Key events
31st August 2006
17th August 2006
14th July 2006
12th July 2006
28th June 2006
26th April 2006
7th June 2005
Mafia 2 and the original Prey are now backward-compatible on Xbox One
And discounted in the 2K publisher sale.
Microsoft has announced another batch of new additions to Xbox One's ever-expanding backward-compatibility list - this time in the form of Mafia 2 and the original 2006 Prey.
FeatureRummaging through Obsidian's drawer of game ideas
Star Wars! Snow White! Prey 2! Warhammer 40K! "There's tons of them."
Everyone has a drawer they can't close because it's stuffed too full of things. Mine has a whisk which always stops the bloody drawer from closing, and it's really annoying, but Obsidian Entertainment's drawer has around 100 game proposals in it. Game outlines in various states, from two-page snacks to 60-page feasts. "There's tons of them," Obsidian co-owner Chris Parker tells me. And for Obsidian there was never a time of greater need of an idea than summer 2012, after Microsoft cancelled Xbox One launch game Stormlands, and when South Park: The Stick of Truth was onboard THQ's sinking ship. It spurred a period now referred to in Obsidian history as the Summer of Proposals.
VideoWatch: Johnny plays Prey (2006) for the first time
In this week's Late to the Party.
Bethesda's Prey launched last month, to decent critical acclaim and middling sales. In the run up to its release we published a few Prey videos on our YouTube channel, and there one theme in particular that kept cropping up in the comments - fans were not happy with how different this Prey was to the 2006 original.
FeaturePrey was a flawed FPS with ideas worth remembering
This wasn't a triumph.
What a curious legacy Prey has left behind. This 'franchise' (imagine airquotes the size of skyscrapers) has been in existence for two decades, resulting in one single game. There are stormtroopers with better hit rates than that. In fact, up to this point Prey is probably better known for the games that never happened than the one which eventually did.
Skyrim remaster, Prey 2, Wolfenstein 2, Evil Within 2 rumoured for E3
Dragon you back for more.
A PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remaster of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is rumoured to be announced at Bethesda's E3 conference this Sunday, 12th June. We'll be reporting from it live; check our E3 2016 guide for conference timings.
Eurogamer understands this rumour to be true, and we've also heard Bethesda will announce The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein 2 and re-announce Prey 2 during the conference.
The Skyrim remaster rumours originate from reputable industry insider Shinobi602, as well as another apparent insider posting on NeoGAF as Enter the Dragon Punch.
id Software's new owner has IP.
ZeniMax, id Software's new parent, has taken control of the Prey licence according to various trademark sightings.
Sci-fi shooter due within weeks.
3D Realms' sci-fi shooter Prey is coming to iPhone in the next few weeks.
Developer burns down.
The office building that housed Prey developer Human Head has been devastated by a fire.
And character models.
An update for the Xbox 360 version of Prey, which went live on Marketplace this morning, adds four brand new multiplayer maps as well as various new character models.
No tweaks to gameplay though.
3D Realms and Human Head have released the first patch for the PC version of Prey.
The 22MB update is "a tech/bug fix patch", according to the accompanying blurb, and "there are no new gameplay elements in this update (nor are there any planned for the future)." It's designed to stop the game crashing, basically, and improve the multiplayer experience for those with "higher latency connections".
Don't worry though, they're still putting together extra content such as downloadable maps and multiplayer skins, which will be available at a later date.
Concerns to be addressed.
Just a few weeks after the release of PC and Xbox 360 shooter Prey, 3D Realms' Scott Miller has confirmed that a sequel is already in development.
Speaking in an interview with Next-Gen, when asked what he's working on these days, Miller replied: "Prey 2, of course!"
So what have we got to look forward to next time around? Well, Miller wasn't very forthcoming, but he did say: "We are addressing concerns about combat, as well as adding in more gameplay innovations." Which sounds nice.
New maps, chars. 360 and PC.
Fresh from getting drunk and going on holiday, Human Head Studios is busily working on a 1.1 patch and some new content for Prey.
FeatureUK Charts: Top ten receives Preys
But GTA remains the UK's best-selling game
Take-Two secures its fourth week at the top with GTA: Liberty City Stories, the publisher's long awaited FPS Prey marking this week's highest new entry at number 2.
Giger counter.
Summer's a rotten time for new game releases - we know this, but it's a good thing. It gives us a chance to, you know, go outdoors, see friends and family we've been "too busy" to see, not to mention indulge in an entire month's worth of football and the associated liver failure that goes with it.
But that's gone now, and unless you're indulging in a disgustingly long summer holiday (in which case, congratulations, enjoy it while it lasts) or have a stack of unfinished games to go back to, you're probably wondering whether Prey's good enough to rush out and buy. It's indicative of how quiet it is that so many people seems to be pinning their hopes on it being the next 360 killer app, but, yet again, it's one of those first-person shooters that threatens to do wow us with bold new ideas before treading the same old familiar path that's been etched into the FPS fabric since the late '90s.
