There’s one thing that’s been made abundantly clear, even before a developer has completed and made available its title for the masses to enjoy, the sequel to said title, most times is already on the drawing boards. Rough sketches, drafts of story and ideas to innovate flood the minds of developers even before the first title is out.
So with that being said, the five games which you’re about to find out are taking years too many to come out, work on them probably started way before they were officially unveiled; however we’ll play by the books.
For some, you won’t have to wait much longer before you can play them, the others, well the others are still some time off, even though they’ve been the longest under development.
Alan Wake:
This thriller from Remedy entertainment will hit store shelves this spring. But did you know it’s been five and a half years since the project began? Yes indeed. Back in October of last year Remedy’s Matias Myllyrinne said, “Some of your parents might remember when we initiated the project (laughing). Nah I mean seriously, the tech’s come a long way – we’ve constantly kept improving and building on it and we already had a lot of good fundamentals there very early on so our streaming technology was awesome.
We’ve improved a lot of the gameplay related AI stuff and so fourth but also a lot of the rendering and the technical art stuff has gone forward as you can probably tell from some of the trailers that we’ve released.”
He added: “It’s been since 2005 so we’ve be crafting this thing and for us, I mean, we could’ve put something out much earlier to be honest and it would’ve been probably okay, but for us, we only want to come out with a game when we have something to say and a point to make so when gamers put down their hard earned cash on a game, the Remedy brand on that box needs to be a seal of quality; so they’re getting a certain movie like experience with good story and a good character – that really is key for us.”
So just a little more patience and we’ll be rewarded with a great title that will more than quench this five and a half year old thirst. Hopefully.
Gears of War 3:
Epic Games released Gears of War 2 back in November 2008, since then we’ve heard nothing, only rumors that we won’t see the next title until the next generation of consoles. That was said by Epic Games bossman Mark Rein last September, who later retracted saying if Gears of War three existed, and were to be released in the next four to five years, it would indeed be on this generation of consoles.
It’s been a year and some yet nothing, also, if he’s to be taken seriously when he said “the next four to five years” and that’s back in November of last year, it’ll be some time before we play Gears 3. However next week at GDC, the developer’s scheduled for two press conferences, and so obviously there’s a lot to chat about. A Gears announcement should be amidst the rumbling.
Final Fantasy XIII:
Final Fantasy XIII was originally a title meant for the PS2; but when Sony announced PS3, the plan was annulled and development for the game was moved to PS3. But if you’re the least skilled in mathematics, you’d still be able to add year upon year and get the amount spent making the game.
PS3 was announced in 2006, so if you subtract a year and a half from 2006, you’d end up in 2004; that’s a ridiculous 6 years under development; a long time indeed.
The game will be out this coming Tuesday though, however the review scores are mixed. I’m hoping FFXIII does well at retail for the sake of all Final Fantasy fans, including myself.
God of War III:
On March 16th, and 19th in the US and EU respectively, God of War III unleashes chaos on the gods. From what we’ve seen, you’ve never, ever experienced such war, no mayhem in any other title. The talk is true: God of war might be the biggest title of 2010. But in order for such a game to be forged, you need time, years to polish – to refine. And that’s exactly what Sony Santa Monica did.
They took their precious time, well past 3 years now, to make this game a reality. But you really can’t blame them can you? Have a look at this.
Gran Turismo 5:
Ah GT5, the father, uh, mother of all racing sims. It began in earnest immdiately after the release of GT4, which was released in February on 2005 for PS2, and to this day, the wait lives on.
Fans are impatient, so much so that Polyphony Digital released a game (Gran Turismo Prologue), in anticipation of THE game, one Gran Tursimo 5. It went on to well over 3 million copies and stand as a testament to the popularity of the franchise, being that it’s basically a demo.
Many a times Sony and PD have set dates for the highly anticipated title’s arrival, dates that have since then been broken, promises shattered and hopes dashed. Will your engines ever be revved up in Gran Turismo 5? Yes they will, but until then it’s a never-ending wait-festival for us, the loyal fans.
LOL, you are kidding me… Gears of War 3 made this list?? The game hasn’t even been under development for 2 years, there are PLENTY of games which have been in development longer. You should probably research a bit more before throwing stuff like that up.
Gears of War 3 will be announced next week at GDC. You heard it here first ; )
I thought duke nukem forever would be on the list
Hey tester, so many games we could choose from; these are some of the top ones in terms of following and anticipation.
But you’re sure right, there are a lot of titles that gamers have been waiting for way too long!
how can you put up a game that is not announced yet?
anyway GOW3 has not been in development for that long, 3 years is nothing!
your forgetting half life 2 epp 3 which was announced in 2007.
LA Noire which was announced in 2006.
mirrors edge which was in development for 7 freaking years!
RAGE which was announced in 2006.
O and dont forget the getaway 3 and 8 days which were announced before the ps3 came out!
3 years is really nothing for a game, most games take 2 and a half to 3 years depending on the size of the studio and scope of the game.
not to mention any complications like publishers halting development for several reasons, or developers halting development while they seek more staff.
killzone2 was in development for ower 4 years amd grand turismo 4 was in development for ower 5 years, why arent these games on the list?
also, gears3 and gt5 arent ewen out yet
Reigen, this might have been my bad for not making it clear enough. But I was not referring to games that are already available on the market; but those still under development.
Did you read the piece?