Worked as QA on this years and years ago, and this is probably the most accurate retelling I’ve ever heard from an outside perspective - never in my life have I seen so many bugs being sent back as “Won’t Fix”.
Funny enough, as a game design student in college, our professor used Alien Colonial Marines as an example on how to NOT code a game. Specifically how they screwed up their ai code by misspelling the word 'tether'. Always spell check your codes guys. You'd be surprised at how many game bugs misspelling can create.
Im not a programmer but the thought that the games AI was terrible all because of a typo blows my mind, bad AI was the main reason people hated this game. But worst of all, didnt they play and test this game themselves in the weeks before launch? Or did they think bad AI was there on purpose? Wtf
The fact that a variable name was misspelled is secondary to the fact that the code was using a non-existent variable. How did that not end up being reported as an error? Or was it reported but nobody cared?
If it weren't for Borderlands, I would have nothing but detest for Gearbox. Randy Pitchford is a snake who smiles and says nice things, while spewing venom on everything without a care in the world.
Borderlands is honestly overrated, and unless you are playing solo, the co-op is a total mess at times. Not to mention that the gameplay gets old after awhile. They really need to inject more life in the combat for the 3rd one.
You think it would leave a permanent stain on Randy's record, except nobody is talking about it anymore. People talking about not wanting to buy B3 because it's an Epic store exclusive, but nobody talking about how you should never trust Randy ever again.
Randy Pitchford is not Borderlands. If you feel the need to boycott because of his involvement feel more than free but he's not what I think about when I think of how much I love Borderlands.
@@eggbaron3968 Man. Borderlands 3 story was let down, Ava- **Cough** that thing was one of the worst characters i`ve ever seen but the gameplay was improved. And the dlc are fuking good.
@@yourewallsareveryconvenien8292 the gameplay is good but yeah the story pissed me off. Also the fact that only 3 months after it came out they put it on sale. Which was shitty for those of us who preordered
It's almost as if Randy Pitchford is a literal plague upon Gearbox and the poor souls who work there. And, given how many awful people are working in the games industry, that's saying something.
That simple. It released right before Overwatch. So the only thing that would be of more use if it was Gearbox or 2k decision to not change the release date.
@@dancorps1388 It's not that easy, they droped it just before the open beta of overwatch but because they taunted blizzard on twitter, prompting them to move their beta to days after battleborns official release, also the game sucks ass (my personal opinion) and the HUD is a cluttered mess (this one is not an opinion tho).
@@NeODeLeuX Battleborn was a mess at launch, and became less so through updates and new characters and all that. I am able to have fun in its current state. However, as much as I love the cackling best girl Beatrix, nothing could really save a game that was not ready to compete iwth Blizzard Marketing.
Gearbox is fully to blame for this clearly, they completely shat on SEGA and i find it outstanding that they were able to steal... yes, STEAL Segas money for Borderlands 2
Given Randy's tendency to reply to anything and everything just to have 'his perspective' known, I'd say you can expect his tweet about this video soon-ish.
@@gamerguy6990 "durhhh I remember everything he said in detail and his accent and what he looks like, but duurrhhh, I dunno his name." ...are you for real right now? @_@
Brink was one of the few games that still hurts for me. I was a member on The Splash Damage forums and followed every inch of content on that game. Just to be stung with how shitty it was at launch.
I bought brink at GameStop. It was just a physical case with a steam code, ended up returning it the next day and getting portal 2 instead. Still have brink in my library though
@@M7S4I5L8V2A when the silent Hill HD collection came out I had no prior knowledge of it or that it was even being released (I kind of fell out of video games in High school) the guy at the register was like "big silent Hill fan?" And I was like "hell yeah, at least the first 3." The fucking asshole just smiled and said "then this is gonna be a real treat for you." Now I know what he was talking about. So consider yourself lucky the dude was honest. I'll go to my grave regretting the 40 bucks I gave Konami.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned how both randy and gearboxes Twitter were silent for 24-48 hours after aliens release. When randy got back on Twitter it became a complete shit storm so bad that his wife got involved
That quote by Michael Biehn is actually quite profound. Recently there have been a lot of publishers and studios banking on something being successful just because of names, weather it be franchises or studios, and the end product being less than stellar
2006 was a dark year for SEGA, which can almost entirely be blamed on their US CEO Simon Jeffery who wanted to take SEGA in the direction of trashy 3rd party publisher of licensed films. SEGA in 2019 is on fire, really love their games. Also SEGA's Alien: Isolation is the best Aliens game of all time. Hell it's the best thing since Aliens.
"Remember that AVP game where you could play as the Predator and the Alien? Let's forget about that and make a regular shooter from just the human side."
even though said game had a diffrent play style and had great ally and enemy ai for the aliens nah lets just make cod alien edition and make the aliens less of a threat then rad roaches in fallout
Consider me a mad lad but the Marine campaign has always been my favorite. It's scarier and truer to the experiences in the film. So ACM was exactly what I wanted.
