The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf - Official Announcement

[Dhruin]

Here's the official announcement from Atari, which also reveals the assistance of French developer Widescreen Games and their cross-platform DaVinci engine:

<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">‘THE WITCHER: RISE OF THE WHITE WOLF’ [/i][/b]​

<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">COMING AUTUMN 2009 TO PLAYSTATION®3 SYSTEM AND XBOX 360®[/b]<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">[/b]​

<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> [/i][/b]​

<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">- Award Winning, Million-selling Role-playing Franchise Coming to Consoles with Thrilling New Dynamic Combat, State of the Art Visuals and Unparalleled Story -[/i][/b]​

NEW YORK, NY – December 2, 2008 – At the ATARI LIVE showcase event in London today, Atari and CD Projekt RED announced plans for the global release of <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf[/i][/b] on PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft in autumn 2009.

Based on the story of multi award-winning million-selling PC role-playing game <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Witcher[/i] and completely rebuilt pixel by pixel for the new generation of consoles, <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf[/i][/b] brings the unrivalled RPG experience to Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 with a brand new combat system for thrilling dynamic action, and a new engine delivering matchless state-of-the-art visuals. The game is underpinned with the evocative and enthralling story which helped secure the original game’s status as PC role-playing game of 2007, based on the mature and compelling universe created by renowned Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

“The creative vision and dedication to the quality of the player experience that CD Projekt RED bring to the Witcher games is extraordinary, and it’s great to be working with them to bring the Witcher universe to console gamers,” said Phil Harrison, President of Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari. “Taking this brilliantly realised world to PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 gamers for the first time is a breakthrough in the development of this important franchise.”

 

[kalniel]

You know, I'm glad they're still with Atari to be honest - I had a fear that once they got a foot in the market they'd just self-publish.

 

[Elwro]

Why would that be bad?

 

[Bartacus]

A bit over the top for my taste: best RPG in years on pc??? Dream on! That it will be the best for consoles I can believe. To much crap on that market.

 

[Phonix]

A bit over the top for my taste: best RPG in years on pc??? Dream on! That it will be the best for consoles I can believe. To much crap on that market.

Actual, I cant think of any other good RPG's in 2007, that came out to PC. But i guess that a mather of taste.

 

[Turok]

A bit over the top for my taste: best RPG in years on pc??? Dream on! That it will be the best for consoles I can believe. To much crap on that market.

Whats the best rpg on pc you have play this years??
________
Fortuner

 

[Avantenor]

Drakensang and Storm of Zehir.

 

[Farty1257]

Don't expect much from a developer like Widescreen games. When you look at their previous titles, it's frightening.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/frankherbertsdune/index.html
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/strategy/fameacademy/index.html
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/deadtorights2helltopay?q=dead to rights
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=e5FXwj7uZwE

 

[Damian Mahadevan]

There is no right and wrong except that most likely you are better off slepping with the girls to get their cards LOL.

 

[Phonix]

Drakensang and Storm of Zehir.

Remember that The Witcher was a 2007 game, not a 2008 (yes the EE version was), so in year 2007 I can only rember The Witcher, Mask of the Betrayer and Jade Empire as decent PC RPGs, while 2008 got plenty more runners fore the best RPG prise, like Mass Effect PC, Fallout 3 and Storm of Zehir. (well then Drakensang come to english, I will add it to the list )

 

[doctor_kaz]

If they remake the combat system in a fun way then this might be worth replaying.

 

[Krzychu]

So *that's* what they've been working on with a French developer...

I only hope that the new engine seen in the "thank you" video wasn't actually just footage from this console version (As in "I hope that the new engine seen in the thank you video was footage from Witcher 2") ;-]

 

[kalniel]

Why would that be bad?

Because there are numerous benefits to working with a publisher of Atari's experience and worldwide logistics chain. CDP have great experience at distributing in eastern Europe, but to go from that to entirely self-controlled milestones, target market determination, finance and world-wide distribution would be too much IMHO, and the game would suffer as a result (either never be released, be released out of date, splurge across the world slowly, or any number of other pit-falls) - also reducing the scope for further great games.

