Orb looking to be a promising title

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orb_%28video_game%29

The storyline behind Orb started as a series of dreams the director, Greg Szemiot, had. Crossbeam Studios Entertainment has been working on Orb for quite some time, and as the storyline developed it was eventually decided to split it into 6 separate games. Orb was originally planned with high-end PCs in mind, but the designers of CSE felt that the motion sensing controller of the Wii would better suit the game. CSE currently has 24 people working on Orb and recently met with publishers at E3 2006. A PC demo of Orb was supposedly sent to interested publishers around midsummer 06. CSE had stated plans to have trailers for Orb available around November 2006 (although this never happened), and a playable Wii build at E3 2007. While the game is not yet released, it has developed a large fanbase.

I'm suprised on how long they have been in development with this title, it's been like, six years! Also the comany's decision to take advantage of the motion sensitivity of the Wii instead of a high end PC gets me all the more excited.
Here's the official website: http://www.crossbeamstudios.com/orb.html

Thoughts?

Never heard of Orb... But if it's comin out for the wii then I'll try it out!

I never heard of Orb either. OO

Me either. Sounds kewl though, I gotta try it if it's for the Wii!

...but I don't have a Wii yet. Deku nuts... -_-

Never heard of orb before, but hopefully it turns out to be a promising game.

Coming out for the wii after all so it must be some one cool seeing as how they are going to take advantage of the wiimote and the nunchuck.

The same company is also working on two other titles, Thorn and Midnight. Thorn is a sci-fi futuristic game and Midnight is a horror survival. From the looks of it, this company looks to be top notch! (Hopefully)

Vaporware. You heard it here first, folks.

Seriously, no team of 24 people is going to code 3 simultaneous titles on their own engine. Come on, they're using Torque for the PC version. This has slightly better than zero chance of ever being released.

Originally Posted by Malloc()

Vaporware. You heard it here first, folks.

Seriously, no team of 24 people is going to code 3 simultaneous titles on their own engine. Come on, they're using Torque for the PC version. This has slightly better than zero chance of ever being released.

Only 24 people working on Orb, there is more in the company. There is also a beta screenshot and video (don't know where) that looked close to completion.

I'd be inclined to say that it'll either be vapourware or won't be anywhere near as good as predicted.

Why? Because this is a very small studio, I first heard of them in connection with Orb for the Wii, yet their working on three very ambitious titles, in three completely different genres. They also refuse to give out any information on what the games are like beyond those summaries, every other company that announced it was making Wii titles has given out more information then these people.

Originally Posted by 70el

Only 24 people working on Orb, there is more in the company. There is also a beta screenshot and video (don't know where) that looked close to completion.

Employees working on Orb: 24.

Total employees: 27.

Yep, those other projects are probably coming along real nice.

Originally Posted by Malloc()

Employees working on Orb: 24.

Total employees: 27.

Yep, those other projects are probably coming along real nice.

This thread is about Orb, and if you read the main website I posted instead of being a dingus, you can see that more people are joining the company every day. Besides, the two other projects are pretty much brainstorms.

Originally Posted by 70el

This thread is about Orb, and if you read the main website I posted instead of being a dingus, you can see that more people are joining the company every day. Besides, the two other projects are pretty much brainstorms.

Oh? Thorn, at least, was announced at the same time as Orb and was, in fact, touted as being even further along.

Originally Posted by http://www.crossbeamstudios.com/team.html

...Since then CSE has grown from 4 people to over 25 people...

They have less then 30 people working on three incredibly ambitious titles, most of whom joined after development had started, and some of whom are only 16.

So, you've got 10 people to each game, and each game being touted as the best ever made for it's genre.

I don't believe it.

It doesn't help that they refuse to give any real information about the games. I'm reminded very much of Daikatana, which turned out horribly, but had a similar... attention-grabbing by the studio. As you doubtless know, Daikatana was less then a success and certainly much worse then it was advertised as.

Originally Posted by GDwarf

So, you've got 10 people to each game, and each game being touted as the best ever made for it's genre.

Come on! There are 24 people working on orb alone, the other games are basically brainstorms.

And where did they say that the games were going to be the best for it's genre?

Originally Posted by Crossbeam Studios

We never said we'd deliver the next graphical revolution, or usher in a new era of adventure gaming or any other genre. We're here to bring gamers experiences that challenge them, reward them, and keep them wanting more.

It doesn't help that they refuse to give any real information about the games. I'm reminded very much of Daikatana, which turned out horribly, but had a similar... attention-grabbing by the studio. As you doubtless know, Daikatana was less then a success and certainly much worse then it was advertised as.

At least Daikatana had John Romero, a driving force behind Doom, behind it. What does this have? Nothing.

Originally Posted by 70el

Come on! There are 24 people working on orb alone, the other games are basically brainstorms.

They've said that Thorn is about as far along as Orb, at least once. Besides, you don't go putting up websites to games that are only brainstorms.

And where did they say that the games were going to be the best for it's genre?

Outright? Nowhere. But they hype them an incredible amount and promise how great and different they'll be, which is exactly what the team behind Daikatana did.

They may succeed, but I'm honestly not holding my breath.

Originally Posted by L-o-S

At least Daikatana had John Romero, a driving force behind Doom, behind it. What does this have? Nothing.

I'd count not having Romero on my team as a blessing, really.

Well if everybody here is so insisting on how this is going to be the next Diekatana, be my guest. I just came here to talk about about the positive points of a game I was interested in. Geez, it seems that these forums can't even have a topic without people pinpointing every little bad detail of everything. Even the mods. And the good points of this project definantly outweigh the bad.

I've been keeping an eye on this game for quite some time now and have been very excited that it might be heading for the Wii! Since Crossbeam Studios is looking for people who are experience with Maya, I would like to submit a job application to them one of these days.