Randy Pitchford States He was not lying during Aliens Colonial Marine Demos

Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox, has stated that he spoke the truth about Aliens Colonial Maines in the past. Recently on twitter he was quick to respond to allegations of lying during presentations which showed the game in a different and seemingly more polished state.

"No one likes to be called a liar, especially if their intent was pure and they always spoke the truth when they spoke it."

[OneAboveAll]

The damage has been done.

[aCasualGamer]

Randy Pitchford is a liar and a fraud. I can't believe he actually tries to victimize himself.

The gameplay demo that was shown hyped up the game and gave it a certain level of expectation among fans, the final product is a joke in comparison.

I can't believe these con artists can get away with such deceitful marketing. Normally i don't get so mad but when they take gamers, us, for fools i get really realllly pissed off.

[yeahokchief]

Perhaps if pc players had a bigger marketshare it would have been viable/profitable to make sure the game had dynamic lighting and was designed properly for high end pcs.

But you don't all buy enough of your games. Reap what you sow. The only way you change this and keep it from happening is by buying more games that do things correctly to show your install base has some weight behind it.

You're an entitled bunch and you need to grow a pair.

OHHHHHH IT DOESN'T HAVE DYNAMIC LIGHTING!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHH WAHHHHHHHHH! MOd it. You love modding things. How hard is it to add dynamic lighting.

Ive seen pitchford show off games before and he comes off as a very honest, gamer's gamer to me. I probably won't buy this game, but i'll still buy gearbox games for sure. They must have been under some type of constraint.

I guess I don't care so much about visual effects so much as the game content and how well the game runs.

In the defense of people who bought the game I thought it was disappointing that the sequence with the turret was completely missing from that video they showed, but for all i know it just glitched out or something in that particular instance.

[Baka-akaB]

Uh what's with the pc rant ? The game is mediocre and below its demos on both consoles and pc .

The whole affair is about blatant lies and misinformation , not really about graphics . Game was never touted as the next crysis on any platform

[Wagz22]

@yeahokchief so if dynamic lighting is so easy to do…then why the hell was it not in the final product?! And yes dynamic lighting is a big deal because it weighs heavily on the atmosphere of the game, which in aliens is essential. And I also feel we are entitled to what we saw versus the final product. That's like saying, hey look at this nice lamborghini that your going to get, then you get it and its a ford focus haha oh and game content and how the game runs? How bout that AI? Now was that Gearboxes fault or Time Gate, you know the other developers that got outsourced a lot of the game to work on? I can't believe that this game was handled so terribly or how people are actually trying to defend the development of the game at this point.

[Jazz4108]

This is the same sort of crap sony pulled with killzone 2 and told everybody it was actual gameplay when it was not. Hyped the ps3 to be a suprr computer repesenting all games at 1080p and 120 fps and laughed at ms when they said 720p was the sweet spot this gen for gaming and then told me to get a second job to buy it. I will never have faith in sony anymore after the crap they pulled this gen and since I enjoy the shooter and rpgs im very happy with the great experiences my 360 has given me this gen even though i currently own two ps3 s they sit and collect dust as I really do not want to spend a couple hours sitting through all there firmware updates and game installs when this gen ms had the better multiplat ganes and thats what I mainly play as I dont really care for ms or sonys exclusives and yes I have played them as with my job in the industry i can take home any game I want and try it. As far as recent activity Sony lied about the extent of there hacking and announced games at the beginning of this gen that are still vapor ware. I also found home to be mis represented and a disaster when it first launced. Btw is home even out of beta yet lol.

[GenericNameHere]

@Jazz4108
Aliens:CM E3 Demo = GREAT!
Aliens:CM full game = The f@ck??!! I paid $60 for a game with horrible AI, graphics, gameplays, story??!! And the multiplayer is buggy too?

KZ2 E3 Demo = WOW!!
KZ2 full game = WOW!!!

You see the difference?

Btw, I doubt you even have 2 PS3s. Why would you buy/get a second one when you clearly felt "lied to" when KZ2 came out? And if they are collecting dust, do something better with them! Give them to a friend or family, or maybe even charity! At least you'd be doing something kind to the world than just ranting on the Internet (not that I have contributed much yet either).

You hate the PS3 for some reason, and you love the Xbox 360. We get it. Now move on with your life.

[Wagz22]

@Jazz4108 And your comment relating to Aliens is where exactly? Sure it was wrong of them to say that was in-game footage but at least Killzone 2 still looked amazing and played great. And you not having faith in sony but having full faith in microsoft, the company that has left the core gamer completely. And you want to talk about ripoffs? HD-DVD drive attachment? Charging $100 for a network adapter? More then a 50% failure rate on your console? People bitched about the price of the PS3, but when it was all said and done with buying everything for your 360, your paying a lot more than the PS3 at launch. But that's not to say PS3 hasn't had its problems with PlayStation Network sucking at first, the game installs are annoying, a lot of games running at 720p and sony taking out the other OS feature and causing the hacking relation, but honestly Microsoft has done a pretty good job sticking it to the gamer this gen. But I think the biggest thing that has started to ruin gaming for everyone is DLC, whether on disc or purposely taking content out of the game and then charging extra for it...and I have a bad feeling next gen might be worse.

