Posted February 14, 2013
high rated
Now that it's been more or less confirmed that this version uses the 2012 New Dark patch (released by Le Corbeau on Ariane4ever) integrated into an older version (v. 4.0) of SS2Tool (containing various bugfixes by several authors and maintained by Kolya on Systemshock.org) I think it's time for GOG to explain why no credit was given to any of those patch authors. Wait, scratch that: Not only was no public credit given whatsoever, Stephen Kick of Night Dive Studios and Guillaume Rambourg of GOG.com actually proclaimed themselves as the "expert tech ninjas" patching the game to its released state (see http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/13/many-questions-system-shock-2-comes-to-gog/ ).
Now, as NewDark was released anonymously, there is still a slim chance that a private agreement was reached with Le Corbeau or that Le Corbau himself is connected to Night Dive Studios. But again, as NewDark is based on the Thief 2 source code which belongs to Eidos, this is highly unlikely, being the potential cause for a lawsuit (which still applies, of course, as NewDark is part of this release).
Still, this does not apply to the author and co-authors auf the SS2Tool. Systemshock.org has long been an active website for System Shock modding and bugfixing and most of the programmers and mod builders there can be reached for comment easily.
So, long story short, what gives, GOG?
Edit: A GOG staff member commented on TTLG:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140849&page=3&p=2166662&viewfull=1#post2166662
Edit2: And the conclusion:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140849&p=2166979&viewfull=1#post2166979
Edit3: Stephen Kick's view on the subject:
http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4517.msg52164#msg52164
Now, as NewDark was released anonymously, there is still a slim chance that a private agreement was reached with Le Corbeau or that Le Corbau himself is connected to Night Dive Studios. But again, as NewDark is based on the Thief 2 source code which belongs to Eidos, this is highly unlikely, being the potential cause for a lawsuit (which still applies, of course, as NewDark is part of this release).
Still, this does not apply to the author and co-authors auf the SS2Tool. Systemshock.org has long been an active website for System Shock modding and bugfixing and most of the programmers and mod builders there can be reached for comment easily.
So, long story short, what gives, GOG?
Edit: A GOG staff member commented on TTLG:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140849&page=3&p=2166662&viewfull=1#post2166662
Edit2: And the conclusion:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140849&p=2166979&viewfull=1#post2166979
Edit3: Stephen Kick's view on the subject:
http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4517.msg52164#msg52164
Post edited February 20, 2013 by Marvin