Not so fast. It seems bitComposer did not acquire the rights to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game franchise, but rather, the rights to make a game based on the short story Roadside Picnic and its subsequent film, Stalker -- both of which inspired the GSC S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. Confused? It appears bitComposer is as well.

In its press release announcement, bitComposer repeatedly used the name/acronym S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and even referenced the previous games in the franchise. But according to GSC World's official Facebook page for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., bitComposer did not acquire the rights to the trademarked games.

If this is the case, it appears bitComposer made a huge mistake -- and likely shelled out a significant sum of money -- to make a Stalker game not a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game.

Source: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/stalker-project-2/1226916p1.html

Wish you the best on this day Blue, ironically my mother passed away this morning (of natural causes) so now I'll never forget November 21st.

Yeah..boy did this franchise take a bad direction! WTF were they thinking?!

The 560 Ti is eligible for this promotion. I have a 550 Ti but I don't see spending $230 (w/mail-in rebate) just to upgrade 1 step and get a free game.

I agree w/Capella..they're best sauteed in a skillet with some butter and a little soy or Worc sauce..mmm mmm

Got my key from FilePlanet and I'm downloading now, I'll post my impressions if and when I actually get in to play later.

This comment was edited on Jan 28, 2010, 18:37.

BS..the site says Coming Soon but what upsets me more is that it wants me to install QuickTime, I don't like QuickTime..it's an intrusive program.

I downloaded the FilePlanet client and when I went to install it said "This version of Champions Online Beta is not compatible with your operating system", I have Vista x64, is there another version? If there is I can't find it. Fail.

EDIT

Nevermind, I've read what's going on with it but I'm not messing with it anymore.

This comment was edited on Aug 18, 2009, 17:56.

Now that was funny! I've never seen that movie though, I don't think I want to now after seeing that..lol!

I give the game one thing..it's f*cking hard! I actually quit playing it because I'm stuck on a part that's so hard it made me quit trying. Atmospherically it gives you an uneasy feeling and things move along kind of slow but it's very tense and get's intense, graphics are good but but maxing them out caused some considerable slowdown on my 9800 GT and Phenom Quadcore. The game is good enough I want to go back and finish it. BTW, I have the European version that was released a few months ago.

I thought of a good analogy for this game and it's DRM while I was in the shower.

The game is like buying a hammer (the game), but you can only use it on 3 nails (the DRM), sure you can hit each individual nail as many times as you want to get the job done but if you decide to change your piece of wood (your hardware) in the middle of it that counts as using another nail and when your out of nails your hammer is useless...who would want to buy a hammer like that?

$50 divided by 5 hours of gameplay equals $10/hour..which is what I make at work, is this game worth 5 hours of my hard earned money? Probably not..piracy for the win.

Depends. Do you like killing people in slo-mo after a hard day's work preferably while enjoying an ice cold Miller? I know I do!

Dling now from FilePlanet, going to take about an hour, I'll post my impressions later.

This comment was edited on Mar 24, 2009, 18:04.

I concur with Daturan. And a playable demo for the game has also just been released so we can try before buying!

This comment was edited on Mar 24, 2009, 17:54.

How do you know it's only 5 hours long? Did you read that somewhere or have you already bought, played, and finished it?

I've heard (or read rather) that it does not work on Vista x64 whether or not you unerstand Russian or not.

I hope these really optimize the physx in Mirror's Edge so I can actually play with physx enabled on a 9800GT w/out it being a slideshow.

I never finished AC, the beautiful gfx/environments and new style of gameplay kept me entertained for a little while but the gameplay became to much wash, rinse, repeat. Here's to a better AC2

Never cared for the GR series, fun factor/game difficulty not to my taste.

How unfortunate, I can feel for the employees losing their jobs as I myself was laid-off on Xmas eve.

You can no longer make internet purchases on their website but it does list a compendium of what went on and what's going on. Liquidation sales start as early as this Saturday so head to your nearest Circuit City and grab some killer deals!

This comment was edited on Jan 16, 2009, 18:06.

Well oddly enough it ran better on my older rig (XP 32-bit, 1.5GB RAM, Athlon XP 2600+, 7800XT), it wasn't perfect but it was better, at 1280x1024 very high it was all over the place from 12-30FPS (it's capped at 30 as it's a port).

So that tells me there's an issue with either Vista, Quadcore, or current WHQL video drivers. At least I can play it now and my money wasn't wasted.