Dungeon Siege 3 Delayed Until June

By Kevin Parrish
published

Like Duke Nukem Forever, Dungeon Siege 3 needs a bit more polish before going public.

Thursday Square Enix said that the third installment to the Dungeon Siege series will arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC on June 21, 2011. The game was originally scheduled to hit store shelves next month, but Square Enix and developer Obsidian Entertainment decided to hold off a bit longer to give it a little extra spit shine.

"Square Enix is committed to delivering the ultimate Dungeon Siege experience," said Mike Fischer, president and CEO of Square Enix, Inc. "Although the final polish phase has demanded a bit more time than originally planned, we want to assure fans and followers that the additional effort will allow us to deliver an action-RPG worthy of its rich heritage."

The news follows the delay of another long-time PC gaming franchise which dates even further back than Dungeon Siege. According to Gearbox Software, Duke Nukem Forever was pushed back to June 14 so that the team could fine-tune gameplay elements before it finally lands into gamers' hands after over a decade of waiting.

"I'm very sorry for the added delay," Gearbox head honcho Randy Pitchford said in a statement. "We've all been working extremely hard and are very eager to deliver the game to you."

The Dungeon Siege franchise initially launched in April 2002, a "Diablo clone" for the PC developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The duo brought a sequel to PC gamers in August 2005, but 2K Games took over as publisher when it came time to launch the Dungeon Siege 2 expansion, Broken World. Dungeon Siege 3 has both a new developer and publisher-- Obsidian and Square Enix respectively-- but still retains the original Dungeon Siege designer Chris Taylor as an adviser.

Although the delay is somewhat disappointing, gamers will apparently have a busy month between Dungeon Siege 3 and Duke Nukem Forever in June. Square Enix said that Dungeon Siege 3 will have a suggested retail price of $59.99 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and a suggested price of $49.99 on Windows PC.

Kevin Parrish
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • adam873873
    Well hey, if it means us just having to wait a bit longer for the game to be more polished and overall better, I think it would benefit everybody.
    Reply
  • @adam873873,
    I agree, Fallout 3: New Vegas was a train wreck, especially the console version. It could have been polished a lot more.
    Reply
  • agnickolov
    The notion that the same people play FPS and RPG games is bordering on ridiculous. I'm sure there's some significant overlap, but the majority of players for each genre are not going to like the other very much (mildly put)...
    Reply
  • Burodsx
    Companies in general rush video games too much. I really hope this one turns out good.
    Reply
  • agnickolov - your comment is baffling to say the least. I've played both FPS, RPG and RTS too - and enjoy them equally. A gamer enjoys all good games, full stop.

    Anyway, the charm of Dungeon Siege got lost in the 2nd instalment. No. 3 will just be another generic RPG. Number 1 was best, not least because of it's auto-attack mode and atmosphere.
    Reply
  • salimbest83
    i loved all those 3 Dungeon Siege before this..
    definetely get this one..
    Reply
  • choirbass
    When 2k Games took over development of Dungeon Siege, they eliminated the ease and support of modding, kinda ruined the game for me, I really liked the plethora of fan created Star Wars mods for instance. Maybe with a new developer again, the game will return to even being fun. And worthwhile to purchase as a result. I hope thats not a foreign concept to this developer, unlike the last. Again, they kinda ruined it.. shame on them.
    Reply
  • Onus
    I liked some aspects of Dungeon Siege a lot. The mechanics were not overly complex. It lacked replay value though, unlike (for example) Diablo II (which I still play). DS3 is on my purchase list, likely as soon as the price gets down to $30.
    Reply
  • valcron
    Choirbass

    Obsidian is known for writing really good stories along with innovating on any game they work on. They are a great development company and I expect Dungeon Siege 3 will continue that trend.

    CT1615

    KOTOR 2 was a great game and IMO better than the first. The Story was unfinished because there was supposed to be a 3rd one.

    NWN2 I can't comment on. I played it but don't remember my opinion

    Alpha Protocol was awesome. If the reviewers out there stopped playing it as a run and gun corridor FPS they wouldn't have had any problems. The story, dialog, characters, everything were top notch. Thats not the say the game didn't have a plethora of bugs though, everyone knows it did. I recommend anyone who chooses to play it try the Pistol and take your time. Don't run and gun. As for the other problems with the game, why don't you look its history and you will find out its more the publishers fault.

    Fallout: NV was a great game and a lot more faithful to the original 2 than FO 3 ever was. Although I made the mistake of doing every side quest before the main mission and grew bored after playing it for 20-30 hours. As for your comment on the graphics I am not quite sure what your referring to. I don't remember any popping.

    Essentially Obsidian has a history of always improving upon the first game either they made or another company did. If you go back and look at each instance you just listed they were always screwed over by the publisher wanting to either release the game before it was ready or interfering in the development cycle of the game and forcing them to make changes/additions they didn't want. Sadly as the developer they don't have a huge say on it as its not their money but the quality ends up reflecting on them by people like you who don't take the time to find out why the games didn't live up to your expectations.
    Reply
  • jfby
    agnickolovThe notion that the same people play FPS and RPG games is bordering on ridiculous. I'm sure there's some significant overlap, but the majority of players for each genre are not going to like the other very much (mildly put)...
    I actually do play FPS and RPG, Action Adventure, and sports games, too. I play most game types out there personally, but it isn't possible to say everyone is like that.

    I'm amazed that the PC version costs less; I guess it's a way to apologize for the game being a console port, maybe?
    Reply