[Athonline]

I played almost an hour of the MP in Eurogamer Expo 13. The game felt polished enough with only a few minor bugs, which we were told they were planning to fix just they had "an older" release... in fact I found it less buggy than Far Cry 3 and AC III were that day... after the expo when they were "fixing" it looks like they either destroyed it or maybe we were given to play with a trimmed down version of MP, less features, less bugs afterall!

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Casual Another fail in this generation's book I'm afraid.

[DOMination-]

Who cares? Just don't buy the crappy game. It always looked like it was going to be average. There are plenty of other shooters out and there's Bioshock coming out soon.

If you already purchased it then you have to ask yourself why you did, even though its been critically smashed to pieces in previews and reviews.

Not being rude but there's some pretty amazing games coming out. Unless you've got money to burn why would you even consider buying this at launch? If you're a member of N4G you should have known it was terrible.

[Red_Orange_Juice]

game looks like a fan-made mod

[Oh_Yeah]

It's a game based off the lure of a movie, you can't really expect it to be good. So far that I can remember only the batman games were able to pull that off well. But yeah that demo definitely showed a different product, that's the problem..

[corrus]

HAHAHA this guy love to lying how much he licked the a$$ of Nintendo for Wii U and the most funny thing is that stupid Nintendo Fanboys had believed him HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Baka-akaB]

"It's a game based off the lure of a movie, you can't really expect it to be good. So far that I can remember only the batman games were able to pull that off well."

Not really , there have been a few movie based games that were good . Hell when it comes to alien , the alien trilogy games are quite fondly remembered

The problem is that 90% of them are developed in record time , hence rushed so they could release them alongside the theater launches .

And the good batman games (i'm assuming you mean the arkham ones) arent movie based anyway

[MEsoJD]

They wont be getting any money from in the future without an apology and plausible explanation about this games development. I don't appreciate false advertising.

[aCasualGamer]

Totally agree with you. You'd be a fool to buy this game after what these scam artists have done. Unbelievable that gaming media is so silent about this.

[Blacktric]

It's good to know that there are people out there who doesn't fell for the sh*tty ploys of developers like these. I'm with you 100% with that. He either tells the truth and apologizes from everyone, especially the people who purchased the game. Or he will lose another loyal fan like me who loved most of their previous work.

------------

"Ive seen pitchford show off games before and he comes off as a very honest, gamer's gamer to me. I probably won't buy this game, but i'll still buy gearbox games for sure. They must have been under some type of constraint."

Oh look, an apologist's already popped up.

"OHHHHHH IT DOESN'T HAVE DYNAMIC LIGHTING!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHH WAHHHHHHHHH! MOd it. You love modding things. How hard is it to add dynamic lighting. "

Jesus christ....

[Hydralysk]

@aCasualGamer

The gaming media is always quiet about this kind of stuff. They won't risk their relationship with a big publisher, otherwise they might not get advance copies of Borderlands 3 when it eventually comes out, and by god they need those hits.

[Conzul]

Yeah after Sess gave it 2/5 I said screw it. Terrible game.

[EZMickey]

This is not recognised as false advertising.

Where creative media is concerned there has to be some kind of leniency with what is shown versus what is delivered because for marketing's sake they developers have to release gameplay footage but it's still a work in progress so they can't be accused of false advertising if shortly after that footage was released they made a decision that would affect it's presence in the final product.

Game developers are actually more entitled and protected in this regard than any consumer. If they could be held accountable for this sort of thing, demos and gameplay previews would be a scarce and/or very controlled and limited thing.

I agree with those of you seeking an apology though. He may not like being called a liar, but who cares. Don't use your public reach for defending your ego, try using it to hear and apologize to the masses out there who just paid full price for a subpar action game.

[Jacobster]

All advertising is usually on a false premise as advertisers tend to play on our emotions and never highlight the faults with their product offering :)

[DragonKnight]

@FreddyAintDead: There's a difference between showing a work in progress and showing something that's not at all representative of the final product. Nothing of the demo was in the game at all. People loved what they saw in the demo, they didn't get that in the game. False Advertising plain and simple.

[SilentNegotiator]

Agreed. Even if there were "circumstances" that make Randy somewhat innocent, they still didn't give the gamers good information.

And he's President of Gearbox, so I don't buy him being innocent.

