However, several other titles, some underrated and others outright ignored, deserve to be remembered. It could be the port of a PC title or that one legendary movie tie-in that no one else remembers. Let’s dive into them.

The Thing

Trying to make an impact in the survival horror genre, especially with juggernauts like Silent Hill and Resident Evil around, is no easy task. Nevertheless, The Thing had interesting hooks, like the Fear/Trust system. If an NPC believes you were The Thing, they could attack, but even if unsure, they’d remain distrustful and ignore orders. They can also become scared, lash out, commit suicide or die from heart attacks. It wasn’t perfect, but The Thing presented a tense atmosphere with strong environmental variety.

Additionally, players in Saudi Arabia also noticed the addition of Max Payne 3 to the list, as shared in multiple Twitter posts. Dead or Alive 3 is dated November 15th for availability, while all others (excluding Max Payne 3) have been dated 10th November.

With Xbox’s 20th anniversary drawing closer. speculation suggests that these games could be added to the Xbox Backward Compatibility program. Another important point worth noting is that some of these games don’t even have proper box arts right now, and none can be purchased or downloaded as of now, so it might be best to keep expectations in check. However, those interested in checking out the full list of games can look below – courtesy of Xbox Era:

• Dead or Alive
• Dead or Alive 2
• Dead or Alive 3
• Manhunt
• Max Payne
• Max Payne 2
• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
• Red Dead Revolver
• Star Wars: Clone Wars
• Star Wars: Episode III
• Thrillville

https://twitter.com/IdleSloth84/status/1459138732838240259

METAL GEAR SOLID 5: THE PHANTOM PAIN

An obvious first pick for a feature such as this one. There’s no shortage of areas where Metal Gear Solid 5 ended up being drastically different from the game Hideo Kojima and his team had originally wanted to make. From the story’s conclusion being effectively cut out to several gameplay features being dropped to the entire second half of the game being a remix of the first half due to time constraints to several significant narrative changes being made even to some of the primary characters, the Metal Gear Solid 5 that we got was an almost unrecognizable game from what it could have been if things had gone to plan.

Army of Two: The 40th Day

A sequel to an EA title selling less than 250,000 copies in its first month isn’t ideal, which is a shame because Army of Two: The 40^th Day was a genuinely fun game. It leaned even more into the original’s Michael Bay-style of explosive action, added new heavy enemies that further reinforced co-op tactics and even had morality-based decisions. Though not the most trail-blazing title, it was still a nice time-waster with friends.

RED DEAD REVOLVER WAS ORIGINALLY IN DEVELOPMENT AT CAPCOM

Though Red Dead has become one of Rockstar’s most valuable properties, it was Capcom who first started development on the game. The game was under development at Angel Studios, under the funding and oversight of Capcom, but both companies disagreed on the direction that they wanted Red Dead Revolver to take. As such, the game was cancelled by Capcom in 2003. Recently, however, Angel Studios had been acquired by Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, and rebranded as Rockstar San Diego, and one of Angel Studios’ former projects caught the eye of Rockstar boss Dan Houser. In December of 2003, Rockstar acquired the rights to Red Dead Revolver from Capcom- and the rest is history.

REVOLVER WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE VERY ARCADE-Y

Rockstar isn’t a studio that shies away from bombastic, over-the-top, arcade-y fun, as the Grand Theft Auto games perfectly show, and though Red Dead Redemption itself is very different in style, Revolver was definitely leaning more in that arcade-y direction. However, back when it was still under development under Capcom, it was apparently, much more arcade-y. It was so arcade-y, in fact, that it even had a character that could fly. “The Capcom game was uber-arcade,” Hamish Brown of Rockstar told BBC in an interview in April 2004. “It even had a character who could fly. We kept its arcade roots but gave it a more realistic backdrop. It was a case of taking Capcom’s personality and infusing it with some of our own, taking out things like the four-foot moustaches on the Mexican bandits and adding motion capture cut-scenes and voiceovers that capture our dark sense of humour.”

