Kotaku
GSC Game World loves S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky so much that they want to share it with the entire world, all at once. The follow up to last year's hit S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl will be hitting store shelves all over the damn place on August 29th.
"Our intention to deliver the game simultaneously worldwide is both a challenge and big responsibility to the many fans of the game around the globe. We are looking forward to achieve this ambitious goal in August." - said Sergiy Grygorovych, GSC World Publishing CEO.Clear Sky is of course a prequel to the first game, featuring improved AI, a more fleshed-out story, and better character development. If they manage to iron out the bugs before they release this time around they could have a winner on their hands.
GSC World Publishing and Deep Silver announce planned release date for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear SkyGame will be released on August 29, 2008
Basingstoke, England - 27th of march 2008 - GSC Game World, computer games developer, its publishing subdivision GSC World Publishing and Koch Media, a leading marketer of video games, today announced the planned release date for the title S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. According to the agreed plan, the game will ship August 29, 2008 worldwide. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky will be published by the games labels Deep Silver and GSC World Publishing.
"The topic of the release date for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky has created a lot of interest among gamers, press and fans. We're pleased to announce an exact date for this highly anticipated game now," said Craig McNicol, Managing Director of Koch Media.
"Our intention to deliver the game simultaneously worldwide is both a challenge and big responsibility to the many fans of the game around the globe. We are looking forward to achieve this ambitious goal in August." - said Sergiy Grygorovych, GSC World Publishing CEO.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival FPS game for PC based on a 'what-if' scenario of the second Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. The game is created as a warning to mankind against mindless play with technologies. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is the official prequel to the renowned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game by the Ukraine-based GSC Game World studio. The game is set in 2011and brings forth the events to have preceded the third campaign of Strelok to the Zone center. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky introduces an alternative look onto the events of the original game and offers the player to try himself out as a mercenary s.t.a.l.k.e.r. in search of his own path in the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Official game site: www.stalker-game.com
Comments
YEEEEEEEHAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to make sweet, sweet love to this game.
Seems really, really cool....
G.R.E.A.T. A.N.O.T.H.E.R. T.A.C.T.I.C.A.L. S.H.O.O.T.E.R.
Maybe they won't ship a buggy mess this time.
Hell yes.
Oh, you forgot to mention that it will be avaialble through Steam exclusively as a digital download.
I'm sooooo excited for Clear Sky. I just FINALLY picked up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl and have been playing it for the past two weeks.
I've never been so tense while playing a game. The atmosphere is so spooky and oppressive. I'm loving every minute of it.
It's even gotten me interested in the actual Chernobyl disaster itself and made me want to learn about it. When a game makes you want to learn history, it's doing something right.
GSC commiting to another hard street date?
didn't they learn the first time?
anyhoo, I'll be looking forward to this as much as the first. Can't wait.
Stalker had fans?
@ErskinPig: I guess that's a "yes".
Seriously it was a good attempt but could have been so much more. The thing I remember most about it was GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER GET OUT OF HERE STALKER
etc, etc, etc.
Maybe this new game will be better.
@Grey_Fox: '
RSV2 has made me distrust a lot of devs...
I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE I SAID COME IN DON'T STAND THERE
The same problem here as last time. Where's the clear sky? Maybe it's an extended metaphor that will only become apparent after about 5 hours of gameplay.
@schizogony:
It's even gotten me interested in the actual Chernobyl disaster itself and made me want to learn about it. When a game makes you want to learn history, it's doing something right.
same here. While playing through the game I would head off to various sites that dealt with the disaster. I also picked up "Roadside Picnic" from Amazon. Fascinating stuff.
@njhardcoreguy: At least it's something different. It's like the Oblivion of shooters. Sprawling, epic, spooky game. Kudos to the developers who aren't just extruding any old nonsense.
I'm guessing you've never played it.
@Grey_Fox: We can only pray.
@Grey_Fox: A lot of people I know, and a lot of people on the internet seem to share your experiences. But am I the only one who didn't have problems? I never once encountered a bug. What were some of the problems, cause I didn't have any.
@Cell9song: Great book, hey. Ol' Boris and Arkady wrote some fascinating stuff.
