We certainly have lost track of Reset [official site] since its just-about-successful 2013 Indiegogo. Overwhelmingly beautiful in screenshots and early footage, then even beautifuller in a second trailer, it sank into a long stretch of development with multiple delays. And now, two days short of its most recent release date, the huge project from just two people has slipped again.
Shelter 2, the sequel to the badger cuddling loveliness from last year, has now been officially delayed until the first quarter of 2015. The developers, Might And Delight, report that their family of lynxes are proving trickier to craft than they’d imagined.
Battlefield Hardlines, originally slated for 21st October this year, has now been given a significantly later release date. The Space Year 2015. “Early” 2015. On a slippy day for EA, which also saw the announcement of Dragon Age: Inquisition sliding into November, DICE’s cops-n-robbers reinvention of the Battlefield series seems to have taken a much more serious hit. Apparently in response to what maybe wasn’t that brilliant of a beta test in June.
Nobody expected the Dragon Age: Inquisition to be released on time. Nrrggh. The originally slated release date for what I imagine BioWare wish they could call Dragon Age 2 was 7th October, but as we all know, the Walker Principle states that original release dates will never be met. The slip, however, is only six weeks, meaning we’ll now see the game on the 18th November in the US, and then FOR SOME SODDING BLOODY REASON Europe on the 21st.
Along with Watch_Dogs and The Crew, now South Park: The Stick Of Truth has fallen into next year. The game already slipped and slid when it was THQ’s property, and it doesn’t seem to be getting a grip on the town’s famously snowy streets under its new rulership. Having previously been given the 10th December for console (although PC was conspicuously never announced, and naturally Ubisoft ignored all our enquiries as to why), it’s now three months further on, on the 7th March 2014. Ubi are hoping a genuinely good video will make us calm. It’s less likely to work on their shareholders, who are already throwing their stakes out of the window and running screaming into the hills.
Troubled THQ, as they must be sick of being called, have more bad news. Three of their biggest games have take a slip on this unseasonably early Wintry weather, with South Park, Metro: Last Light, and Company Of Heroes 2 all being announced as falling into the farther reaches of the future. But in better news – as Polygon spotted – it’s confirmed that a new Saints Row is definitely happening, along with the mysterious game from Turtle Rock, and a Homefront 2 for some reason.
I hope you’re all now familiar enough with the Walker Principle to have assumed that XCOM wouldn’t be released on its stated release date. As surely as the Sun rises in the morning and floats off into outer space, there was no chance the concerning FPS remake of the classic strategy game would appear on the 6th March 2012. And you’d have to be a fool to then believe it could come in the months after, last November’s slip pushing it into 2K’s “fiscal 2013”. Well, now only two months into that mad-money-date, it’s been announced as slipping again, this time all the way into fiscal year 2014. Which starts next April. Because of the reasons.
Obviously by now, everyone is applying what I assume is known as the Walker Principle, which states whatever first release date is given for a major game is to be ignored. So no one will be in the least surprised, let alone disappointed, to learn that Tomb Raider now won’t be with us until 2013.
Let’s do this, okay: When a new game first announces a release date, let’s just go ahead and ignore it. Wasn’t it Einstein who said the very definition of insanity was filling a balloon with kittens and then severing off your own leg? So it is that BioShock: Infinite has declared it won’t be with us this year at all. They’re now looking at February next year.
Gotham City Impostors, the bonkers-looking multiplayer from Monolith, has had a bit of a slip, presumably due to the icy weather. According to a press release (or “media alert” as a troubling number of people are now saying when saying their game has a new picture, etc), the 11th January release isn’t going to happen. In fact, it now gets no more specific than “February”, which is rarely a great sign, but could mean they’re hedging their bets.
Gosh, in the long gap since the last time any games were released I’d quite forgotten the ordeal of Autumnal slippage. (Those outside of the UK may not be aware that Autumn now stretches from May to November on this isle.) These long wet days leave the ground treacherous for games trying to stay on their feet. The latest project to need just a couple more weeks to get ready is Red Orchestra 2. Originally set for the 30th this month, it’s now going to be released on the 13th September. Tripwire explain that they needed another couple of weeks to add extra polish.
So when is Crysis coming out?
On Friday, those who had pre-ordered were emailed to let them know pre-loading was beginning on EA’s online Store. It seemed to suggest the game would be unlocked on November 9th – a full week early. Well, that hasn’t happened, and if you visit the Crysis site it states that the unlock will take place on Wednesday 14th. Which is still a couple of days earlier than expected.
The decision to bring the release forward is either extremely fortunate, or advanced damage control, with the full game having leaked, and appearing on file sharing sites today. This isn’t the best news for EA Store, which already makes the rather unfortunate decision to charge customers for the right to maintain their purchased downloads from the site after six months, in what would seem a backward step from buying a boxed copy.
But, the good news is: Crysis two days early!
