Call it the new nerdcore: RPGs are big business. Dungeon Siege 3 is entering the cave-complex that Diablo, Dragon Age and Torchlight have called their own. What can it bring to the ornately carved game-table? A hefty weight of physical violence. Drop-in, drop-out cooperative dungeon crawling. Gorgeous new technology. And intricate business manoeuvring. 

The private demo I saw was little more than a proof of concept. A dungeon, two heroes (a warrior and a wizard) and a steady stream of ugly baddies. The bads got knocked about like toys – the warrior slamming his shield into entire groups. It’s simple bash bash bash entertainment. The wizard fights by the warrior’s side – one is controlled with a gamepad, the other with a mouse and keyboard. Their abilities are complementary, the wizard slowing or freezing bigger enemies in place while the warrior carves a safe path through them.

The technology is impressive. The dungeon they’re fighting through is miles deep. You can see it spiralling down into the depths. Each little goblin that gets knocked off the ledge can be seen pinwheeling into the river below. This isn’t an off-the-shelf tech solution like the Unreal engine: this is developer Obsidian finally flexing their technical muscles.

And that’s the other weird surprise. Hold tight, this is complicated financial stuff. The original Dungeon Siege was developed and created by Gas Powered Games, led by Chris Taylor. The Dungeon Siege games and intellectual property were sold to Square Enix. The same Square Enix that created the Final Fantasy games, and then merged with UK publisher Eidos (themselves the owners of Deus Ex and Tomb Raider). Square Enix, in turn, have contracted out development of Dungeon Siege 3 to Obsidian, the team behind Knights of the Old Republic 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and in their former iteration, Planescape: Torment and Fallout.

Why is that surprising? Because Obsidian are all about story and lore and detailed moral consequences. The Dungeon Siege games were mostly about turning orcs into piles of guts, and overloading your pet donkey with loot.

Which is why when lead designer Nathan Chapman talked about “paying respect to the Dungeon Siege lore,” I had to stifle a giggle. The Dungeon Siege lore is what director Uwe Boll used to make a four hour epic. It’s not exactly Shakespeare. Expect slick cutscenes with Mass Effect style dialogue – they’re not going to hang about making you read pages of quest text. Unless they’re daft.

Being grumbly at this stage seems churlish. Obsidian have great tech, smart dynamics, and an ambition to create a fleshed out RPG. Success isn’t assured – but they’re already on the right track.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/11/dungeon-siege-3-preview/

this game is starting to interest me a lot more than I thought it would...

Based on this preview?

this and some other stuff like the trailer and some interviews I have seen/read it looks like it may actually be a game worth checking out. Then again it might end up being a steaming pile like DS2 and to a lesser extent KotoR 2 did...

This looks good

But I don't trust Obsidian to develop a good game anymore, thankfully S-E is producing so production values will be high but lets hope Obsidian doesn't mess it up.

I hope so to, they defiantly have the money and staff, or at least I hope they do they may be over extending with the three projects on the go at once but fallout is almost finished now, so I have high hopes for this. 

But gotta say

Co-Op dungeon crawling has the potential to be very special, addictive and FUN.

It would be really awesome if done right and could be a hit due to that feature

drop in drop out co op should be interesting to see how they handle it, I mean co-op isn't exactly new to the series the first two had online co-op.

anyway some links to a bit more info

http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/110/1108572p1.html

http://comic-con.gamespot.com/story/6270864/fallout-devs-on-thinking-inside-the-box/

EDIT: another link http://gamescom.gamespot.com/story/6274184/dungeon-siege-iii-impressions/?tag=newsfeatures;title;1

and some more thoughts. My main concern at the moment is they may be overly dumbing the game down for casuals and consoles. I mean it was never exactly the most hardcore RPG series so further dumbing down may make it uninteresting but there is always hope lol.

I don't trust Obsidian either. And I don't like how they Japanized Dungeon Siege by making the heroes  jump kick the monsters.

This game won't be even half as good as Dragon Age. But then DA was made by Bioware and not Obsidian. I will follow it closely because I liked Titan Quest and the original Dungeon Siege.

I hope they get this game out before Diablo 3 or else sales will be hurt.

I'm sorry...but...get off the dumbing down thing..espicaly for consoles. You saying that reeks  pc elitist.

You need to understand ds1..ds2...dblo 1/2...they are not complicated..infact..it's point and click....and party wise from ds1 to ds2...it was over simplified.

If anything..from what i've seen 1st hand..and got to read from devs posting on thier forums..is....it's fablefied...combat is very streamlined and more actiony...not many gamers are into the d&d type rule sets etc..much less the dragon age like combat..hence the combat change in DRgn Age 2.

I'm sure folks will miss the koolness of party management(i will sigh) etc...but waaay back in 2006 chris said ds3*when he was still gonna do it* he was ditching it for more action feel etc.

Take it this way...the only real benchmark they can go against atm is sacred 2...and hell...yeah..not hard to beat.

And yeah D3..end of 2011/early2012..and watch..it'll be on consoles.

obsidian sucks

Even AP Preview  was looking but in the end it turned out ""garbage"".