[aCasualGamer]

Yeah. Innocent, ppppfffft. This guy oversees the company and every decision the company makes. He should have told the publishers the game wasn't ready, even though he was expecting some legal actions. You can't bring out a half assed product and expect gamers to pay $59 for it. Not only didn't he inform the gaming community that the game wouldn't match the previously released "gameplay" demo but he actually says he told the truth.

[solar]

never liked the guy. still dont like him. probably never will.

[showtimefolks]

i still like gearbox and randy because they also made brothers in arms.

randy is one of my favorite gaming people because he is always active on social media and a lot of time he tells it how it is

so one bad game, which wasn't even a in home development, this may have something to do with sega and 20th century fox

[otherZinc]

Wow!

This is what limited RAM will do.

This guy lied his as* off.

[Sandmano]

I wrote a blog post about this whole fiasco, check it out

http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...

[Kalowest]

Is he trying to replace Peter Molyneux?

[Ashunderfire86]

Good Riddance

[herbs]

He went full Molyneux lol, and you don't ever go full Molyneux.

[Kalowest]

LMFAO, I love the Tropic Thunder reference.

[thirtyandnerdy]

Yeah, I'm not tooting a horn or anything, but from the get-go I suspected this game was gonna be garbage. If I had seen the demo footage that's linked in the article I may have thought different, as it looked really good. I was SO excited for this game back when it was announced on the PS2. Gearbox needs to get their shit together. First Duke and now Aliens... come on.

[Soldierone]

It was announced during the PS2 timeframe? That explains a whole lot lol

Gearbox needs to take time to actually revamp things. If they don't want to do that, or its too time consuming, then scrap it. Releasing piles of crap for 60 dollars then saying "oh well back then this was good" is not wise.

[DeltaCanuckian]

No, there was a game with the same title announced in 2001 but it was a different publisher and developer. This was announced in 2008. No connection besides the game's name.

[Soldierone]

Well there goes that excuse then lol. This game looks like a PS2 title, thats why it made sense. 2008 though, and it can't even compete with Doom 3? Something is wrong.

[thirtyandnerdy]

Agreed. And @Delta_Canuckian-- gotcha, my bad. =)

[porkChop]

How do you blame them for Duke? That wasn't their game! All they did was bring 3DR into their studio and let them finish the game. They bought the Duke rights to make future games, but they didn't make DNF.

[MrUndrhill]

Yeah that is true, but they still released it. Buying the rights and making a great DN game is one thing, but buying them and pushing a janked mess out the door is another. After this ACM debacle it seem a pattern is emerging: 1) get rights to popular license 2) hype/hype/hype 3)cobble together other studios junk work 4)Put it out at 60 dollars and claim "fan service"

[Bimkoblerutso]

To be perfectly honest, I gave them the benefit of a doubt with DNF because they had come in at the end of a notoriously crazy development cycle, but after Aliens...I don't know, man.

It makes me wonder if Borderlands is just kind of a fluke success story.

[Irishguy95]

Yeah, even that infamous demo that was initially shown and wasn't in the final game. Was absolutely dreadful. You were an observer to what was happening around you. Nothing more.

And the physics was also completely dreadful and the Ai sucked too. (From the small amount of Aliens that did come at you).

It's mad to me because that is where it's hype came from. Showing people will be wowed by nothing but visuals. It was literally him running around watching **** happen and pretending to be influencing it.

[zerocrossing]

"Randy Pitchford States He was not lying during Aliens Colonial Marine Demos"

Telling a fib, stretching the truth, misleading people... Doesn't matter how you word it, anyway you spin it the Aliens Colonial Marine Demos was a blatant lie!

[Root]

No kidding right

I mean the guy made it piut like they made the entire game when they didn't.

I have to admit though they almost got me, I thought it was going to be amazing. Not to mention all the hype it got for the Wii U version.

[badjournalism]

"It was true when I said it, so nannynanny booboo!"

Yeah, no.

[Neonridr]

Shame, I was so excited for this on the Wii U. Especially with Randy stating it was going to be the best and definitive console experience on Wii U. But even if it was the definitive console experience, that's like saying it's the most polished pile of $hit on the shelves, it's still a piece of crap.

Sigh.

[PopRocks359]

I guess there's still a chance for that, but it's more or less wishful thinking at this point. I still want to try the game out, but I'm not expecting anything huge at this point. May rent it on Wii U or PS3 depending on how all of the reviews and comparisons fair.

EDIT: That's not to say it it's impossible for the Wii U version to be more like the demo. Here's hoping, yeah?

[DrRichtofen]

conspiracy theory time!

What if Nintendo threw a few extra bucks at Gearbox so that the "Delayed" wii u version would be the best version, and ends up looking like that 2012 demo, making people think that the wii u is only capable of having graphics look that good, thus having people run out and buy wii u's. 0_o

Thats very sly of you nintendo, very sly.

/s

[DwightOwen]

LOL, I was just thinking the other day: What if the Wii U version handed off to Demiurge (who made the KICK-ASS Mass Effect PC port) ends up looking like the demo?

