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Games Entertainment

Stargate SG-1 Game Finally Canceled 79

Posted by Zonk from the fell-through-a-wormhole dept.
After a long and troubled history, the Stargate videogame has finally been canceled by developer Perception. The company itself is in trouble, according to the Gamasutra report. From the article: "According to the same source, the game has now been terminated for all formats and the development team 'let go'. Any decision as to whether to proceed with the game, which had apparently reached the Alpha stage of completion and has built up a sizeable fan community, will now presumably rest at least partially with license holders MGM. No official comment had been received from Perception as of press time."
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Stargate SG-1 Game Finally Canceled More

Stargate SG-1 Game Finally Canceled

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  • It's no surprise... (Score:3, Informative)

    by tom8658 ( 899280 ) <tomd&uky,edu> on Monday January 23, 2006 @12:37PM (#14539926)
    ...with the series on the decline (i.e., most of the original cast is gone) and the orignal storyline finished, I wonder if Stargate will last past the ninth or tenth season.
    • The only one of the original cast that is gone is Richard Dean Anderson. Everyone else remains. Also, they all signed up for a 10th season. The word is is that the series will continue to the 13th or the 14th season because of new storylines being introduced. Heres hoping!

      • Re:It's no surprise... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jclast ( 888957 )
        Don Davis, the man that played General Hammond was also an original cast member, and he has left the show as well.

        It's not a big deal though. Atlantis proved that a Stargate television program doesn't need a big name to make a profitable show, and I like the newer characters (Beau Bridges, Ben Browder, and Lexa Doig all do a good job). My only complaint is that Mitchell (Ben Browder) looks an awful lot like Dr. Jackson (Michael Shanks).

        And anything that gets me more Lexa Doig on television is a good thing.
        • Don Davis has been in 2 episodes this 9th season. He is a guest character, i wouldn't say he left.

          • Re:It's no surprise... (Score:3, Insightful)

            by jclast ( 888957 )
            By that logic, Richard Dean Anderson hasn't left either. I didn't say that the character died, I just said that they aren't an integral part of the show anymore.

            *Spoiler*
            Since they guested on a recent ep, should we also say that the actors who portray Dr. Fraser and Martouf didn't leave? No, they're not regulars anymore.
            */Spoiler*

            Even if you come back as a guest, you've left the show. They're still part of the Stargate universe and will probably continue to come back in small guest spots, but Don Davis was

            • Re:It's no surprise... (Score:5, Interesting)

              by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <akaimbatman@gmaYEATSil.com minus poet> on Monday January 23, 2006 @02:29PM (#14541297) Homepage Journal
              By that logic, Richard Dean Anderson hasn't left either. I didn't say that the character died, I just said that they aren't an integral part of the show anymore.

              IMHO, that's a good thing. People in real life tend to get promoted, transferred, and otherwise moved around. While we can use Movie Magic to delay such changes (e.g. Riker turns down command, SG1 is the only successful team, "Admiral" Kirk gets demoted, etc.), you can only delay it for so long before the plot goes stale. The constant cycling of SG-1 characters (save for Jonas Quinn, that just didn't work) keeps the Stargate Universe alive and fresh. If Jack was still leading every team into a mission, we (the fans) would have to start wondering:

              a) Who he pissed off to keep getting passed over for promotion; or
              b) Why a general is leading a single team into the field?

              Of course, it would have been cool if RDA had been tasked for a role as, say, a tactical assault coordinator (i.e. As a general he leads multiple teams into major battles), but he (IRL) really wanted a bit of distance from the show schedule.

              Besides, you have to keep things somewhat realistic or the U.S. Armed Forces may stop officially endorsing the show. I mean, what other show has featured not just one, but TWO Chiefs of Staff of the USAF as actors on the show? (True story. The episodes were "Prodigy" and "Lost City" which featured Michael E. Ryan and John P. Jumper respectively.) :-)
              • I agree with you 100%. I'd love to see the Stargate universe continue for many years using a rotating cast. It's working for original Law & Order; there aren't _any_ of the original actors left on that show.

                They've even started it early on Atlantis, and I like the change a lot. Ronon is a much more interesting chaaracter than Ford was (although his current situation is very interesting to me).
                • They've even started it early on Atlantis, and I like the change a lot. Ronon is a much more interesting chaaracter than Ford was (although his current situation is very interesting to me).

                  I'm actually amazed that they made the change so quickly. Many shows stick with a character for far too long even though he's completely unsuitable. In Ford's case it wasn't that he was out of place, or that he didn't belong. He was simply too happy-go-lucky to have survived in such a high risk environment for too long. T

                • I'd love to see the Stargate universe continue for many years using a rotating cast. It's working for original Law & Order; there aren't _any_ of the original actors left on that show.

