Epic Online Sci-Fi Game Being Announced Tomorrow (September 8, 2014)

From what I read here - I have no prior experience with the company -, this is the first time that I am glad a new WC game wasn't revealed. I wonder why EA did offer the WC rights to this company if it has such problems. But all is well if they realized their error.
 
Dundradal said:
They are and thankfully it appears someone over there realized that something just wasn't right.

We owe someone at EA a bottle of booze for saving us from this.
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That incgamers article quoted Loaf as saying it was actually offered to them. It doesn't say if PGI turned it down or not, it's highly doubtful EA would have quickly pulled the plug after offering it. Seems PGI are trying to make themselves more independent after reacquiring the rights to MWO from IGP.
 
Whiplash said:
Unbelievable. Maybe the rumours are true and they really did pitch this to EA as WC Online.
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Don't know who "Wulf" is and what exactly his sources are, but his posts are interesting: https://transversegame.com/community/discussion/72/transverse-the-failed-wing-commander-online-pitch

Transverse: The Failed Wing Commander: Online Pitch...

So... Looks like what we have here is the fallout of an agreement between EA and PGI to ride on Chris Roberts' coattails. Transverse was PGI's pitch to EA for Wing Commander: Online (as is extremely obvious in the promo vid).

PGI didn't want to dump the two weeks they'd put into plagiarizing Star Citizen, so now... We have Transverse. Should be interesting.

Transverse started life as Wing Commander: Online. EA contracted with PGI to put it together. EA didn't like what they saw, dropped PGI and decided to go another way with it.

With the unmatched success of Star Citizen and the glut of new space sims coming out, PGI decided to see if they could jump on that bandwagon and crowdfund what they'd put together thus far to see if they could make a real game.
 
There's more... and it sounds like a baldfaced lie to me, but this is how PGI explains the WC connection: https://transversegame.com/community/discussion/151/transmission-from-the-creative-director#latest

We do indeed currently hold the license of Wing Commander. We first contacted EA about the WC brand in the spring of 2012, long before the initial announcement of products like Star Citizen. We approached EA because we had a deep love for the space combat genre and Wing Commander was right there alongside MechWarrior as our most beloved franchises we grew up with. In short at the time we thought we were going to be the ones taking that big initial risk to try and bring space shooters back.
Over the course of the next 18 months a significant amount changed – Star Citizen was announced, and by Late 2013 we found ourselves in possession of an exclusive license to Wing Commander and assembling a small team to craft a new experience. We spent six months developing, designing, and working on a marketing video with help from outsourcing partners. As we approached our reveal date, there was a moment of pause when we started to reflect on the brand, and design concepts. We reached a pivotal moment when some of our best design ideas were being pushed to the side as they just didn’t fit within the constraints of a WC game.
We looked carefully at what our WCO product was, looked at other competing products, and decided that we needed to move away from the Wing Commander universe. It was a tough choice, as we have a deep love and respect for the brand.
It became clear that our very best and original game idea was contained within all of the concepts that were pushed aside for our WC product. The concept for Transverse was born from a single thought, and inspired by all those unused ideas. In the end we realized we should be making our best idea and in doing so we found a corner of the spacesim genre that would make us stand out. In doing so we would also be providing Star Citizen with the respect it deserves and what it represents to their customers.
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WHAT? This just doesn't add up. SO they had the license to the WC IP... and decided they could make more money without it? And not only that they claim they basically have had that license since before the SC campaign or the Elite Dangerous campaign...
 
I just stumbled upon this too and you beat me to it, AD. My stomach literally sank when I read "We do indeed currently hold the license of Wing Commander." I hope, so much, this isn't true...
 
PLUS, that would mean Chris Roberts, legendary for the Wing Commander games, went to EA to pitch a new Wing Commander, they turned him down, and then let PGI have the license? It's just bizarre...
 
sgupta said:
PLUS, that would mean Chris Roberts, legendary for the Wing Commander games, went to EA to pitch a new Wing Commander, they turned him down, and then let PGI have the license? It's just bizarre...
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My take would be that they're trying to save face and make up some kind of noble high-minded reason for not using the WC IP. This way they're supposedly respecting WC and staying true to their design sensibilities. It's just too convenient (and stupid).

In the same breath (in the part of the post that I didn't quote) he says they'll give everyone back their money if they don't make 500K in 30 days... That's all well and good, but if they had actually put some thought into this campaign (and not rushed it out half-assed) it might make at least a little more sense when they say they actually *chose* to pass on the IP (that they apparently paid to use).

Crowdfunding isn't the easiest thing to do and relies heavily on trust. With PGI's track record they could have at least used the name recognition and nostalgia that would have had them at 500k likely in half that time. Even artwork on their website still has Wing Commander named missiles on it and emails from their site to members still say Wing Commander Online on them.
 