[mynameisEvil]

Well, your conspiracy is plausible with the exception of "Making people think that the Wii U is only capable of having graphics that good" bit. Anybody that isn't an Autistic, Down syndrome-ridden blind person knows for a fact that a computer from 3 - 4 years ago could look better than any console version.

So while it might make sense from the standpoint of, "The Wii U has the best looking console version," as a whole the whole thing would fall flat on its face if a Wii U version does, indeed, turn out to look better than a PC version.

Oh, and just to ask... how many here have boycotted Gearbox games? I have until an apology and explanation come out, so... yeah.

[Flyingdog670]

It's too late man..... it's too late....

[PygmelionHunter]

It's game over, man, game over!/overused quote

[Jacobster]

Damn you beat me too it :P Although every Aliens CM post I have made this comment!

[Ashlen]

I dunno why everyone seems so surprised. What was the last movie tie in game that was good and not a cash grab?

[kma2k]

Lets see we got:
Dead Space (well kinda they made a movie about it)
Hitman (well kinda they made a movie about it)
Kinect Star wars (oh wait that was horible)
Kane & Lynch (oh wait that never got made)
Resident Evil (well no that doesnt work either)
Assassins Creed (oh wait that isnt out yet)
Prince of Persia forget sands (playable at best)

So take what i wrote without reading the in bracekts part & i did the same thing as Randy Pitchford!

[xenadus]

I realize that this was an attempt to be witty but literally only one of the games that you listed is a movie tie-in (Kinect Star Wars). A movie tie-in game is a game based off of the license of a pre-established intellectual property (most commonly books and movies). Every other game you mentioned started off as a video game and happens to have a movie included in the franchise.

[porkChop]

Actually xenadus, you're wrong. What you described is a "licensed game". A "movie tie-in" is a game that is developed and released *alongside* a movie. Hence it being called a movie "tie-in".

[REALgamer]

Not too many great games based off movie franchises, but my faves would have to be Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (way ahead of its time last gen with the open environments, minimal HUD, incredible lighting, combination of RPG, stealth and action, etc) and Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic.

Both took the same direction as Colonial Marines in telling a different story in the same universe, yet both were arguably higher quality and better written than their modern film counterparts.

Shame the formula didn't work for Colonial Marines, but you've got to wonder what was going on behind the scenes when a game has such an extended development time and yet ends up feeling unpolished, rushed and buggy (hello Duke Nukem Forever, Haze, Kameo...)

[Pintheshadows]

The only upcoming movie tie in game I think shows any promise at all is Star Trek, and that is only because of Digital Extremes. If that's bad then movie tie-ins should be cast into a pit of fire for all eternity along with Uwe Boll and overly loud foxes in my garden.

[Trekster_Gamer]

The difference is that movie tie in games are RUSHED! They had 6 fraggin years to do this! Randy should at the very least lose his job and be forgotten. The DEVS need to go back to making shovelware for the Wii and hand it over to team that could get it done. If this would have been done right it would be a total cash cow as Aliens in the right hands would be an incredible experience!

[J_Cob]

The Chronicles of Riddick games are all that comes to mind.

[Nicaragua]

Also the star wars flight games - rogue squadron, x-wing etc

[ApolloTheBoss]

Spider-Man 2

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I really like Randy, but maybe him being a "fan" of the series had him seeing this project through colored lenses?

[zmack]

I like his personality as well. He showed great enthusiasm for the project and the movie. If you go back to any of his presentations he really sounds like he is really into the whole thing, but I just can't believe how the demo footage was just so much better than the final game in terms of graphics, animations, and content. Some of those scenarios like the corridor being overwhelmed with aliens while you have this smart torrent there would have been awesome.

[fei-hung]

If he really was a fan and passionate, then he would have treated this project with as much love, care and passion and not pawned it off to other studios.

Bottom line is he lied, mislead and took 6 years to deliver this sorry excuse of a game. He has let Sega down who paid them to deliver the game, he let his team down, he let the franchise down, he let James Cameron down, he let us down and now he is trying to say otherwise when we have evidence in black and white with what he said, what he showed us and what he delivered. Pathetic!

[dennett316]

If he's as big of a fan as he claims, he wouldn't have allowed the game to ship in such an appalling state, and with such a pathetic fan fiction nightmare of a story.
He also wouldn't have missed the point of the original movie, which was to subvert the gung ho military attitude by having the marines be hopelessly outmatched. The man is incompetent at best for allowing this mess of a game to exist, a liar at worst for trying to pass that demo off as actual gameplay.

[RememberThe357]

Thats actually more sad than anything. It means they had a product that looked awesome but because they decided to outsource it turned out to be a pile of hot sh!t.

