STALKER 2 is dead

rRootagea

so it goes. 2011 has been quite the emotional roller coaster of a year.

In some ways, the cancellation of Stalker 2 can't really compare to the shutdown of GSC game world studios.

We have had 3 good stalker games, that territory, that adventure of the highest calibre.
It only seems fitting, for all who enter, to leave so impacted.
You may yearn to do it all again, but you can't.

Hopefully the developers will find new settings to bring to life. New rules to explore, new areas to adore.
Goodbye Stalker, we certainly will miss you.
Hello unknown future.

SmokeStacks

darleysam wrote:

Okay, my mission will now be to get a PC that can handle all available Stalker games and the best mods, since this thread is just making me desperate to return to the Zone.

I can run SoC with Complete at 1440x900 with all settings maxed except static lighting and no AA on a single core Athlon 64 4000+ 2.4GHz with 3GB of DDR and a 1GB HD 4670. I'll get anywhere from 20-90fps depending on where I am.

Lighting is the one area where you can increase your framerate considerably, without losing an enormous amount of visual quality. The Zone still looks ominous with static lighting.

Drake

Isn't there supposed to be an official press release or something today?

Monger

Drake wrote:

Isn't there supposed to be an official press release or something today?

Official word is "we don't know," which is almost worse.

Erich Zahn

If it dies, then please let it stay dead.

I don't want some young whipper-snapper telling me that STALKER was shit before the revival, that I suck at videogames, and that I'm not worth pandering to.

:cry:

SmokeStacks

I wish I was an eccentric multi-billionaire.

I'd just buy the rights to the series, build a sweet office in the States, hire the members of the company, and then tell them "I will bankroll Stalker games for as long as you care to make them".

Beltaine

Wasn't there a website where you could pitch startup ideas and have people vote on them to receive startup capital?

Axen

Monger wrote:

Drake wrote:

Isn't there supposed to be an official press release or something today?

Official word is "we don't know," which is almost worse.

Maybe the GSC offices have been sucked in to an alternate dimension and even as we speak brave GSC employees are braving the nightmarish horrors of that world to set things right?

Erich Zahn wrote:

If it dies, then please let it stay dead.

I don't want some young whipper-snapper telling me that STALKER was shit before the revival, that I suck at videogames, and that I'm not worth pandering to.

:cry:

In the distant future mankind is under threat from the Alien-Xenos. Humanity's only hope rests with a group of bio-engineered super-soldiers called STALKERS. On a secret mission to save mankind the STALKERS have been sent to the Alien-Xenos' homeworld of Grim-Brownia IV.

Coming Q2 2013, STALKER: Alien Holocaust Act I

joshgotro

I purposely made myself walk across campus this morning, schools out until Jan. 3rd, just to get that, "I'm all alone and something is trying to get me", feeling.

Erich Zahn

Axen wrote:

Erich Zahn wrote:

If it dies, then please let it stay dead.

I don't want some young whipper-snapper telling me that STALKER was shit before the revival, that I suck at videogames, and that I'm not worth pandering to.

:cry:

In the distant future mankind is under threat from the Alien-Xenos. Humanity's only hope rests with a group of bio-engineered super-soldiers called STALKERS. On a secret mission to save mankind the STALKERS have been sent to the Alien-Xenos' homeworld of Grim-Brownia IV.

Coming Q2 2013, STALKER: Alien Holocaust Act I

Why does this keep happening? D:

SmokeStacks

Axen wrote:

Erich Zahn wrote:

If it dies, then please let it stay dead.

I don't want some young whipper-snapper telling me that STALKER was shit before the revival, that I suck at videogames, and that I'm not worth pandering to.

:cry:

In the distant future mankind is under threat from the Alien-Xenos. Humanity's only hope rests with a group of bio-engineered super-soldiers called STALKERS. On a secret mission to save mankind the STALKERS have been sent to the Alien-Xenos' homeworld of Grim-Brownia IV.

