Obsidian To Help inXile Design Wasteland 2

Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone will be joining Brian Fargo and crew at inXile Interactive to design Wasteland 2. This follows up shortly on the heels of an interview at Ripten where Fargo mentioned that it would be possible for him and Avellone to get back to together to work on a project.

According to a press release from inXile, if Wasteland 2's Kickstarter surpasses $2 million they will bring in additional help from Obsidian Entertainment to join the development fold for designing the game.

Before people hop to the moan-and-groan train, take note that Fargo defended Obsidian's past releases being buggy by mentioning that the publisher QA wasn't as vigilant as it should have been, with management hoping to get the games out by the release date deadlines, as opposed to making sure the products were properly finished.

The upside to this situation is that there are no publisher deadlines, no investors or shareholders aiming to get the game out by a specific release quarter and no marketing bull-crap to interfere with the game itself.

Avellone commented on being brought into the fold, saying...

"Wasteland is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and when Brian asked if I wanted to work on the sequel, I jumped at the chance. While I've worked on Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, getting the chance to work on the spiritual predecessor to the Fallout franchise is a honor."

The game still has 17 days left on its Kickstarter but they're already at their initial goal. Any extra funds will be used to polish and advance the game for better support and localization. Fargo also wants to use funds to "Kick it Forward" and help other devs and projects get off the ground without having to deal with the corporate middlemen known as big publishers. In regards to Wasteland 2, Fargo is hoping the game can come together, with the help of Obsidian, like old-school titles that helped shape a generation during the Golden Era, saying...

“Obsidian has an incredible library of story, dialog and design tools that they have used to create hits like Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, and of course, Fallout: New Vegas. Regardless of the tech we use to develop the game, experience with these tools will help us efficiently design the game without wasting time and resources on the tools needed for development.”

For those that didn't know, Obsidian has fallen into a bit of a slump because they didn't hit their MetaCritic goal for Fallout: New Vegas by one point, thus nullifying a developer incentive they were contracted to receive. If it sounds asinine that a developer doesn't receive a bonus from additional SKUs shipped but rather a MetaCritic score, you're not alone.

You can learn more about Wasteland 2 and the Kickstarter program by paying a visit to the Official Website.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.