudden arrival of several FPS games based on the Vietnam War. It would be most pleasant if these two preponderant themes could now leave game developers' minds as fast as they have entered them, because after a few theme-based games, the originality is just inexistent -- yet the theme-based games continue to appear (and there will always be punters to get the said games). There are several wars which could be poked at yet without making a political statement, such as the apparently "forgotten" first World War, the wars of the Cold War other than in Vietnam, post-Cold War wars and contemporary wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan (I think only the average Conflict Desert Storm truely touches the latter subject).

    Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that this upcoming game from Gearbox will be average -- in fact far from that, the team over there are an experienced bunch of developers --, I am just saying that when it comes out, though it may be a good game, and why not great, I may have already "played" the game before. With all the respect I have for Gearbox and their apparent research into the subject, I still believe this game will have an overly strong feeling of "deja-vu", with its basis already having been over-exploited beforehand.

    --
    "Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect" -- Linus Torval
    1. Re:Yet another WWII game? by *weasel · · Score: 4, Informative

      The key draw of the second world war is:

      . timelessly, irrefutably 'bad' guys. (Perhaps the Japanese could have a partial beef with that, but after the Rape of Nan-King, I doubt many would agree.)

      . Widely accepted to be a war entered for a just cause by the West.

      . Near enough to present time to have involved fairly familiar technology. (no-one was marching in rows as in WWI and before, or picking targets with a GPS device as in Kuwait and after)

      . far enough away from present time so that the entire experience wasn't dominated by air power (air combat is less personal, less dramatic).

      . high number of drafted soldiers and fairly tense and desperate combat situations gives plenty of opportunities for solid dramatic stories.

      . plenty of action in a variety of settings (land/sea/air - forest/pasture/desert - etc.)

      . Very few political cockups at the outcome that could inflame sensibilities.
      (Much of the tension in the middle east is due to League of Nations' Mandates granted to, and screwed-up by France and Britain following World-War I. Iraq and Israel/Palestine were notable 'creations' from that era that were later abandoned to much chaos.)

      and the biggest one:

      . Tons of old-media sources to plunder for ideas.

      Given the working title 'Baker's Dozen' - One's forced to assume this will be a stab at 1967's Dirty Dozen.

      That story revolved around a US officer given 12 convicted murders to train (during WWII of course), for a mission to assassinate a host of German Officers.
      Sounds like a solid video game premise to me.

      --
      // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
    2. Re:Yet another WWII game? by Astatine210 · · Score: 1
      "Given the working title 'Baker's Dozen' - One's forced to assume this will be a stab at 1967's Dirty Dozen."

      My first thought was that it's a reference to one of Ubisoft's previous games, XIII.

      Maybe it's a bit of both.

      Link for those who don't get the connection

    3. Re:Yet another WWII game? by MMaestro · · Score: 1
      Actually there was a game which used WWI as a setting. It was called Iron Storm, but needless to say it wasn't very good at all.

      As for why WWI (FPS) games haven't been made; while the idea of charging an entrenched enemy and dodging machine gun fire may sound fun, after the first 15 minutes, do you really wanna die for the 10th time without even firing a shot? On the other side, would you like to sit on your ass just using your right hand to aim and shoot a machine gun?

    4. Re:Yet another WWII game? by Astatine210 · · Score: 1

      Still, it'd be nothing like the sense of futility you'd get from a WWIII game.

    5. Re:Yet another WWII game? by Randy+Pitchford · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I find it interesting that whenever we hear about a game like Quake or Halo or Breed or Chrome or Half-Life or freakin' Halo for that matter that people don't come out with "Isn't the Sci-Fi market saturated?!?" Same can be said for any subgenre... The truth is that anything based on familiar ground has been toyed with before. While we haven't been lacking any game set within a WW2 context what we have been lacking is: - A half-way interesting/engaging story - Authenticity as strong and well researched as SPR or BoB - Real squad combat and tactics (as opposed to "Army of One" games that are basically like Half-Life with WW2 textures). Gearbox is telling this particular story because it has wanted to for many years and finally has the capacity and technology to tell the story it wanted to tell. It's concept was born prior to MoH: AA and it started actual pre-production before Call of Duty was an inked deal...

    6. Re:Yet another WWII game? by *weasel · · Score: 1

      A third-party shop contracted to make a sequel - perhaps that makes a bit more sense. Particularly for Ubisoft, who've been shipping out sequel work to small developers for some time.

      Of course, my understanding is that XIII wasn't too well received - so who knows.
      Maybe it was just wishful thinking that we'd get something new.