IT WAS DECIDED NEAR THE END OF REVOLVER’S DEVELOPMENT THAT THE SEQUEL WOULD BE OPEN WORLD

Even though Rockstar probably couldn’t have known just what Red Dead would go on to become and how well it would go on to do for them when they first acquired it, they at least knew that it wasn’t just going to be a one game thing. Because even before Revolver was out, they were already in the planning stages of what they wanted the sequel to be like even while the development on the first game was wrapping up. And during this time, they’d already decided that the game that would go on to become Red Dead Redemption would be an open world title.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION- SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR

Thanks to its switch to an open world setting, its brand new narrative that was unrelated to the first game, and its switch in tone to a more grounded style of storytelling, even though technically Red Dead Redemption was a sequel to Revolver, Rockstar didn’t look at it that way. They looked at Red Dead Redemption as more of a spiritual successor.

THE VOICE OF JOHN MARSTON

John Marston is without a doubt one of the best and most fiercely loved characters we’ve seen in a video game over the lst decade or so, and a lot of that is thanks to his excellent portrayal by Rob Wiethoff. However, while casting, he was not exactly Rockstar’s first choice. Initially, Rockstar offered the role of John Marston to several well known actors, including Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Robert Duvall. They all turned the down- Rockstar eventually offered the role to Wiethoff, and really, we’re quite glad that that turned out the way it did.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION- UNUSED WANTED POSTERS

Seeing wanted posters plastered on walls and structures all across the wild, untamed west of Red Dead Redemption is by no means an uncommon occurrence- it is a game about outlaws and bandits, after all. Apparently, there are also plenty of wanted posters for John Marston and the character Abraham Reyes that were never used in the game, which Rockstar probably placed in the game’s map at some point but eventually removed.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION IN SOUTH KOREA

Localization isn’t something we often give a lot of thought to, but every so often, some games – even the huge ones – don’t get localized in some pretty major markets. Case in point- Red Dead Redemption, which never got dubbing and translation work down for South Korean markets. However, it did come with a guide, which contained translations from the game for players to read while playing.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION- THE ELEGANT SUIT

For all the completionists out there, the Elegant Suit in Red Dead Redemption is something you’re probably familiar with, as one of the nine suits that you need to have if you want 100 per cent completion in the game. That, and the fact that John Marston just looks so darn dapper wearing it, make it a pretty cool outfit. Originally, though, Rockstar intended for it to come without a hat. We’re glad they changed their minds, because that hat makes the outfit ten times cooler.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION- THE DUSTER COAT OUTFIT

This is another outfit completionists are probably familiar with. The Duster Coat, which was literally just a coat that Marston wore over his outfit, was acquired by reaching the Peacemaker Honor rank. As it turns out, it was part of the game since pretty much the beginning of its development. In the teaser released for the game in 2005 (which was the year RDR started development), Rockstar actually even included the Duster Coat outfit.

YOUNGEST AND OLDEST ROCKSTAR PLAYABLE CHARACTERS IN RED DEAD REDEMPTION

Here’s something else about Red Dead Redemption that you might find interesting- at the time of its release, it had both, the youngest and the oldest playable character in a game developed by Rockstar. The youngest being Jack Marston, who was nineteen years of age, and the oldest being the thirty eight year old John Marston. Of course, John Marston is no longer the oldest Rockstar protagonist, having been beaten for age by Grand Theft Auto 5’s 45 year old Michael.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION WAS IN DEVELOPMENT FOR FIVE YEARS

Ideas for what a sequel to Red Dead Revolver would be like had already been kicking around at Rockstar San Diego as the first game neared the end of its development. It launched in 2004, and by 2005, Red Dead Redemption had entered production at the studio. The game was in development for five years, with over 800 people working on it, before it finally launched in 2010.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 WAS IN DEVELOPMENT FOR EIGHT YEARS

Rockstar’s known to be a studio that likes taking its time with the games it works on. As we just mentioned, Red Dead Redemption, which was in development for five years, was a prime example of that. But its sequel, the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2, has taken things one step further. It began development in 2010, not long after Red Dead Redemption released, and after nearly eight years in development (and some heart-breaking delays), it’s finally almost here.

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN ALL ROCKSTAR STUDIOS

What’s interesting about the development of Red Dead Redemption 2 is that no one single Rockstar Studio is wholly responsible for it. In the past, even though there obviously has been some collaboration between Rockstar’s studios, their games have usually been developed primarily by a single team. GTA 5, for instance, was developed by Rockstar North, while Red Dead Redemption was developed by Rockstar San Diego. However, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a collaborative effort by all Rockstar studios. That’s nine studios across five countries- England, Scotland, United States, India, and Canada. The developers of the games, as such, are not Rockstar North, or Rockstar San Diego, or Rockstar Leeds, but Rockstar Studios- a first for Rockstar.

