Video Games
‘System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition’ Gets Updated Name, Release Date at GDC
While it obviously hasn’t taken as long at the System Shock remake, fans are obviously curious as to just when we’ll be seeing Nightdive’s System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. The answer will be coming next month, as the game (now rechristened System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster) will be getting a release date announcement (and trailer) at next month’s Game Developers Conference.
The announcement will be part of the Future Games Show Spring Showcase livestream on March 20.
As for the remaster itself, it’s been in the works since 2019. Nightdive did drop details about the remaster over the years, which along with the usual graphical and modern enhancements, will focus on the game’s multiplayer and mod support. System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster was also part of the pre-order bonus for the System Shock remake.
For those who never did play the original game when it first released back in 1999, System Shock 2 is set 42 years after the events of the first System Shock. Players assume the role of a cybernetically-enhanced soldier who awakes from cryo-sleep aboard the Von Braun, an experimental FTL starship that had responded to a distress signal from the planet Tau Ceti V. Mysterious eggs were recovered from the planet, which hatched and infected the crew, assimilating them into an alien communion known as “The Many”. You must now find a way to stop The Many and escape.
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster will be coming to PC via Steam and GOG, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and the Nintendo Switch.
Meanwhile, you can get the original version today on a week-long 85% off sale on Steam and GOG until February 21.
Bobby Prince, the composer who provided the soundtracks to legendary titles such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Doom II, has passed away.
Prince’s family confirmed the composer’s death on June 16 late last week at the age of 81. No cause of death was released.
id Software, the company that gave Prince his first job in the industry, paid tribute to the composer, referring to him as a “video game music pioneer.”
Indeed, in addition to providing the soundtracks to id Software’s hits in the FPS genre, Bobby Prince also provided the soundtracks to other id Software classics, such as portions of the scores for Commander Keen series and the forerunner to the modern FPS, Catacomb 3-D. Prince also worked with Apogee Software and 3D Realms, providing the soundtrack for Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, and teaming with Lee Jackson for Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem 3D.
Bobby Prince’s death comes just after the Library of Congress announced back in May that his soundtrack for Doom would be preserved in the National Recording Registry.
The soundtrack for Doom and its sequel took inspiration from designer John Romero‘s collection of CDs at the studio, which included the likes of Alice in Chains, Pantera, and Metallica. In spite of the limitations composers faced with the sound cards of the era, Prince was able to replicate riffs from songs like “Master of Puppets” and “Painkiller” for tracks like “At Doom’s Gate”, the iconic opening track for Doom‘s first level, E1M1.
For Doom II‘s soundtrack, Prince continued to employ the same tactic, lifting rifts from songs like “Sex Type Thing”, “After All (The Dead)”, “South of Heaven” and more.
In addition to composing, Bobby Prince was also a practicing lawyer, and had pursued a career as an attorney before making his way into the video games industry.
Bobby Prince is survived by his wife Connie, and his sons, Robert Caskin Prince IV and Andrew (Cristy) Prince.