X-Rebirth: The story of the failed console game

[Arrowhead]

Do not believe their lies. Xbox360 markers in the shaders file.

http://i.imgur.com/8H5fsDy.png

After this, i had to make an acount to reply, its shocking...

And when we surch more:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 31%29.aspx

"Describes the high-level shader language (HLSL) input semantics available when developing games for Xbox 360. "

This is an absolute scandal. I'm so disappointed right now...

[TDQuasar]

First of all, I do not know if it's true or not.

But it has reminded me of something... Blizzard did the same with Diablo 3. There were nonsense restrictions in the PC version (maximum 4 players MP etc, players basically hated the game when it came out), they only made sense when the PS4 and XBox versions were announced. Then you understood why those restrictions were necessary (this didn't make the PC players any happier of course). Before that they kept it in absolut secret.

It is kinda understandable if Egosoft would want to do this too. Why not? More profitsss, for them. Which is good. I just wish this launch would have been a decent one. I am a PC player, and I plan to stay this way.

I am back to play more X3AP now, and I will keep checking when XR becomes playable. I won't let negative comments turn me away from this game permanently. Done the same with TC and others, so it's not unexpected for me. But players who are new to the X Universe must be really upset. I have already posted some videos on YT about my tries to play XR. Although my rig meets and even better in some aspects than the recommended requirements, I cannot play it smoothly.

[desiriel]

Well, I was just upset but now things are getting together. I'm no conspiracy theorist but you know: one clue is just a clue, two are just two clues, three are a damning evidence. And there's no denying what's been shown and argumented in this thread. As someone else said, it's just business and people at Ego are now drinking their deserved champagne with our hard-earned cash. But beware: you earned a jolly card with years of honest dedication and now you've just played it. Now you're alone, your valued IP is no more and the community that loved you is an angry mob with forks and blowtorches. And I doubt you'll be able to present this sorry excuse of a game as a passport for future productions (Pc or console).
Irony is that on the X3 forums some people are asking about the game (x3 I mean) because they just bought it after this debacle. And this, too, should tell the last fanboys and Egosoft what even the "wider audience" was really looking for.

Imagine for a moment that they use the money they scammed from us to port the game to xbox1/ps4.

Perfect evil plan.

And this, my friend, shall be exactly what they'll do to stand afloat.

[Hob Anagerik]

And i can tell you one thing, WITHOUT ANY DOUBT people at egosoft knew exactly how much this game is broken when they were releasing it.

Valve need to take action against this from happening but they don't seem to care. They should be able to look at the game that is about to be released on their service and make the final decision on whether it is fit to be sold by them in its current state. Anyone with half a brain would have looked at it as it currently is and told them no! Come back in a few months when you have patched the majority of these bugs.

Egosoft has broken the trust of its community. And that is not going to be easily forgotten or forgiven. Just think how you are going to market the sequel to this, if you are still in business then of course. What words would you use to persuade us that things will be different this time around? Good luck with that...

[JakubCW]

its all starting to become clear that this game was meant to be a console iteration, but aside from that the game even being released in this state regardless of the original creation intentions are shameful.

[omfgjohnnyisback]

Here's more food for thought.

Many .xpm animation files in game assets contain storage paths used when building, like:

X:\X4\[assets]\assets\characters\argon_bodies\emote_excuse_ar_ma_01.max

Main executable file data section contains references like:

c:\dev\x4\X4\universe/uielement.cpp

Lua UI bytecode files are built from sources like:

X:\X4_Scripts\ui\addons\gameoptions\gameoptions.lua

Sure, one could say they are just sharing code with a possible future X4 project, but it as well may be a failed half-baked X4 itself.

I just hope if we ever see X4 neither those horrible animations nor UI will be part of it.

[Ambushclose]

Do not believe their lies. Xbox360 markers in the shaders file.

http://i.imgur.com/8H5fsDy.png

After this, i had to make an acount to reply, its shocking...

And when we surch more:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 31%29.aspx

"Describes the high-level shader language (HLSL) input semantics available when developing games for Xbox 360. "

This is an absolute scandal. I'm so disappointed right now...

Wow, I though the console port claim was just exaggeration at first. The picture has become rather clear now, we all have been had.

[Cereal_Killa]

Thanks OP, this is exactly what I had assumed.
And thanks Egosoft for the lies and deception.

You could have folded, gone indy and taken X4 to kickstarter.
Your fans would have supported you as they always have.

Now you have lost your fans.
Have fun with that.

[Kittens David]

It was clear from the start that this game was and is anXbox game failure ported to pc... But of course the fanboys will only say that's a lie that X-rebirth is an outstanding success... while in the fact a pure failure. And now all those "are not fun, so taken away." are totally explained by the low performance of the xbox requiering the game to be lighted to the max.

[Poacher886]

I dont think this has anything to do with the Xbone/PS4...its the 'Steambox' this is planned for..much like Rome2 was..

