No Aliens: Colonial Marines this year

By Robert Purchese Published 16 June, 2009

But Gearbox is still working on it.

Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford has confirmed that shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines will not arrive this year.

Publisher SEGA said as much when announcing Aliens vs. Predator, which will be the first of the Aliens trio (Colonial Marines, Obsidian RPG, AVP) to see the light of day in early 2010.

SEGA announced an Aliens FPS (Colonial Marines) and RPG (by developer Obsidian) shortly after signing the Aliens franchise from 20th Century Fox in December 2006.

The solidity of either project has been questionable. Colonial Marines remains the more tangible, having been promised a "late 2008" release before being pushed into 2009 and now 2010. The Aliens RPG, on the other hand, still has no official name nor details.

Both Gearbox and Obsidian are, and have been, busy working on other major titles. Obsidian is making spy RPG Alpha Protocol for SEGA, which is due on PC, PS3 and 360 this October.

Gearbox has delivered Samba de Amigo on Wii and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway on PC, PS3 and 360, and is working on meaty openworld shooter Borderlands for PC, PS3 and 360. Furthermore, Pitchford says Gearbox is working on another two unannounced projects. Busy bees.

Aliens vs. Predator, incidentally, is being made by original AVP team Rebellion. Catch-up with the E3 content over on our AVP gamepages.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Jeepers #1 3 years ago

    I want this badly.

    I'd rather have had the Halo 3 engine used, mind, but that's just me.

  • mashk #2 3 years ago

    Hmm, another Duke Nukem Forever?

    GAME OVER MAN. : (

  • Nephirion #3 3 years ago

    fail

  • Evolution #4 3 years ago

    I think you may be overreacting there.

  • Bleh #5 3 years ago

    I thought I read somewhere that SEGA wasn't really satisfied about Colonial Marines. Looks like they started from scratch again if the release is in 2010.

  • curtlikesmeat #6 3 years ago

    Game over man, game over.



















    Sorry.

  • JensonJet #7 3 years ago

    It's not so bad coming next year. Later this year I'll have my time filled between the sugar rush of Modern Warfare 2 and the more realistic combat of Operation Flashpoint 2. I'm really looking forward to the atmospheric battles of Colonial Marines. Coincidentally I was just chatting about this game to a few Left4Dead players before Xbox Live went down.

    Just out of interest what game engine does Colonial Marines use? With the iconic designs and sounds of the Aliens movies this should be an amazing movie-related game. Dare I say it, based on it's source material, it surely can't fail to please. Even Treyarch couldn't mess this up!

  • Nephirion #8 3 years ago

    I can't really get that excitied about Modern Warfare 2, sure it will be good but still more of the same :)

  • smernicki #9 3 years ago

    Hmm, another Duke Nukem Forever?

    2nd dullest recurring comment after "better than halo"

  • mashk #10 3 years ago

    I bet it's better than Halo.

  • Machetazo #11 3 years ago

    I couldn't care less about Modern Warfare 2, because of its terrible arcade showing, at the Microsoft briefing, at E3. It just looked so pedestrian, compared to the first game. My big hope is on Operation Flashpoint: DR, for this year, in this space.
    Still ready for Colonial Marines, too, no doubt. :) Maybe they will show something new around the time of GamesCom?

  • kwesleyb #12 3 years ago

    I knew this months ago.
    :/

  • Fightclubber #13 3 years ago

    I dont understand why sega would push this back and focus on avp a game being made by the same people behind shellshock 2 ffs.
    Rebellion havent been good for about 10 years and most of the e3 footage of avp looked incredibly stiff and crusty.
    As well as the Aliens game had some stunning screen shots to go with it, as well as some interesting squad mechanics.
    Open ya eyes sega

  • Tzetrik #14 3 years ago

    Why do we need this and aliens vs predator3?

  • anephric #15 3 years ago

    I don't mind waiting if it doesn't run like crap, like the console BIA:HH.

  • kangarootoo #16 3 years ago

    "Why do we need this and aliens vs predator3?"

    Isn't that like asking why we need any new sequel... or indeed, any new games at all?

  • Machetazo #17 3 years ago

    @kanga - Not at all. The question is more likely to be asking why the need for both games, not, why the need for either of them. Now, they could have opted to italicise the "and", but the intention's clear enough.

    I don't have much care for AVP3, but I still think that and CM can co-exist, even if I'd prefer to see Marines first, and give AVP3 longer, after the merely acceptable feeling it left from what was shown at E3.
    Both games will be done when they're done, and after all, that's just how it will be.

  • kangarootoo #18 3 years ago

    @Machetazo

    Well, fair point. Perhaps its more like asking whether we need a new Pokemon game (though in that case, I would probably ask the same question).

