- InXile acquired by Microsoft: the interview - 19 November 2018
On Saturday 10th November, Microsoft announced buying Californian role-playing game developers inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment . Two studios independent which had fought for survival for a decade-and-a-half were now under the Xbox umbrella. The message from Microsoft was reassurance: don't worry, nothing will change, we won't kill them - they'll continue to make the games you love, only they'll have more resources and support available to "fully realise" their ambitions. Nevertheless, questions remained. Both companies are tied up in crowdfunding - particularly inXile, which has Wasteland 3 still to deliver - so what happens there? And what happens to promised PlayStation 4 versions of games - can they still fulfil those as Xbox studios? Moreover, will they leave isometric games behind in favour of glitzier projects? For this interview, I'm concentrating on inXile, speak…
- Oh my RPG, Microsoft is buying Obsidian Entertainment and inXile - 10 November 2018
The rumours were true: Microsoft Studios is buying Obsidian Entertainment . It's also, in an unexpected twist, buying inXile Entertainment. The acquisitions were announced during the X018 fan event in Mexico today. In a statement sent to Eurogamer, Microsoft said of Obsidian: "As one of the industry's premiere RPG developers, we couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to add their expertise to Microsoft Studios, while enabling the studio to preserve its unique culture and build on its talent and vision to fully realise their creative ambitions." Read more…
- The Bard's Tale Remastered & Resnarkled now live on Steam! - 26 October 2017
Hi everyone, as part of our 15th Anniversary Celebration, we're updating The Bard's Tale with a new Remastered and Resnarkled Edition. This will be the new standard edition of the game. For those of you who already own The Bard's Tale, no worries! Your version will be updated automatically for free! The Bard's Tale Remastered & Resnarkled features the following updates: Updated splash screen and app icon. Runs at highest desktop resolution by default without bringing up the Graphics settings app. Graphics settings app updated to no longer incorporate legacy language settings. Instead, the Steam specified language is used which is the preferred method. Full Steam overlay support (Shift + Tab). Steam achievements & trading cards. Additional language support for Italian. 64 bit OS’s no longer crash at startup.
- The Bard's Tale Remastered & Resnarkled now live on Steam! - 26 October 2017
Hi everyone, as part of our 15th Anniversary Celebration, we're updating The Bard's Tale with a new Remastered and Resnarkled Edition. This will be the new standard edition of the game. For those of you who already own The Bard's Tale, no worries! Your version will be updated automatically for free! The Bard's Tale Remastered & Resnarkled features the following updates: Updated splash screen and app icon. Runs at highest desktop resolution by default without bringing up the Graphics settings app. Graphics settings app updated to no longer incorporate legacy language settings. Instead, the Steam specified language is used which is the preferred method. Full Steam overlay support (Shift + Tab). Steam achievements & trading cards. Additional language support for Italian. 64 bit OS’s no longer crash at startup.
- The RPG Scrollbars: Manual Override - 9 November 2015
I miss manuals and their kin. They’re often still provided with games, I suppose; usually PDFs to explain how to play and to give jerks on forums something to insist you RTF if you dare complain that something isn’t clear enough. I’m not really thinking of that side of things though, but the ones that felt like they were part of the overall experience. The in-world documents. The bestiaries that didn’t just list enemies, but breathed life into them in a way that the often simple game you were playing really couldn’t. The snippets that told you that while, yes, you were going to be spending the whole game in a series of dungeons, there was a world somewhere outside them that cared too. This week, I thought I’d share a few of my favourites, and related bits and pieces, and see which ones struck a chord with you, the person reading this. I have others fr…
- The Bard's Tale IV In-Engine Video - 4 June 2015
Greetings Exiles, We finally put the finishing touches on the video for The Bard’s Tale IV In-Engine Video. The biggest question we get is how we plan to bring the genre forward, and this video should answer the question! For the full gameplay video and Kickstarter update text, check here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv/posts/1253232
- The Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter launched! - 2 June 2015
Greetings Exiles, It's been a long time. Released 30 years ago, Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale was released to glowing reception and quickly became a defining role-playing game of the 80s, inspiring countless games and putting Interplay and Brian Fargo on the map. But it's been many years since we had a follow-up to the series. In 2004, Brian and inXile released The Bard's Tale, a console-oriented spin-off that was well received, but even then the team knew it wasn't necessarily a true follow-up to the classic games. Now, the same team that brought you Wasteland 2 in 2014 invites you to lend your support once again for The Bard's Tale IV. As a sequel to the original trilogy by Interplay and Brian Fargo, The Bard's Tale IV will revitalize the dungeon crawling and CRPG genres with gorgeous visuals, Gaelic music, and fast-paced dynamic phase-based combat... not to mention all the tw…
- Epic Lute: Brian Fargo On Bringing Back The Bard s Tale - 18 May 2015
Having successfully brought Wasteland back to life with the help of 61,920 of its closest friends, Brian Fargo and inXile Entertainment are turning their attentions to another classic RPG – The Bard’s Tale . Forget the appalling comedy vacuum from a few years ago, this is The Actual Bard’s Tale IV, both a return to and modernisation of dungeon crawling with a few new tricks up its sleeve. The Kickstarter begins June 2nd, but Fargo gave us a quick preview of what to expect. …
- Brian Fargo s Eighties Disco: The Bard s Tale IV - 26 January 2015
Brian Fargo and the inXile team’s next project will be another revival of an Interplay oldie. Following the success of Wasteland 2 , the studio is now turning its attention to The Bard’s Tale, the fantasy dungeon crawling series last seen in 1988 (inXile’s own exhaustingly unfunny parody is an official Bard’s Tale game so let’s ignore it). Fargo announced the game at PAX South, where he confirmed that Kickstarter will be used for funding as with Wasteland 2. He has since taken to Twitter to state that development will focus on a PC version and that InXile will be “dialling up” the atmosphere. …
- Humble Bundle features Ticket to Ride, Worms Reloaded - 31 October 2013
Humble is going cross-platform again for its latest 'Humble Bundle with Android' sale. Players will be able to pay what they want for four games, all of which are available on PC, Mac, Linux, and Android, while paying more than the average to toss in Worms Reloaded (along with the mobile version of Worms 2: Armageddon ) and 2004 action-RPG The Bard's Tale .
