Interplay Entertainment has re-confirmed in a press release dated April 8, 2008 sequels to Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent, and MDK, and a MMOG set in the Fallout universe.

The press release states Interplay's 2007 earnings which rose as a result of the Fallout IP sale to Bethesda SoftWorks who are working on Fallout 3, and their plan to develop a Fallout MMOG and the aforementioned sequels. Interplay also announced that a new website launch is "imminent," as of April 12, 2008 the Interplay website has a placeholder graphic with its logo and a character from MDK and behind it, the blue shield orb that Descent is known for, Earthworm Jim, a character from Dark Alliance and at the lower middle, a depiction of the world in MDK, below that is a graphic with "Coming Soon." The press release also states that Interplay has reinitiated its in-house development studio and is in the process of hiring game developers.

Full press release

I'm waiting. Those are great games.

Success is quite doubtful, but I want to believe in Interplay :)

How so? Looks like Fallout to me.

Rather Fallout MMO.

Yay... so many great franchises! Glad to hear they're trying to get back on their feet.

I still want to play MDK 1 before the new one comes out.

In today's news: Big games company announces more sequels.

Also: EA confirms NHL title for this year as well.

The devil you say!

Yeah, all those Earthworm Jim, MDK and Descent sequels are getting kinda old, wait...

Quoted for Truth!

Finally, they are bringing back Earthworm Jim, can't wait, also heard that a Splatterhouse sequel is in the works as well, come on EA, Mutant League can be redone.

Personally I think it's about time they made a sequel for Dark Alliance. After I finished the first one only to find out that "the real adventure starts here..." or something similar, I went out and bought the second only to once again get snubbed of an actual ending. "The real mastermind of this game will be revealed in next week's episode" kind of deals are totally uncool if there is nothing to clue the player in on the fact that he just paid $60 twice for what isn't even a finished story. :\

I really don't understand the love that Interplay is getting here. Firstly, Interplay is dead anyway. Sure Herve Caen managed to come out from the living in a box, but all the spirit of Interplay has long gone - Brian Fargo (the founder of Interplay) has his own company, Feargus and his little rpg team Black Isle exist now as Obsidian. It's not companies that are awesome, it's the people that are awesome. Secondly, none of those games were made by Interplay, they were just published by Interplay.

Don't believe me? Here's proof:

Earthworm Jim 1&2 - made by Shiny Entertainment

MDK 1 - made by Shiny.

MDK 2 - made by Bioware.

Descent I and II - made by Parallax Software Corp

Descent III - made by Outrage games

Dark Alliance I - made by Snowblind Studios

Dark Alliance II is the only game that's kinda made by Interplay, since the developer is the Black Isle studio.

Anyway, can someone explain why is Interplay getting all the love in this thread. What for? He didn't make these games, he just published them. It's the developers that are awesome, not publishers. Secondly, all the old spirit of Interplay has left anyway, so it's not really the same company. So why? Was the Descent series really that awesome that we just must have Descent 4 by anyone? Or does Fallout MMOG just sound so awesome?

Exactly. And I hope the fresh blood induced in getting those great franchises back to business won't hurt either. And "new people" doesn't mean "bad people".




What love are you talking about? It will totally depends on the game themselves. I am just glad that the series I love will receive new additions, that's all.

I'm interested in what they will be like and I'm looking forward to them.

I don't know what sort of people will develop these games. Why should I already presume them to be worthless and talentless? Why not give them a chance.

The bottom-line is - A bunch of games is being developed. Why on Earth should anyone bitch about it?

I was thinking of posts like these: "Success is quite doubtful, but I want to believe in Interplay :)" and "Yay... so many great franchises! Glad to hear they're trying to get back on their feet" when writing that.




Because they usually are worthless and talentless? For every Brian Mitsoda or Warren Spector, there are thousand Uwe Bolls making games. It's far more likely, considering these statistics, that you stumble upon Uwe Boll more often than on someone brilliant.




A bunch of sequels and Fallout MMOG? You're a very strange person.

So?

One man wishes luck to the Interplay (although doubting the success) and another is welcoming favorite franchises back. I'm not seeing anyone proclaiming their undying love to the Interplay.

