By Alec Meer on January 17th, 2012 at 5:58 pm.
Plain old videogame industry news time, folks. The game known only as Max Payne 3 has been delayed by two months, and will now land in May rather than April. Only it’s worse than that for us – the console version is due on May 15 in the US but not until May 18 everywhere, which is pointlessly insulting enough in itself. But on top of that, the PC version isn’t due until May 29 in the US and flippin’ bloody June 1 in the UK and elsewhere. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.
What a waste of everyone’s time, especially as the bulk of PC sales will be digital so an additional international delay there is utterly futile pandering to those retail shmucks who so like to ruin everyone’s fun. Who do Rockstar think they are, some kind of rockstars?
No specific reason is given for the delay, but Take 2 (Rockstar’s corporate overlords) boss Strauss Zelnick officially stated tha “We do not take changes to our release schedule lightly, and this short delay will ensure that Max Payne 3 delivers the highest quality, groundbreaking entertainment experience that is expected from our Company.” So, polish, presumably.
As for the reason it’s slipped even more on PC? No word, but my guess is “no real reason at all, just to comply with the wishes of some megacorp or another or because someone’s got a bee in their bonnet about piracy.” Still, it’s a damned sight closer to the console release than GTA IV and LA Noire were, which is something.
Rockstar boss Sam Houser, meanwhile, offered only the most unilluminating of all unimlluminating press release statements:
“Max Payne 3 brings powerful storytelling back to the action-shooter genre. Rockstar Studios are delivering a game that’s both incredibly cinematic and very, very intense to play.” What an insight that gives us.
So, May 29/June 1 it is. Oh well, at least I’ve got Postal III to play in the meantime. What strange horrors await me? I will be sure to tell you, in diary-based form.
17/01/2012 at 18:04 Phinor says:
First Take Two announces a delay to May and few hours later Rockstar says June. Baah, there’s barely anything being released in the next five months. Few months ago it looked like everything was being release Q1 2012 but literally (almost) everything has been delayed now.
17/01/2012 at 18:04 Echo Black says:
Bald Payne with a tropical shirt. At least you picked a lame screenshot to illustrate some lame news, Alec.
17/01/2012 at 18:11 Unaco says:
As opposed to a screenshot from the original game, which would have Max Payne (with hair) with a tropical shirt? Such as THIS ONE? I don’t know why people are b*itching so much about the Tropical shirt… It’s been a part of Max’s attire since the first game, tragically dropped from the 2nd, and now making a long overdue comeback.
17/01/2012 at 18:18 Echo Black says:
Jesus Christ, settle down, it was a joke
17/01/2012 at 19:49 Prime says:
Doesn’t read like one, Echo. Sadly that kind of genuinely aggrieved commentary is far too common on the internet. I sympathise – I get caught out like this alot. Next time use a smiley?
17/01/2012 at 21:16 Belsameth says:
More importantly tho… Is he still severely constipated?
17/01/2012 at 21:53 Network Crayon says:
i have to admit the original max payne’s face is my favourite skin texture in video game history.
17/01/2012 at 22:47 aerozol says:
@ Network Crayon Hands down.
17/01/2012 at 18:14 DigitalSignalX says:
I’m going to try and read this as 4 more months of polish to make this game not suck.
17/01/2012 at 18:16 Iskariot says:
I don’t mind the delay. I just hope this game is good.
The multiplayer part worries me. I think it is a complete and total waste of resources.
I definitely do not buy a Max Payne game to multiplay. With games like this the MP part dies quickly most of the time. If I wanted another fricking multiplayer game I have more than enough to choose from. But good and intriguing SP shooters with replay value are very rare.
If the singleplayer turns out to be only a measly 6 or 8 hours or so, I will have to kill somebody at the Rockstar Studio’s. I won’t pay 50 bucks for that. I want a compelling dark story and great shootouts that take me on a long wild ride of at least 12 hours.
18/01/2012 at 08:57 Joe W-A says:
Max Payne 2 was like 3 hours long. I remember playing it through twice on launch day.
19/01/2012 at 13:09 Inarborat says:
I think the shooting mechanics are more than enough reason to want some mp in this game. Another recent shooter that had sublime mechanics only gave us a fucking dune buggy mode.
17/01/2012 at 18:20 Greeb says:
I don’t mind the delay, what I do mind is your alternate spelling of waiting. I guess I’ll never understand why people think it’s cute or clever.
