Fallout 3 And StarCraft: Ghost

Fallout 3 (PC, 2000)

Not to pile it on Interplay, but here's another title the game company bungled. Fallout 3 was the third installment of the popular Fallout RPG series. In fact, many people consider Fallout to be the unofficial sequel to 1987's popular RPG Wasteland. In any event, Interplay's original Fallout was a huge hit and earned many adoring fans in 1997. The game, which takes place in the future after a nuclear war, presented a vivid and elaborate post-apocalyptic world that evokes the 1950's cold war culture and paranoia (your character emerges from a bomb shelter after spending his entire life in the bunker). A year later, the equally impressive Fallout 2 was released. Plans were quickly make for Fallout 3, mysteriously code-named "Van Buren."

Interplay, however, scrapped the work on Fallout 3. Again, this was around the time that Interplay got into some financial difficulties following its IPO in 1998. Interplay tried again around 2003, but the company's money problems worsened. As a result, Interplay sold the Fallout franchise to Bethesda Softworks in 2004 (Interplay retained the rights to make a potential Fallout MMORPG, but don't hold your breath). Since that time, there has been no word on development of Fallout 3 or a firm release date. A number of nervous fans have hit Bethesda with petitions and letters to make sure Bethesda does the Fallout franchise right. The game developer has stated on more than one occasion that it plans on keeping the style and humor of the first two titles for Fallout 3. Of course, there are no screenshots, trailers or beta versions to prove it. However, Bethesda did show off some posters for the game at E3 this year.

A recent Fallout 3 poster

StarCraft: Ghost (GameCube, PlayStation 2, And Xbox, 2006)

Before World of Warcraft, Blizzard had StarCraft. Released in 1998, the real-time strategy game became the best-selling PC title that year and went on to sell nine million copies. Set in a sci-fi future, StarCraft focused on a galactic conflict between three warring species: Terrans (humans), the insect-like Zergs and the psychic humanoid Protoss. The cult of StarCraft was still going strong in 2002 when Blizzard announced that a completely new installment, StarCraft: Ghost, was in the works.

The story picks up four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War expansion pack, where players assume the role of a Terran Ghost (or covert operative) named Nova who uncovers an insidious plot within the Terran Dominion called Project: Shadow Blade. It certainly appeared that Blizzard and its developers had take StarCraft up a notch with the new installment, thanks to some impressive early footage of the game. StarCraft fans were eager for more, despite a controversy regarding Blizzard's decision to skip over the PC with StarCraft: Ghost and embrace the consoles.

Well, things didn't quite work out the way they were supposed to. The game was scheduled for a 2003 release but Blizzard ran into some development issues. Because of an internal feud with Blizzard, Nihilistic Software, which developed the original StarCraft, quit despite having a significant amount of the game engine and level design completed. StarCraft: Ghost was delayed several more times until 2005, when Blizzard acquired Swingin' Ape Studios and brought the team in to finish the game.

However, despite bringing a new development team in and setting a 2006 launch date, Blizzard announced in March that StarCraft: Ghost had been "indefinitely postponed." Many saddened fans believe that Blizzard has turned its attention to other game franchises, Diablo and World of Warcraft, leaving the future of the StarCraft franchise in serious doubt.

StarCraft: Ghost