But I see at least two cynics desperately looking for something to whine about.




Why? Because I'm looking forward to playing games? Because I don't hate sequels only for that fact that they are sequels? Or because I would be curious to look at Fallout MMOG?

If so, I'm pretty OK from where I'm standing, thank you.

Whether or not they're "getting love" in this thread, the fact remains that without a publisher the games you love would never have seen the light of day :) Not to mention that this bunch of sequels belong to some games that were loved by other people who may have been hoping for just this news since 2000 or so!

Publisher just gives money so that a talented person can create something good with it. So I don't think we should look up in awe towards a publisher, but towards the writers and artists and musicians that transfer us to different realms. I might be overtly touchy about this publisher thing since when starting to write the history article I've had to to deal with people that praise publishers for games like Baldur's Gate II, Arcanum, Gothic or with people who think that Torment was done by Bioware or... sigh... I know most people don't give a shit about the actual creators of the game, but it irks me when people praise the wrong company or person as the awesome one behind the game. And that's why I brought out that Interplay was not the awesome one behind these games. He just handed out money so talented people could do something with it. It was just in case so I wouldn't see any "Interplay made my favorite game - Earthworm Jim" style posts here. These were my intentions and Martyne's perception of me as a bitter cynic is just plain wrong, since my favorite movie is Little Princess and I'm writing a praising review for Final Fantasy 8, and he hated it and he hated even FF12, and he thinks that Prince of Persia is not art and that Lazarus had boring exposition... so he is the evil one.

While I wholeheartedly agree with you that developers deserve more credit for the games' quality than the publisher, it still deserves some credit for believing in ideas and financing them. When the people who created some of the already mentioned games went to Interplay's boss to ask for funding, he picked up his wallet; if they had gone to EA's boss, he might have picked up the phone to call the security guards.

I'm writing a praising review for Final Fantasy 8

I'm glad that I never really doubted you, Josh. Not even when you trashed "Jade Empire". I was so close to asking the Chinese authorities to declare war on Estonia at that moment. I wouldn't mind if they occupied it, calling it the 52th minority nation of the Great China, the autonomous region Ai Sha Ni Ya. But I'm glad I didn't do that, because you now prove you are still a friend. When your review appears on MobyGames, it'll be an honor to shake your honest hand :)

Good heavens, yes!

That aside, I on my part don't understand all the hate that announced sequels get. If so many people have liked something, what's wrong with "more of the same?" Does every single and last game have to be innovative and groundbreaking and eye-opening to justify its existence? I'm strongly opposed to that opinion. I know I loved the gameplay and style of the MDK games, so I know I would enjoy another part.

As for the developers of the games: Interplay obviously hold the right to the franchises. So they were the only ones who could bring them back. I'm glad they did. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think out of all the studios you've mentioned that actually developed the previous games, none still exist. So nobody should be allowed to pick up where they left?

I think it's important to note that we're not talking about "skill-only" games like NHL here, that somebody else mentioned. It's not something you can just try to improve a bit and sell again. With these games, we're talking about stories that are to be continued, characters that we get to meet again, new worlds to explore.

Of course we do not know if the developers that Interplay is going to contract with the new games are going to be able to keep up the quality and spirits of the originals. But shouldn't we at least give them a chance? I'm looking forward to the possibility that I'm going to enjoy the new games as much as I enjoyed the previous ones. And if not, then it's a pity, but nobody forces anyone to play anything, so I don't see why anyone should have a problem with anyone else looking forward to something they don't :)

Well, I'm glad you're favorite franchises are being renewed and hope you will be satisfied. Thank you for explaining it to me in a constructive and polite way.

Anytime, Sir, and thank you.

Most of the games on my to get list this year (as far as pc games go), most were published, or in some way are related to Interplay. So, is Fallout 1 , Baldures Gate 1, Earth Worm Jim, and MDK as awsome as I think they'll be ?

You could read the reviews or use text to speech if you prefer to listen. Why else would people be writing them?

I hope any Earthworm Jim sequel is in 2D. There are some games that just don't work in in 3D.

I'm now playing MDK. IT'S AWSOME !