Atari to revisit Baldur's, Test Drive

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 December, 2008

But not in 09. Also: Ready 2 Rumble soon.

Atari plans to revisit the likes of Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter Nights and Test Drive Unlimited, but not in the next 12 months.

"You will hear more from these but not today, because we're focused on 2009," Infogrames president Phil Harrison told hacks assembled at a press event this afternoon.

Atari last month published the Storm of the Zehir NWN expansion in Europe, but it's been a while since the other three showed their heads.

Big Phil's press conference also included an early-09 pledge for retail versions of Sam & Max: Season Two on PC and Wii, while Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution for Wii, by AKI Corp, will be released in March.

The press conference is ongoing. We'll let you know more as it develops.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 3 years ago

    So they have the license for 4th Edition DnD I presume... they must still have some money ;)

  • Xerx3s #2 3 years ago

    NO! Leave our good memories alone! You already raped AitD, isn't that enough?

  • PearOfAnguish #3 3 years ago

    Give Baldur's Gate to Bethesda so we can have Baldur's Gate 3 in 3D.

  • Pinewood_Groves #4 3 years ago

    I'm glad they're putting Baldur's Gate on hold to make way for more important franchises, like the Wii Ready 2 Rumble game.
    Edited by 1 at 02/12/08 @ 15:28

  • Kazzahdrane #5 3 years ago

    By the time they bring back Baldur's Gate we'll probably have Dragon Age...

  • dpb135 #6 3 years ago

    Another test drive.....excellent

  • Hunam #7 3 years ago

    Sure it's nice to have the D&D licence but unless they have bought the BG rights from Interplay they won't get too far with that one.

  • spudsbuckley #8 3 years ago

    Just make BG3 with the Infinity engine.

    It'll be better than 90% of the dross currently being churned out by devs.

  • superjag86 #9 3 years ago

    careful atari, look what's happening to midway...

  • Darkedge #10 3 years ago

    More TDU - YES PLEASE :)

  • OnlyMe #11 3 years ago

    I'd be more than happy to play another great old-school hack'n'slash like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

  • Lin #12 3 years ago

    speaker of storm of zehit, when's the review coming? it's been out like a fortnight now.

  • hiddenranbir #13 3 years ago

    "Give Baldur's Gate to Bethesda....."

    God no. BG was all about strong single player narrative. Bethesda can't do that.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #14 3 years ago

    Test Drive Unlimited did have its fair share of flaws but it was still an incredible game. I had so much fun with it, a completely unique experience. Probably the first in the series that really earns the name Test Drive - I've spent countless hours just driving around in new cars around the island just for fun.

  • jonsaan #15 3 years ago

    Ready to RUMBLE!!!!!

    \parties

    For the WII!!???

    \cries

  • PearOfAnguish #16 3 years ago

    ""Give Baldur's Gate to Bethesda....."

    God no. BG was all about strong single player narrative. Bethesda can't do that. "

    I hardly think the narrative is important. Its graphics need updating, it would work really well in a 3D engine, and hopefully it can have multiplayer too. Maybe some kind of deathmatch arena mode.

  • Khab #17 3 years ago

    o_O

  • stonedben #18 3 years ago

    PearOfAnguish is so wrong that my SOUL hurts.

  • bad09 #19 3 years ago

    "Ready to RUMBLE!!!!!

    \parties

    For the WII!!???

    \cries "

    Yeah I can't believe that either, imagine what they could do on 360/PS3 :(

  • ChthonicEcho #20 3 years ago

    PearOfAnguish is either a troll, a Bethesda fanboy or joking. Hopefully, it's the third option. Baldur's Gate, in Bethesda's hands, would simply become Oblivion with guns. No, wait. Just another Oblivion, my bad.

  • smelly #21 3 years ago

    ""Give Baldur's Gate to Bethesda.....


    Nooooooooooo... Bethesda is all about pretty visuals, boring gameplay and to hell with frame rates...

    (basically all the boring stuff the "hardcore" love)

  • Nevyn #22 3 years ago

    "I hardly think the narrative is important. Its graphics need updating, it would work really well in a 3D engine, and hopefully it can have multiplayer too. Maybe some kind of deathmatch arena mode."

    Great ideas, hopefully we can also get what BG has always been missing - waggle controls and QTEs.

  • Orange #23 3 years ago

    Bethesda make soulless rpgs. A terrible crime.

  • Kalain #24 3 years ago

    Something tells me that PearOfAnguish doesn't actually know what the original Baldurs Gate was about, instead they probably saw the, in comparison, console version. (which, in my book, was god awful)

  • smelly #25 3 years ago

    Having had the misfortune to buy into the hype and try fallout 3.. i tend to agree..

    i dont even think it looks THAT nice (not in the "wow that's bloody brilliant" way i got when i first saw oblivion)

  • GamesConnoisseur #26 3 years ago

    Baldur's Gate 3 for DS in 2D with beautiful artwork, or heck even in XBL or PSN would be stonking great! 3D of Baldur's Gate is NWN which is never the same. You cannot capture the essence of the background art in texture mapping over 3D objects in the same way!!

  • Katsumoto #27 3 years ago

    He was obviously taking the piss! Get a grip people.




    You were, right POA? ;)

  • MuTaunt #28 3 years ago

    Unless they get Bioware and Obsidian to work on a new Baldur's Gate I'd imagine it's going to be rubbish. They're probably just going to make a new hack'n'slash game in the style of the console versions of BG - which will be nowhere near as good as the original PC versions.
    Edited by 1 at 02/12/08 @ 20:58

  • qoobah #29 3 years ago

    lols, BG to Bethesda, that made my day.

