!!! Obsidian Joining Wasteland 2 - On One Condition...

Here's a big, bouncy ball of unexpected good news for you. Brian Fargo and his studio inXile Entertainment are, as you well know, working on a sequel to the seminal RPG Wasteland, and have successfully Kickstarted it to the tune of $1.6 million. Since exceeding their initial target of $900,000, they've been able to add Mac and Linux versions to their masterplan for the post-nuclear roleplaying game. But that's not all. They've just been in touch to say that, if they can reach $2.1 million during the 17 days remaining on the funding schedule, they'll be bringing in Obsidian Entertainment, including Planescape: Torment mastermind Chris Avellone, to help them make the game.

Oh my word. The minds behind Wasteland, Fallout and Planescape, together (or more accurately together again, in many cases). A veritable RPG supergroup. This has to happen.

Says Chris Avellone, "Wasteland is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and when Brian asked if I wanted to work on the sequel, I jumped at the chance. While I've worked on Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, getting the chance to work on the spiritual successor to the Fallout franchise is a honor."

Brian Fargo observes that “I have a history with the guys at Obsidian that dates back to the days of Interplay’s Black Isle studios. Together we created some of the greatest RPG’s of all time, from Fallout 1 & 2 to titles like Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment. It is great that we now have a chance to reunite on a project like Wasteland 2.”

It's about tools to speed up and ease development as much as it is bringing in addition talent, apparently. “Obsidian has an incredible library of story, dialog and design tools that they have used to create hits like Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, and of course, Fallout: New Vegas. Regardless of the tech we use to develop the game, experience with these tools will help us efficiently design the game without wasting time and resources on the tools needed for development.”

Let's not forget, by the way, that Fallout main-brain and Troika co-founder Tim Cain joined Obsidian recently. This is going to be an embarrassing amount of RPG pedigree in one place.

This is also good news for Obsidian, potentially, who recently suffered a round of lay-offs. Hopefully this can help get them back to fighting strength.

So, you know what to do. 2012 really is the most extraordinary year for PC gaming, isn't it?

I've also just finished a quickie interview with Brian Fargo, talking more about what this (hopeful) collaboration means, how the whole crowdsourcing thing's gone and his plans for the Kicking It Forward philanthropic reinvestment scheme, which I'll get to you as soon as possible.