Diesel "begged" for Riddick multiplayer
Added it late in development.
Actor and games magnate Vin Diesel has revealed that he "begged" for developer Starbreeze to include an online multiplayer mode in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
According to Diesel, whose Tigon Studios company takes an active production roles in games like Riddick and automotive actioner The Wheelman, he pushed the mode through relatively late in the title's development.
"We were well into production on the game and I begged for an online component for this," he told X-Play in a video interview, "and everyone rose to the occasion and created something really compelling."
The new Riddick is a direct sequel to Xbox and PC game Escape from Butcher Bay, which is also included in a full high-definition remake.
Diesel also offered his thoughts on the past and future of videogames to X-Play.
"When I first played videogames, we'd have to go into a Radio Shack in New York City to play Pong," the actor said, showing his age somewhat.
The future's very different though, Vin says. "With the new popularity of massively multiplayer online games, we are going to see a shift, a change in our society if you will."
Diesel recently revealed that Tigon is working on his dream game, Barca B.C., a historical MMO set during the time of Hannibal.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is out on 24th April for 360, PC and PS3. Plenty more at the gamepage.
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Comments (32) Latest comment 3 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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I really enjoyed the demos of both Riddick and Wheelman.
They are in my shopping list.
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And I don't like to condemn games without playing them but if that video at the end of the Riddick demo is anything to go by this multiplayer will be just as bad.
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+1
Darkness was ace, could have been even better without all the wasted energy on the MP debacle. Blargh, getting tired of generic MP and Co-Op n games getting this much attention. they're all fucking the same or trying to be COD4 or Gears. Putting it in doesn't make it good by default.
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We haven't actually played the multiplayer feature yet, so we only have his word that it is compelling.
First off, I'm a fan of Vin Diesel and think he is much underated as an actor (not least because of some of his film choices). However, a game producer he is not (the only bit of Butcher Bay that could reasonably described as shite was all his idea).
What I see when I read this article is a "celebrity producer in feature creep shocker". In his own words, they were "well into production" when Vin Diesel decides they need multiplayer, something that most fans of Butcher Bay would agree is not really a core part of what the original experience was all about.
I've played the demo of Athena, and I found it to be pretty lame. Certainly not what I was expecting given it has the awesome Butcher Bay title as its foundation. I am very much hoping it was simply a badly chosen demo piece.
Now if this turns out well in the end I'm sure everyone will all say he was right after all, but I'll still be thinking that cocking about with your production schedule when it is in full swing, adding new features that are not part of the original plan, is irresponsible project management.
I wonder how many late nights the dev team had to work because Mr Diesel (like so many who are just not that good at serious development) thinks feature creep on a massive scale is acceptable.
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Ah, so I'm not the only one
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Having visions of "The Darkness" Multiplayer
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You are not alone. Im pretty sure the MP will be mediocre at best.
Im afraid the singleplayer wont be top quality either. I loved Butcher Bay but not enough to buy this. Many better games i need to complete.
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I can't imagine anyone is buying the new Riddick game to play online though so I don't suppose it'll matter how the online mode turns out. If it's good then it's a decent extra for those that want it, if it isn't... well, it won't matter will it? It didn't ruin The Darkness after all.
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Since half of the achievements is MP based i think it will ruin alot for completionists. I hated the Darkness for this. I mean you wouldnt understand since you dont like challenges in games. Most people however do.
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"e.g. it's buggy or unpolished because focus was moved on to the online portion of the game"
That is exactly my concern, as it would be with any feature creep activities.
There are only so many hours in the day, and its not like they will finish and polish the single player experience completely before working on the mp aspects.
You can guarantee that the focus will have changed, the only unknown is (as you say) whether the result is a noticeable drop in quality.
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Mr. Driller online is another example where Eurogamer failed to inform the users that the mp was unplayable.
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Explaining that kind of thing to an experienced publisher in the industry can be tough enough
The key thing I find is that if someone doesn't properly understand a certain area of development, they are by result unable to fully comprehend the issues. In other words, if they don't properly understand the problem, the solution seems "obvious".
Sometimes people just see the perfect end result in their minds, and can't envisage just how many hurdles need to be jumped to get there. Everything looks great on paper - its the actual implementation where the wheels can fall off (and then explode... twice). With the greatest of respect to Mr Diesel, I'm not sure would really grasp the important details of thew situation (because he has simply never developed a game before and actually seen what is really involved).
@muscleblade
"I really hated the fact that most reviewers ignored the broken multiplayer in The Darkness. I mean no game where a huge part of the package is totally broken deserves an 8/10."
You know, I didn't even know there was a multiplayer aspect to The Darkness. I think 8/10 is actually a touch high (only a bit), but even so if there is enough of a single player experience I'm not sure the review score should really be affected if the mp is poor. I guess ideally each side of the coin would get its own review, or at the very least it own score (or at the very very least a closing caveat saying "If you like multiplayer, know off two points cos its a bit crap).
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If money is an issue probably. I enjoyed the Darkness singleplayer too. But the overall package was mediocre.
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Despite the name on the box, AODA's latter half makes it a supporting act to Butcher's Bay's main attraction. It doesn't matter how many triple twists and double somersaults a gymnast pulls if he smashes his face on the landing, and AODA crash lands pretty bloody hard. Fortunately, it's a broken nose limited to a small part of a packed box. [Apr 2009, p.82]
Since ive already played Escape for Butcher Bay i can do without this game i guess.
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Although I haven't checked second hand stuff.
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The Darkness was a great single player experience just as BioShock was. Developer's seem to think that every FPS needs an online mode now yet BioShock was all the better and more refreshing for not having one. The developers even admitted that they didn't include a multiplayer mode so they could focus on delivering a quality solo experience. Now I hear the sequel will have online multiplayer and that leaves me concerned for the quality and length of the rest of the game.
Personally, I think there is too much focus on online gaming these days when it isn't necessary for every game IMO. There's a sense that the online modes come at the expense of a shorter single player game as seems to have happened with the recent Resident Evil 5 for example.
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You misunderstood me. I would love the Darkness without the MP. But as long as its there i think it drags down the overall quality.
And as Darren says it probably made the singleplayer shorter too.