New Baldur's Gate Website Suggests Remake, Sequel?
A new Baldur's Gate game? Wuh? That's the news that greets my eyes when I look at Eurogamer. This is, apparently, coming from former BioWare developer Trent Oster, who worked on the original BG, as well as the first Neverwinter Nights. His new company, Beamdog, is a digital distribution platform, brought to wider attention recently via the release of MDK 2 HD, and this, GameBanshee claims, will be the source of new Forgotten Realms chat-n-chopping. And how do we know any of this is happening? A Baldur's Gate website.
The rights to the games are owned by Atari, who have spent the last few years re-releasing the series, along with NWN and others, in about 30,000 different packages. It's clear that the company has been trying to make the best of owning all the BioWare classics for quite a while, and in fact back in 2008 there were rumours they were going to add to these franchises.
Currently the website offers very little. Just a BG-ish image, the theme, and the quote,
"The Lord of Murder shall perish, but in his doom he shall spawn a score of mortal progeny, chaos will be sown by their passage." So sayeth the wise Alaundo
Everything else at this point is speculation. It's possible this will be another HD remake, like MDK2, and that would be no unwelcome thing. The original games were super-low-res, built in the aged version of the Infinity Engine. (I remember attending the announcement of the existence of Baldur's Gate 2, and the accompanying excitement that it would offer more than 800x600. Also I am old.)
Dig into the site's source code and you'll see:
< -- February 28, 2012 -->
< -- Shadowy Figure- Raise Dead : Infinity Engine -->< -- For years, I clung to the memory of it. Then the memory of the memory. -->
< -- And then... it returned. Better than it was before. -->
< -- Pore over the tapestries and works of art hanging from our walls if you wish, Child of Bhaal... perhaps you will find a clue. But patience, ah... patience would reveal it all. -->
RPS READERS: SPECULATE!