thq
Latest
Mass Media joins THQ family
Veteran developer Mass Media has been acquired by THQ, as the publisher posted soaring profits following an impressive nine months (April-December 2006) in sales. With more than a decade of experience, Mass Media brings an eclectic range of potential talent to the THQ family. Most recently, Mass Media contributed a pair of Full Spectrum Warrior titles to PlayStation 2, but the developer has an archive of 30 titles that span the likes of CD-i, GBA, and the original Xbox.Mass Media is currently working on a unannounced game for the newest generation of consoles. Could it be the oft-rumored New Testament: The Bible Game 2? Better touch up on those letters to the Corinthians...
Saints Row PS3 bound, for real-reals
The open-world XBox 360 title Saints Row was super-duper officially confirmed to be headed towards the PS3 this spring. There's going to be online support mimicking that of the 360 version as well as a few more exclusive goodies. Rumored to be included in the PS3 edition are new cars, costumes, multiplayer maps and... well... they're just rumors, so we don't really know. But those are always nice things to tack on! Says Kelly Flock of THQ, "Bringing the open-world genre to the PlayStation 3 system for the first time will help grow the Saints Row fan base and expand the open-world online community." We sure hope so! If we can play against the XBox crowd, we should make two warring gangs: the XBots and the Sons of Sony. How fun would that be?
Saints Row confirmed for PS3
THQ has confirmed rumors that Saints Row is headed to the PlayStation 3. Volition's port is expected to be released this spring and will include support for PlayStation Network, bringing Saints Row's enjoyable multiplayer modes to PS3. The publisher did not address the possibility of new content being added to the PS3 version. Saints Row debuted on Xbox 360 in late August, receiving generally positive reviews. [Thanks, The_Foo_Fighter]
Not-so-secret projects probed
FiringSquad has done its best to out 18 high-profile "black ops" projects currently in development. While the site's sleuthing skills might not be up to par with Mr. Holmes', the report does a good job of rounding up under-the-radar titles that are begging for some attention.We'd like to direct the spotlight on two studios in particular: Tim Schafer's DoubleFine and Bungie expats Wideload, which are responsible for Psychonauts and Stubbs the Zombie, respectively (both titles landed in our top 10 'gems' of last generation). The two developers are hard at work on new projects; and with DoubleFine striking a publishing deal with Vivendi, its next game is sure to stir up more buzz (when it's time) than Majesco managed to generate for Psychonauts. Also, we can't wait to see what Warren Spector and Junction Point have under lock and key. Keep those ears (and eyes) glued to the street!
Frontlines brings 64 person multiplayer [update 1]
Update: An inside source reports to us that the information in Game Informer is a misprint. Matches over Xbox Live will be limited to 32 players. The PC version, however, should support 64 players online. Too bad, though 32 is nothing to sneeze at.The latest issue of Game Informer has a spread on Frontlines: Fuel of War, developed by Kaos Studios. Announced last April, Frontlines: Fuel of War is a military FPS featuring vehicular combat and advanced weaponry. The biggest tidbit of information, however, is revealed in the game's description. Should you walk by a copy of Game Informer in your local grocery store, flip to page 72 and focus your eyes directly under the title: "Up to 64-player via Xbox Live." You may be compelled to rub your eyes and unleash a hearty "whaa?" It's understandable. So there you go, from some of the same people that brought you Battlefield 2 comes 64 player madness.Anyone looking forward to this now?
Want to get that man vs. man UFC goodness? Behold...
THQ grabbed up the rights to an Ultimate Fighter's game. Expect blood and lots of rolling around on the ground. Also expect a yearly incarnation of the series as a game, a la wrestling, football, baseball... hell, every sports title, until the year 2011. THQ plans to load in a ton of online, multiplayer and downloadable content to the titles -- it would be neat to have real-time roster updates, possibly a ticker at the bottom of your screen indicating real UFC news whilst you fight with your character you create (if such an option will exist... that'd be sweet). Anyway, for all you UFC fans itching for a fight but don't want to bloody up those beautiful knuckles of your own, keep an eye out for a UFC game coming your way!
UFC pounding onto PSP
The first UFC game for Dreamcast really did something different with the fighting genre. It felt like a very violent game of chess and always kept you on your nerves. The license really lost steam as time went on though and eventually UFC games stopped being made all together. Now that the UFC is more popular than ever, THQ has decided to bring the octagon back to gamers. Joystiq has an article about the deal up, but let me quote the important part for PSP gamers: "The agreement will span all console and portable systems..." They didn't announce if one developer was handling all versions (which is unlikely) or if a different developer would work on each version. Judging from the huge stable of studios that work with THQ though, it's likely each platform will be a concentrated effort. For more, read the original article at Joystiq. Or you can find out why THQ bathes in money.