                  And, for that matter, it's worked for Doctor Who for what, 30 years?

                  • going into it's 29'th season, now officialy longer than all of star trek put together. (Side note, star trek never passed doctor who. The year they would have (28 seanons) Doctor who came back to match) (That is counting EVERY star trek series though)
              • In the case of SG1, it makes a certain amount of sense to have a General lead a team - to handle first contact, diplomacy, etc. Too, promotion isn't just by seniority or how well you do; doing well as a Colonel doesn't mean you have the skills for (or want to have) acting as a General. Different kind of job.
                • In the case of SG1, it makes a certain amount of sense to have a General lead a team - to handle first contact, diplomacy, etc.

                  I disagree. Colonel is the equivalent rank of "Captain" in the Navy. (Thus the reason for a full Colonel commanding the Pegasus and Daedulus.) Traditionally, Naval Captains have had massive leeway in handling contact situations, diplomacy, and other political functions. An Admiral is almost never called upon to perform these functions as he is too busy managing ship deployments, com
      • Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond) is also gone.
        • I wouldn't describe them as gone. Their characters didn't die or anything. They just aren't regulars. We've seen General Hammond in several episodes since he left a couple of seasons back. We've seen Brig. Gen. O'Neil in the first and third episodes of this season. I would expect them both to pop in occasionally for guest appearances.

          Heck, even characters that have died have returned. Between the triumphal return of Daniel Jackson a few years back and last week's brief reappearance of Dr. Frasier,

    • 10th season has already been confirmed and is in production. Gateworld Season 10 [gateworld.net]. Also, the entire original cast is still there with the exception of Richard Dean Anderson. Sam and Daniel were gone for about 2 episodes at the beginning of S9.
    • I don't know what you mean by "most".

      Only two of the five original cast members (Richard Dean Anderson and Don S. Davis) have left the show.

      I personally think that Beau Bridges and Ben Browder (of Farscape) were great in Season 9, and that Claudia Black (also from Farscape) will add a lot to the franchise.

      The ratings have been steady this season and is consistant with the previous ones. The creators and casts are all willing to make further seasons, so I don't think the whole franchise will end soon.
    • i watch on uk terrestrial so i'm probablly quite a bit behind you americans but i've noticed sg-1 getting far more political. still getting some good old fasioned bad guy fighting etc but not nearly as much as i'd like ;)

      series 1 of atlantis was fairly free of political shit because they were cut off from earth but it looks like that will be changing in series 2.
      • i watch on uk terrestrial so i'm probablly quite a bit behind you americans but i've noticed sg-1 getting far more political.

        Do you mean like Dr. Who? As an American who greatly enjoys the new series broadcast on nearby CBC from Windsor, Ontario Canada (or downloaded via BT) I groan at the references, although few as they are, to the current political climate.

        It's just like what was wrong with the McGann movie; traditionally the Doctor does not become romantically involved. In this case it was not
    • The original regular cast members were Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond), RDA (Jack), Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge. True, O'neill and Hammond are no longer series regulars...however, RDA did appear in episodes 1 and 3 of season 9 as a guest star, and his character is still very much alive in the Stargate universe. Davis appeared in episodes 10 and 11 of this season, and his character is also very much alive, he will probably be making future appearances. Amanda Tapping was not present
      • Well technicaly they've got Baals. Seeing as there are more than one of him now. And kudos for his hiding in plain sight.

        I also thought that the one Goa'uld that was 'helping' them against the Orai was an interesting take on what might happen to some 'lesser gods' once the empire fell.

  • Stargate Adventure (Score:5, Informative)

    by bcolflesh ( 710514 ) on Monday January 23, 2006 @12:41PM (#14539968) Homepage
    The fan-made game Stargate Adventure is available here:

    http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=5309 [the-underdogs.org]

    Some rough English translations and a bit short, but it held my attention.
    • Nice, looks to built on the SCUMM engine...any clue if this works in Linux with SCUMMVM or at least possibly wine?

      I can't find too many details on it since it does seam to be a very obscure fan game, if it is indeed SCUMM it should be repackaged and sent in to http://scummvm.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
    • Some years ago (may have even been 2000) I was testing beta's (bug tracking) for a fan mod of StarGate SG1 for HalfLife, it was to have a story-mode as well as a multiplayer-mode (but focussing on the story mode).

      It was pretty far along when it was shut down, because the rights to make the game had been sold.

      If this game is as far along as eveybody says it was, it might still have a chance. I would porbably still get it, even if it wasn't really good. I would just love to fire one of them staff-weapons...