[Typee]

I dont think this has anything to do with the Xbone/PS4...its the 'Steambox' this is planned for..much like Rome2 was..

Of course not, the development started long before the Steambox was announced.
The Xbox references are written black on white in the game code.

[MrDisaster]

I dont think this has anything to do with the Xbone/PS4...its the 'Steambox' this is planned for..much like Rome2 was..

Of course not, the development started long before the Steambox was announced.
The Xbox references are written black on white in the game code.

The idea is that rebirth was first developed for xbox 360, canceled & reworked with whatever funds they had left, so they could atleast release it as pc game. It has nothing to do with ps4 or xbox one..

[Cakefish]

Y'know they sad the exact same thing about Total War Rome II. Exact same rumours, I repeat, exact same rumours. That it was a future console port in disguise. But the developers of that game have yet to announce anything about a console version, months after release.

Don't jump to conclusions so quickly! Can't people accept that unfortunately a PC game can just simply be poorly designed these days without jumping to ridiculous conclusions? Why do tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists have to always go back to the same old trope of 'poorly designed PC game must mean console port!'. No, it's just a poorly designed PC game, not a console port.[/i]

[Exy]

Y'know they sad the exact same thing about Total War Rome II. Exact same rumours, I repeat, exact same rumours. That it was a future console port in disguise. But the developers of that game have yet to announce anything about a console version, months after release.

Don't jump to conclusions so quickly! Can't people accept that unfortunately a PC game can just simply be poorly designed these days without jumping to ridiculous conclusions? Why do tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists have to always go back to the same old trope of 'poorly designed PC game must mean console port!'. No, it's just a poorly designed PC game, not a console port.[/i]

Go read the thread before you call anyone tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist. The name xbox, in particular xbox360, figures over thousand times in the gamefiles. Everything except Egosofts claims agree with the theory that the game was originally developed for a now outdated console. The evidence is pretty damning.

[werewolves?]

Don't see what the crying is about, it would be smart business to test if the game would work on consoles, of course they would have done some tests over the years and those probably exist in the code.

They probably found the the memory limitations made it unfeasible.

[Space Ninja]

Y'know they sad the exact same thing about Total War Rome II. Exact same rumours, I repeat, exact same rumours. That it was a future console port in disguise. But the developers of that game have yet to announce anything about a console version, months after release.

Shrug. CA has its hands full trying to make the game less of a wreck. Speculation is speculation. Assuming that a console port must not be in the works because it's been over a month with no console announcement is also jumping the gun. It's bad PR to announce a console release when the PC version is still in shambles. Not to mention a Total War/X game would have to be released on the PS4/Xbox One anyway. Current consoles couldn't hope to run them.

Really though, no point in speculating for more than the sake of conversation. Time will tell if they will port either of these games.

[Cascinova]

Y'know they sad the exact same thing about Total War Rome II. Exact same rumours, I repeat, exact same rumours. That it was a future console port in disguise. But the developers of that game have yet to announce anything about a console version, months after release.

Don't jump to conclusions so quickly! Can't people accept that unfortunately a PC game can just simply be poorly designed these days without jumping to ridiculous conclusions? Why do tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists have to always go back to the same old trope of 'poorly designed PC game must mean console port!'. No, it's just a poorly designed PC game, not a console port.[/i]

Did you not read the previous posts, including images of the code which have xbox 360 references? That is pretty damning evidence.

[Chips]

Y'know they sad the exact same thing about Total War Rome II. Exact same rumours, I repeat, exact same rumours. That it was a future console port in disguise. But the developers of that game have yet to announce anything about a console version, months after release.

Don't jump to conclusions so quickly! Can't people accept that unfortunately a PC game can just simply be poorly designed these days without jumping to ridiculous conclusions? Why do tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists have to always go back to the same old trope of 'poorly designed PC game must mean console port!'. No, it's just a poorly designed PC game, not a console port.[/i]

Go read the thread before you call anyone tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist. The name xbox, in particular xbox360, figures over thousand times in the gamefiles. Everything except Egosofts claims agree with the theory that the game was originally developed for a now outdated console. The evidence is pretty damning.

Bernd mentioned in an interview that they had X3 running on an Xbox360...

So, alternative look, could it not just be reusing existing artefacts in the new version which had already been altered during that stage - rather than "it was made specifically for a console, then something went wrong and made for PC". It is also a plausible explanation.

I don't think anyone who's posting here is going to believe it though - the minds are made up irrespective of what may be the real reason. Any explanation other than "Okay, it was" will be deemed to be a lie. Which is sad.

It is clear the UI has been made to be console friendly though - which is what Bernd also said.

[Tempest Traveller]

Well - after getting this - trying for a couple of hours I feel it is a poor game - not the advance I wanted from X-Series - proper AI pirates with good avoidance - true economy and build capability - I hope it gets better - but initial thought is terrible - if I had been not away this weekend I may have seen about Steam refund! Umm where is the X3:R CD.....

[Typee]

The code has nothing to do with X3, it's a completely new engine.