Tag Archives: Chris Avellone

inXile Entertainment’s Brian Fargo has said “nothing would make” him “happier than reforming Black Isle Studios in some capacity.

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Obsidian is indeed working on a Kickstarter project, popular studio figure Chris Avellone has confirmed in a tweet.

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Obsidian was promised a bonus from Bethesda alongside straight payment on Fallout: New Vegas if it had hit an 85 on MetaCrtiic.

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Double Fine’s crowdfunding success has inspired other developers to consider a new method of sourcing development costs.

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Obsidian’s Chris Avellone is of the belief some of the mechanics implemented in RPGs over the years have “undermined” the genre, making it more about convenience than “the thrill of victory and discovery.”

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Chris Avellone, chief creative officer at Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment, has a pretty clear stance on the used game trade.

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Fallout: New Vegas senior designer Chris Avellone has told Planet Fallout that Bethesda is in charge of DLC plans for the game, and hasn’t related any specific information to the developer on post-launch content as yet.

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Bethesda has announced that it’s to release a Collector’s Edition for Fallout: New Vegas.

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Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart has told Joystiq that he considers Fallout: New Vegas to nearly be an original IP.

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Fallout: New Vegas was one of Bethesda’s biggest titles shown in the past couple of weeks to press in Nevada and France. For what it’s worth, we agree with what seems to be the consensus so far: it looks awesome.

Get rounded up after the break.

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We came, we saw, we conquered.

We were in France last week, just outside Paris, to see some of Bethesda’s future titles for this and next year, such as Rage, Fallout: New Vegas, Brink and Hunted: The Demon’s Forge.

We spoke, drank and watched games throughout the two-day event, all for you. Get everything below.

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Chris Avellone, lead designer for Fallout: New Vegas, has told VG247 that players wanting a bit of a challenge in the game should look no further than its Hardcore Mode.

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Update: New shots here.

Original: When Fallout: New Vegas was announced at a London event back in April 2009, folks nearly broke the internet. Fairly popular, is Fallout.

All anyone knew back then was that it wasn’t a sequel to Fallout 3, it was a multi-platform title, and Obsidian was set to develop it.

Earlier this year, Bethesda and Obsidian released a teaser video giving a glimpse at the game’s world without providing any concrete information.

Thankfully, last week, Bethesda decided to relent and held a pre-E3 event just outside Paris, showing-off the game to invited press outlets.

While there, VG247 was given the opportunity to speak with Chris Avellone, lead designer for Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol and senior designer on Fallout: New Vegas, where he explained to us what exactly makes New Vegas stand-out from its predecessor.

Since New Vegas is following so closely on the heels of Fallout 3, couldn’t it as easily have been used as DLC for the title?

What you find out, may surprise you.

[Interview by Johnny Cullen]

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Obsidian had a bit of bad luck last year during the worst of the economic slow-down, and was forced to lay-off some of its employees.

However, the developer did everything it possibly could to keep from letting too many staffers go, even if that meant getting paid less.

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Obsidian’s Chris Avellone has told VG247 that Bethesda has post-release plans in place for Fallout: New Vegas, but he is unable to elaborate at the moment.

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The console versions of Fallout: New Vegas will be running at 30fps, assuming the development team hits its target.

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Obsidian’s Chris Avellone has told VG247 that even though the developer was disappointed over SEGA’s cancellation of the Aliens RPG it was working on, it just made it easier for the team to move on into creating Fallout: New Vegas.

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Alpha Protocol lead designer Chris Avellone told VG247 that, to say the least, he’s not a big fan of including sex in game for cheap thrills.

“I think the focus on sex solely as sex – or more specifically, the taboo it has – is pretty ridiculous,” said the developer, speaking in an extensive Obsidian interview published today.

Spy RPG Alpha Protocol does include sex, but Avellone said the game’s carnal aspects are all in there for a reason.

“I don’t see sex in games as an achievement to be earned, but as an experience, and I think Alpha Protocol delivers it as an experience first,” he said.

“There’s a lot of emotional depth in Alpha Protocol from bonding over mutual respect, friendship, questioning traditional loyalty (at points, quite extreme), and even what I would call ‘no-mances,’ which are devoid of romantic feeling entirely but provide a nice character arc for the player and the target, regardless.

“All of these aspects also change the flow of the game, the story, character’s attitudes, and can cause changes in your companions, missions, objectives, and even expose more of the backstory of you and your love interest.”

Hit the link for the full thing. Alpha Protocol releases for PC, 360 and PS3 next year.

Despite the fact Obsidian spy RPG Alpha Protocol’s been pushed back into next year, the game remains one of the most anticipated in the market. Many of you were born to be Bond, clearly.

Good news for you all today, then. We’ve been lucky enough to get a huge chat with senior producer Ryan Rucinski, PR producer Matthew Rorie and lead designer Chris Avellone on the game, the state of play in RPGs in general and so much more your brain’ll ache.

Hit the link. There really is a ton of stuff in there, so don’t miss it.

Interview by Nathan Grayson.

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Chris Avellone, lead creative designer for Alpha Protocol, feels that story is important in an RPS, but not so much that it interferes with the game.

“It’s important. I don’t think it’s as important as systems design or level design, but the story is an important piece that gives systems and level a reason to exist, and helps to compel the player to move forward,” Avellone told Destructoid. “Don’t get me wrong, I love narrative and character design, but I prefer to create story and character mechanics that are game systems rather than divorced from the systems or levels — when the story is a mechanic, in terms of reactivity, perks, mission changes, and open/closing of hubs and endgame choices, I think that’s the purpose of a game story.

“When a story paralyzes a player (watch this cut scene, stop and read this book) or has to work to force itself onto the player with exposition, I think you start traveling down the dark road of cutting off immersion and turning a game into a passive experience, rather than an active one. Also, and to cue off a lecture from Ken Levine, I think much of a story or character can be told in a game level or in the environment itself, without a bunch of text or books littered around the game world.”

As far as sex scenes in videogames, Avellone feels that not including real-world actions such as this in an RPG is doing the genre a disservice.

“I think it’s an important step, and it’s not sex for sex’s sake, but it’s part of human interaction that makes you more involved in the game world and your characters,” he added. “Just like in the real world, sex runs the range from entertainment to a symbol of the depth of feeling between two people, and not having that reflected in a role-playing experience feels does RPGs an injustice.”

Alpha Protocol and its love making scenes will land on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 October 6.