Hellgate Slamming Shut

[DoctorFinger]

Is anyone still playing Hellgate: London? The game touted as the spiritual successor to Diablo collapsed under the weight of it's own hype and expectations, but there have to be a few remaining die hards who will be crushed by this news. Namco Bandai will officially shut down the game's remaining servers in January.

However, gamers should not be terribly surprised by this news. This became inevitable the day back in August when Flagship Studios folded. But there is some good news. The servers will be free to play until the shut down in January. So get cracking.

Source - Edge-Online (http://www.edge-online.com/news/hellgate-swinging-shut).

[Dukefrukem]

I can't believe I bought this game for $50. Failure.

[roboninja]

I can't believe I bought this game for $50. Failure.

Don't mean to rub it in, but...did you not play the demo?

[Scaryfaced]

I wonder if anyone actually bought that life time subscribers deal before Hellgate launched...
________
Threesome Vid (http://www.fucktube.com/categories/40/threesome/videos/1)

[Troggles]

I can't believe I bought this game for $50. Failure.

You are not alone. The demo was shit, but I still had hopes for it. Sadly, nothing about that game was good.

[Telefrog]

I wonder if anyone actually bought that life time subscribers deal before Hellgate launched...

The official forums are full of diehards that unfortunately did do this and madly tried to justify their $150 purchase for months.

I got the game as a gift and had it uninstalled since February. It was a horrible piece of shit. I got a lot more entertainment out of their forums. Man, there is nothing better than the crushed hopes and dreams of fanboys.

[J Arcane]

That's what happens when you release a game with no enemy AI.

I seriously am baffled as to how this game even got released at all.

[Telefrog]

That's what happens when you release a game with no enemy AI.

I seriously am baffled as to how this game even got released at all.

Bill Roper is a great salesman.

I'm kidding, but there's a lot of truth to that. He is very effusive and can really draw you in with his hype. I imagine being in a pitch meeting with him is a fun time. He really seems to be a nice guy and he really gets excited about what he does and the team he works with.

Unfortunately, from what I've read, he is a terrible businssman and an even worse manager.

[paketep]

I had hopes despite the lack of LAN, the elite subscription accounts, and the late, rather mediocre, screenshots. Hey, it was Bill Roper we were talking about!.

Then I tried the demo, and that was it. What an ugly, boring, buggy POS.

I'm amazed that there is still anyone playing it. There are far better games, people!

[LongStepMantis]

I still have to laugh every time I realize that not only was the game a buggy, boring, bland futuristic-ish Diablo clone...they even had the balls to charge you subscription fees for online, and didn't provide LAN support. It's like they wanted to fail.

[Telefrog]

Here's the text of the official announcement (http://www.hellgatelondon.com/):

Santa Clara, Calif., (October 24, 2008) - NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate™: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios. In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date.

NAMCO BANDAI Games appreciate the enthusiasm of all the Hellgate: London players and looks forward to providing them with future entertainment products.

For questions regarding the shut down or additional information about Hellgate: London, please visit the game’s official website at www.hellgatelondon.com.

Edit: Oh, man. The forums are hilarious tight now.

[Ancalagon]

You know, I almost bought this today, for £8.

Seriously, I was hoping it had been fixed up and would be a good single player sci fi rpg shooter despite Flagship's demise.

I think.... I'm glad I didnt. Its a pity, you would think such a game had the potential to be the best, to beat Mass Effect and Too Human. Come on, made from the guy who made Diablo, one of the most addictive games ever? How could it fail?

I think it shows theres more to making games than personalities and prima donnas. You can have one or two supremely talented guys, but these days you need more than that, you also need the right corporate culture, bargaining power with publishers, and enough cash to allow you to produce a good game before shipping it.

[Bad Buddha]

I had quite a bit of fun with the single-player game. I think I got my money's worth out of it. $15 @ Fred Meyer.

However; I got an important phone call as the final cutscene started up. missed the whole ending of the game and at that point, you final saved game is gone. I wasn't going to play that last battle again!

[Telefrog]

You know, I almost bought this today, for £8.

Even more funny is that it's still $39 at Walmart. :D

Imagine how pissed you'd be if you bought it now at that price.