Yeah, this is just sad. I'm very thankful that it's not a Wing Commander game anymore, though, but it is very disheartened if they do indeed hold the license. Honestly, after my MWO experience, don't hate me but I think I'd rather the franchise end forever than PGI try to make something out of it and have it turn out as terrible as I think it would... (And I'd very much love a new Wing Commander game; these just are not the people to do it.)
 
sgupta said:
PLUS, that would mean Chris Roberts, legendary for the Wing Commander games, went to EA to pitch a new Wing Commander, they turned him down, and then let PGI have the license? It's just bizarre...
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That is actually pretty much the crazy sequence of events we've been hearing the rumor mill grind out for some time now... (which is why we posted about their looming new game announcement in the first place). There's obviously more to it than that... a few pieces of the puzzle don't quite add up, and there's certainly a very interesting backstory that will eventually fully come out some day. (Also still cracking up that backers of the new game are being called Transversetites)

It's also more complicated than just this. Clearly, as EA is currently giving out WC3 via Origin, they're still connected to the series, plus Chris Roberts gets his movie rights back soon, and so on. Between this and the scam 2015 Wing Commander Movie that popped up on IMDB last month, it's certainly been an interesting summer. :)
 
@ChrisReid, between the peeps there being called Transverstites and Trannies (and by the way, I mean no offense to anyone in our community who is transgendered; the humor is the obliviousness of PGI that the name might generate these types of titles, not a dig at transgendered people), it is pretty unbelievable.

I also noticed a few other things that are most noticeable on the Accounts page (https://transversegame.com/account/login):

- In the bar artwork, there's a "No Trans-Humans Allowed" sign, which can be COMPLETELY mistaken for something offensive I'm sure it doesn't mean. (It must relate to game fiction and their whole "remnants left behind when leaving a body" idea. There was the concept of transhumanism in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but handled completely differently and with no dash after trans; the way this is marketed/displayed, it's honestly almost impossible for me to NOT "see" it wrong).

- Of note to Privateer fans, the bar is apparently called the Wild Privateer...

And yes, interesting times indeed. I look forward to getting more details on the whole story as they emerge...
 
As I quoted in #wingnut last night, "I'll believe that when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet."

I have to say this is one of the most amazing trainwrecks I've ever seen. Just poorly handled at every turn and just when you think the last car has crashed, here comes a whole other train to pile on.

They were shadow-banned from their subreddit and oddly enough have only posted an explanation to their MWO site, but not the transverse site.

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170725-regarding-reddit/


Hey MechFans!

You may have heard the amusing news that we have been shadow-banned from Reddit. We're looking to get the situation fixed as soon as possible.

The issue in question stems from the fact that we had created a sub-reddit for r/Transverse in order to pre-empt any possible recreation of the events which occurred leading to the creation of r/OutreachHPG following the take-over of r/mwo. We also have some indications as to which group of players may be responsible. The shadow-ban did not stop at r/Transverse related staff. All PGI Staff have been banned and will be unable to address any concerns raised by players on OutreachHPG as a result.

Here is the message I have provided to various Admins and Moderators of Reddit.
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This is not the dev studio we've been looking for.

Seriously, I've never felt so good about a refusal to make a new Wing Commander game. Piranha's track record in managing production for MWO just left a horrible taste in my mouth. Only thing worse then no Wing Commander game is a new Wing Commander game done terribly. Transverse the SC clone can eat it.

I have no doubts that EA successfully dodged a bullet with that executive decision. Whom do I send said booze? :rolleyes:
 
From all accounts, they may have just given up even MODERATING the Transverse sites. Since last night there's been at least one and probably a few posts that clearly should be removed by any mod team, and it's still there today. I think it's just abandoned...I can't imagine a mod possibly leaving that up if it's moderated.

But yeah, as far as trainwrecks, they don't get much more fiery than this. I feel a little bad for anyone involved in the project that does actually have talent or want to make a good game, but yeah...this just isn't looking at all good.

And the whole WC thing still makes no sense...
 
After 62 pages (damn) of people calling them out on their MWO forums thread about reddit they locked the thread and their CM posted this:

Hey everyone,

Thank you all for your feedback, comments, and concerns.
When I set up the r/Transverse Sub-Reddit, my intent was to have a spot where players could go and find any official information regarding the game on Reddit. We often note that some players cannot visit our forums or sites at all hours due to work or school network policies, which is why we had hoped to create a place on Reddit not unlike the Dev Corner.

Based on the reddiquette guidelines it seems possible we over moderated. With this in mind we are going to focus back intently on our own forums for each product, I look forward to interacting with you there.

I apologize personally and sincerely from the bottom of my heart for anyone who has taken this matter as a personal offence, and hope we can move forward together as a community as we introduce bigger and better announcements more directly related to our games.

Thanks for your time.
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They still can't seem to admit anything. They've universally fucked up. Hard. They don't even need to fall on their sword at this point because it's already been rammed through them by the rest of the internet.

And it looks like gaming sites are picking up their bullshit WC claims as fact without doing any kind of actual investigating. I don't read gaming sites, but I'd guess that's par for the course.
 
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