[rawshack]

hes still a cool guy to me he didnt let us down with borderlands 2 thats the main thing

[soultecc]

ok so you are saying because borderlands was good then they can just get away with putting other half assed games out

[rawshack]

Bro its it really the end of the world if some one makes a shit game ? I got aliens becouse of borderlands is made from the same guys .i feel let down as well .but im no way bashing some one for one mistake ... If they keeped doing shit game after shit game then it would hard to forgive his ass . .

[Megaton]

Probably my least favorite person in the gaming industry right now, and for no reason pertaining to the Aliens flop. He's acted like nothing but a smug, condescending d-bag to the Borderlands 2 community since launch.

[Rupee]

Not being argumentative: how? Hes usually pretty cool when interacting with fans. (IMO)

[Megaton]

He's fine until you dare criticize his game. Then his ego explodes all over the place.

[Pintheshadows]

ACM belongs in the same bracket as Turning Point and Daikatana. Basically, it's awful. Not even amusingly so. It isn't finished. Play Haze instead.

[Ashunderfire86]

Don't forget Legendary(The guys that made Turning Point) they made that crap too!!!

[Pintheshadows]

I was trying to think of the name of that game as well. I thought it was called Legacy. And you're right, it was bloody awful as well.

[Ashunderfire86]

Randy Pitchford lying through his teeth. You got to love this lol!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[BanBrother]

Lmao. Hilarious. I thought it was just the game-play demo. Holy crap the demo had so much atmosphere. Friggin hilarious video though.

[InTheLab]

So...at some point, the franchise gets handed off to some small studio but Gearbox still has their name stamped on it.

Or Gearbox made this game while on a bathroom break from making Borderlands 2.

Either way, Randy is a blatant liar and should be ashamed.

[Ripsta7th]

Maines LOL

[zmack]

Sorry about that. I can't seem to fix that typo after it's posted. Hopefully a mod or someone with permission can fix that one. I corrected it on the full article though. Thank you for the heads up.

[Pintheshadows]

Maine : Colonial Architecture. In Maine no one can hear you sketch a beautiful 18th century wooden church to use as an influence for your upcoming Boston skyscraper project.

[zmack]

Sounds like a great game :).

[mynameisEvil]

I'd actually play that... Architecture games are few and far between as it turns out (I don't even think one exists). :/

[stuntman_mike]

drop your linen and start your grinning, Randy Pitchfork.

[ApolloTheBoss]

I let it slide when Duke Nukem bombed. There's no excuse now, Randy. Man up and admit you f*cked up.

[NYC_Gamer]

He would rather come up with lame excuses instead

[TheMrMalro]

Aliens! https://dl.dropbox.com/u/54...

[aliengmr]

Maybe he isn't lying, after all the version he was playing looked pretty good.

[aliengmr]

guess someone missed the sarcasm.

[Saleem101]

Im no longer buying anything with gearbox logo total scam artists...

[chukamachine]

What I find even stranger is the fact the 360 version is garbage. Played it yesterday.

Played it on PC and PS3 today.

PC obviously is the best looking, but does not look like the demo.

PS3 version looks ok for what it is, runs ok.

I don't think the graphics are the main problem with this game and neither is the sound.

The problem is the controls, feels way to stiff. The other issue is the way the aliens move, and the acid once you have shot them looks silly.

So far i'm giving this a 6.6 on what I've played. It could go up or down, I've just crashed into the planet.

I recently finished DEADSPACE3. my verdict. 8.

Felt dragged out and the ending is garbage imo.

[Godmars290]

Doesn't matter how many times they say they had no intention of lying, that's what its coming off as. Pity they actually can't own up to it.

What i don't get is the fan loyalty, thinking that gearbox are gifted devs, when the most recent and popular example of their work, Borderlands 2, is more on par with the Aliens title delivered instead of the one promised.

[Rupee]

You may not like borderlands but it's an extremely popular game so obviously a lot of people do. (yes, myself included) in my opinion it offers a unique experience not offered by very many games, if any. A unique gameplay style, unique setting and tone, unique dark humor. It's got an addictive loot system. All this to say: it's a game with value. It has something to offer and was a bit more polished as opposed to A:CM.

So yeah, I think Gearbox has potential. They just need to actually apply themselves to a game for it to shine.

[Godmars290]

Didn't say I liked the Borderlands 2 or not, just that the Aliens title Gearbox put out is more similar to it than the one they promised. That its closer to their "potential". If they could have done better with the Aliens game, they should have done better. But they didn't.

And really, it the kind of defensive and blind loyalty among the fan base that needs to stop.

Borderlands 2 was little improved over the first game just as the next will be a little improved over it. And still a Borderlands 3 wont be anything like the "potential" of the Aliens trailer. it wont need to be.

[Stroke666]

wait wait wait, nintendo fans can't complain about a game being put on hold for damn near a year for no good reason without being called spoiled fanboys, but this "dynamic lighting" crap is okay? thats funny. would be nice to have the better visuals but not a deal breaker. if gameplay is good then i'll still check it out. sn: one missing sequence does not justify saying anything negative about the gameplay.