To start with, it's promising enough. You assume the role of Tommy, a mid 20s Cherokee Indian who's never really been into all that spiritual mumbo-jumbo that his grandpa spouts. He prefers living a typical 'white man' life as a garage mechanic, and we join him in the toilet of his local diner. Before you ask, no he hasn't murdered anyone, but he soon finds himself making use of his handy wrench once some low down clientèle start disrespecting his barmaid girlfriend, Jen.
Giving the game away.
A sequel to Human Head's forthcoming sci-fi shooter Prey is on the way by the look of it.
A message at the conclusion of the game reveals that "Prey will continue" leaving little room for doubt that a follow-up to the 2K-published title will be released.
The collaboration between 3D Realms and Human Head is set for release on PC and Xbox 360 on July 14th, and we will have an in-depth review for you on the morning of its release.
A week late, but there it is.
Eurogamer's German readers (wie gehts?) will be pleased to hear that last Friday's Xbox 360 Prey demo is now available through their version of Marketplace.
Game's out this month.
Microsoft has finally posted the Xbox 360 demo of 3D Realms' Prey on Marketplace.
Out next month on PC and X360.
Take-Two has announced that highly anticipated PC and Xbox 360 title Prey will go on sale next month.
Billed as "a groundbreaking first-person shooter", Prey sees you playing as Tommy, a Native American garage mechanic who gets abducted by aliens. With only a ghostly hawk and a dead Grandad to guide you, it's your job to navigate your way through their a living spaceship, rescue your girlfriend and save the whole of humanity from extinction.
There are all sorts of intriguing elements to get to grips with, such as portals which act as doorways between different dimensions and switches which change the rules of gravity. These come into play during multiplayer deathmatches too, rather excitingly.
Human Head speaks out.
If you haven't seen Prey in action yet, you really ought to take a look. For those who aren't familiar, it's a new first-person shooter with a sci-fi feel and an interesting take on boring old gravity - and it's heading to PC and Xbox 360 later this year.
Game's nearly done.
Human Head Studios and 3D Realms have released a PC demo of first-person shooter Prey, which is due out on PC and Xbox 360 next month.
3DR outlines Prey achievements
As in, Xbox 360 ones.
We know how you all love achievements and gamerpoints. Well, I know how much Kristan loves them anyway - you can probably infer as much from the way he steals all the Xbox 360 review code. So he at least will be interested to learn that 3D Realms has posted a full list of achievements and points available from the Xbox 360 version of Prey, which is due out next month alongside the PC version.
Next month, to be precise.
3D Realms has announced that a demo of PC and Xbox 360 first-person shooter Prey will be released on June 22nd.
Prey trailer, date, demo plans
Raining for Prey.
3D Realms' Scott Miller says there'll be a demo version of Prey - the PC and Xbox 360 first-person shooter in development at Human Head - before it comes out.
Meanwhile, publisher Take-Two - well, label 2K Games - has announced that the game will be released in July in the USA, and if you're interested we've also got a spangly new trailer for you to check out.
Speaking in a comment on the Game Matters blog, Miller spoke of the demo plan, adding: "I feel very strongly that the demo will be our most important marketing tool for the game, by a long shot."
New screenshots to celebrate.
Newcastle-based Venom Games is handling the Xbox 360 port of Prey, 2K Games announced this week, which presumably explains why Prey overlords 3D Realms don't have a devkit.
Human Head's hunter.
Life isn't easy for Tommy, a native American garage mechanic and ex-army type who now resides on an Oklahoma reservation. One minute he's spending his time doing normal, everyday stuff - fixing cars, hanging out in his girlfriend's bar, having lengthy debates over whether not one can escape one's heritage through conscious thought and behavioural choices or whether culture and ancestry are an intrinsic part of the self and therefore the entire scope of one's existence, that sort of thing. The next, he's being abducted by aliens, hauled aboard some kind of "living spaceship" and forced to watch his Grandfather impaled on a series of increasingly large metal spikes.
Now on Eurofiles.
The E3 trailer for Prey, 3D Realms' forthcoming first-person shooter for PC, is now available on Eurofiles.
Prey follows the adventures of a bloke called Tommy who gets abducted by aliens and finds himself aboard a living, breathing spaceship, with only a load of guns and a talking hawk for company.
Weighing in at 128MB, the trailer features more than 10 minutes of in-game footage and we reckon it's well worth a look.
Near-instant play.
Thanks to a new deal with on-demand service Game xStream, 3D Realm's forthcoming PC shooter Prey will be available to buy online - and you won't even have to wait for it to download.
With added "portal technology".
3D Realms has revealed some more details of Prey, its forthcoming first-person shooter for PC. You can find some new screenshots here.
A bit like Half-Life 2. Which is an expression they'll hope we use again. Game's due out on PC and "a next-gen console" in 2006.
As revealed here last week (altogether now: "ooooOOOooooOOOoh! Hark at her!" ["Him", Tom; you're a bloke -Ed]), Take-Two's 2K Games label has announced that it will publish resurrected 3D Realms-owned first-person shooter Prey for the PC and a next-generation console system in 2006.
