The Digital Continuum: What's up with APB?

by Kyle Horner Apr 4th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Opinion, The Digital Continuum, All Points Bulletin, Crime

I'm not entirely sure what's going on with All Points Bulletin and the only reason I'm bothered enough to consider worrying about a game that we know only fractions of is because those fractions are amazingly potent pieces of excitement. The depth of customization, the level-less progression wrapped around a GTA style game make for powerful appeal.

I was hoping that because it'd been a year since the last GDC, when All Points Bulletin was first revealed to a dumbstruck media, we would be treated with a delightful updated look at the game. That just wasn't the case at GDC 2009, and frankly it has me slightly worried.

Granted, it's not as though Realtime Worlds and APB haven't been in the news lately with their Vivox and hiring announcements. That hasn't been the issue, what has been are the lack of any beefy game updates beyond the occasional newsletter or hiring blurb. No new screens, videos or even interviews teasing about the game's features or even smaller aspects. Am I just spoiled by the likes of Cryptic, Turbine and dare I say, Blizzard? Possibly, but then again there could be other reasons as well...

There are all sorts of factors that could be causing the delay of substantial fresh APB information. For one, Realtime Worlds might have procured (or been absorbed into) a highly desirable publisher and currently have their hands tied by a strict time sensitive schedule. And if this is the case and we're treated to a deluge of knowledge at this year's E3, I'll be overjoyed. I also may erect a shrine fashioned from magazine clippings and glue -- or whatever it is a crazed videogame fanatic crafts shrines out of these days, I've lost touch since my youthful Final Fantasy obsessions.

Another possibility is simply that Realtime Worlds is sitting on much of the "good stuff" as a method of protecting their long-term investment that is APB. If they possess some game design philosophies or tech abilities beyond anything else on the market, I could see secrecy and caution being high on their list of "How to avoid bad things." scenarios.

But whatever the case may be -- whether it's publishers or spy related worries -- the dried up, once life giving stream of news and previews is slowly beginning to kill me a little on the inside. I'll be honest, at this point, a batch of three or four new screenshots would probably make my month in terms of new APB goodies. It says a lot about the potential of a game -- at least for me -- when I'm willing to put up with this kind of silliness.

So assuming that the game is actually coming out within a the next twelve months (that's a fair assumption, right?) we should be seeing some news around E3. If that doesn't happen, I'll probably still hold out hope that an announcement is coming shortly. But secretly, you can count on my panicking and stressing over just exactly what fate has befallen one of my most anticipated MMOs in a long, long time.

Tags: all-points-bulletin, apb, e3, e3-2009, featured, final-fantasy, gdc, gdc-2009, gdc08, realtime-worlds, the-digital-continumm, vivox

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

torak said on 12:23PM 4-04-2009

I remember reading about APB back in 2004 or 05 in PC Gamer or maybe Computer Gaming Monthly magazine and they were saying 2 years until release back then...

Cray said on 6:24PM 4-04-2009

Just be patient, that's all it is just a lack of patience on your part. Even if APB never comes out, it changes nothing whether they give bloggers some screenshots or promotional interviews, it changes nothing for the company. Their success or failure isn't hindered by a lack of pre-production publicity.

10 years ago we got less information from gaming studios, yet they managed to release their games.

I mean it's totally okay to worry about Realtime World's lack of news, but ultimately it doesn't mean anything unless they themselves report the doom and gloom.

bobby said on 9:13PM 4-05-2009

Didn't you guys post about 2 weeks back that Realtime Worlds were hiring? More specifically for contract positions (9 - 12 months) on APB?

I don't think it's crazy to put 2 and 2 together and assume the game will be shipping in close to 12 months time.

Not to mention the fact that E3 is only 6 weeks a way and is far more likely to have game updates and announcements than GDC.

Kyle Horner said on 9:22PM 4-05-2009

I mentioned all this, in the very article above. :)

Like I said, so long as we get the goods at E3 I'll still assume the game is coming out. Beyond that... well, that's when I start to worry.

bobby said on 9:26PM 4-05-2009

Haha so you did. Skipped the hiring line.

But yeah, GDC was pretty quiet on the game front, so hopefully E3 will be bringing the goods.

UnSub said on 11:05PM 4-05-2009

The sad reality is that MMO developers should remain quiet about their title until it is 90% in the can. I know it's exciting and all that, that you just want the world to know about your awesome title filled with features no other MMO has done yet, but it just leads to disappointment when 1) things are delayed and 2) half your promises don't make it to launch, should they make it at all.

Talk about the title when it is about to go into public alpha / closed beta, not before.

Kyle Horner said on 11:19PM 4-05-2009

I agree with you UnSub, unfortunately that's not the case. Most (or at least all that I'm aware of) games are revealed early on and hyped up, then go into that wonderful information blackout where we hear little to nothing about them.

I do wish games -- especially MMOs -- would veer more towards waiting until a game is much closer to completion. It'd probably spare us from tapping our feet for several years.