    As others said, Bethesda makes well looking, horribly boring games with little to no narrative. A big huge at least in my books.

    Another thing is, can Atari live up to BG's legend? Well, probably not given all the expectations people (myself included) are going to have about that one, but how close can they come anyway?
    Edited by 1 at 02/12/08 @ 23:21

  • Xensor #30 3 years ago

    My fav memories of BG2:

    Destroying Lichs in the first round.
    Owning your own estate.
    The battle against Demogogue.
    Making Viconia fall in love with you :)

  • Nill #31 3 years ago

    I must say it's more than pleasing to see all the comments on Bethesda on here. I was starting to think there was almost no one left with any taste and demand for depth - what with all the tens, NMA-bashing and what have you flying around.

    Personally I think Bethesda hit their all-time low with Fallout 3. I'm a bit too tired to think of anything half-clever to say at the moment, but I very much agree that Bethesda does empty, depthless, soulless, narrative and atmospherically highly lacking games. Looking back at games such as Planescape: Torment and its likes, it's embarrassing how far behind they are, this much farther in time. Hell, if I'd really want a proper, highly immersive RPG-experience, I'd probably do better to boot up any of the old classics I never got around to back then, than playing many of the newer titles around.

    I'm still hoping for Dragon Age to be good, although sadly, it does look a bit generic. Hopefully Bioware has something up their sleeve, as we all know they are still ace.

  • mingster #32 3 years ago

    Baldurs gate is still excellent if you revisit it.
    The combat is very tactical way more than oblivion or fallout.
    I don't care if its 3D just make the combat the same as the original Baldor with ability to pause.

  • infoxicated #33 3 years ago

    More Test Drive would be welcome - I loved TDU, although it got far too easy later on.

    A Baldur's Gate like the first PS2 one would be great, too - the co-op play was brilliant fun and probably the most time me and my girlfriend have spent playing any game together outside of TimeSplitters 2.

  • Aysir #34 3 years ago

    The problem with all new RPG's is that they never offer proper party management and control. Like NWN and every RPG post, party control is always done through crappy AI. FFXII's gambit/macro system was probably the closest to a new age party control system - but that had it's flaws as well. I don't want to control a single character - I want to manage a company of heroes :)

  • coomber #35 3 years ago

    Totally agree Aysir. Pause 'n play rules! Why do developers not see that, just because we own a console, it doesn't mean we don't want PC-style games?!

  • UncleLou #36 3 years ago

    "Like NWN and every RPG post, party control is always done through crappy AI."

    You can completely turn off the party AI in Neverwinter Nights 2. It's great that it's there (and it's not that crappy - bit basic, but it does the job) for encounters with inferior foes. With a single button, you can turn it off and control everyone yourself, and even pause the game and queue orders. Works like a treat.

  • spudsbuckley #37 3 years ago

    Shame the NWN games aren't a patch on the BG/IWD games.

    As i said already, use the Infinity engine and make a true sequel to BG 2.

    As much as i love Bethesda's style of game, they're barely RPGS..They're more like open-world FPS games with an RPG mechanic tacked on.

  • Les #38 3 years ago

    Do they still have (part of) the original development teams in-house or just the IP? In case of the latter, my hopes aren't that high given Atari's recent track record.

  • UncleLou #39 3 years ago

    Shame the NWN games aren't a patch on the BG/IWD games.

    NWN 1 (the original single-player campaign) was shit. NWN2 and especially Mask of the Betrayer are very good. Easily as good as Icewind Dale. The new Storm of Zehir isn't bad, either.

  • Sean.Aaron #40 3 years ago

    Personally the main thing I'd like to see from Atari is some kind of release of arcade-quality ports of their pre-Warners Atari Games buyout catalog (for the Wii, natch): Centipede, Asteroids, etc.

    That would be awesome; the Wiimote would be a decent substitute for a trackball, I think.

  • jebus #41 3 years ago

    @PearOfAnguish "Give Baldur's Gate to Bethesda so we can have Baldur's Gate 3 in 3D."

    *shudders*

    Bethesda and in 3d. A lose lose situation if ever I saw one.

    Edited by 1 at 03/12/08 @ 13:42

  • jebus #42 3 years ago

    @hiddenranbir
    02-Dec-08 16:47:42 "Give Baldur's Gate to Bethesda....."

    God no. BG was all about strong single player narrative. Bethesda can't do that


    I couldn't agree more

  • Gastrian #43 3 years ago

    A new Baldur's Gate Game? Yay!!...by the same publisher as Temple of Elemental Evil (another D&D game)? *goes and cries in the corner*

  • metalangel #44 3 years ago

    More TDU (with more, better bikes and a far better "server" system please... getting onto the same freeride server as a friend is extremely hit and miss, even if you have clicked on their name) and proper D&D (so I can play a proper drow and not just simulate a dark elf into being one in Oblivion) please!

  • Azazel #45 3 years ago

    For the most part I'm happy to leave Baldur's Gate where it is. The story wrapped up nicely, I have nothing but fond memories of it and do not wish to have them sullied by a shit "reinvention".

    And there's the other part of me which demands more MINSC! SWORDS NOT WORDS!

    Honestly, my biggest hope for a revival of this old school style of RPG is Age of Decadence. Providing it ever gets released.

  • Emth #46 3 years ago

    @spudsbuckley

    Amen. Long live BG1+2.

    God I just know there going to ignore the PC (please start using steam more PC devs, no excuses about piracy then) and make a terrible console game...

    If BG3 were to be what D3 looks like it will be to D2 I might piss myself with excitement...