Of course, they could use another world-wide publisher, but I can't think of many who would allow such freedom in the creation of a PC game, choice of DRM etc.

 

[Essaliad]

Didn't Atari screw up the distribution badly? Like, people who bought it in Canada got zip for CD key? Then there's also the translation issue, which I've been led to understand was Atari's fault. Then there's the DRM comedy with NWN2 that leads to the near-vaporware status of Mysteries of Westgate.

 

[kalniel]

Didn't Atari screw up the distribution badly?

No.

Like, people who bought it in Canada got zip for CD key?

Local printer error I guess. If it was an Atari screw up it would be the same throughout EU and NA.

Then there's also the translation issue, which I've been led to understand was Atari's fault.

What translation issue?

Then there's the DRM comedy with NWN2 that leads to the near-vaporware status of Mysteries of Westgate.

What DRM comedy? MoW isn't anything like vaporware, it was just announced too early.

 

[Essaliad]

What translation issue?

Originally, Witcher at release should have had a much more extensive script. It was already done, translated to English. Atari didn't like it for some reason and forced them to butcher a lot of it, depriving many conversations of charm, flavor, and humor. Some of it was restored in the EE, but not all. Original script has this one part where Geralt can tell the princess he prefers dwarves for lovers. Male, bearded, muscular dwarves. That is not in Atari's cut script nor in EE.

What DRM comedy? MoW isn't anything like vaporware, it was just announced too early.

Yes, I know it's not vaporware, but it's been finished a loooong time ago and would have been released if not for Atari's insistence on implementing whatever ridiculous, retarded DRM they have in mind first.

 

[kalniel]

Originally, Witcher at release should have had a much more extensive script. It was already done, translated to English. Atari didn't like it for some reason and forced them to butcher a lot of it, depriving many conversations of charm, flavor, and humor. Some of it was restored in the EE, but not all. Original script has this one part where Geralt can tell the princess he prefers dwarves for lovers. Male, bearded, muscular dwarves. That is not in Atari's cut script nor in EE.

And your proof for saying Atari didn't like it and forced them to butcher it? Isn't it a rather more plausible explanation to say that they wanted to record full voice acting and therefore had to trim the script to stay in budget (both money and time)?

Of course, you'd rather they delayed the game even further I guess. But then..

Yes, I know it's not vaporware, but it's been finished a loooong time ago and would have been released if not for Atari's insistence on implementing whatever ridiculous, retarded DRM they have in mind first.

Now when Atari do delay something to improve it, you're complaining! Which is it you want?!

Okay you might prefer they just use an off-the-shelf DRM like online Securom, but Atari got the idea that most people would rather they had their own non-securom scheme, and get it right from the start, rather than have to patch in a DRM change part way through the adventure pack series.

 

[Essaliad]

Er, Atari is not improving anything in Mysteries of Westgate. DRM does not affect a game's quality in any way, shape, or form.

Either way, whatever DRM they come up with will be useless and cracked within a day of release, so I'm not sure what's the point in delaying that long for something that will serve no purpose.

 

[Dhruin]

My understanding of the translation issue is that the contract required a shorter length than was delivered (presumably due to recording costs etc). This can't be laid entirely at Atari's feet - CD Projekt did accept the contract, after all.

 

[Michael Dean]

Very Exciting!

Though I have to admit it took me a while to get into it (I thought it felt rather console-ish at first), I really have to say it's one of the few games that have really been fun to play for me in quite some time, aside from the excellent King's Bounty. There is actually some pretty nice depth, more than I'd have been led to believe from the introductory gameplay.
Though I'm probably no more than halfway through, my impressions of this original were exceptionally positive. That they re-released it with improvements and additions was actually quite nice. You can definitely feel that this game was a labor of love.
I expect great things out of the sequel. We shall see!