  • Contractors (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Taulin ( 569009 ) on Monday January 23, 2006 @12:42PM (#14539978) Homepage Journal
    When will people understand that game developers are just underpaid contractors? They change companies with every project.
    • I'm on a contract, but I've stayed with the same company for three years and have had my name on each game released by the company since that time (5 separate games, and not all for programming). I knew a few guys from Perception, some being ex-employees of where I currently work and one being my best friend through high school. The situation does suck alot, but it's not an uncommon story. Perception may survive though - they used to be a multimedia company before tackling games. Letting go of the entire s

  • SG1 (Score:3, Informative)

    by rilian4 ( 591569 ) on Monday January 23, 2006 @12:43PM (#14539994) Journal
    3 of the original 4 SG1 team members are still on the show. It's already lasted past the 9th season seeing as how the current season is season 10. Is the show in decline? Yeah. Is it ready to call it quits? Not yet.

    • Re:SG1 (Score:2)

      by Fr05t ( 69968 )
      Yeah replacing cast with well known, and popular sci-fi actors was a smart move on the part of SG-1s producers. I've been a fan for a long time and I look forward to the series continuing.

      I wonder if the game was canned because it was turning out to be a craptastic let down? Can't see it being a result of low demand from the fan base.
    • The current season is still 9. SG-1, Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica take a mid-season hiatus, and the second half starts in January.
    • On the decline?

      They had been fighting pretty much the same enemy for all those seasons. Now we get the "Orii" and they bring a whole new dimension to the show. I would stick my head out and say that "Beachhead" (the one where they want to make a super-gate by collapsing a planet) was one of the best shows in awhile.
      • All the parts of Avalon were also damn good. They need to bring back Valla.
        • Vala returns toward the end of Season 9. They signed her as a full cast member (all 20 eps) for Season 10. Im looking forward as to how they get her into the team dynamic tho. An SG1 with 5 members? Its going to be interesting.
      • I thought the best episode was the one where Vala had them running all over the galaxy to retrieve a necklace with which to bribe Wallace Shawn's character for a cure it turned out they didn't need after all.

        The only thing that episode lacked was wisecracks from Richard Dean Anderson. Pity they didn't do it when he was still with the show.

      • "Now we get the 'Orii' and they bring a whole new dimension to the show."

        Can't say I agree. The Orii strike me as a bit one-dimensional. One of the beauties of the Goa'uld system lords is that they make great individual bad-guys. Baal, Apophis, Sokar, Hathor, etc.

        The individual Orii messengers, on the other hand, are all the same. Perhaps there's a message here, sure, but after dealing with three or four of them, with the same "My God is great" yadda yadda yadda, they become pretty dull and robotic. In
    • Not to nitpick, but the current season is actually Season Nine [gateworld.net], though Season Ten [gateworld.net] has been signed on for 20 episodes.
    • 3 of the original 4 SG1 team members are still on the show. It's already lasted past the 9th season seeing as how the current season is season 10. Is the show in decline? Yeah. Is it ready to call it quits? Not yet.

      I think of SG-1 as the American equivalent of Dr. Who: its universe is broad and not all the details are nailed down, so literally anything's possible. The show can reinvent itself every few seasons: cast changes, shift of focus from Goa'u'ld to the Ori, the Air Force building FTL spacecraft in

  • I was really looking forward to that game too. They could make a real fun game out of Stargate and this one was looking good from the previews. Hopefully someone will scoop them up and finish the project.
  • I really enjoyed the series. But you know, killing the main bad guy several times, killing other bad guys and on and on... it's good but the last straw was the casting. Geez!

    That said, it would be pretty fun to create a game around the series. Creating a FPS with problem solving and interaction... when was the last time we saw a game like that? The Jedi Knight games is all I can think of. I would expect a little more of such a game centered around SG-1 though. Part America's Army, maybe a little bit H
    • IMO, the theme *screams* for a X-COM clone^W^W squad-based tactical combat type of game. With lots of RPG elements, nonlinear, open gameplay...

      Not that I wouldn't enjoy a Stargate FPS, especially one geared more towards system shock (in terms of problem solving for example)
  • Companies making games are usually doing it for the money. When a game doesn't seem profitable, drop it. Fans, on the other hand, don't care about the money but instead about the subject itself. There is till a Half-Life mod being made, shouldn't be too bad. Stargate: The Last Stand [stargatetls.net]
    • I agree in part... Fans can make the game good because it's being done out of love... They can also do a terrible job bedcause they don't have the time to invest into it, don't have the technical and artistic expertise, can't assemble a grouple of people who do have the talent, or they can get the people but can't get them to cooperate. Of course, commercial projects can bring all of those things together, if done correctly.