MORE THAN 1,200 ACTORS INVOLVED

During the development of Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar employed over 1,200 actors for motion capture and voice recording purposes. Of these 1,200, over 700 recorded lines for the game. Which, as it turns out, was necessary, because each NPC in the game supposedly has their own mood and personality, and a ton of dialog as well. In fact, every NPC in the game supposedly has over 80 pages of dialog. 

500,000 LINES OF DIALOG

Here are some more interesting figures for you. There are a total of over 500,000 lines in the game, a total of 300,000 animations, while all the motion capture work was spread over 2,200 days of recording. Meanwhile, the game also has a main story script that’s nearly 2,000 pages long. Red Dead Redemption 2 is probably the most ambitious game Rockstar has ever made, and these are just a few of the figures that show just how ambitious.

Red Dead Redemption was released as a backward compatible game on the Xbox One this summer but now fans of the series can play it’s predecessor on the PS4. Red Dead Revolver might not be as popular as Redemption, but it has plenty to offer to those who are loving some of the older games that have become classics.

The game is probably going to look a little dated when compared to the games that are being released for the PS4 and Xbox One. Still, Rockstar managed to make it one of the most loved “Wild West” video games around.

Set in the 1880’s Red Dead Revolver features players taking on the role of a bounty hunter named Red. While players can choose to go from contract to contract, they can also just play the main mission where Red finds out who murdered his parents. Red Dead Revolver on the PS4 store for $14.99 right now.

Red Dead Redemption is considered to be one of the greatest games ever made, and most of the gaming world is eagerly anticipating a sequel to the game to hit the PS4 and Xbox One. However, before Red Dead Redemption, there was Red Dead Revolver, the forgotten original game that most people probably don’t even know existed.

Red Dead Revolver launched on the Xbox and PlayStation 2, and while it did okay, it didn’t receive the kind of acclaim that its sequel would go on to. It’s still a fun game, and for Red Dead fans, it is an opportunity to see where the series’ roots lie. Now, PS4 owners can play Red Dead Revolver on their consoles thanks to Rockstar making it available via PS2 Classics.

The download is 2.76GB, and the game is available now- at least on the Australian PSN Store, according to NeoGAF. If you have a hankering for more Red Dead action, while Rockstar faffs around on actually announcing the third game in the series, go ahead and give it a go. You may even like it.

This modified engine was used for Max Payne 3 and was changed yet again to bring us GTA V. With all the new features in Grand Theft Auto 5, that we’ve seen in the five minute gameplay trailer, we can’t help but wonder what a new installment in the Red Dead franchise would be like. Last year, Rockstar had teased that they are working on a new Red Dead game and we thought it will be interesting to analyze what the developers have up their sleeves for the next entry.

Red Dead Redemption was set in a classic and vibrant world that was full of life and populated with some really wonderful characters, environments, wildlife and more. Rockstar did an almost wonderfully unheard of job and really making the environment feel alive.

"Players being able to move through this open world on their own or with a group of people, fighting the law or competing against groups of bandits could be a great way to expand on the Red Dead universe. "

From what we’ve seen in the GTA V trailers, it looks like they’ve expanded on that same idea from the previous GTA games and even taking some ideas from Red Dead, like plenty of wildlife to hunt, as an example. The things Rockstar have learned from GTA IV to GTA V about designing a world has clearly improved over the years. It would be great to see even more substantial shifts in the environment moving forward, especially during the time of America’s rapid expansion into the West for the Red Dead series.

GTA V has shown us that we don’t need to be limited to one character. While Red Dead Redemption started with everyone’s favorite cowboy, John Marston it doesn’t need to stay this way. Moving forward with new characters wouldn’t be a terrible idea for Red Dead 3. GTA V is giving us control over multiple characters to shape the story. This would be an excellent mechanic for storytelling in the wild west where the land and the country and is still being shaped.

With more characters come more complexity in their stories. The story could follow the decline of the American Frontier after the civil war and with the industrial revolution in full-swing. Your group as well as others would struggle to survive in a quickly changing world and landscape. Cowboys existing around motorized vehicles, emergent cities popping up in the west. All the new details we’ve seen regarding GTAV seem like it would fit well in the setting of the Western United States, circa 1900 or so, you know, give or take a few years of course.