- Humble Bundle With Android 7 Includes Bard’s Tale, Anodyne - 16 October 2013
There are so many Humble Bundles now! Why, back in my day, we had to wait 1417 years (uphill, in the snow, beset on all sides by lackluster deals and also wolverines) for fresh bowls of piping hot generosity, and we… well, I mean, we liked it, yeah, but honestly? We’re talking about great games on the cheap for good causes. So far, more has largely proven to be better. I mean, I haven’t really bought many of the Humble Weeklies, but I definitely appreciate that they exist. Really, my main issue is one of inevitability: the more games get bundled, the higher the likelihood is that I already own them. Case in point: most of Humble Bundle With Android 7 . (more…)
- Brian Fargo On InXile’s Darkest, Publisher-Driven Days - 15 August 2013
The future is looking very bright for Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera developer inXile. Very bright indeed . Two wildly successful Kickstarters and one nearly complete, maddeningly exciting game later, Brian Fargo and co have finally found their niche. Or rather, they’ve settled back into the comforting clockwork of an old wheelhouse, an old home. But the road to this point was hardly an easy one. The developer-publisher relationship has always been rather skewed, and inXile’s taken its fair share of licks. Some times have been good (see: The Bard’s Tale), and others, well, others have been Hunted: The Demon’s Forge. The latter, especially, is a sore spot for Fargo, but he’s been burned by various publishing arrangements far more than once. He and I discussed that subject, whether Kickstarter is inXile’s permanent solution to that problem,…
- InXile 10 Yr Anniversary Sale - Bard's Tale + Choplifter HD, 75% Off! - 16 October 2012
To celebrate their 10 year anniversary InXile Entertainment is offering 75 % off Bard's Tale and Choplifter HD !* They also updated Bard's Tale today to include Episodes 1, 2, and 3! New update includes: Prepare to immerse yourself in over 20-30 hours of adventure, featuring: - 50 enemy types (not counting bosses!) - A vast world to explore with towns, wild forests, rivers, castles, towers, secret dungeons, snowy mountains, caverns, haunted tombs and more - A full cast of bizarre NPC’s - Over a dozen special boss enemies to defeat - 16 magical characters to discover and then summon at will to aid you - Over 150 unique items of weaponry, armor, instruments, tokens, artifacts and loot! - More Song & Dance numbers than any other game, including a zombie dance-off! - Over 14 hours of outstanding voice-acting from top Hollywood talent, including Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) as the Ba…
- Daily Deal - The Bard's Tale, 50% off! - 21 March 2012
Today's Deal: Save 50% off The Bard's Tale ! Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!
- Jokes Fly Faster Than Arrows in the Goofy-Yet-Epic Bard's Tale - 1 December 2011
The Bard's Tale , the highly enjoyable action role-playing game that launches today at the App Store, has a long, storied history—far longer and storied-er than your average iOS game. The first Bard's Tale was a well-loved 1985 computer role-playing game , whose protagonist was, appropriately enough, a singing Bard. That alone set it apart from most other RPGs, which tend to feature protagonists in the more familiar warrior, thief, and mage molds. In 2004, InXile Entertainment, under the guidance of one of the first game's creators Brian Fargo, resurrected The Bard's Tale as a top-down action-RPG for the Xbox and the PlayStation 2. This game was considerably different than its predecessor—in fact, it was a comedy, playing up RPG conventions as a bit of a self-aware spoof. That game has now been ported over to iOS devices entirely intact—it clocks in at 1.35 Gigabytes,…