I remember back in '08 when this game was first unveiled and people were hyped as shit. Myself included. Then the game came out. And the rest is history... Like with Duke Nukem Forever, another Gearbox property gone through the same production issues.
The funniest thing of all is that the "Aliens: Colonial Marines" name was already cursed to failure by the time Sega even hired Gearbox to make the game, because 20th Century Fox had already planned to release an Aliens game of the SAME EXACT NAME for the PS2 back in 2000/2001, which obviously never happened.
I'd assume it's almost just as buggy but people give it a pass since "it's just Obisidan thing" and/or the gameplay are more involved than CoD in Alien skin.
So theyre finally here Performing for you If you know the words, you can join in too Put your hands together If you want to clap As Matt breaks down Randy Pitchford's crap
Gearbox managed to make the worst game of 2011 and the worst game of 2013, and both of them were troubled FPS games stuck in Development Hell for years. Really makes you think.
I honestly feel that Gearbox took part of the funding that was meant for Colonial Marines and put it towards Borderlands 2. Considering everything that's happened to Gearbox since then I think it's safe to say karma has been catching up with them.
I'm pretty certain that the late-Midway line-up has at least a couple Wha Happun? titles in it, sure nothing as interconnected as Overstarkillbreeze and The Walking Dead but i'm sure that the story of the fall of Midway can be told over the cause of a few scattered episodes.
Me: *finds out there was almost an Aliens RPG in the same vein as KotOR, and made by the same developers* *Becomes unreasonably excited* *finds out game was cancelled* *...* *_WORLD-ENDING RAGE_*
I still can't get over the fact that the sole reason the AI was broken was because of a typo. At least incompetence is somewhat of an excuse -- and even that is hardly justified. Gearbox just didn't care, that's the gist of it.
Speaking of Sega, you know what'd be interesting? Covering on why Yakuza took so long to gain its footing outside of Japan. That'd be an interesting episode.
Surprised you didn't mention Wayforward's excellent Aliens: Infestation, which apparently started life as a DS port of Colonial Marines (???). Probably the only good thing to come out of this whole debacle.
13:20 Ah, yes, the Apple IIGS Woz Limited Edition (you can tell that's what it is because it has Woz's signature on the front). One of those was my family's first "real" computer. I wrote a lot of papers on it in high school and college.
Matt, you using the Steel Hearts theme from Custom Robo while you were talking about Gearbox made me so, so happy. That's my favorite game of like, all time. Always love when big names give it the love it deserves.
Please do one on DMC2, there’s prolly not a lot of info but I remember reading somewhere that when Itsuno arrived to take over all the dev team had done was coding Stinger. It’d be a fun vid
I worked at gamestop when this released and as an alien fan I picked it up...it holds a place in my heart for how it's so bad but has some good elements that just make you think.. they had something here, with the light rpg elements and fun easter eggs... it just went bad
The best example of a projected failure that became a succes I can think of is the very first Yakuza game on the PS2 (at least in Japan. Yakuza had a whole road of localization craziness to go through before Yakuza 0 came out to critical acclaim). It's a bit of a long story, but it's a goldmine of fascinating development trivia. Highlights include Sega not thinking the game would do well in Japan and turning down the project multiple times, an entire story rewrite, the taste of very expensive alcohol, and even more. Another good example would be Majora's Mask. It was all developed in one year- a time limit that typically leads to disaster in the modern game industry. As a result, most of the game used assets from Ocarina of Time (especially with most of the NPCs) and had a much shorter main story (with only four major dungeons). But thanks to unique mechanics (the masks, and the three day loop), a surreal and creepy atmosphere, and a lot of memorable sidequests and characters, the game's generally seen as one of the best in the series (depending on who you ask). Pretty sure a postive spin on Wha Happun would have to be named somewhat differently, as "wha happun" typically implies that the game is already bad.
The ones that come to mind for me are Metroid Prime, Rainbow Six: Siege, and Final Fantasy XIV. Metroid Prime wasn't looking good in previews, but was overwhelmingly praised and successful upon release. Rainbow Six: Siege's launch had disappointingly little content, but thrived through surprisingly stellar post-launch support. Most of all, Final Fantasy XIV launched a disastrous mess, which damaged Square Enix's reputation so badly they approved an absurd plan to rebuild the whole game from the ground-up in the form of A Realm Reborn; the gambit paid off, and it's now the second most successful paid MMO behind WoW.
Surprised to see no mention of Jim Sterling and Randy Pitchford's personal hatred for him, as Jim still calls him out for lying to jim's face in an interview all these years late haha. Pitchford's a mess
I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Zero Escape OST here, You/the one who have edited this video is a human of culture, "What Happened?" is a top-notch content. Thank you both for your work!
