Atari To Revisit Forgotten Realms Based Baldur’s Gate

Yesterday, during the big Atari press conference in London, Infrogames President Phil Harrison mentioned that Atari is planning on future installments of Forgotten Realms games Baldur’s Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter Nights and the racing game Test Drive Unlimited. Being that I am a huge Baldur’s Gate fan, I cannot believe I missed this yesterday, but here it is anyway.

The bad news, at least for fans of any of the above titles, is that none will be released within the next year. However, Harrison did promise that “you will hear more from these but not today, because we’re focused on 2009″. Fine then, dangle the worm out there in front of us, let us bite and then just let us float in the water a bit there Phil. We don’t mind (note the sarcasm).

What else the company may have in store for Neverwinter Nights remains to be seen, because they just released the Storm of Zehir expansion last month. However, the thought of actually getting my hands on another Baldur’s Gate game is what really excites me. The PC games were very fun, and even the console version Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance was loads of fun especially with Drizzt popping in at the end (Interplay, Black Isle Studios)– but I won’t even mention the crappy Dark Alliance 2. Wait, I just did. Yeah, it sucked. Hopefully Atari will not make the same mistakes Vivendi and Black Isle did with that stinker should they decide to revisit the console route with it the series. Unless, of course, Vivendi holds the console rights. I have no idea and don’t really care. I just want another good Baldur’s Gate game.

At any rate, Phil Harrision also mentioned what Eurogamer called an “early-09 pledge” for actual retail releases of Sam & Max: Season Two on PC and Wii (no exact date given), and Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution for Wii in March.

As soon as we know more about any of the above titles, we will be sure to let you know. In the meantime, for more information on any of these game, just hit one of the many links.

UPDATE: You can watch and download the hour long keynote speech featuring Phil Harrison and David Gardner here.