      --
      // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
    7. Re:Yet another WWII game? by Pvt_Waldo · · Score: 1

      *Cough* *Cough*

      Day of Defeat

      More players than some of those big ol' mega buck titles!

    8. Re:Yet another WWII game? by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 1

      Er. Iron Storm wasn't set in WWI, it was set in an alternate history where WWI never fully ended and was protracted for decades after it ended in our reality. I think the games takes place in 1965 or something similar, and there are choppers and high-tech weapons and vehicles along with the WWI stuff.

      Unfortunately, the game DID suck, but the setting was pretty good and I was disappointed.

      --
      Comment of the year
    9. Re:Yet another WWII game? by FingerDemon · · Score: 1

      I agree, but I would add that for flight sims, you actually have to get close enough to the enemy to see the plane/target. Which is just more fun to me than launching a missile a mile or more away.

      And on the ground you have automatic and semi-automatic weapons. I would think any historic realistic game that makes you draw a rifle bolt after every shot or any other such time spent, would be far more boring than a semi-automatic melee.

      I like the WWII genre, but I'm glad there are alternatives.

      And without a doubt the game developers are creating them because they have been selling. Flight Sims were heading in the opposite direction, although I don't know if Il-Sturmovik and SWOTLII turned that around or not.

      --

      "Contrarily the lookaside buffer might not be the panacea... "
  5. The PC is also their platform by shione · · Score: 1

    I'm sure it'll come, just when MS decides so.

  6. At least it's not Operation Desert Storm themed. by DonnieD701 · · Score: 1

    A game based on running around, picking up guys flying white flags wouldn't be very fun, would it? Sorry, I couldn't resist!

    --
    A witty saying proves nothing. Voltaire (1694-1778)
  7. Re:At least it's not Operation Desert Storm themed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't have to follow reality strictly - EA's Desert Strike, anyone?

  8. Hopefully by mrgrey · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Hopefully the network code will be better than that of FarCry...

    --
    -Tolerate my intolerance
    1. Re:Hopefully by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      except for gearbox didn't make farcry

    2. Re:Hopefully by mrgrey · · Score: 1

      Gearbox Readying WWII Shooter For UbiSoft?

      Ubisoft... FarCry.... Bad network code in an Ubisoft game.

      --
      -Tolerate my intolerance
  9. Re:At least it's not Operation Desert Storm themed by Ayaress · · Score: 1

    There was a pretty fun cheap sidescrolling shooter once called Iraq Attack. Fly around in a helicopter, bomb tanks, bomb soldiers, bomb soldiers raising white flags, bomb children's hospitals, bombing the peace corps guys who come to save the burning children, bomb the UN peacekeepers, bomb the allied tanks. Heck, if you get a few speed powerups and good reflexes, you could bomb your own helicopter. Wether it

  10. Re:At least it's not Operation Desert Storm themed by Ayaress · · Score: 1

    (hit enter too early) Wether it keeps true to reality is left as an excercise to the reader.

  11. Where's the story here? by mwheeler01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it me or is this not really worth posting about. A few paragraphs about a game that might be in development by a halfway decent studio that doesn't even have a title yet? Wake me up when there's a real story please.

    --
    Pretty widgets? What pretty widgets?
    1. Re:Where's the story here? by kcots · · Score: 1

      well, it appears there are screenshots (albeit small ones), so it seems as if it is in development. plus, it looks pretty neat--could this be another Source engine game? gearbox has worked closely with Valve in the past, and Source is supposed to be familiar for people that already know the halflife engine, which gearbox does. in any event, i think it's something to at least keep an eye on. -stock

  12. Official announcement? by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 3, Informative

    No need to wait a few weeks. Gearbox is having their 5th Year Anniversary Party in Dallas this Saturday. They'll make the announcement then. Just got my invitation in my inbox the other day.

  13. Re:At least it's not Operation Desert Storm themed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    A game based on running around, picking up guys flying white flags wouldn't be very fun, would it? Sorry, I couldn't resist!

    No, the Desert Storm game wouldn't have much combat or warfare in it at all. It would be about media spin, politics, and getting good infomercials for military hardware shown on CNN. Whoever sells the most F-16s while keeping their campaign contributors happy and their constituents ignorant, wins!

    Sorry, I couldn't resist...

  14. Ultimate WW2 Game by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 2, Funny

    With all of these world war two games, we're just going in circles. Now, if we could combine Battlefield 1942's vehicle system, Medal of Honor's graphics, Return to Castle Wolfenstein's weapons, and Day of Defeat's realism, I believe God would step down.

