The vaporware bin: does Hydrophobia hold water?

With a game hardly getting any updates at all, one has to ask: has it become vaporware already, cast into the depths of other shelved titles? Well, announced back in early 2007, Hydrophobia seemed to generate quite an interest among the people in the video games industry, but ever since then, we’ve yet to hear anything about the game’s development. Is Hydrophobia still breathing? Let’s hope so. Dive into the full article to get your hands wet with details.

In the video game industry, a game getting the vaporware status is one of the worst things to happen (probably only next to “The JT Attorney is Calling from Within the House” status) – especially if the game was able to generate some good impressions and great potential.

One symptom of a game heading to the vaporware bin: the lack of updates. To all those waiting for Sadness on the Wii, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about – that game was thought of being vaporware so many times now that, I swear, if I had a dollar…

But moving on, it’s now time to look at what lies beneath…

Another title that’s been on my mind since the beginning of 2007 is Hydrophobia. Haven’t heard of it? Well, I’m not surprised. Not a lot of details have been revealed about it, other than the two or three news items that everyone’s been able to recycle around.

If you haven’t been in the QJ.NET bandwagon as far back as then, let me give you a brief recap of what Hydrophobia‘s about:

• it’s a survival adventure title bound for the PS3 and Xbox 360
• it’s said to boast the best water ever seen in a video game
• the game uses the Hydro Engine from the Blade Interactive labs
• the game is set on board the Queen of the World ocean liner where female protagonist Kate Winslet – err – Wilson, I mean, has to somehow thwart the efforts of the terrorists who suddenly attack the ship
• the gameplay mechanics will have water as your key element, with Kate using water and floating debris as an ally in her pursuits to stop the terrorists, all the while trying to overcome her fear of water (hence the title of the game)

When press releases from the first half of last year were rolled out, people were quite interested in the concept. “Oooh, survival game with pretty-looking water!,” says an unregistered commenter in the bad old days of QJ.NET’s anonymous commenting era.

Much to say, it was also during that time that BioShock was getting much press coverage too, and some people couldn’t help but point out the comparison. Now, there’s even Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune to throw into the “Our In-Game Water’s Got Mad Skillz” pool.

Yay for fan service! (If you swing that way…)

While we can go comparing apples and oranges all day, do note that whatever screens we have of Hydrophobia were released back during earlier stages of development. Comparing those with what you’ve actually seen on your TV screen when playing Drake’s Fortune or BioShock may be a bit unfair.

Various sources online currently lists Hydrophobia under a TBA 2008 release window. And as of writing, we only have about five to six months left in the year – where is Hydrophobia? And to think, an interview back in April 2007 had Blade Interactive’s managing director, Peter Jones, say that:

The technology now is fully complete, it’s fully working, the game is fleshed out and we’ve started construction of the game. And it’s bloody awesome.

Unfortunately it was only around that time that Blade Interactive’s released any kind of news update on how the game was progressing. From then on, it’s been nothing but screenshots all the way up until November 2007. Here’s a quick sampling of their batch of screens from May to November:

  
  
  

Now I don’t know about you, but I think this title is still worth looking out for. I don’t think the game has completely been shelved and vapor(ware)ized. Gods, I hope not – the game’s got promise still. But as of now, we’re still running too short on details to really pose any substantial judgment on the game.

---

Related articles:

• Take a dip and drown in mystery: Hydrophobia revealed(-ish)
• Hydrophobia running on Hydro Engine
• New Hydrophobia screenshots