Just wanted to mention, as someone working in the industry, there is no possible way the Tether bug was missed by testing. In their case, shipping was just prioritized over fixing :(
Man, every now and then in the middle of the night... I shed a single tear for what could have been with this game. One day, hopefully, we'll get a proper Colonial Marines game. RIP.
8:54 Excellent choice of music with Placidity from the 999 series. I'd recognize that soundtrack anywhere Edit: There's VLR music throughout this video. Awesome!
SEGA makes bad and dumb decisions all the time that's why we love them. I'm just glad it wasn't entirely their fault this time. It was mostly Gearbox's
It's very much a polarizing game if anything, people who like it love it and people who don't hate it. I'm in the former category but I'll admit it has a ton of technical issues marring the experience but I still found it very much a flawed gem
Alpha Protocol is the gaming equivalent of marmite, you either love it or you hate it. Personally I loved it because of its concept and its unique take on dialogue mechanics, but at the same time I can perfectly understand why anyone would hate it since it's a broken and buggy mess.
Exactly. Their RTS games were marvelous, I still play Kohan, at least you can buy it on Steam. But Axis&Allies one? Nah, physical only off some dudes on ebays of the world. Extremely sad, those games would benefit from a remaster.
@@everythingsgonnabealright8888 or you could just download it and play it through an ISO. Games that aren't digitally available must be pirated to become available, like BFME2.
At this point I wouldnt be suprised if there is a side quest in borderlands 3 about a self insert randy pitchford character punching those who question him
All the games I would like to suggest for Wha Happun are: Rise of the Robots Big Rigs Marvel vs Capcom Infinite Sonic 06 Devil May Cry 2 Tales of Legendia
The legal talk between Sega and Gearbox can best be summed up by the words of our lord and saviour, Fred Durst: "It's all about the 'he said, she said' bullshit"
Hey now, Section 8: Prejudice was awesome! I mean, the story was lukewarm garbage, but it had some of the most fun multiplayer I've ever played. Never tried the original though, so maybe I'm not the most qualified to defend it. Anyway, thanks for the insight into Randy's Finest Hour, Matt!
This! Just like Homefront! Incredible games, but people reviewed the subpar campaigns poorly & dumped on the games for that alone, ignoring the fantastic game modes the two games were clearly made for.
dang, seems like for dev studios life cycle is as follows: 1. humble beginnings building portfolio 2. Strike gold with new IP 3. Take on big publisher deal, high profile AAA title 4. Mismanage resources during development while increasing spending on studio expansion 5. Do some cringey shit at E3 6. Get eaten alive by industry when the expensive AAA title flops, massive debt, talent leaves, get acquired and taken out to pasture. IMO, if the industry as a whole (i.e. not just devs, everything gaming) could be personified I would probably say it would be a "Man-Child" at worst
Can you imagine a world where we got an obsidian alien RPG and then a couple years later getting alien isolation one of the best survival horror games ever made and instead we got .........this
The greatest achievement of this game was it ironically being one of the only video games in history to get the Marines’ medical structure correctly. In the prologue a Marine is injured and they call out for their Corpsman! So many grounded and SciFi games get it so wrong and use the term medic. Historically Marines don’t have medics so they utilize Navy Hospital Corpsmen. Being one of these weird things, me and my homies playing this game in the middle of the desert jumped up “Yo! Someone actually knows us!” Felt poetic that one of the few times were acknowledged and the homework is done, it’s in a relatively obscure and/or terrible game 👌🏻
"Sega decided to make the player fight more humans than Xenomorphs or aliens in the game, due to the launch of Call of Duty." Oh sorry I thought that in your game, Aliens: Colonial Marines, I would've been fighting, you know, *_Fucking Aliens._*
The visuals wouldn't be good on console? Well AVP 2010 still looked better than ACM did. Let's see what this new Aliens game has to offer in summer of 2021.
This one game changed my entire perspective on video games. Before I was hyped by every trailer for games I was interested, would go and preorder the ones I really wanted, I Would even pay the stupid level prices for "collectors" editions. Then the this game came, my most favorite movie getting a video game, I was ecstatic. Went and got the collectors and all. Then I played the game...and it hurt me on some other level. I dont really care about games like I had before, I dont need to get them opening day, tend to wait a few weeks before I go and get em, haven't purchased a collector's edition since. The vocal teaser had more aliens soul than that entire game....
Well ya gotta give Aliens: Colonial Marines some credit as one thing it nailed to do and delivers perfectly is to crash our souls and shit on our sweet, nightmare filled childhood memories. And, well, thanks to this game at least you learned a right thing - you should never trust game/movie trailers...never.
Didn't help that they shipped it with a typo in an important config file that pretty much neutered the enemy AI. That fuckup was only discovered by fans years after the game's launch.
This has to be one of my favorite episodes of Wha Happun, I rewatch it often. It’s worth noting the as of today (May 2022) templargfx’s colonial marines mod has actually made me love the game now. It’s still not perfect but I genuinely enjoy the experience of playing it thanks to the mod
