Tight timeframes ended up in a rushed development cycle, in turn resulting in a game that had huge chunks missing from the final, playable product. Chunks that coders later found out were included on the disc, albeit in a rough, unfinished form.

So some modders took it upon themselves to yank out that code, polish it up, drop it into the final game and give us all the version of KOTOR 2 that developers Obsidian originally intended.

Last week, the team at Deadly Stream announced that their work was done, and that if you own a copy of KOTOR 2, you can download a playable version of the restored content.

I haven't done so myself because, well, I banished all memory of KOTOR 2 some time ago. Anyone that does have a copy lying around, grab a copy from the link below, let us know how it all goes.

TSL_Restored_Content_mod ver1.4 "READY" [Deadly Stream, via Eurogamer]

Looking at Alpha Protocol in action, it's hard to imagine this is the same team that worked on classic role-playing games like Planescape: Torment. Despite their fine relatively performance working on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, I still think of Obsidian as the guys who made Planescape and Icewind Dale as Black Isle Studios. Perhaps I just want to say Planescape: Torment as many times as possible, in hopes that someone makes a sequel in the near future. Maybe if we just all chant it over and over again at the same time...

The Linkedin profile, discovered by Strategy Informer, belongs to ex-Obsidian designer David Condor. The resume section of the public profile lists Obsidian Entertainment, as well as the most current project he had been working on.

Designer for canceled third-person action Aliens RPG (Xbox 360, PS3, & PC)

The profile goes on to list the specific areas of the game that Condor worked on, perhaps giving us insight into what might have been.

— Responsible for the planning, layout, setup, and tuning of multiple large areas including a Vertical Slice
— Worked directly with a team of Animators, Artists, Sound Designers, and Writers to ensure consistent area vision and to maintain fun gameplay, visual storytelling, and the atmosphere of the Aliens universe
— Worked with other Designers to contribute to and improve on the vision of game
— Designed, Scripted and Balanced Major Combat Encounters and Boss Battles
— Designed, Implemented, and Iterated on Missions and Scripted Scenes
— Created and Iterated on initial Area layouts using XSI
— Worked with programmers to develop & improve on a new In-House Game Engine & Tools

Of course this isn't official confirmation by any means, but it certainly supports earlier reports of the game's cancellation and layoffs at the developer.

Ex-Obsidian's CV confirms Aliens RPG project has been 'canceled' [Strategy Informer]

We've also been told that Obsidian, no longer working on the Sega project, laid off more than 20 people last night. With lack of official confirmation from anyone at the two companies involved, take this with a grain of salt.

Aliens Roleplaying Game was a title that Obsidian said would be "instilled with the action of Aliens and the terror of Alien" and take place in the "heart of science fiction horror." The title was under development for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Obsidian, located in Irvine, first worked on Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. They also created a number of Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion packs.

In a thread on the still-active forums for the Aliens Roleplaying Game, a developer said earlier this week that they would like to show the game at E3 or the New York Comic Con but that it was up to Sega.

We've also heard that the future of Gearbox-developed Aliens: Colonial Marines is also in doubt, with Sega reviewing the title. Of course, this is a rumor that has surfaced before.

The rumors come the day after Sega announced that a new Aliens vs. Predator game coming out in early 2010. In that announcement Sega said they had "strategically updated the release of the other upcoming Aliens titles currently in development within its portfolio."

"The innovative new AvP game presents an exciting opportunity for us," CEO of SEGA West, Naoya Tsurumi, said at the time. "It represents a fantastic addition to our growing Aliens franchise and the reinvention of one of gaming's most cherished iconic titles. By adjusting the release of our other Aliens titles to accommodate it, SEGA will ensure that every title lives up to the high expectations of Aliens and AvP fans."

The rumor also lands after Sega announced not so hot financials and plans for lay offs days ago.

Emails to Sega, Obsidian and Gearbox have not yet been returned.

Update: Sega just replied saying they "do not respond to speculation or rumor questions."

Rookie CIA agent Michael Thornton finds himself betrayed by his superiors and hunted by the U.S. government after a mission goes awry. In order to get to the bottom of a conspiracy, Michael initiates the Alpha Protocol, going undercover to clear his name and besmirch a few others in the process.

So the story is different, but not too much else. Throughout the game Michael will be given dialog choices that effect the way the game plays out, increasing his faction with certain NPCs and decreasing them with others. The main difference here is that Michael has a limited amount of time to make his choices, and they generally fall into three categories - professional, suave, and aggressive.

Leveling up and combat also play out very similar to Mass Effect, albeit with only one character instead of three. You gain skill points which are spread across ten different skill sets, unlocking new powers as you progress. One particular nifty power was shown that involved Michael pausing the action, selecting three different targets, and then shooting them each in quick succession. Don't know if there are any Firefly fans reading, but it was very reminiscent of that one episode where River peeks out from behind cover and then delivers three shots, taking out each of the bad guys that had her pinned down.

Throughout the game you gain new weapons which you can upgrade, collect a variety of suits - from a classic spy tux to high-tech armors - some of which NPCs will react to differently. You can even modify your Michael with accessories, change his facial hair, and basically customize him to your liking.

Furthering the Mass Effect parallels, not only do the graphics look extremely similar, the game even uses a nearly identical font for its text.

All of these similarities are simply coincidence though, as the folks at Obsidian - who have worked closely with BioWare in the past - assured me that they had started work on Alpha Protocol before Mass Effect was being developed. Whatever the case may be, AP looks like it is shaping up nicely, and being compared to one of the best action RPGs ever created isn't exactly a bad thing, now is it?

