vaporware posts

Today was a busy day for news and with CES 2011 starting up in full force tomorrow it's going to get even busier. Time to take that 5 hour drink dealie.

• Folks who want to make new in-game weapons and items for Team Fortress 2 can now try them out with the first beta release of the game's item testing room
• Wired's web site has released the 2010 edition of its annual Vaporware list, with Half-Life 2 Episode 3 listed among the tech-related items. It also lists the Black Mesa Source mod as well which seems a little unfair.
• Activision is threatening to depart its UK offices because of that country's decision not to extend tax cuts for game developers.

Every year we are surprised by the number of games that manage to be released. But there are always PC game titles that are announced and then pretty much disappear from view. These are the games that Big Download puts the label "Vaporware" On. Unlike other such web sites, we consider vaporware to be any PC game that was announced, lots of time with much hype, only to go into a cave with little to no info revealed about the game at all.

That's why you won't see games like Diablo III or even Duke Nukem Forever on this list. Yes, they are taking a long time to be completed but at least the development teams behind them have shown the game off in playable form in the past year and it looks like they may actually be released. But that's not the case with most of the games on our new 2010 PC game vaporware list. While they may all finally come out of their shell, we have no idea when that will be at this point.

So which games made our top 10 list this year? Check after the jump to find out for yourself. Just be careful: It's dark in there.

We at Big Download, and the game industry at large, are always interested in seeing what Wired magazine will put into their annual Vaporware list. However, we have been greatly disappointed with the games and game related products that Wired has picked to be on the list in the past few years.

This year's list included StarCraft II at number one which we certainly agree with. However it also included the third episode of Penny Arcade Adventures which we think is a little unfair since two episodes were released last year. And putting Black Mesa, a Half-Life 2 mod that's been in development for several years, is very unfair since the folks behind it are doing it for fun, not for profit or even a deadline.

The truth is there are a lot of high profile games and game-related hardware projects that certainly fit the term "Vaporware" far better than Wired's article. We've decided to give our own Vaporware awards to put the spotlight on those games that were promised at one point for release in 2009 but have not only missed that deadline but have dropped off the the grid in terms of recent publicity and/or any firm new release dates (in StarCraft II's favor, its developer/publisher Blizzard has shown the game as playable at recent events like BlizzCon). We've picked 11 candidates for the award and also given a special mention to a game that, while it didn't have a 2009 release date, should have been out by now as well.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2009 PC Game Vaporware Awards

It's not exactly a shock but the latest (some might say infamous) annual entry in Wired's Vaporware List is topped this year by StarCraft II. Blizzard's long awaited RTS game was first announced in 2007 and at one point was targeted for a late 2009 before Blizzard quickly changed that to a release sometime in the first half of 2010. It certainly deserves the top spot this year.

Two other PC games made the list. At number seven is Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 3. The third chapter in the comic strip-based adventure game from Hothead Games has been a no show this year despite the first two chapters being released in 2008. The other "game" mentioned on the list is actually a mod. At number four it's Black Mesa, which has been trying to do a total Source Engine graphical remake of the first Half-Life game. We question why Wired picked a mod to be on this list since by its very nature mod teams tend to be on the flaky side when it comes to actually releasing a game.

Oh and what about Duke Nukem Forever which has appeared on practically every year on the Vaporware list? Wired feels that 3D Realms' shut down earlier this year means that it would not be fair to put the first person shooter on the list without a clear idea if the game has been canceled or not.

Wired's annual Vaporware list of tech-based products that should have been released but haven't has hit the Internet tubes today and as always there are a few PC games that make their line up. 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever once again takes the top spot as it has for nearly the entire existence of the Vaporware list. 3D Realms' George Broussard is quoted as saying, ""There's a lot of mistakes and lessons we had to learn But most of all, there's also been a lot of World of Warcraft."

Also on the list is StarCraft II, which Blizzard first officially announced in mid 2007. Oddly enough the list also adds an MMO game called Hero's Journey, a little known game from Simultronics that been in development for almost 10 years. The game is still apparently under development but Simultronics has concentrated its efforts mostly on licensing its Hero Engine to third parties like BioWare. Quite frankly picking a game that very few people have heard about for the Vaporware list is baffling. There are other higher profile game titles that haven't been released that would have made a better fit (Alan Wake comes to mind).