The Fall... starts to suck

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:40 pm

[Game -> Update]

Ok, I've been more open-minded than some about <a href="http://www.the-fall.com">The Fall</a>, but the road to suckiness is paved with things like this:<blockquote>Silver Style has assigned the company Elkware to develop The Fall for mobiles. The handy-game will by released contemporary to the PC product.</blockquote>Ah ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha.
 
 There's also a new press release from <a href="http://www.silver-style.com">Silver Style</a>:<blockquote>THE FALL: Voice Recordings Break New Ground in Germany
 Silver Style Entertainment today finished the voice recordings for their post-apocalyptic role-playing game "The Fall ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ Last Days of Gaia". With 84 actors managing 380 parts with a total of 182,000 words it marks the most extensive voice production a computer game made in Germany has ever seen. A number of prominent voice actors is featured in the game; the player will recognize the German voices of George Clooney and John Wayne among others.
 
 "We were aware that the quality of the voice recordings had to match the high standards of The Fall itself", said Stefan Hoffman, Project Manager at Silver Style Entertainment. "No efforts and costs were spared. After more than six weeks of hard work it's safe to say that we have set a new benchmark in the field of dubbing computer games in Germany."</blockquote>GET YOUR MOBILE PHONES READY THE FALL IS COMING!

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:40 pm

Haha George Clooney and John Wayne. Wait...hasn't John Wayne been dead for a while? Nearly 20 years for crying out loud. And they're doing the German voices which makes it even funnier. What about Hasselhoff?

Looks more like Silver Style is trying to start a German Final Fantasy or something. Mobile phone version? Sheesh. Not gonna happen. And the huge amount of money being invested in The Fall is in no way gonna pay for itself.

Still no news on the US version.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 5:20 pm

We can still hope it won't be released here.

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 5:51 pm

On the other side, it's nice to see a genuinely big budget PC-only RPG.Usually all the big money is reserved for console games.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:27 pm

Not PC only

Fozzie · Post by **Fozzie** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:10 pm

Hi, I'm new here so I could be a bit lost. Is this the place to go to hate on games that I haven't even played for no reason? I also need to find the area where I can rail on Bethesda for having the audacity to make a game that's not going to be 100% like the previous games in the series.

Spazmo · Post by **Spazmo** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:21 pm

You've come to the right place, Fozzie! We're having a swell guy lynching later on, wanna come?

MMRW: it's not George Clooney and John Wayne... it's the German guys who do the voice dubbing for George Clooney and John Wayne!

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:47 pm

Oh I see. Now that a re-read the ridiculous press release it makes a little more sense. The first thing I saw this morning was George Clooney and John Wayne in a German RPG and it completely blew my mind in a not good way.

T-900 · Post by **T-900** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:54 pm

If the fall was a long running and popular series of classic games of high quality, they could get away with a mobile spin-off version.

They aren't, and can't.

I'm disgusted

Sovy Kurosei · Post by **Sovy Kurosei** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:15 am

Ugh, mobile phone games? Yeah, this is definately the part where one says "The path to Hell is paved with good intentions."

On the other hand, that is a pretty extensive dubbing crew that they have there. Doesn't say much on the quality of the dubs, but it does look like a fairly large crew, nonetheless.

XIT WOUND · Post by **XIT WOUND** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:47 am

Mobile phones games have not caught on here but are very big business in Europe and are of quite excellent quality. Elkware mad the mobile phone game for "Sacred".

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:52 am

Really? I never knew that. I'm surprised these PC games have a big enough following to justify that.

XIT WOUND · Post by **XIT WOUND** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:57 am

Baldur's Gate is also getting the mobile phone "treatment".

http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/#PQN474942

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:36 am

It's still shit, it's like GBA, but not as good.

XIT WOUND · Post by **XIT WOUND** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 2:11 am

Of course it's still shit. It's played on a phone for christ sakes. The point is that Europeans seem to like it, so it makes good sense from a business stand point. If they couldn't sell it why would they contract someone to do it?

Sovy Kurosei · Post by **Sovy Kurosei** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 2:22 am

I'd expect mobile phone games to be popular in places like Japan, but Europe too?

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Julian · Post by **Julian** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 8:55 am

Greetings,

Really? I never knew that. I'm surprised these PC games have a big enough following to justify that.

Keep in mind that the game will also be marketed independently by Elkware, so it's likely to reach an audience other than PC gamers, too. There probably will be people playing the game who have never heard of the PC game before. And as several others already pointed out, the cell phone gaming market over here (same for ringtones etc.) has grown a lot in the past 1-2 years. There are TV stations whose commercial breaks are filled with nothing but ads for ringtones and games for mobile phones. We're not the only ones doing it, Ascaron did it with Sacred and Port Royale 2, Sunflowers with 1503 AD - even Anino Entertainment developed a mobile spin-off of Anito. You can take a look at some of them in the shop section at Elkware.

Now they certainly cannot compete with their PC counterparts due to the nature of the device. But PC gamers aren't the primary audience. It's people playing cell-phone games.

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:49 pm

Damn, and I thought we had it bad here in America with the cell phone plague. The only "mobile" games people play are either the Gameboy or solitaire on a crappy laptop. Well, one more reason I'm glad I don't live in Europe.

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:22 pm

I never knew about Port Royale 2, Sacred, etc.
I guess they don't do them in England, only mainland Europe, and I suppose it brings in extra revenue...

But I'm interested about the English VO cast, will they be as high-quality/profile as the German ones?

Julian · Post by **Julian** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 2:53 pm

But I'm interested about the English VO cast, will they be as high-quality/profile as the German ones?

We'll try to make sure it'll be done as good as possible, after all, an abysmal localization wouldn't be overly helpful. Remember though, unlike for the German version, the English VO part will be managed by the publisher for that market. Not by us, not by non-native English speakers. And since no publishing deal for the UK/US is finalized yet, it's too early too talk about specific details. Be sure though that nobody intends to ressurrect the Duke.

I guess they don't do them in England, only mainland Europe

Well, I don't know the UK market. Germany's the biggest mobile phone market in Europe. Way back in 1998/1999 it was pretty much normal for teenagers to have a cell-phones. And now we're reaching the point that 10-12-year-olds are being equipped by their parents. Statistically about 70% of the people living here own one. And with the arrival of the third generation of cell phones (polyphonic, colour display, Java support) the gaming market really took off. There's quite an industry working on software, logos, skins, ringtones and the like.

As for specific games, seeing that the UK PC gaming market is rather small compared to the German one and that brands like 1503 AD or Port Royale aren't really established there, it's not too surprising that you'll have a tough time finding them.