Ubisoft actually did not buy everything 3D0. It was an intellectual property sale not unlike what happened with THQ recently. In fact, IIRC, Microsoft is the one that purchased the High Heat Baseball property, which {grrrrr} they did absolutely nothing with... That's not to say that Ubi *doesn't* have the rights to Strife, but it isn't a given.

Thank you for the info. It's a shame when IP get dispersed and furthermore, nothing more is done with this. This is what most people are worried about when they heard Gearbox got the rights to Homeworld (which to be honest, does seem a bit odd since we don't know how they will add to the franchise).

As for Wizardry, that would certainly make an excellent addition to the Ultima and M&M series of games and thus complete the triptych of big name CRPG from its early(ier) periods. However, I don't see how sci-fi fits into it. From what I have been able to gather, the Wizardry series was always more uptight in comparison to early Ultimas and M&M when it came to the inclusion of sci-fi elements.

Strife was published by Velocity Inc, not 3DO. Unless you know something I don't...

Mobygames gives the publisher as the Studio 3DO. Although when searching for Velocity Inc., it also mentions Strife. So I don't really know what is going on. My apologies for not looking into it deeper.

Huh. That's strange indeed.

When TET was singing, I was thinking it was from this. My sincere apologies for getting that theme song stuck in your head for the entire rest of the day. ;)

Also, my guess for next week? Probably FF7 if they want to not reveal if they got LucasArts, Take Two or Microsoft (and they STILL haven't revealed that answer yet, oddly enough). If they want to reveal that next week, my guess is LOOM. Or Star Wars: Dark Forces. One of those two. ;)

--BJ

That would be so boss given the thousands of wishlist votes that would be fulfilled. :)

What kind of compilation would GOG provide? One of these - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry#Collections - or would they create their own?

Maybe it could be Ultimate Wizardry Archives with games 1 - 7 for 9.99 and then Wizardry 8 for 5.99 or 9.99. (Which price would be more appropriate?)

Actually, I think that's a perfect match. It would be almost too good to be true, but since they still don't stop with the hype even after Anvil of Dawn has been released, it might actually be a possibility. In any case, I can't think of any other fantasy/rpg title the release of which would blow *my* mind. ;)

And while it's true that most of Albion is more fantasy than sci-fi, IIRC it's about a spaceship crashing on an alien planet and the main heroes are from a technologically advanced civilization and carry firearms. Supposedly still owned by the developer Blue Byte, it's also not in legal limbo as I assume e.g. the Buck Rogers games would be.

You are right about that. When I heard the hint, my first intention was to write: ALBION CONFIRMED!!! It is about humans using spaceships to mine the planet in question, however, looking at LPs, there is little presence of sci-fi outside the Toronto (the ship in question), and the characters from the ship only use guns at the very start, since you get more powerful melee weapons soon afterwards. Nevertheless, it is the closest I could think of, unless some other obscure title that someone mentioned in this thread gets released. In addition, there has been a batch of Blue Byte releases, so I'm hopeful and I have my wallet ready just in case.

i don't think we are getting a Lucas Arts announcement next week, because as G-Doc said in this thread
if GOG.com did get Lucas Arts, they would tell us.

FF7 sure would be awesome... but then so would Albion or Wizardry!

Credit card is ready GOG!

I tried some of the early Wizardry games--not the last few which are apparently so legendary--and found the "die and you have to start over from the beginning" style renders them basically unplayable without cheating. I mean, yes, having to recreate characters every time you die is in the spirit of Dungeons and Dragons, but when your party gets wiped out in D&D, the DM doesn't make you replay the same damn dungeon over and over again until you get it right.

It would certainly be neat to see the series on GOG, but more from a historic point of view then a "I actually want to spend money on this thing" point of view. Which, actually, is pretty much how I feel about Final Fantasy 7. Not familiar with Albion.

In Wizardry VII the heroes get transported to another planet where they encounter stuff like cyborgs and a rocket-riding amazon. Also the villain is from outer-space as well.
Like others have said the forging part of the clue might hint towards Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge - the Cosmic Forge is important for Wizardry VII, too, as it continues where the sixth game ended (the player can even load their W6 savegame resulting in a different beginning in W7 depending on which of the three (?) endings they got).

Well then, Wizardry is certainly a strong contender for next week's release then. While I would personally prefer Albion and even though from what I've read Wizardry is not my cup of tea in comparison to Ultima and M&M, I would still like to see it released and would even buy it to complete my collection.

I'm fine with any combination :-P
But looking at those games I would rather split it: 1-6 and 7-8 - $5.99 each