Alpha Protocol, though billed as an "action-RPG," sounds a bit weighted more toward the former than the latter, aiming for a happy medium that hopes to make RPG elements accessible to twitch fans, while still adding the depth to please RPG purists. Not only that, but the team's touted a heavy emphasis on character interaction and player choice.

It sounds like a a tall order to fil, but when the developers' pedigree includes projects like KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2

The Obsidian team held a conference call today to answer tons of questions about the game. Is it challenging to do a modern, realistic RPG (especially with Star Wars and NWN in your rearview)? How do the action elements balance with the RPG elements, and just how much influence will the players have? What kind of man is hero Michael Thorton?

"When we made Alpha Protocol, we had just finished up Neverwinter Nights 2 [which was] pretty traditional, pretty rules-based... and we wanted to do something a little more action-based, a little bit more accessible," said Obsidian executive producer Chris Parker.

"We really liked the spy genre," he said. The team also thought it would be cool to give the player the experience of developing from a green rookie agent into a "modern-day superhero." Thorton will have many traditional weapons, but will level up on a skill-based curve.

One of the things the team said was that they hoped to welcome more traditional FPS players into the RPG fold by allowing the player to simply auto-level on a class-like track, while still allowing more experienced RPG players to develop whichever skills they wanted, and allocate their points on their own.

While they hope to offer a good deal of character customization, players won't, Obsidian said, be doing the "traditional 'make your face' type modifications" — instead, customization for Thorton is more about his skills, abilities and accessories, along with subtle appearance factors like hairstyles.

Interactions with different characters will influence which factions ally with you and which oppose you - in particular, the team said you can expect your endgame to be heavily influenced by your actions in the game. The conversation wheel, the team said, resembles Mass Effect's a bit, but with less looping back and more of a real-time feel; it's also possible to choose a single "stance" and carry it through all of your interactions.

Even though Alpha Protocol is a modern spy thriller, the team decided it shouldn't go too far into realism. "We originally went for a more realistic version of gameplay and the way Thorton interacted with the world, but that wasn't as exciting as having some kind of magical abilities," said Parker. "Michael Thorton is a super-agent, so we have added some abstraction, and something... like super-powers."

One such special ability will involve Thorton being able to stop time and line up shots to kill many opponents at once.

It was also a challenge to balance realism with an engaging RPG, the team said, so in terms of the story feel, they took inspiration from the post-processing effect film style of Syriana. For the visual style, though, the design team wanted to elevate the artistic language. "We wanted to stay away from just having guys in suits... it helps gameplay-wise if they have over-the-top characteristics."

The team also hopes that the game's opening events will draw players in on an emotional level. At the story's opening, a tragic event sends Thorton on a mission - "something that has value to the world and to other people immediately." From there, the world gets turned upside down when Thorton is forced to go rogue to unravel the mystery.

"It's a unique opportunity for the player to have an effect on real world events... basically, the player can affect things happening in the news, in the financial market... to bring down a real bad corporation, or the government if that happens to be the case. There's a chance for the player to affect things happening in our world right now."

Alpha Protocol is slated for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for February 2009.

NX2 Anunciada: Storm of Zehir [Neverwintos, via IGN]

One of his latest posts shows off the illustrations he did for Schizoid developer Bill Dugan's talk on developer-publisher relations at the recent IGDA Leadership Forum in San Francisco.

Turns out they're funny, pungent illustrations (including a swearword or too, warning) of how those pesky publishers and developers fight like dogs and cats living together - resulting in mass hysteria.

Torpex IGDA speech illustrations [Avellone's MySpace Blog.]

Atari has issued an official response to questions about the cancellation of the Neverwinter Nights premium module program, as well as all future support or patches. They basically pimp NWN2 instead.

Atari understands the importance and popularity of the mod community, which has supported the Neverwinter Nights franchise for years. Atari remains as committed to the franchise and the growing members of the community as ever and we've still got quite a bit more news in-store for everyone between now and September. Our goal is to make Neverwinter Nights 2 one of the most compelling RPG experiences seen in years by also making it one of the most mod-friendly games ever.

Fair enough, I'm sure NWN2 will be great. But what many of us are interested in is NWN2's official premium content. NWN was a great experiment, allowing a community-oriented game to flourish long past the point of technological obsolescence through continuous patches that added features for which the mod community clamored. Those patches were funded by premium modules. Is NWN2 going to handle this the same way? FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Atari Responds to Neverwinter Nights Non-Support Rumors [Firing Squad]

Anyway, sacked is probably too strong a word: Ferret Badouin has left the project for unstated reasons (which he hints may have something to do with an upcoming candidacy for President, although we're pretty sure he's a Frenchie).

It's usually bad news when a lead designer leaves this far into a project, but the good news is that J.E. Sawyer of Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2 is filling his position. At least JE knows RPGs. Quoth J.E...

Ferret did work at BIS on both Jefferson and Van Buren (The Black Hound and Fallout 3). On F3 he was designing the highly nutty (but cool) Brotherhood of Steel/Circle of Steel stuff.

I'm now the acting lead designer on NWN2.

J.E. Sawyer takes the helm of NWN2 in the interim [NWN2News]

We know BioWare is hard at work on Mass Effect, but what about that other RPG BioWare made that one time, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? Being the fans of rumors that we are, an interested eyebrow was raised at the note over at Gaming Horizon that hinted at development on the third Knights of the Old Republic title is underway with Obsidian at the helm. Anyone in the know want to shed a little light on the subject? Email us at tips@kotaku.com.

Obsidian Working on Next-Gen KOTOR 3 [Gaming Horizon]
New Mass Effect Images