Next Red Faction to be unveiled 'later this month'

THQ has never been shy about reflecting on the job it did marketing Red Faction: Guerrilla's launch. "I'd give us a 'B' on the launch of Red Faction: Guerrilla," CEO Brian Farrell admitted to investors last July. Today, on a generally upbeat earnings call -- sales are up and quality is definitely up! -- Farrell again questioned the launch of the title, but this time with a new focus, saying, "I think we did a great job on the game, I think we did an average job on demand creation."

Demand creation is the new game in town at THQ's Core Games unit, and Farrell thinks the company has got this nut cracked for the next Red Faction title. "I think you'll see that in spades," Farrell said about creating that all-important demand creation for the future Red Faction. "You'll see it in the way we unveil it later this month." But it's not all about building hyp–err, demand creation -- THQ has got the SyFy movie and all those free copies of Guerrilla to help with that -- it's also about improving the quality of the game itself.

Danny Bilson already told Joystiq that the next game would be more "narrative" and Farrell reaffirms that goal. "It's got a new storyline; we think that was one of the weaker points [in Guerrilla]," Farrell said. "Red Faction's always been a technological showpiece, and we wanted to add production values in terms of story and environment this year. And when you see the new Red Faction, it's just a much more appealing game universe."

When can you smash this more appealing game universe, you ask? Farrell mentioned a fiscal 2011 release window, which is open now and ends in March 2011, for the as-yet-unnamed sequel ... right when Bilson told us to expect it. But first things first, we'll learn more about this new, more narrative Red Faction "later this month." And then we'll tell you. (See, that's how this relationship works.)