Risen - XBox360 Version Confirmed, First Screenshots

[Gorath]

TeamXbox (http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/2349/Risen-for-Xbox-360-First-Details-Revealed/p1) are the first to publish the long awaited announcement that Piranha Bytes' RPG Risen will also get a console conversion. They also have the first three screenshots.
Risen Arises: Epic Role Playing Experience on Xbox 360® in 2009

Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes Reveal New Action Role Playing Epic

Hermosa Beach, Calif.—Deep Silver Inc., a publisher of interactive entertainment software and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Media, and Piranha Bytes today officially announced Risen for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC. The game, which is targeted at a mature audience, is expected to ship in 2009.

The epic role playing game is set in a medieval world on a volcanic Mediterranean island, The Risen story unfolds over four chapters and will offer multiple ways to develop the story by his own actions and decisions. An innovative and intuitive user control interface will support both casual and hardcore gamers. With full world streaming support, the player experiences no tedious loading of areas while playing in a fully simulated game world with authentic characters.

A few details picked up in the WoR forums:
- The screens are two weeks old and WIP.
- Q4/2009 is not official. That's TeamXbox's interpretation. [Which doesn't necessarily means it's incorrect. ; Ed.]
- Piranha Bytes has external help for the XBox version.
Thanks, Janus.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=10937)

[danutz_plusplus]

Holy Jumping Jehoshaphat. It looks amazing. :D Now with the awesome gameplay of G1/G2 in there and we'll have a sweet sweet ride. God I'm excited. :D

[Alrik Fassbauer]

What does WIP mean ?

[Avantenor]

Work in Progress

I'm not overly impressed. Looks nice and decent.

[Turok]

Risen: bugs
________
Los angeles dispensary (http://dispensaries.org/)

[Janus]

Turok: bullshit

[TheMadGamer]

I'm truely hoping the 'Risen' series will be a true spiritual successor to the Gothic series.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Alrik: Alien

[Janus]

I think these screenshots look very promising. I like the atmosphere they convey. However, the lack of anti aliasing seriously hurts the image quality if you view the HiRes versions. Also the ground texture seems to be a bit blurry/LowRes. But I'm sure PB will improve these aspects.

Anyway PB games have never been about graphics, but rather about bugs atmosphere and story. I'm sure PB new engine is capable bringing their vision to life.

[Zocky]

Well, lets not forget this is screenshot from console version, so maybe that's the reason for 'lower' res textures.

[Phonix]

Personal I never use AA, instead I put the resolution up in 1680x1050, that look way better that any lower resolution whit AA and runs twice as smoot.

[Zloth]

Alrik: Alien
Communication style: Rikti: patent holder: NCSoft.
Lawyers: communicate: Alrik. Time: morning: tomorrow.

OK OK, off of City of Heroes and over to Risen.... very nice screenshots! No idea what you folks are talking about with respect to anti-aliasing. I don't see any jaggies in there at all.

[zakhal]

Hopefully they offer better ground textures for PC:
http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen/82138/Risen/

[Bateman]

Ground textures? I would be satisfied with a game based on G2 graphics, would look great and I could still run it ...

[Krzychu]

These screenshots look refreshingly jagged. ;)

[doctor_kaz]

I'll be surprised if we really see this game in 2009 (and it's not a bug-ridden mess).

[Janus]

Actually I think in this case the Xbox release really is a good thing:

1. PB is working on the PC version, a third party is doing the port. So I don't think PB will have to comprise too much in terms of gameplay and technology.

2. The extra time needed for porting Risen will hopefully give PB an opportunity to polish the game to the highest standard (assuming a synchronous releases for PC and Xbox).

3. Every Xbox game has to undergo a pretty serious Q&A by Microsoft, a bug fest like Gothic3 would certainly not gain approval by MS.

And I'd be suprised if the game won't be released next year. Ralf from PB has mentioned they are already in the polishing/bigfixing phase...

[Gorath]

And I'd be suprised if the game won't be released next year. Ralf from PB has mentioned they are already in the polishing/bigfixing phase...

I suspect that was more the translaotr than Ralf speaking.

[Kostaz]

3. Every Xbox game has to undergo a pretty serious Q&A by Microsoft, a bug fest like Gothic3 would certainly not gain approval by MS.
That's interesting.I wonder what would M$ say about Forsaken Gods:lol:

[Gorath]

Two things:

1. Refused. Try again later.
2. Here is your invoice for x $ * n hours of QA. :biggrin:

[Janus]

I suspect that was more the translaotr than Ralf speaking.

Well, I'm a native german speaker, so that would be myself. But I couldn't find that quote by Ralf, so it might indeed have been wishful thinking by the translator... ;)

But I found another interesting quote (http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showpost.php?p=7930362&postcount=87):

"Damit erledigt sich vermutlich auch die Frage nach der Konsole- und auch die, warum wir nicht schon dieses Jahr unter Eurem Weihnachtsbaum liegen..."

Basically Ralf is implying that Risen might have been released this Christmas already, if they had not started the console port. I assume, here a little bit of wishful thinking on Ralf's part is involved. Anyway, I'm glad they are taking their time.