Did you pick up a copy of Aliens Colonial Marines from SEGA and Gearbox? If so, you’ll be interested to know that both companies in question have now been targeted in a class action lawsuit, over false advertising claims relating to pre-release graphics and the resulting graphics that featured in the final copy of the game.

If you have been keeping an eye on the situation, you’ll probably know that bad things were coming Gearbox’s way after so many complaints on the issue. To give you a recap, watch the video that we have included above – which shows scenes from Aliens Colonial Marines being shown for the first time at E3 in 2012, and the same scenes in the final version of the game.

The differences in graphics are so clear cut, that even Gearbox president Randy Pitchford admitted in a Tweet that something suspect was going on, although he hasn’t made a definitive statement on the reasons why or indeed said anything yet about this lawsuit.

It looks like they have been truly caught out trying to deceive gamers on this occasion and it looks like the price may now be paid as a result of the lawsuit. The accuser is seeking damages for everyone who pre-ordered the game, or purchased the game on release date.

You can read much more about this over at Polygon, who have obtained a copy of the lawsuit from Edelson LLC. We have a feeling that this definitely isn’t over and it will be interesting to see what the ending result will be. The graphics are clearly different though, as you’ll see in the video.

If you have picked up a copy of Aliens Colonial Marines before or on launch date, are you now seeking some compensation as well?

As most of you are probably aware, it isn’t the first delay that we’ve seen for this game. In basically matching Final Fantasy Versus XIII proportions, Colonial Marines has actually been in development since late 2006, meaning that the game will have had a staggering seven years of development time.

After Sega last announced a delay in January when they said that the game will be coming out in Fall 2012, Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford has now revealed that the game will be releasing on February 12 2013 instead. While it is comforting that we finally see a solid release date given to the game, many of you will obviously be feeling that Gearbox are taking way too long to bring the game out.

Given the fact that Aliens Vs Predator by Rebellion wasn’t particularly amazing – should Gearbox be given more time to get things right? Seven years is obviously stretching the limit just a little bit but at the end of the day, there’s little consumers can do other than sit back and hope that all these delays are well worth it in the hope of finally getting a decent Aliens game to match the awesome original movies.

As big Aliens fans ourselves, it’s a shame to see yet another delay, especially after the bad news regarding Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider. However, given that Borderlands was an excellent game from Gearbox, we have a feeling that many of you are willing to accept this fresh delay and just look forward to the final release next year. Having said that, we’re now in the midst of a very impatient gaming industry, where consumers are used to seeing a new Call of Duty game every single year. The only problem there is that Call of Duty is an established brand and can make mistakes and still sell millions. Can Gearbox afford the same luxury? After Duke Nukem Forever, we’re not so sure on that.

The good news is that Sega has released a new trailer of the game, so at least you can see how the game is shaping up in the midst of this delay. Are you confident that it will end up being the best Aliens game ever, or are you a bit angry that the game isn’t coming out in 2012 any more?

The game’s publisher, SEGA originally signified spring 2012 as being the period that we could expect to see the game released. However, today’s news suggests that the date has been pushed back a little further, as AVP Galaxy spotted that the official website now reports we won’t be seeing the game until autumn 2012. When the publisher was asked for a comment on the matter it was revealed that they were not discussing the release date for the moment, suggesting a simple delay was to blame.

Earlier this month we brought our readers the first details of the collector’s edition of the game which was packed full of bonus Alien content including a new game mode, unlockable weapons and a highly detailed resin display model, complete with a limited edition display box. The details came from what was thought to be a leaked image, making the announcement somewhat unofficial, but led us to believe we would be seeing the game released sooner rather than later.

With a new release date now thought to be coming in autumn we can expect to see a lot more details revealed about the game in the not too distant future. Perhaps some trailer and screenshots would be enough to get an idea of the quality of the game, but for now we will just have to assume that the game may end up being a disappointment as past Alien games have been, hopefully we get proved wrong.

What do you think of Aliens: Colonial Marines so far?

The news comes from an image, that is reported to be leaked, which made its way onto French gaming website Gamekyo, although in situations like this is it often the publisher that is behind the details revealed, in this case SEGA. The image shows a fair amount of content is exclusive to those who purchase the collector’s edition including new game mode, unlockable weapons and a ‘highly detailed resin display model, complete with a limited edition display box and wrap around display.

There are three weapons that appear to be available to unlock, these are the M41A Pulse Rifle, M577 A2 Smart Gun and the M240 Flamethrower. According to the image these weapons will be available in multiplayer modes. The new game mode is called USCM Academy Firing Range, suggesting that it may be some form of tutorial level.

As for the resin display model, it represents a marine strapped into the classic yellow power loading suit, fending off an alien. While SEGA are yet to confirm how genuine the details are, the image itself looks legitimate enough. The game is slated for a spring launch time this year and will be available across all platforms including PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Check out the image for yourself to see all the extra content that is expected to be available.

What do you think of this collector’s edition? Will you be purchasing it?

The first impressions from the folks at Gouki are that the look and feel for the game in terms of its likeness to the surroundings in the film are great. They say that any fans of the film will be able to easily recognise the blueprints of the buildings.

The E3 demo shows that there will be 4 player online co-op mode which Gouki say looks very good. They also managed to sneak a peak at some custom designs on the armour for some of the other co-op players which suggests that there may be custom armour designs for different players to choose and use.

The demo showed various features of the game from firefights to simple gameplay and the impression we get from Gouki is that the game looks exciting. For any fans of the film series this may be one to add to the collection, in fact even people who haven’t watched the films should enjoy the game. For full details check out Gouki.

The video was found thanks to an easter egg hidden in the teaser trailer, if you head over to our previous post and watch the video you will see this IP address: 66.194.172.6, if you type this into your browser’s address bar and then enter “FATHER” as the host name you can watch an extended trailer which shows gameplay, sadly at the time of this post we cannot embed this video.

After watching the extended trailer you will notice that lots of the content is the same as before, however towards the end you get to see a few glimpses of gameplay, sadly none of the footage gives too much away, therefore we presume that a more detailed trailer will emerge soon, perhaps at E3 2011.

While we are on the subject we thought we would get some feedback from you regarding the game’s developer, as previously mentioned Gearbox Software‘s developers are working on the game and they have recently been the guys behind Duke Nukem Forever and Borderlands, do you think that they will do Aliens: Colonial Marines justice?

The game is being published by Sega and has been in development since 2006, recently the official Aliens: Colonial Marines website was launched, if you check out the official website (here) you can see the game’s debut teaser trailer along with the game’s first-ever screenshot, we have embedded both of these at the end of this post.

After watching the trailer you may be a little disappointed to see that you don’t get to see any of the game’s playable characters or gruesome enemies in detail, in fact all you really get to see is someone checking out the U.S.S. Sulaco’s computer logs whilst talking, both Ellen Ripley and Carter J Burke get mentioned during the dialogue and the game’s plot gets outlined. You also get to see some brief CCTV footage which shows one of the aliens aboard the abandoned ship.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is coming to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, you can see a full list of the game’s features on its official website, we like the sound of the classic Marine weapons you can use (flame throwers, motion trackers and pulse rifles) also Sega has promised eerie, atmospheric and authentic environments, drop-in / drop-out co-op gameplay and the ability to customize your characters with perks, weaponry and new looks.

Before writing this article I must confess I wasn’t too excited about Aliens: Colonial Marines, however it looks like we could be in for a real treat next Spring.

Does Aliens: Colonial Marines sound more exciting then you had anticipated?