THQ sees future in UFC license
THQ has reached a deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship to secure the video game rights to the mixed martial arts brand through 2011. Both Crave Entertainment and TDK Mediactive have published UFC titles in the past (all of those games received mixed to poor reviews).The agreement will span all console and portable systems, in addition to the PC platform and certain mobile content. The UFC partnership comes amidst a deteriorating relationship with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which sued THQ back in October 2004, alleging bribes were used to obtain the wrastlin' organization's license, and then sued the publisher again this past October, accusing THQ of improper sales in Asia.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R finally gets a date. Of sorts.
When a needlessly cryptic countdown appears on a website built to promote a specific title, we naturally assume that it's counting down to a release date. But without an official confirmation, we're a bit hesitant to call the clock currently running on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl website a release countdown. We've been scorned before, baby. We know your dirty little tricks. Originally announced in 2001, GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R has been the recipient of many a vaporware award throughout its illustrious career of back burning. Having consulted the Joystiq abacus, we have determined that the countdown ends on March 22nd, 2007. What will happen exactly is up in the air. It could be a release date, or possibly even a demo of the game. It could even be an announcement of an announcement! S.T.A.L.K.E.R to be retooled into a Daikatana expansion pack confirmed!
THQ forms evil plan to net 1 BILLION dollars
Gamespot is reporting that the portable heavy publisher THQ plans to make one billion dollars in its fiscal 2007 year. it The forecast is due to incredibly strong sales of games like WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007, Cars, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.Brian Farrell, President and CEO of THQ, said, "THQ's platform strategy served us very well this holiday...This performance combined with our successful original property launches exclusively for next-generation systems have positioned THQ to achieve the significant milestone of $1 billion in sales for fiscal 2007." He then made plans to buy the Caspian Sea and rename it Bikini Bottom.
THQ stock option investigation over
Today seems to be a good day for video game publishers. First, Activision cleared up its stock option problems. Now THQ (THQI), the other video game company that had some 10-Q problems, is also out in the clear. Much to the relief of investors and THQ, the investigation into THQ's stock option plans was completed; happily for everyone, no fraud was found. The only inconsistency involved in an increase of $11 million in after-tax expenses. THQ is in the same situation as Activision. Both had stock option problems, both had that monkey pulled from their back and both are expected to have a good 2007. Their insistence on heavy Wii support is the reason. Let's hope we get some more good publisher news to add to these two.
Which publisher is the PSP's biggest supporter? [Update 1]
The other day I got to thinking about how many antelope it would take to kill a professional wrestler. After I was done thinking about that, I wondered which publisher is the biggest supporter of the PSP. Then I remembered that I have no life and also blog on a PSP site, so I decided to get an answer to that question. Before I started looking into it, I assumed Capcom would be in first or second place for supporters just judging my library and what I typically see in stores.Surprisingly, they weren't even the third biggest supporter with only ten games on the system. My next hunch was that either EA or Ubisoft (being the giant companies they are) must have the most games on the PSP. They do have a lot of games out, but at eleven games each, they can't take the crown of biggest supporter. Activision did beat out many contenders with their number of games totaling fourteen, but they also were not the winner. So who is the PSP's biggest supporter? While this may or may not be surprising, it's Sony themselves. SCEA has at least twenty-six games on their own platform and easily bested all comers with their release library. While a first-party publisher winning may be obvious, to many PSP fans (including myself), I often think Sony isn't doing enough to support their portable. While that may or may not be true, they still have by far the most games out on the platform. Let's just hope that Sony as well as other publishers continue to be kind to our beloved portable in this new year. [Via Gamespot][Update 1: Fixed font error.]
Saints Row goes off-Broadway
Sure, Saints Row is full of thugged out gangsta' pimps, but it's full of something else, too: bugs. Cabel, a man known for his DS review videos, has put together something very special to commemorate these bugs. Along with a friend, he's put together a musical, Buggy Saints Row. Well, it's really more like three vignettes, but it's still funny. With songs like "Where's my F*cking Car," you really can't miss. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the softer side of Saints Row. Follow the "read" link for Cabel's thoughts and a higher quality video.[Via Joystiq]
Saint's Row the musical
THQ's Saint's Row, the GTA clone that hit the Xbox 360 (for those who don't know), was a good move for them. The game sold well and made THQ stockholders very happy. However, the game shipped with some horrendous bugs, many of which completely broke the game. Many gamers never saw them, but others were inundated by them from start to finish. One such gamer decided to make the best of it. A blogger by the name of Cabel decided to film his buggy escapades and put them to a musical. The musical is fairly well done, in a hokey homebrew sort of way, and does have a comical segment where apparently the night sky in Stillwater hangs out somewhere below the surface of the planet during the day (vindicating the Dark Ages Roman Catholic church by proving the world is, indeed, flat). Check the link for the higher quality, not-YouTube version.