"GTA V has shown us that we don’t need to be limited to one character. While Red Dead Redemption started with everyone’s favorite cowboy, John Marston it doesn’t need to stay this way. "

Decisions are playing a bigger role in the new Grand Theft Auto title. In previous games people have always felt kind of like they’ve been along for the ride, an errand boy for a big-time criminal organization. Even after players have worked their way up to the boss themselves it still felt very limited for most of the previous GTA titles. The decision-making aspects would give players the feeling of being their “own man,” so to speak.

With Manifest destiny as a theme, buying up land and owning property would certainly be a perfect approach to the third Red Dead title. The time period of the expanding west, choosing how to manage missions, your allies, enemies and more. Imagine have the option to decide where the story takes you and what side of history you end up on. You could have a group of characters that you play through, much like GTA V. Players could decide to be outlaws and rob trains, steal horses and be a true villain of the West, they could also choose to defend a recently settled town and become the sheriff and to uphold the law, or dispense justice as the players see fit.

Rockstar games is supposedly including a vastly improved online option for GTA V  and while there isn’t too much information about it, it looks like there is going to be plenty of people driving, running and flying around the city. Hopefully this will include a higher than 16-player count. An online, open-world like what we’ve seen so far from GTA V is the embodiment and spirit of the old Wild West.

Players being able to move through this open world on their own or with a group of people, fighting the law or competing against groups of bandits could be a great way to expand on the Red Dead universe. Players could hunt other players who’ve committed terrible crimes for bounties and this could be based off of the characters actions not just deciding to be a “Good or Bad guy.” The game should have mechanics that require characters to interact with one another,  add extra depth, replayability and good old-fashioned teamwork.

Transportation is pretty straightforward in Red Dead compared to GTA, basically we’re resigned to horses and the occasional buggy or stage couch we get to drive. It would be great to have the option to travel using even more transportation modes though, how about an old Model-T like car, or steam boats?

"With Native American and even some Chinese culture in the area we should have the options for some other weapons like bows, swords, and hatchets. "

Towards the end of the United State’s expansion, forms of transportation like this would have at least started to pop up. Maybe not the automobile, but why not fudge the facts a little bit and maybe give us a steam power cars? GTAV looks like it’s going to have some pretty awesome transportation, while Red Dead doesn’t need to compete with that, some extra choices would still be nice.

The weapons in Red Dead Revolver and Redemption had a good selection of Industrial U.S. firearms. Designs were simple and limited back then, but it would be good to have a wide array of weapons. With Native American and even some Chinese culture in the area we should have the options for some other weapons like bows, swords, and hatchets. GTAV has an improved combat system so it would add a perfect improvement in the next Red Dead and may even open up a whole slew of melee and ranged weapons for the era.

It may be a tall order to expect a new game in the Red Dead series soon, especially when GTA V is right around the corner. With so much fun that many of us have had with the Red Dead series, it’s hard not to want another one. Rockstar is not the type of developer to let a great IP fade into obscurity, never to be seen again.

They are however completely fine with letting time pass between major releases. Look at the amount of time that passed between Max Payne 2 and 3 and the Grand Theft Auto IV and V. We are pretty sure that sequel won’t come anytime soon, but I don’t think that that Rockstar is going to leave us hanging forever.

Apparently, the highly acclaimed adventure was a ‘game changer’ for Take Two.

“It’s a big bet for sure. As it turns out, it paid off,” Feder told VentureBeat.

“Even after the high cost of development, it’s going to contribute nicely to profits. In the process, it has created a new franchise for the company.”

Take Two was of course in dire need of a new franchise, as they have traditionally relied only on Rockstar’s powerhouse GTA series for revenues. While they have had several other one off hits like Bully and Manhunt, they haven’t had a steady stream of revenues for a while now. With the continuing success of Bioshock, and now, Red Dead, Take Two have quite a few diverse game franchises to fall back on.

“We set out to diversify the product line three years ago. And today, Take-Two is more diversified than at any other point in its history,” Feder continued.

“Having a diverse set of brands allows us to pursue growth opportunities. Certain brands lend themselves to certain growth.”

“We are still digesting the success of Red Dead. It opens up avenues for us to pursue. It gives the company more flexibility. It’s a game changer for the company.”

Red Dead Redemption is the sequel to 2004’s sleeper hit Red Dead Revolver. It is now available on the Xbox 360 and the PS3.