Wired's vaporware column adds Hero's Journey next to Duke Nukem Forever

by Seraphina Brennan Dec 30th 2008 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Hero's Journey, MMO industry, New titles, Opinion

And everyone at the Massively offices scratched their heads at the same time and said, "Huh?" All right, so Hero's Journey has been in production for, well, forever, but just because the game isn't coming out anytime soon doesn't exactly warrant it on the vaporware list at position number 8.

Especially as the game's engine, the now well-known HeroEngine, has been licensed by BioWare for this Star Wars game you might have heard about. The HeroEngine development has caught on like wildfire, and even Simutronics's own Neil Harris has said to Massively that the game is on the back burner while the engine development is in the forefront.

But, they still haven't left the game entirely in the dust. They've said that the game still has a long way to come in terms of content and polishing, but they're still letting people log in and play -- even when they're not around. The website even features in-game footage and screenshots, a bit more than Duke blowing some smoke at the camera and uttering a classic Duke-ism.

With all that said, Hero's Journey hasn't been pressing for release or gaining undue hype. It's a game that has been sitting in the corner, lurking, waiting for the right moment to strike. Plus, with most vaporware, we're usually left hanging -- wondering what exactly those developers have been doing with their time when they should have been developing. With Simutronics, we know exactly what they've been doing -- making a great engine. So that leaves the question, is it still vaporware if we know we shouldn't expect it?

Tags: 3d-realms, development, duke-nukem-forever, heroengine, heros-journey, hype, simutronics, teaser, vaporware, wired

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Nakirush said on 3:33PM 12-30-2008

It was also alongside Blizzard's Starcraft 2. Yes, apparently SC2 is vaporware. Wired's article sounded more like "We want it now, and since we can't it's vaporware."

Tony said on 4:46PM 12-30-2008

Yeah... This word is kind of like "beta". Places use it for everything now. Drama queens.

Sean said on 5:46PM 12-30-2008

I've been extremely disappointed in Wired's end of the year gaming related lists. In the original version of this article, Wired claimed that Blizzard had set a 2008 release date for Starcraft 2. Anyone familiar with Blizzard's modus operandi would have known that immediately to be false.

drypulse said on 8:34PM 12-30-2008

from reading the first sentence i thought i was going to have to sigh and tell you how much you fail for not knowing of Hero's Journey.

you lucked out!

Colin Brennan said on 11:04PM 12-30-2008

The "huh" is more like, "Why does that deserve to be on the vaporware list." Certainly not the, "What is this game?" Hero's Journey looks too cool to forget about, especially as DragonRealms is still amazing.

Lemmo said on 12:09AM 12-31-2008

I think you might just have a different definition of vaporware than Wired. Because far as I can tell, Hero's Journey is in the exact same boat as Duke Nukem Forever. Of course it's still being worked on, of course it'll probably eventually come out. But it hasn't. So it gets on the list.

The Wired article even mentions all these points, including the use of the game's engine for SWTOR. They explain why Hero's Journey made the cut. Why is everyone getting defensive?

Meanwhile said on 11:46AM 12-31-2008

One definition of vaporware is that the product is obsolete on release. While I've always believed Hero's Journey was full of great ideas, I'm starting to think most of the good things about it will have been co-opted by other titles before it ever gets off the ground.

atolbert said on 9:21PM 1-01-2009

I'm a big simutronics fan but i'm starting to feel that HJ is just a tech demo for the Hero Engine, which is being used for The Old Republic. I think it'll be good to go someday but I'm guessing it'll be a few more years.