[Its9000orMore]

It's worse than you think. Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Its a combination of the gameplay, animations, AI, graphics, and broken promises. It goes beyond just missing some sequences and dynamic lighting my friend.

[Stroke666]

Point well made my friend. well argued statement with actual reasons the game sucks rather than b and m'ing about visuals. such a pity i had high hopes for this one

[fossilfern]

No Randy im sorry the E3 demo and the Final product are miles apart! This was a wasted use of the Aliens license.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Edit: Infact here is a Demo from OCTOBER! Now if all this stuff about Gearboxes original work being scrapped etc is true. Then Gearbox must have some staff if they built a whole game again in under 3 months....

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[porkChop]

It's obvious. Gearbox used an old build, the good one, to demo the game knowing the real game was nothing like it. You don't make that big of a change/downgrade in only 3 months.

What I don't get though is that if the original game looked that good, then even if they outsourced it, how the fuck did it get changed that much? How do you take a game and make it worse? If Timegate were really the ones who fucked everything up then they have a lot to answer for. There's no excuse for making the graphics, audio, gameplay, atmosphere, and everything else worse than it was before.

[fossilfern]

Lol I know they didn't do it in 3 months I was being sarcastic. But honestly how can Randy say he wasn't lying when he showed that demo I linked in 3 months before the game was released.

Seriously what the hell happened to this game?!

[jagstar44]

more sneaky than burke

[ironfist92]

I just hope this doesnt hurt Gearbox or threatens our the chance at a Borderlnds 3 :/

Yes they messed up, but they outsourced to another developer who made it crap, not Gearbox.

Who's really to blame here? Yes there's false advertising, and Randy should be dealt with, but after the amazing borderlands 2 game, we can see that Gearbox have the ability to really commit to and produce a high quality product if they work on it 110% from conception to end.

[Hydralysk]

So what's your point?

Being able to do you job well, even REALLY well, is still no excuse for misleading consumers for a quick profit.

Gearbox may not have developed it, but it also didn't mention that the footage advertised didn't match the final product. They didn't make the game, but they still published it, and kept their mouth shut about it because they cared more about getting sales from it than giving the consumers accurate information.

[ironfist92]

SEGA is the publisher, they may have played a part in this too. Maybe the developers needed more time, and Gearbox was too busy with Borderlands 2, hence outsoucring.

[mynameisEvil]

You realize TimeGate did about as much work as it as Gearbox did, right? You can't play the "They outsourced it!" thing, because Gearbox did amount 40% - 50% of the work.

And, really? Who the hell cares THAT MUCH for Borderlands 3? Borderlands 2 was pretty much the first game with a few minor improvements. That's not a bad thing, but it's not like this is Beyond Good and Evil 2 here.

And, no, don't say, "They needed more time!" They were contracted to do this in 2007. They pushed it off for Borderlands. They pushed it off for the release of DNF. They pushed it off for Borderlands 2. They had a contractual agreement to make the game and they kept pushing it off. SEGA's been pissing me off lately, but they aren't the ones in the wrong here and I'd be suing Gearbox for quite a bit of money if I were them. "Gearbox was too busy with Borderlands 2." You've JUST pointed out the problem, man.

Think about this: Aliens is a 34 year-old franchise with millions of fans. Gearbox says, "Sure! We'll make a game that is FRIGGING CANON and please everybody!" Instead of working on an absolutely HUMONGOUS product, they pushed it onto a small developer with a small budget while they reaped the rewards of Borderlands 2. It's pathetic behavior and the backlash from fans now is part of the punishment they deserve for such laziness and for telling complete lies to everyone. Smh.

[ironfist92]

Alot of people want Borderlands 3, myself included. BL2 was an amazing game, undeniably, regardless of this Aliens fiasco

[shackdaddy]

I feel it's more than "they just lied". Like maybe their funding got cut or something. I mean, if you look at the comparison videos between demo and retail, it just seems like something went horribly wrong mid-development. IDK...

[isa_scout]

Still, either way they should have informed the public that the game wouldn't look or play as well as what they were claiming. Hell, they're still showing badass looking trailers that seem like actual gameplay. No excuse for this. It's false advertising, and they should be punished.

[isa_scout]

This game needs to commit suicide like Ripley did.I beat it today and honestly it's one of the only times recently that I've played a game and when it was over my first reaction was, "Thank God it's over." Damn, I had a feeling I should've just waited and bought Metal Gear Rising, and I really feel sorry for those poor suckers that forked out $30.00 extra for the season pass because no one will be playing this peice of shit by the time the first DLC hits.

[Psychonaut]

i love the aliens franchise, but I do agree 100% with you.