@pylon_trooper: No, I actually haven't played it, so I really can't say much. It just looks like everything else, and I wanted to have an excuse to use all caps and a bunch of periods. But you make it sound interesting. I'll have to check it out.
@Cell9song: I've been meaning to get that book. I just recently acquired the 1979 film called Stalker that is based on that book. Have yet to watch it but I hope it's just as depressing and gloomy as the game. ;)
It was an excellent game with some really glaring issues. The engine seemed really unoptimised, there's the already mentioned audio issues and the interface was absolutely awful.
But when it did things right... man.. it was by far one of the most immersive and scary games I've ever tried to play. The game was so spooky I couldn't bring myself to play through the entire thing at the fear of having to brave another underground bunker-like environment with invisible monsters popping up right in front of me...! The original game really had it's moments for me and left quite a lasting impression.
Man... I should really finish it off otherwise it's gonna eat at me the rest of my life!
@njhardcoreguy:
if you think it's just "another tactical shooter" then you obviously haven't played it. It's probably one of the most unique shooter/RPG's ever made and easily the most immersive. I suggest you give it a shot (make sure you install some of the user mods first to balance the gameplay a little better...the original is a bit rough)
@Atheist Jew: lol, that guy always pissed me off. I wanted to kill him, but that would obviously burn my bridges with Duty. Instead, I just bottled up my rage until it was a pressurized canister of fury which I released all over the Freedom base.
Good times.
Yeah, the game had it's problems etc, but the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. From what I've read about this new game, it seems to be making things even better.
I played STALKER on the PC. Didn't like it. Too much running around in the wild with no direction whatsoever. And it was technically dated by the time of its release.
This one, I'll give a shot, no more. (i.e. Demo or something)
I sure hope this one has the option for Static Lighting since that's the best my poor x1400 Mobile Radeon can do. >_<
The first stalker was definitely not "just another shooter".
I am picky about what games I play, and clear skies is right at the top of my list.
I absolutely lurved the first Stalker, bugs and all, even on my crappy old computer. By the time this comes out, not only will the Ai be improved and previous bugs ironed out, but I'll have myself a swanky new rig too!
I win again!
@Candlejack: Technically-dated?! What are you, Mister Cutting-Edge or something?
29 of august? But-but-but i want it now...
@schizogony: The Tarkovsky movie? It's great if you like that kind of slow paced, hard-scifi movies. I love them. Tarkovsky is one of my favorite directors. Solaris is among my favorites movies of all time but they aren't movies for anyone. Very poetic, very -very!- slow paced.
more like F.A.C.E.B.O.O.K. amirite?
@pylon_trooper: Why yes, yes I am. Didn't you know? =D
Nah in all seriousness, the game looked unimpressive to me, especially for its premise. Considering how good it looked before it was delayed a zillion times, it was expectable.
Also, I think I had played prettier games at the time. I got it around when I had a 360 and Gears of War.
The game didn't have the prettier graphics or the greatest effects but the atmosphere was amazing, much better than most "video-card killer" games.
@Candlejack:
Personally, I thought S.T.A.L.K.E.R. looked better than Gears. For one thing, everyone didn't look like they were made of plastic.
@Pezdispenser: Yes, I heard that lots of times. The plastic thing. I'm not a fan of the Unreal Engine 3 myself, don't misunderstand me. But after that game on 32" HDTV, STALKER played and looked like crap ;p
@Tikey: Yep, that's the one. I heard it's almost impossible to watch if you "expect" anything to really "happen" but I'm in the Stalker "Zone" (yes, pun) right now and just want to keep recreating the feeling the game gives over and over so I'm ready for it.
As for the graphics, they might be a bit behind the times technically but artistically I feel the game is a masterpiece. The sheer uniqueness of every little section of every little area is not like most games. Most American games have you on your single set path and you see basically every single polygon that the devs created in one play through.
But with Stalker, there are so many little areas that you might NEVER EVER visit, yet if you do, they're detailed, unique and crafted with loving care. It's just rewarding sometimes to just explore just to see how they recreated such an abysmally ugly place so damn well. Not even Oblivion had such uniqueness.