[Sazime]

So I can play single player and I loose all my progress online? Well, crap. Looks like I'm uninstalling this tonight.

[Grifter]

Good riddance to bad bad rubbish.

[RandoM51]

You have to wonder how something ends up like this. It is almost as if they made the game in a vacuum devoid of gamers, any of which could have played it for 30 minutes and said, "this sucks, change these five things and you might have a winner."

[LongStepMantis]

You have to wonder how something ends up like this. It is almost as if they made the game in a vacuum devoid of gamers, any of which could have played it for 30 minutes and said, "this sucks, change these five things and you might have a winner."

I get the mounting suspicion of the same thing with most games anymore.

Think of a game you played, for any platform, that was touted as the "next big thing" and failed. Did they seriously have unbiased players test any of it? Sometimes I truly wonder.

[KingGorilla]

Bill Roper is a great salesman.

In many ways Hellgate was ahead of its time. I think they went along the incorrect way to monetize their model, and it is obvious that Blizzard is suffering from how to support a pure online game in this day in age. Flagship cut the wrong features as "luxuries."

And I think that the whole gaming world wonders what would have come of the company if they had led with Mythos, a very polished and superior experience to Hellgate.

[kropotkin]

I bought and played Hellgate London both in Beta and final game. I found it to be somewhat dire with the miriad of bugs and general half finished game that didn't deserve anyone's time.

The way in which this game has imploded along with its creators should be a lesson to many an aspiring developer. It's also a lesson for us in that we should never, ever listen to a word Bill Roper says in the future.

[Widgetcraft]

collapsed under the weight of it's own hype and expectations,

This (like the original Fable) got panned because it sucked. It has nothing to do with hype. If someone handed you a copy of Hellgate London, without you ever having heard of it, you'd have exactly the same reaction. It simply isn't a game worth playing, not for any price, and certainly not for the price that they were asking. There are free games out there that are of a higher caliber.

[J Arcane]

This (like the original Fable) got panned because it sucked.

Yeah, that's just a bullshit comparison, sorry. Fable was a very enjoyable game, one I personally put almost 40 hours into, and enjoyed every minute of.

Hellgate was a complete piece of utter trash that wasn't worth the time it took me to download the FREE beta.

[Dukefrukem]

http://kotaku.com/5075443/hellgate-to-relaunch-flying-pigs-not-pictured

But wait! New owners of the Hellgate brand, HanbitSoft, have announced that they are hard at work on a new expansion for what they touchingly refer to as "the world’s best game".

"Our US development studio is currently working on an update that is to surpass 'The Abyss Chronicles'" HanbitSoft said in a letter to their own PR Manager, "This game will be available through our Web site."

[Norse]

"The world's best game"? Please tell me that's a translation error.

[J Arcane]

"The world's best game"? Please tell me that's a translation error.
I wouldn't call it a translation error, so much as a cultural difference.

Koreans'll buy up any old grindy piece of shit and call it the next best thing since sliced bread.

[Re3x]

Maybe if they make 3 different levels and atleast 5 different enemy models it would be a little bit better. Serously, did they think that no one owuld notice that when you walked into a hell rift it was the exact same layout EVERY SINGLE TIME? How about the trian tunnels? How about the streets of London? Everything was exactly the same along with the enemys. Just throw a different color on them and call them somethign different. Good work!

[Telefrog]

I wouldn't call it a translation error, so much as a cultural difference.

Koreans'll buy up any old grindy piece of shit and call it the next best thing since sliced bread.

Except in this case, even Korean gamers didn't buy Hellgate. It sold about as well as it did in the West. A huge initial spike when it first came out followed by a rapid drop-off in players.

I think it really comes down to typical marketing PR hyperbole.

[DoctorFinger]

And remember: Hanbitsoft still doesn't have the rights to the game outside of Korea, so take anything they say with a grain of salt

[Bad Buddha]

I wouldn't call it a translation error, so much as a cultural difference.

Koreans'll buy up any old grindy piece of shit and call it the next best thing since sliced bread.

So now my Templar Guardian will have huge breasts and big eyes? :)