[Orionsangel]

I think he means his intentions were honest. In other words they had every intention of releasing what was shown in the demo, but somewhere along the way plans changed and we ended up with a turd of a game we have now. So he didn't lie at the time, but in the end it turned out to be a lie. So he's a liar whether he wanted to be one or not.

[Psychonaut]

Wow, im glad, and sad at the same time. I never saw this gameplay DEMO because if I had well I wouldn't of bought the product. Now don't get me wrong I don't hate it.. it has the tunes, and sounds, and plays fine, but well comparing it to this is ..well makes me a sad panda.

So is this Gearbox's fault or timegates? if Gearbox then they are two for four now, they baby borderlands. and I get Aliens and Duke were picked up projects but i've learned my lesson. Just cause Gearbox picks it up does not mean they can save it. and its hurting their rep. Dunno what to think in the end, the game is fine when you have a headset four other players, and they to are rocking headsets, but still that demo makes me think what if. Maybe they will do what they are doing with Duke Nukem and get one more short. granted I expect the follow up Aliens title to an MIN. look like the demo since it will be next gen. if anything this Aliens title could of been a Vita title, and would of sold alot better.

[Hydralysk]

So is this guy this year's Casey Hudson?

[MrUndrhill]

I think the most upsetting part as a fan, was that that initial footage really was what I wanted and had been waiting forever for in an Aliens game: Great voice acting, atmospheric and true to the feel of the film. If Gearbox had no clue, I would care less about this, but instead it seems like they just decided at some point it wasn't a priority and actually harmed this franchise seriously.

[ALLWRONG]

Gearbox just needs to make Borderlands for now.

[Realplaya]

Was it ever confirmed that it got outsourced?
I have to admit the demo and final product looks like they designed it for the wii and people said the wii couldn't produce hd graphics.

[aliengmr]

Sega claims GB did most of the work but some of the single player was outsourced.

It was confirmed but the question is how much.

[USMC_POLICE]

The demo looked amazing! Final copy looks like a different game.

[banjadude]

Oh boy... I have a feeling this is going to make it on the "top 2013 gaming controversies" articles later on in the year.

[young7yang]

after this fiasco there is still hope for the wii u version.. Now i am glad it got delayed

hopefully alot of what is wrong with the final product on the ps3, pc and 360 versions will be rectified

fingers crossed

[killalot100]

I meet Randy Pitchford the guy is a really cool guy. Its hard for me to bash him but after watching that video comparison I wonder what happened. I was never really into this game and I had a chance to play it at there headquaters but didnt. That was almost a year and a half ago. We gamers are over dramatic far to aften but this to me is truly false advertising.

[Captain Tuttle]

I love Gearbox. Borderlands is my favorite new IP this generation. I will buy every piece of DLC they put out for it.
But Randy talks too much.

He needs to sit in a corner and be quiet for awhile.

[dmonee]

I was hoping it was going to be an aliens game using a lot of Borderlands concepts, in the same vein red dead redemption used the GTA mold. Boy was I wrong.....All things aside, this is still a business and love randy or not, the dude is trying to sell games to keep gearbox solvent. Without it, we may not see a borderlands three on next gen plats........

[LOOK_AT_THIS_I]

This fella reminds me of Seth Luisi (see Socom) fill a product with hype and take a crap on the community when they call him out on it. Typical douchebag studio head this generation.

[TemplarDante]

This game is such a mess!
What he did was defraud the masses that followed/bought the game. Instead of selling the product for what it is, he was aware it was wholly outsourced, he sold the game like a used car salesman. The ol' bait and switch.

[Jacobster]

If Randy gives me 50 golden keys and a level cap increase I will forgive him :)

[CatXFlash]

I mean.. what the... how... why?... defuq happened ??

[Ultraman1966]

There can be no excuses, they had 6 years to work on this game. The supposedly Work In Progress footage was already very impressive and just needed polishing. Clearly, the WIP footage was just all demo and no real content. I look forward to SEGA dumping Gearbox or suing them for delivering such a poor quality product not fit for release.

[TemplarDante]

Reminds me of Ninja Theory and DmC...
They promised 4-5million sales to Capcom... it ended up being the shortest DmC and really did not see the 4yrs of dev time it got. Remember, before a debut trailer, theres already 1-1.5years work done 1st.
These publishers are taken for a ride an ultimately we are robbed.

[Zha1tan]

Im going to go drown my sorrows on AVP 2010, a game that actually has working xenomorphs.

[EditorAtGNG]

I am not really surprised anymore. Ever since Blizzard showed their famous "we're releasing our game when it satisfies our high quality standards" with Diablo 3, it is become blatantly obvious that most big gaming companies are just essentially, big pile of liars. Now, there are still a number of decent companies that tend NOT to create hype for their games (they leave their fans to do that job for them, Valve *cough*) but their number is fairly small.