Coming Q2 2013, STALKER: Alien Holocaust Act I

A trilogy in five parts.

iOS exclusive.

F2P supported by in game DLC store.

Featuring Nickelback's new hit single.

Spoiler:

Made by Zynga

Blendtec

SmokeStacks wrote:

Axen wrote:

Erich Zahn wrote:

If it dies, then please let it stay dead.

I don't want some young whipper-snapper telling me that STALKER was shit before the revival, that I suck at videogames, and that I'm not worth pandering to.

:cry:

In the distant future mankind is under threat from the Alien-Xenos. Humanity's only hope rests with a group of bio-engineered super-soldiers called STALKERS. On a secret mission to save mankind the STALKERS have been sent to the Alien-Xenos' homeworld of Grim-Brownia IV.

Coming Q2 2013, STALKER: Alien Holocaust Act I

A trilogy in five parts.

iOS exclusive.

F2P supported by in game DLC store.

Featuring Nickelback's new hit single.

Spoiler:

Made by Zynga

Somewhere, someone honestly thinks this is a good idea.

Alfred J. Kwak

alright, I'm still not sure what happened

I'm pretty sure the series was profitable

Zenitram

Scary games like this and Dead Space really need a coop mode so I would actually play them. Or at least the option to have an AI buddy. Being alone messes with me too much psychologically, even if I know it's not a real person. Hence why I always have a companion in Fallout or Skyrim.

The sad thing is I bought both of those new but never played more than five hours in each.

Erich Zahn

Alfred J. Kwak wrote:

alright, I'm still not sure what happened

I'm pretty sure the series was profitable

Exponential growth or a complete sale of assets.

Nobody wants to retire on long haul investing, it's all penny-pinching 401(k) horseshit.

Beltaine

Does this mean we'll never have a STALKER: Fukushima game either?

Just think of all the crazy Japanese anime shit that could happen when you throw in a little radiation.

Blendtec

Beltaine wrote:

Does this mean we'll never have a STALKER: Fukushima game either?

Just think of all the crazy Japanese anime shit that could happen when you throw in a little radiation.

I hate to say it, but when that happened I did think "Stalker 3 in Japan?!"

Yougottawanna

BigDes wrote:

Stalker multi would be cool if it was implemented like Dark/Demon's Souls

I just came in my pants

Stolls

Blendtec wrote:

Beltaine wrote:

Does this mean we'll never have a STALKER: Fukushima game either?

Just think of all the crazy Japanese anime shit that could happen when you throw in a little radiation.

I hate to say it, but when that happened I did think "Stalker 3 in Japan?!"

Not gonna lie, that came to mind too. It'd undoubtedly be in poor taste (barring someone handling it extremely carefully), but the mind can't help but wonder.

A better question might be whether this will have a similar cultural effect over time. The circumstances differ greatly, but the consequences might leave some of the same marks. Of course the Soviets were never really a model of efficiency, but Chernobyl shattered any possibility that they knew what they were doing. I know little about the Japanese government other than they've gone through about six prime ministers in five years, but as I understand it TEPCO was notoriously prone to groupthink. In this, I think there's some common ground: a perception that life has just been fundamentally altered, and people are going to be screwed for years as old power blocs gradually break up and reform around it.

I think that's part of why you see stuff like Roadside Picnic: science fiction focusing on life-altering events that people on the ground don't fully understand, populated by characters drawn to them for one reason or another - either they just need food money, or they feel there's no place for them in the rest of the world. Reminds me of the Eurogamer review of STALKER, describing how the lack of strong characters actually works in the atmosphere's favor; who would venture into the Zone besides damaged, distant, or opportunistic people? Could be years before we see a straight-up fictional work centered around Fukushima, but it wouldn't surprise me to see elements of the aftermath working into Japanese fiction going forward.

Yougottawanna

I don't know if this is what the stalker devs had in mind, but as I understand it outside of a video game context "the zone" to a Russian is presumed to mean the gulag. I've always suspected that the idea (which was well realized in Stalker) of the environment itself being hostile might be a cultural artifact of all that time spent under totalitarian rule.