  • dirk_aircool #19 3 years ago

    That looks bad .I agree it could be another ' duke nukem ' vapour trail .
    Op Falshpoint v Modern warfare 2 . hope they will be both different and good in thier own way . the original OP Flashpint still gives me bad dreams and it was only a game , ah , the memories of getting my legs shot and having to crawl 3km into a patrol of spetzntz ( or whatever the USSR spec ops pshychopaths are called ) . and then being dead again .

  • carlitoswagon #20 3 years ago

    Check those corners.......


    Flamethrower to the nuts for anyone who credits AVP with being anything but ok! Not a scratch on Alien or Aliens. Like Police Academy, this franchise has been humped to death..... She's had better days.

    Still, it could be good!

    Edited by 1 at 16/06/09 @ 17:00

  • kangarootoo #21 3 years ago

    @carlitoswagon

    I agree the AvP films have not been on par (I thought the comics were ok). But the games have a decent history behind them, so they are still worth watching after in my book.

  • bad09 #22 3 years ago

    I know it's probably down to the normal dev problems/issues but does anyone else think this lot is actually being held back to ride the hype for the new prequel/reboot? Will that hit next year?

  • mkreku #23 3 years ago

    I just want the Aliens RPG..

  • Rodchenko #24 3 years ago

    Just out of interest what game engine does Colonial Marines use?

    Not sure, but I bet it will be Unreal Engine as that seems to be a Gearbox staple.

  • makeamazing #25 3 years ago

    Unreal :( oh dear...

  • MrE26 #26 3 years ago

    This reminds me of the last time a Colonial Marines game was announced back in the PS2's heyday. That never saw the light of day either.

    The Aliens licence is absolutely perfect for an FPS game, i really hope this doesn't get canned.

  • JensonJet #27 3 years ago

    carlitoswagon, I think it goes without saying that the Alien vs Predator movies are as poor as horror/sci-fi get. Never understood the interest in the Predator franchise.

    As for the game, when I played the original I must have spent about two minutes checking out the Predator side of the game. Multiplayer was really atmospheric and scarey as the marines, and a lot of fun as the Aliens. You felt a real sense of power with your superior speed, eyesight and climbing abilities. They were a lot of fun to play as, especially as the marines were scripted to scream and shout when attacked by an Alien. The Predator's like a sniper in videogames; cowardly and dull to play. It's interesting that the Alien franchise warrants it's own games, but no one would risk wasting time and money on a stand alone Predator game!

  • kangarootoo #28 3 years ago

    @CountFapula

    Are you boasting about having seen more shit films than anyone else? ;)

  • kangarootoo #29 3 years ago

    I quite liked both AvP movies I have to say. You are quite right, there is far worse out there.

  • sharky_ob #30 3 years ago

    @ dirk_aircool

    Would you like a typing lesson?

  • JensonJet #31 3 years ago

    CountFapula, I admit I don't care much for horror. I used to think I liked sci-fi, but as with horror the majority of movies of this genre are really poor in my opinion. I think the biggest problem with both genres is the basic formula – monsters and gore, or spaceships and technology – is easy to create, but as with any movie, the difference between the best and the worst is down to the original script, the quality of the director and the skill of the actors. Sadly both those genres tend to attract some of the laziest, least skilled in each of those areas. While the Aliens franchise attracted good directors and actors, the Predator films and subsequently the Alien vs Predator movies attracted poor directors, writers and actors. Although it's stretching the imagination to call Arnold Schwarzenegger an actor, given a decent director and script he can appear in great movies such a The Terminator or Terminator 2, and given a cliche script and average director can make The Predator. For me associating Predator with Aliens is like sticking Jean-Claude Van Damme in a Robert DeNiro movie! They're both at opposite ends of the scale!

  • HermitArcader #32 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • Bander #33 3 years ago

    Aliens vs. Predator looks so inventive at the moment that I'd be worried about this game being redundant, although I'm not really a fan of the AvP franchise.

    I still really want to play a game where Alien blood will eat away the scenery properly though, creating entrances and exits permanently where before there were none. If this feature is removed, then you may as well nuke the game from orbit (you all know the rest).

  • JensonJet #34 3 years ago

    Vertical Stand, as it happens I regard the Die Hard movies as poorly as I do the Predator or Alien vs Predator movies. I'm not suggesting McTiernan's a poor director though, he just had a poor script and actors to work with. Directors, like actors, will make any movie if enough money's offered to them. It's just a shame the industry, like the game's industry can't find enough quality writers and producers to improve the state of both industries.

    Bander, that's a wonderful idea, recreating the acid blood in-game. But seeing as destructuble scenery is missing from practically every game, and even when it is used, it's pretty basic, I think we'll probably have to wait for two or three generations of console before we get remotely close to disolving away scenery with acid blood.