The problem as is stands is this - you can't show off a work in progress demo if you don't plan to UPGRADE the actual thing in the final game. Simple as that. Imagine if Ubisoft releases Watch Dogs this year and it plays ANYTHING LIKE the demo they've showed at E3 last year. They'll get crucified by the public for it. So, live and learn Randy. We don't all fear and loathe Peter Molyneux for nothing ;)

[hazelamy]

i look just like megan fox.

i'm not lying, that's just the truth as i see it.

clearly that's as accurate a statement as anything randy's said about this game.

[bigtrucknd]

Bethesda gets away with this why not Gearbox?

[TemplarDante]

I hope Sega sues them. Let the courts decide if Randy Pitchford is honest.

[Picnic]

Well Retro Studios got away with suggesting that Metroid Prime might look like this (start at 0.53):

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Of course it's a classic game and it looks nice but it certainly doesn't have the detail of that trailer - look at the texture on the floor.

OK, it's a trailer, not a demo, but they always say that a demo is not necessarily a representation of final quality anyway.

[solidmic]

I'm not lying when I say, he's lying about not lying!

[MadMen]

Gear box did all the speaking for this game, in the end if you are the face then you are where the finger goes.

[mastershredder]

Randy, you lost ALL your creditability. "I'm just a front man! It's not fair!". No, you were/are much more than that and you know it. You are now just like Burke. True justice would come in the form of an Alien snatching you and dragging you off to the hive.

Listen to that wind. Do you hear it? The malcontent? There is no denying it. Gearbox, you have some 'splaining to do. This game is not much beter gameplay-wise than the alpha I played a couple years ago (I'm not even going to bring up what you promised visually). After touting what a great project opportunity you had you outsourced it?! Obviously your own IP Boarderlands 2 was far more important. I hope that anyone considering your "Gearbox touch" in order to get their project out the door thinks twice as it is quite obvious who you think of first.

[danthebios]

i was looking forward for this game but after reading some negative reviews i have doubts.

[Rupee]

So this is this years "mass effect 3 ending"?

[GiantFriendlyCrab]

worst game of the year 2013

[pbasson]

Personally think this less of Gearbox fault, more the publishers and corps that have the rights to this games, after all they are ones that put this game on the shelf (& Steam) & they also get the final say, who knows what they said. So they should know this is broken. I have a feeling the corps are saving money on Q&A by using consumers as guinea pigs & then patching it up afterward.

[jjank11]

I'm not buying the game. Like some folks, I actually waited to see how it was going to come out and if it warranted my time over all the other GREAT games i'm currently investing my time in.

[DevilishSix]

The proof is in the pudding Randy and that proof (the retail version vs the demo used to market and sell the game) proves you a liar.

[MadMax]

Liar! He should resign!

[_LarZen_]

Randy Pitchford is damn liar and that is not up to discussion.

He and Gearbox should be sued for false marketing.

[RevXM]

oh I was so looking forward to this. looking so awesome and it was going to be so awesome with all the effort and love you put in it. it was going to be the alien game the fans deserved.... Well go screw it gearbox. Seems you are incapable of making a solid game and being honest at all because the alien franchise deserves infinitively much better.

[stage88]

Does anyone really care about this piece of crap game anymore? Get this off the top stories, I'm sick of it already.

[Ser]

I think it's quite deserving of the top news spot.

Gearbox, a developer which everybody is supposedly in love with due to the Borderlands games, has literally lied to thousands of gamers.

If blatant industry lying doesn't count as news, what does?

[1nsomniac]

Randy Pitchford is a bell end. Always has been. FACT!

[Psychonaut]

SEGA should take Gearbox, and Timegate to the bank for this Aliens issue. Not only did Gearbox liquidate funds given to them by SEGA for Aliens, and sunk it into Borderlands. They knew for a period of time before the 2011 E3 the game was bad so the DEMO used was from the Gearbox build, NOT the Timegate build.

Gearbox picked up the Aliens rights just for that, "The Rights" then sourced the project to Timegate with their Alpha build. Timegate could not produce the same quality and scrapped it and somewhat started over. When Timegate sent their build to Gearbox they saw it was trash and didn't want to invest more time into it. So when E3 came around that DEMO we all saw and were stoked with were from a much older build because at that point Gearbox knew they had screwed the pooch, and flat out lied by showing a FALSE alpha build cause they knew if they showed Timegates, they would of sold NO Copies, would of made No Money, and would owe SEGA more then what they do.

I am not sure if Gearbox lost the rights, but I hope they did. SEGA needs to hold someone responsible and I think Randy and Gearbox are to blame. Granted the Build was from Timegate, but Gearbox sourced it to them, made the call to still release it, and put up a build to a game as a demo that was not even their product to finish anymore.

Randy, you saw Timegates product and saw it was trash, so you put up at E3 a OLDER ALPHA build Gearbox did. That is a huge lie and false advertisment. You liar.