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[Moghjubar]

http://brutalgamer.com/2013/07/23/stardock-acquires-star-control/

So apparently there was a selloff and Stardock got control of the Star Control IP... which they plan to reboot (according to article).
(If you haven't played the PC OS port, see the Ur-Quan Masters at http://sc2.sourceforge.net)

Star Control 2 was a pretty awesome game back in the day, and the series has kinda been sitting/rotting like all the old good ones (1 was a fair game though had less depth... I had issues even playing 3 though so didn't experience it much, but I heard it was kinda sucky comparatively).  However, we all know how often reboots suck...

So, any confidence in Stardock?  Only Stardock game I've played was GalCiv II, and it was kinda bland (though the ship creation thing was neat how you could style your ships, the game itself didn't really keep my attention).

[Microcline]

Release the bees.

[Darkmere]

Yeah that's a real shame. Toys for Bob have been trying to get a real honest sequel out for some time to have it sold to someone else; they should have been the one to make it, long ago.

Bluntly, whatever anyone does will not match my nostalgia and will suck. I'd like to move further past the Ur-Quan wars into more galactic backstory and what happened after the New Alliance formed. A reboot will likely just be Us vs Ur-Quan again, and that's been done already. It may be a good game in its own right, which I thought 3 kinda was in its own way, but "It Won't Be A Real StarCon Game."

[Moghjubar]

Yeah that's a real shame. Toys for Bob have been trying to get a real honest sequel out for some time to have it sold to someone else; they should have been the one to make it, long ago.

From the Ur-Quan masters forum:

Hi guys!

Brad from Stardock here.

We have connected with Paul and Fred. Fingers crossed but things look hopeful.  The copyright to Star Control 1/2 is owned by Paul Rieche directly, not Toys for Bob so I think there is reason to think that they might be able to participate in the creation of a new Star Control game.

None of this changes the status of the Ur-Quan Masters or Star Control on GOG.

Our core team involved at Stardock (myself included) have been huge fans of Paul's work since the Archon / Star Flight days.

By an XCOM like reboot we don't mean XCOM game mechanics but rather creating a new Star Control game that brings in the fun and game play we all know and love.  The *campground* is looking *flavorful*.

[Shadowlord]

STAAAARRRDOOOOOCCCCCKKKKKKKK!

[Darkmere]

Quotes and things

I guess I misread one of the open letters from TFB's site then. They mentioned "trying to convince Activision to let us make this" which I read as "they bought out the rights."

But hey, if they actually get Fred and Paul to write for it, I'd be all about it.

[Viken]

Stardock doesn't have the same issues it had several years ago.  Its more streamlined, efficient, and does a good job with customer relations and providing what they have promised.  GalCiv 2 was a good game, on its own; but for a real example, you don't have to look any further than Elemental: Fallen Enchantress and its expansion, Legendary Heroes. 

Given the chance, I think they can do a lot with it, and still hold onto what we all know and love from the original Star Control.

[Rez]

To be that guy, Elemental was a total mess on release.  IIRC, they hired Derek Paxton, of Fall from Heaven obscurity and renown, to sort it out and make it better.  Yes, Elemental: Subtitles is decent now, but it wasn't a clean release.

I suppose they were just publishing and not developing SoaSE, but it's an example of a game that had a great concept and was well-polished on release as well.  Of course, I have no idea how much involvement stardock had with Ironclad.

It's really hard to tell whether they'll do SC justice, they've got such a sparse development and publishing history.  It's not like a big publisher/developer where they churn games out ever year.

OT: When I was surfing about SoaSE, I saw that Ironclad is making a MOBA. 

Even more OT:  Why hasn't anyone hired Paxton to do a ground up build of a TBS for his FfH setting?  It's a really exceptional mod and would be better than most AAA TBS, if it didn't suffer from crushing slow down.

[Fikes]

I don't want to put this into a pro-con Stardock thread, but I have to say I am very unimpressed with Stardock. I bought Demigod AND Elemental on release and they were bad. In both cases the CEO went ape-shit and caused a huge scene on the forums.

In other news, I never got into the whole Star Control craze. When I try and play it now it suffers from being too "un-friendly."

[puke]

To be that guy, Elemental was a total mess on release.  IIRC, they hired Derek Paxton, of Fall from Heaven obscurity and renown, to sort it out and make it better.  Yes, Elemental: Subtitles is decent now, but it wasn't a clean release.

no, you're not just "that guy".  ETFE was a serious effup at release, and they were universally panned for how bad it was hosed up and how the first few patches failed to fix the major issues.

GalCiv2, while 4x fans might argue about how "fun" or "deep" it was, was at least a well polished and clean game at release.  It had some nice innovations, and was widely praised.  I worry that Stardock has actually gone considerably downhill since those days.

[Tilla]

To be that guy, Elemental was a total mess on release.  IIRC, they hired Derek Paxton, of Fall from Heaven obscurity and renown, to sort it out and make it better.  Yes, Elemental: Subtitles is decent now, but it wasn't a clean release.

no, you're not just "that guy".  ETFE was a serious effup at release, and they were universally panned for how bad it was hosed up and how the first few patches failed to fix the major issues.

GalCiv2, while 4x fans might argue about how "fun" or "deep" it was, was at least a well polished and clean game at release.  It had some nice innovations, and was widely praised.  I worry that Stardock has actually gone considerably downhill since those days.

I think what was far far worse than Elemental at launch was how Brad reacted to it. He went full berserk attacking anyone who criticized his game.

[Sensei]

Star control? Really, I only ever played Ur-Quan masters... but that seems to be the one anybody cares about so PTW.

[puke]

I think what was far far worse than Elemental at launch was how Brad reacted to it. He went full berserk attacking anyone who criticized his game.

Yeah, he went pretty Derek Smart over it.  Sign of a bad leader, really.  Pride in your work is great, but all criticism is legitimate.  If someone does not like your stuff, you should probably listen to why.

lashing out defensively is never a good plan.  In any circumstances, really.

[kcwong]

I think what was far far worse than Elemental at launch was how Brad reacted to it. He went full berserk attacking anyone who criticized his game.

Yeah, he went pretty Derek Smart over it.  Sign of a bad leader, really.  Pride in your work is great, but all criticism is legitimate.  If someone does not like your stuff, you should probably listen to why.

lashing out defensively is never a good plan.  In any circumstances, really.

Didn't he try to sue one of his former employee and got counter-sued for sexual harassment? I couldn't find any updates to those two cases.

[Tellemurius]

Brad is definitely strange one, on one hand his company makes boku bucks for all of the desktop enhancement software (THANK YOU FUCKING BRAD FOR START8)
On another this guy has some really strange behaviors i mean THIS is the guy that released that big missive to companies on reforming DRM or giving it the boot and then the shit fest with forums and trying to execute witchhunt on random employee that apparently no one can figure out if she touched Elemental in the first place..