Is it True?
 

Soulstorm has been pushed back another year?

I'm fine with this, but i was soooo keen to get it this year. I'm so passionate and attached to the oddworld universe haha. Just really really love the story telling and the effort that gets put in.

So, is it true? I was doing some research not long ago.

Yep, it's true

Release is currently set for 2019, yes.

A rushed game is never a good, a delayed game is eventually good. To paraphrase Shigeru Miyamoto.

When was that officially announced? I don't recall anything about release date recently.

I don't believe there was an official announcement per say, more so the release date year was quietly altered on the OWI website homepage.

Tell that to Duke Nukem: Forever. There is such a thing as scope creep which Soulstorm has definitely suffered from.

They just need to get this thing out the door already.

I can definitely understand they want to take their time and make the best game possible. I've no doubt they will. Though I will concede there seems to be an optimal 'hype window' with releases.

Hype builds, people eagerly await the game, but if people wait too long and start to get frustrated, eventually the hype dissipates. For me personally, Dreams on PS4 is just taking so long that I've gone from checking every day for beta/release news, to shrugging and saying 'eh if it comes out I'll come back later'. And from browsing comments, a lot of others feel the same way. While I love Media Molecule's passion and wanting to add even more to the game for release, they brought it on themselves by giving too many dates and missing them. We've gone from 'beta in 2016', to 'release in 2018', to 'beta in 2018', to nearing the end of the year and no word of beta or release. And it gets tiresome - you get your hopes up, and you get let down time and again.

Some might see this as gamers feeling entitled. There definitely are some who feel they are owed something by developers, aside from the 'pay money for game' contract. But through reading articles, watching trailers and gameplay, and generally anticipating a game, people honestly invest quite a lot of time and energy into these things.

It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for other games taking people's attention away from their product. Gone are the days where I buy multiple titles and stack them up to play one after the other. I'm more inclined to just buy a different game first, play that, then catch up with other releases after the fact - and probably preowned then to save some money. I'll be buying Spider-man as soon as I can, and Tomb Raider, even RDR2 can wait til I'm done with Spidey.

Similarly, SS has gone from 2017 release, to 2018 release, to presumed 2019 release. In its favour, I guess news regarding SS has been so slim that they've not built up much hype outside the die-hard fan community. So closer to release when publicity increases, I don't expect OWI will have a problem. The only concern is whether they'll be releasing right at the end of the current console cycle now, and whether that itself could impact success.

I really want to agree, but Watch_Dogs was okay at best.

Precisely this. We haven't started marketing the game yet.

The console cycle no longer exists.

It doesn't for Microsoft. But nobody told Nintendo and Sony to get with the times.

Abe a Go Go: Forever.

coming spring 2029

Of course it does.

It definitely does. What makes you think it doesn't, exactly?

wait really you haven't?, man i must be spending to much time around places like this then because i feel you've done a good bit of advertising

We used to have big console releases each several years apart (per company.) Now in recent times we have begun having smaller windows with smaller increments in the advancement of console technology.

For example:
PS1 1995
PS2 2000 Large increment
PS3 2006 Large increment
PS4 2013 Large increment
PS4 Pro 2016 Small increment

It's not so much a cycle as it used to be - it's now more of a regular increase in power, not a grand upgrade.
Now they release the one PS4 game disk that works over both the PS4 and PS4 Pro.

I'm also thinking of an interview Lorne gave where he told a story about asking the CEO of Sony when the PS5 will come out and he replied something like "I don't know if there will ever be a PS5."

And if there is still a cycle, it won't be until like 2022 when the next PlayStation comes out, so no rush for SoulStorm!

PS4 pro is not a mark of a new console generation. It's an addon for the PS4 one. There are no games made purely for PS4 pro and not PS4.

i think that's sort of his point. i don't know anything about these new consoles, i'm still stuck in the 90's, so excuse me if i say something dumb but i don't think he's saying the PS4 pro is the mark of a new console generation. he's saying it's an improvement to the PS4 without having to bring out an entirely new console, therefore could it be the beginning of the end for the traditional console cycle? it's more about the end of new console generations, not the beginning of a new one.

i think. probably not. i'm just playing devil's advocate.

Spot on, MA!

The difference is that the games themselves are moreso the 'generation' than the actual consoles. There are no Pro-specific titles, merely PS4 games which can effectively be played on max settings. As long as consoles have physical hardware, (unless modular RAM etc comes along), the hardware limitations denote the possibilities with the software.

A game made for PS4/XBOne hardware can only achieve so much, until the next viable hardware jump comes along. The Pro and One X clearly don't offer a significant enough improvement for it to be financially viable for developers to tailor their titles to these consoles specifically. So while we have the start of incremental consoles (personally I don't see the point in the Pro), it's not being reflected in the games.

If the next consoles have modular tech than can be replaced with better hardware as it releases, maybe we'd start to see games akin to the old N64 'requires Expansion Pak', that would begin to disrupt a typical cycle. A modular upgrade would be cost effective for the majority of gamers so worth the investment for specific titles (as opposed to buying a new £300+ console each year, which most wouldn't pay)

Alternatively, consoles might become streaming boxes, with hardware handled the other end. In which case, the tech could gradually change.