Actually, I think STALKER had one of the most realistic light-rendering engines seen in a game yet. Most modern game engines have that plastic sheen look, the X-ray engine doesn't.
Also, the level of detail in the models it can render is astonishing.
I'm just waiting for someone to make a tactical shooter entitled A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.
@th3-1nf1d3l:
-Crashing to desktop
-Hard locking
-Irregular animations (character arm is bent backwards etc.)
-Scripted encounters fucking up because the NPC's died from monsters or raiders
-Inconsistent AI: An NPC that you can head shot and forget about then after have to reload because of something a short time late and go back to that guy he will rape your ass for the next half hour.
-Broken quests that, for example, place the enemy NPC's too close to the NPC's you're supposed to save resulting in butt rape.
-Quest objectives that are vague at best and completely incompletable at worst.
-Triggers that spawn NPC's wrong which will sometimes over run the guards of the town you're in resulting in more butt rape and an unbeatable game.
I'll be waiting
"ON AUGUST 29TH IT'S GONNA FEEL PRETTY FUCKIN' REAL TO YOU TOO! ANYONE NOT WEARING 2 MILLION SUNBLOCK IS GONNA HAVE A REAL BAD DAY GET IT?!"
August 29th 2011? Because we all know how long it took them last time.
Shadow of Chernobyl was actually my favourite shooter of 2007. We haven't seen anything like it before.
Stalker Clear Sky should be the best shooter of 2008, especially if they take the same formula that made STALKER great. This prequel should release with all the bugs of the engine worked out, and an improved interface. It's good to see they pushed the date back, although I really wanted to play this, delaying is always a good thing.
Most people don't realize, but THQ forced them to release STALKER when they did, hence why it wasn't ready for retail. It's also the reason why THQ is no longer the publisher. They talked about it in length on the official forums months after, surprised there were no news stories about it. Even still, PC Gamers have the patience for great games like this, you need patience with small unheard of studios, while they don't have the financial backing, they are the future id's and valve's of the world in the making.
@Grey_Fox:
All of which has been fixed with patches, unfortunately, the game shouldn't have shipped the way it did, but I don't blame GSC for that. I would recommend this game to anyone, so long as you patch it up to 1.06. It's much much better now.
I wonder if the "May 2008" date for Steam will still hold…
@dozerking: Indeed. Every PC gamer should buy this game. It'll be awesome, number one, but you'll also be supporting a PC developer that's prepared to take on ambitious projects and not be lead around by the nose by publisher idiots.
@njhardcoreguy: Funny! :)
When's the console version coming?
sweet! I only bought stalker a month or so ago but it is flat out great.
@MajorMcMuffin: Ouch. Bunsen burn!
@MajorMcMuffin: "Where's the clear sky?"
Game testers were confused by the original title:
"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Overcast Sky With a Slight Chance of Rain in the Afternoon"
Awesome game, replaying it at the moment. The dynamic lighting engine is fantastic.
@schizogony: lmao, very true.
I still haven't gotten through the first game.
The STALKER engine was ahead of its time. I think I remember the dev saying the engine has the capability to render 1 million polys at once (if our hardware could). It definitely has a dirty, unique feel that might turn of alot of people who are used to polished, plastic style engines such as Unreal 3.
I just hope that they include a patch to fix the first game. Im unable to move foward in my save due to a MASSIVE bug which now has every single NPC in the town after me, which is a point I need to pass through before moving to all other main areas. Not to mention always have to pass through there since its like the central hub for the game itself.
Granted I can kill everyone, but that would screw things up even worse than it already is.
I did really like the game, but was disappointed the devs with the amount of time they had couldnt have brought us a more polished product.
Bought it.
Loved it.
Loved it even more after I downloaded
some mods to fix the bugs.
I hope the dev figures out how to
fix their engine by looking at the
mods people decided to make to
fix their game.
Having said all that,
that game sucked me in in a way
that few games ever have.
I will always be grateful,
and I will be at Futureshop on
August 29th with cash in hand for it.
This game is the shit. Even with the bugs, if they're fixed then it'd be an amazing game.
Instant classic, I think. Those who've played understand.
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