      Personally, I think a properly done Stargate game based on the BattleField2 platfo
  • I'm sure there's little to no chance of that happening, but wouldn't it be cool if they decided to release the incomplete game as an OSS project?
  • Ok so they couldn't do it. Who cares as long as they find the courage to opensource the source code. Some team will pick it up, develop, and we'll get to play it.

    Or more accurately, the Slashdot crowd will develop it, we'll play it.

    • I don't see open source as viable. If the voiceovers weren't already completed, it's going to be quite difficult to get RDA or Michael Shanks to do the voice acting, or at the very least their caliber and nuance. If it's anyone but the actual actors from the show, it wouldn't be the same. I for one as a huge SG-1 fan wouldn't play it even if it was free.
    • Well, firstly, all Stargate references would have to be stripped out, as they would still be property of MGM. So you'd be left with a half-finished engine written by a game company gone bust, which might not be the best starting point for developing a game. Even then, it's possible that the gaming studio's creditors have first dibs on their technology, and that the half-done engine doesn't even belong to the studio, now that it's gone bust.

  • Bravo (Score:3, Interesting)

    by freidog ( 706941 ) on Monday January 23, 2006 @01:11PM (#14540372)
    Whatever you want to say about the quality of the show the last few seaons,
    you can only applaud JoWood when they said they're weren't going to publish this as just another lousy liscense game. We see time and again it's easy to put out a bad game with a good liscense and sell it effectively to the fans regardless of how the game plays. (See basically any movie tie in game as reference).

    It's a shame, I think a game with the Stargate liscense could have some potential; but no game is better than a very bad game as far as I'm concerned.
    • Stargate SG-1 has massive potential as a squad-based FPS. The developers don't need to think of weapons or enemies as the show has a rich variety of them already. Pretty much any stock FPS gun has a Stargate universe equivalent - zat guns, P90's, staff weapons etc. You've got cannon fodder soldiers like the Jaffa, tougher enemies like the Kull Warriors, swarming enemies like the Replicators. Instead of having to create the universe around the game, they can concentrate on just the game itself.
  • I guess it's a good thing that the Stargate: Atlantis video game is already released [atariage.com]. I just want to know how they managed to not only have the game ready in time for the show, but managed to do it 20 years in advance! Man, those IMagic guys must have great management! ;-)

  • Dear copyright holders: (Score:5, Interesting)

    by merlin_jim ( 302773 ) <.James.McCracken. .at. .stratapult.com.> on Monday January 23, 2006 @01:35PM (#14540680)
    Make it. Please. MMORPG-style (maybe FPS)... the show even has some nice mechanics that can translate directly into good gameplay mechanics - for intance the way that the gate's controller can deny entry to their world by continually dialing out. The stargate in general makes a great gameplay mechanic by seperating the universe into discrete atomic units that are easily managed.

    You can even mirror the shows' plotline - several distinct races with shifting alliances try to carve out a safe place in their world.

    Hell, even include Go'auld recruitment - when a player gets infected their character gets a massive boost in stats, can raise an army of (loyal or disloyal) soldiers, access to advanced technology, and a new reward system to encourage them to throw old loyalties aside and become the brutal dictator inside.

    Unpopulated worlds get their own dungeons teeming with artifacts. For either single play or squad play with lots of fun puzzles. Some dungeons should have an immovable artifact of great power - get the artifact, it should be easy to get control of the gate and set yourself up a little empire. Or, if you're part of a clan, take the world for your clan and get promoted...

    I would play. And I've avoided MMORPG succesfully for a decade. But I would still play.
    • An AC earlier had a good idea about making it as a mod to another game. Seems like HL2 would be a good candiate. It runs well with slower computers ( 2ghz- ), yet offers really good graphics and fluid movement, IMHO.

      I would like to see Valve try something like that. It would be a pretty big project for someone/group to do for free, but if it was done right, it would be worth paying for.

      I might add, I would also be happy to see TFC2 get finished...

  • Perhaps this will allow for fan mods to be opened up again?

    I know there were a few SG mods in development for HL2, etc.. but they were shut down with the SG-1 game being produced. What I don't know is any of the legal stuff involved with a fan mod besides the legal rights to the idea. Anyone know what's involved in greater detail?

    • IANAL but as far as I know, the issue is that the shows producers own copyright and trademark to various things on the show (for example, the name Stargate, the symbols used on the gate and probobly other things). If you make a Stargate mod, you are violating those copyrights/trademarks and the company who holds them has every right to sue you.

  • Please sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/SGTA/petition.html [petitiononline.com].

    It only takes a minute of your time and it's definately worth a shot to try and persuade the people who decided to cancel it.

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