17/01/2012 at 18:25 Echo Black says:
Do people use it all the time? I think it’s just a Pain -> Payne pun
17/01/2012 at 18:27 Greeb says:
People use puns all the time in their headlines. I don’t understand why though. It isn’t funny.
17/01/2012 at 18:34 Echo Black says:
A RPS without puns would really not be the same.
17/01/2012 at 18:44 TheTourist314 says:
Sounds like a real payne, Greeb.
http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/img/misc/cartoon/dancing-frog.gif
(If SOPA were active, I’d have to make an ASCII gif of a frog dancing… as long as it weren’t copyrighted by anyone.)
17/01/2012 at 19:01 Essell says:
“As for the reason it’s slipped even more on PC? No word, but my guess is “no real reason at all, just to comply with the wishes of some megacorp or another or because someone’s got a bee in their bonnet about piracy.”
Or it could be because development on console comes first, and bug-testing, interface redesign and feature tweaking for release on PC is quite a different beast and, like everything in dev, actually takes time?
17/01/2012 at 19:07 impish says:
Whoa there, you just take your “voice of reason” shtick somewhere else. We don’t take kindly to to that kind of talk out here on the internet.
17/01/2012 at 20:07 Prime says:
I’d be more inclined to believe that, Essell, if several companies, Ubisoft, for example, hadn’t already used it as an excuse for delayed products then delivered shoddy, unpolished games. I’m not suggesting there’s anything sinister behind this particular delay; the reason could simply be something deeply uninteresting and business related. But I’m always suspicious of these ‘delayed for polishing’ statements nowadays.
17/01/2012 at 22:53 wererogue says:
In my experience, it goes something like this:
1. Game is developed for consoles simultaneously since they’re pretty much all the same, interface-wise.
2. Time is scheduled to do a port to pc. This time is never enough to finish the port before the console release date, but to schedule it earlier introduces the risk that the console version will change enough at the end of development to cause much of the work to need redoing. Marketing either keep the release date the same, despite the crazy short time, or estimate a later release, despite the PC crowd backlash.
3. The console version slips a bit – staff supposed to be working on the PC port are kept on consoles to get the game out on time.
4. The PC version is either horrifically delayed or super-buggy when it is released.
The solution is clear: develop the PC version in parallel with the console versions. It’s hard to deny that this would waste a ton of time, however, as you’d have to make two sets of controls and a million UIs (well, test a million UIs, anyway) for every prototype game mechanic. I do think it’s worth making sure the engine runs on PC early, though – it can help you catch bugs on consoles via superior analysis tools. Most games do this nowadays, though – often the engine will run within the game tools on PC.
The real solution, obviously, is to not waste all that time making console versions.
tl;dr – it’s not right, it’s not ok, but it’s not an easy problem either. I’m definitely on board with No Oceans, but the PC release dates thing is not so clear-cut.
17/01/2012 at 19:16 siegarettes says:
You know what? I was excited that it might be fun to get as a birthday present this year, but I’m okay with this. It will give me time to work on my infinite backlog.
17/01/2012 at 20:28 the_p says:
His arms are going to give me nightmares.
17/01/2012 at 21:57 Network Crayon says:
He has the same hair care regime’ as Spider Jerusalem. Works on the arms to it seems
17/01/2012 at 20:51 ahluka says:
Vaguely bad news for all who are looking forward to it. I only am because, well, it’s Max Payne. It was the first game I modded. MaxEd was the first level editor I used. Slo-mo gun fights give me a semi on for some reason.
I’m glad Rockstar have stopped releasing GTA knock-offs for a change, ho yes.
18/01/2012 at 01:53 KaMy says:
“As for the reason it’s slipped even more on PC?”
So that impatient people will buy the game ont their beloved PS360 and pay half more.
As for piracy it still is kind of funny given that it’s been a while that Xbox 360 games are the first to be avalaible, up to 2 or 3 weeks before their release. I can still remember when Mass Effect 2 were those console guys had finished the game before journalists could test it…
But the good old PC is still the bad one. And companies still consider that one pirated copie equal one sale. And the lack of demos can’t help that neither.
19/01/2012 at 09:45 gmcleod says:
The standard reaction by the community whenever a PC delay is announced is pretty hilarious.
20/01/2012 at 14:37 Neolithic says:
On another note: POSTAL DIARIES YAY!