Diesel "begged" for Riddick multiplayer News

Maybe he's not as dumb as we thought!

He never was as dumb as anyone thought.

I don't see anyone buying this for the MP.

Maybe he reads eurogamer.

Hi Vin Diesel! I really liked you in that movie! :)

At least it seems that he is a gamer and he knows what he's talking about.
I really enjoyed the demos of both Riddick and Wheelman.
They are in my shopping list.

He's a massive WOW nerd, apparently.

If he knew that much about videogames he'd know that the last time Starbreeze shoe-horned a multiplayer mode into a game it was dreadful (The Darkness if anyone didn't know what I was referring to).

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.

He's a nice chap

Uh-oh. Sounds like something in the game will need patching post release.

He's also a massive, errr, breakdancing nerd, apparently.

@Kinky mong

+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.

I seem to be the only person not seeing this as resounding good news.

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.

@kinky_mong and menage

Ah, so I'm not the only one :)

Ruh Oh!

Having visions of "The Darkness" Multiplayer

@kangarootoo

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.

Two words: Babylon AD. No, wait. Add to that the following 5 words: I want my money back.

As far as I'm concerned, anything that comes out of this man's mouth now is just a noise.

Vin Diesel powers Chuck Norris!

Well I'm buying Assault on Dark Athena purely for the single player experience so I don't care how the multiplayer mode turns out as long as it hasn't impaired the campaign in any way (e.g. it's buggy or unpolished because focus was moved on to the online portion of the game). Based on the awful laggy online modes in The Darkness though, I don't expect Riddick's will be any good and it doesn't inspire confidence to hear they were added late into development. I bet they''ll be the usual uninspired deathmatch and capture the flag type modes myself.

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.

@Darren

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.

@Darren

"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.

Couldn't Starbreeze explain to him, from their experience with the Darkness, that in this sort of a game adding multiplayer adds nothing of as much value as spending that time & effort on making the singleplayer even better.

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.

Mr. Driller online is another example where Eurogamer failed to inform the users that the mp was unplayable.

"Couldn't Starbreeze explain to him, from their experience with the Darkness, that in this sort of a game adding multiplayer adds nothing of as much value as spending that time & effort on making the singleplayer even better."

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).

the darkness is one of the most fun games i have played in a while and its like £5

For £5 The Darkness is probably a 9/10 (if not a 10).

"For £5 The Darkness is probably a 9/10 (if not a 10). "

If money is an issue probably. I enjoyed the Darkness singleplayer too. But the overall package was mediocre.

Xbox World 360 Magazine UK:
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.

The cheapest I can find it for is £8.95.

Although I haven't checked second hand stuff.

OK, second hand is £6.00 - that's not bad.... I may have to buy it.

£4.99 from gamestation :) its where i got mine from

Anyting under a £10 is a massive bargain for The Darkness. It is very good, and my gripes only kicked in during some of the latest "other worldly" levels.

@muscleblade - I see a game's multiplayer as nothing more than a bonus so having a broken one like The Darkness did and even Call of Duty 2 before it (on the 360) doesn't change what I think of those games because my opinion is based purely on the single player only. Even in the previous generations before online gaming became the norm, the multiplayer modes were always an extra for me, nothing more.

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.

Yeah, the multi in The Darkness was crap as hell, but the greatness of of the SP saved the day. I don't think the whole package in itself has to be on the same level if one thing really stands out. Just look at Halo 3 or Killzone 2, SP isn't that remarkable, still grand scoes all around.

I dunno, begging for multiplayer in a game that doesn't need it seems pretty dumb to me.

Muscleblade, the overall package for darkness wasn't ''mediocre''. The single player was amazing, and the multiplayer was only there for the idiots who refuse to play any game without it, regardless or not if it fits or not. If you think that game needed multiplayer, you're kinda a moron.

@CountFapula

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.