the-outsider posts

The Outsider is a game that has been in development since 2005 at UK-based Frontier Developments. Little has been revealed about the game other than a few screenshots and the fact that it's a modern-day thriller game set in and around Washington DC. The gameplay itself was hyped up to give a new meaning of freedom to players rather than a traditional linear experience. Now it looks like the game development is, well, a bit confused.

Earlier this morning Rock Paper Shotgun reported via unnamed sources that the game's development was in fact canceled, claiming that a possible publishing deal with Electronic Arts fell through. However Frontier's head man David Braben told Develop later today, "The priority has been reduced, but we're still working on it." He added, "There is still publisher interest in the project." He did admit that Frontier had to lay off 17 team members, saying, "It's gutting, but one of those things you are forced to do sometimes." The developer still has 210 team members.

Last September, UK-based developer Frontier Developments launched a web site to celebrate the 25 anniversary of the release of the first game in the Elite series. The space trading-action game series remains one of the most influential game titles of all time and there's been speculation that a fourth game in the series is in the works.

Today Eurogamer is reporting that Elite IV is indeed in the works.While the web site states their sources have told them that the game has been put on hold recently after some pre-production work, Frontier's founder David Braben told the site, "There have been recent staff changes on the project, and our commitment to the game is as strong as ever."

Five years ago, The Outsider was first announce to much fanfare as UK-based creators Frontier Developments hyped the game up as a huge political thriller sent in an open world Washington DC. Since then news on the game's progress has been exactly slim to none. Eurogamer reached out to the developer's head man David Braben to get an update on its progress.

Braben replied, "It's very exciting and we're still working hard on it. I'm not talking about it yet but watch this space." Considering we have been waiting for news about this game for half a decade we have been, on the whole, extremely patient.We hope that we don't have to wait much longer for a true status report.

Alternative reality games are a tricky breed. Most are designed to help promote or tease another product but they are supposed to be fun experiences themselves. This week a number of gaming web sites, including our sister site Joystiq, got a package that contains a USB flash drive. The contents included a text file and audio file. Joystiq managed to figure out that the message in the audio file was in fact a clue that leads to a web site with a Flash-driven visual of a TV set.

There are even more audio files on the site that, once deciphered, come up with a message that states, "APRIL WEEK TWO." That likely means more of this ARG is to come. But to what end? The Joystiq comments pages have readers speculating it's for the promotion of Fallout New Vegas , Call of Duty 7 , Singularity or The Outsider. Hopefully answers will be coming soon.

Last week we had a feature article that took a look at many PC games that are currently being developed in near secrecy with little to no info on what those games are actually like. However, there also also a number of games that have been fully announced, with screenshots, trailers and more and yet even after years of waiting (and in case of one game over a decade) we are still awaiting those titles to finally be released. These are the games that we have decided to put in our Vaporware Vault.

Sometimes a game is officially announced and can ship to stores inside of a year (in a very quick turnaround, Electronic Arts officially announced Need For Speed Undercover in August and it's set for release in November). Sometime it can be two years between the game's reveal and its appearance in stores. However we have seen games take much, much longer. For example the original Max Payne game was announced in 1997 but wasn't released until 2001. The just released Spore was first revealed in March 2005. Valve's Team Fortress 2 was first announced in 1998 but the final, and much changed, version didn't get released until 2007.

So what PC games are we still waiting on? Quite a few and they come from developers both big and small. Our criteria for inclusion in our list of tardy games is that they must have been officially revealed in 2006 or later and that they are not scheduled for release until at least 2009. Many of these games have had little to no info on their status since their initial announcement. The reasons for their delays are sometimes unknown. Yet they all have one thing in common besides having their release dates pushed back. They all could be terrific games. We begin our feature with the grand champion of delayed PC games, Duke Nukem Forever

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