    --
    "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
    1. Re:Ultimate WW2 Game by Randy+Pitchford · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What about three out of four? It's just difficult to do BF1942's vehicle system if you want to blow Day of Defeat out of the water with authenticity and realism... Having said that, any authentic game about the subject must also have authentic vehicles :)

    2. Re:Ultimate WW2 Game by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 1

      True, and three out of four would be simply amazing, but I think that it will take all four to make God step down from the high heavens.

      It'd be an awesome project for any programmer to do -- despite the royalities he'd have to pay. (If that is a concern.)

      --
      "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
  15. Re:Yet another WWII game? - mod parent up! by kcots · · Score: 1

    first, Randy Pitchford works for gearbox, second, it makes a good point about other fps games in other genres. i too don't understand why people seem to lash out when they hear an fps taking place during world war II. it's hardly as if they are all carbon copies of each other--rtcw and moh:aa are both ww II games, and they certainly differ a great deal (within the fps genre) finally, it answers the 'Where's the story here?' thread. 'gearbox is telling this particular story because it has wanted to for many years'--just hearing 'telling this particular story' is enough to get me exicted about the prospects of this game (the screenshots don't hurt either) -stock

  16. official announcement its called Brothers in Arms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Press Release:
    UBISOFT AND GEARBOX BREAK INTO WWII GAMES MARKET WITH BROTHERS IN ARMS, A REVOLUTIONARY NEW MILITARY FRANCHISE

    San Francisco, CA - April 13, 2004 - Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, today reinforces its strategy to dominate the war games market by announcing a long-term deal with award-winning developer Gearbox Software to publish a new military franchise: Brothers in Arms(TM). With its breakthrough squad-based combat mechanism and unprecedented realism, the first game in the series is poised to revolutionize the WWII genre when it ships on consoles and PC starting Holiday 2004.

    "The WWII theme is one of the fastest growing segments of the military shooter market and we believe that Brothers in Arms is the ideal title to expand Ubisoft's new catalog of war games," said Yves Guillemot, CEO and President of Ubisoft. "We were blown away by the immersive and realistic combat we experienced when playing this game and anybody who knows the reputation of Gearbox Software will understand the magnitude of this deal."

    Created by Texas-based Gearbox Software, Brothers in Arms is the most realistic and authentic WWII shooter ever. While other WWII games have sugarcoated the war experience, Brothers in Arms is based on a true story and will immerse gamers into the gritty, uncensored and emotionally-charged side of war. The game puts you in the shoes of Sgt. Matt Baker, a D-Day paratrooper squad leader, and asks you to lead the squad as you balance their lives with the success of the mission. The true stories and historical events you experience on your perilous journey take you through real battlefields meticulously recreated from aerial reconnaissance images, US Army Signal Corps photos and eye-witness accounts of war-torn Normandy. Players of all skill levels can battle their way through this intense experience because of Brothers in Arms innovative and accessible command and control system.

    "Ubisoft's proven know-how publishing realistic, tactical shooters make an ideal partnership with Gearbox as we create this new franchise," said Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software. "With years of research and game design innovation supporting this title, gamers should be ready for an authentic story, a fresh game play design and the ultimate WWII combat experience."

    © 2004 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Gearbox Software and the Gearbox logo are registered trademarks of Gearbox Software, L.L.C.

    About Gearbox Software: Gearbox Software, an independent development studio located in Dallas, TX, is respected industry-wide for their ability to create award winning interactive software. Comprised of veteran talent, Gearbox Software has established itself as an industry leader, developing games for many of the industry's top franchises including Half-Life, Halo: Combat Evolved, Counter-Strike, James Bond and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Additional information regarding Gearbox Software can be found at www.gearboxsoftware.com.

    About Ubisoft: Ubisoft is an international producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products. A leading company in the multimedia industry, Ubisoft's strong and diversified lineup has grown considerably, as has Ubisoft itself. As well as steadfastly continuing to partner with several high-profile companies, Ubisoft has also confirmed its presence on the global market by developing its own exceptional properties. Founded in 1986 in France, Ubisoft is now present on every continent, both through offices in 21 different countries including the United States, Morocco, Germany and China and through sales of products in over 50 countries. The group is dedicated to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers around the world. Ubisoft generated a turnover of 453 million euros for the 2002/2003 fiscal year, up 23% over the previous fiscal year. To learn more, visit www.ubi.com