Zxerol

Well, "The Zone" as a term for that particular area is simply short for "Chernobyl Exclusion Zone" and long predates STALKER, so it's probably looking too deeply for a meaning.

Although I always like the term Zone of Alienation. It sounds incredibly eerie, oppressive, and -- well -- alien, just like you would imagine things would be there.

randombattle

Zxerol wrote:

Well, "The Zone" as a term for that particular area is simply short for "Chernobyl Exclusion Zone" and long predates STALKER, so it's probably looking too deeply for a meaning.

Although I always like the term Zone of Alienation. It sounds incredibly eerie, oppressive, and -- well -- alien, just like you would imagine things would be there.

Also the act of getting into the Exclusion Zone (which is still a fucking awesome name) and exploring the old buildings has always been called stalking. So there is that too.

Yougottawanna

Yes, but I believe if you talk to a Russian and just say "the Zone," they'll think you're referring to the gulag, not Chernobyl or anything related to it.

Ninja Snarl P

Yougottawanna wrote:

Yes, but I believe if you talk to a Russian and just say "the Zone," they'll think you're referring to the gulag, not Chernobyl or anything related to it.

But Chernobyl is in Ukraine.

Spoiler:

Nerd burn.

slappybag

Damn, I was looking forward to running around and making people mad by pulling my gun out in their face.

Oh well, looking forward to the many amazing mods that will surely spawn from the community.

Waldo

I think the word "zone" was used in Roadside Picnic and the Tarkovsky film adapted from it (Stalker), which both came out before the Chernobyl incident in 1986, so it seems unlikely that it is in reference to the exclusion zone. At least, not solely referencing that.

Yougottawanna

Ninja Snarl P wrote:

Yougottawanna wrote:

Yes, but I believe if you talk to a Russian and just say "the Zone," they'll think you're referring to the gulag, not Chernobyl or anything related to it.

But Chernobyl is in Ukraine.

Spoiler:

Nerd burn.

This morning I awoke with no memory and only one entry in my PDA: "Kill Ninja Snarl P"

Ninja Snarl P

BRING IT.

Better bloodsuckers than you have tried.

And won so many times.

Daemonion

Keep an eye on LURK, gentlemen

Morninglord

Nothing instilled in me the utter fear of the dark combined with the later adrenal spike of knowing the monster is coming right now and you now have to pull out the knife and take it the fuck down now or you will die.

SmokeStacks

Whatever happened to those dudes who were rebuilding the Zone in Crysis?

Monger

Daemonion wrote:

Keep an eye on LURK, gentlemen

Some of you may be able to guess how stoked I am right now.

If you cant... well, I'm pretty stoked.

edit:

Suriko

Haha oh god, that is excellent.

Hahaha... haha... haaa...

Dratatoo

Beltaine wrote:

Wasn't there a website where you could pitch startup ideas and have people vote on them to receive startup capital?

There is:

Yougottawanna

Is there some rumor that involves LURK? Out with it

Daemonion

Drake

Well.

Color me interested.

Daemonion

I'm not sure what I'm allowed to spill, but yours truly is working on some pretty neat audio stuff for the next versions of LURK

I'll post some samples here when I've got things up and running.

big l

Daemonion wrote:

I'm not sure what I'm allowed to spill, but yours truly is working on some pretty neat audio stuff for the next versions of LURK

I'll post some samples here when I've got things up and running.

Make every character say "Get out of here, Stalker!" all the time.

Rofflor

Waldo wrote:

I think the word "zone" was used in Roadside Picnic and the Tarkovsky film adapted from it (Stalker), which both came out before the Chernobyl incident in 1986, so it seems unlikely that it is in reference to the exclusion zone. At least, not solely referencing that.

Yeah the Tarkovsky-film is what I have always thought of.
If you actually sit trough the shitty black& white beginning, it is a fascinating film too!