Santa's Row: reindeer up, ho ho hos down
Just to put everyone in the holiday spirit, Volition has rolled out some new content for Saints Row. Download the "Ho Ho Ho Pack" from Marketplace for access to a brand new Santa suit. We suggest you reenact the movie Bad Santa to your heart's content. Have your character drink himself silly, mistreat a few prostitutes, and go on a shooting spree. Is there any better way to spread holiday cheer? We submit that there is not. Merry Christmas, everyone!*[Thanks, Jay sheffield. Image via b3ta.com]*Except Live Silver members, who will be able to download the content after December 25th.
Download a demo, get free spam
No, we don't mean that if you download a demo you'll get free Spam, the delicious meat-like product. We mean that you'll get email spam, which is far less appetizing. That Game Blog details the nefarious doings of THQ*, makers of SmackDown Vs. RAW 2007. TGB received an email this morning, advertising the game and pointing them to the official SVR 2007 Myspace page. So, yeah, it was spam. The nefarious part is in small print at the top of the email: "You are receiving this email because you signed up for SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 product updates when you downloaded the game demo from Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace." See? Nefarious, right? Even more diabolical, this info is nowhere to be found on the demo's Marketplace description (we know, because we totally checked). Is Microsoft aware of this activity? Do you unwillingly agree to this kind of thing simply by signing up for Xbox Live? Granted, it's easy enough to unsubscribe from such emails, but we find the lack of disclosure a little alarming. Have any of our readers received this email, or others like it?[Thanks, jake]*Fun fact: THQ doesn't want you to know this -- because it would tarnish their manly image -- but the name of the company originally stood for Toy Headquarters.
Smackdown returns, do the load times still suck?
Smackdown is out today. I was originally going to do a Metareview for this game, but I decided: why not focus on the one crucial flaw of last year's game? The load times. As you may remember, WWE SmackDown! 2006 got smacked down by the gaming community by having quite possibly the worst load times of any game in recent memory. Is this year's iteration of the popular wrestling franchise any better? Let's find out: Gamespot (79/100) - "Load times are still a big issue, as well, though not quite as humongous an issue as they were last year. Prematch load times are still long and annoying, especially when you have entrances set to on; menu transitions, especially in season mode, take longer than they ought to; and creating a wrestler can still be a time-consuming process, thanks to the loading. Again, Yuke's did improve this aspect somewhat this year, but load times continue to get in the way of the game." Games Radar (80/100) - "The developers remembered this, too; they made a focused effort to drastically reduce loading. And it worked: the loads aren't lightning quick, but they are far faster, now measuring in double-digit seconds instead of minutes." GameZone (85/100) - "On to the bad news, the game suffers from heavy lag that just doesn't pertain to the Ad Hoc multiplayer mode but throughout the single-player mode as well. This, of course, is a major annoyance that often leads to missed punches or choke slams. Secondly, the long load times are back, although - on a lighter note -they're not as frequent as the first game." The critics say the load times have improved, but are they tolerable yet? I'm placing an open challenge to all readers: if you own this game, please make a similar video, for PSP Fanboy fame, and maybe even a little swag, or something.
Relic looks into RPG's and MMO's, looks also for people
Relic is best known for real-time strategy, so in truth, this isn't a very major deviation from prior games. If you've not heard of Relic, some of their titles of renown are Company of Heroes and Homeworld. Now, Relic is looking for developers and designers to assist them in creating a super-secret RPG and an MMO game. Console announcements are completely mum, but Relic did release an action/strategy title for the 360 earlier called The Outfit, so it's a fairly safe bet to say at the minimum, the games will see light on the 360. Probably the PS3, too. That's about it. It would be cool to have an RPG with a similar setting to these other games. Heck, anything aside from the generic fantasy/sci-fi fare would be welcome. Give us a WWII RPG for once. It might not be that great, but it's different enough to warrant an effort. Anyone else have any good, moderately original settings for an RPG? Maybe you should apply to work on this. I'm considering it. Lightly. Very lightly.
THQ exec and his dedication to the Wii
Brian Farrell, THQ hot-shot, recently sat down with Next-Gen.biz and spoke about his company and its future. More important to all of us, however, is his views on both of Nintendo's platforms. Seeing them both as the major focal points for his business, Farrell said:"We said we were going to bring all our core franchises to the DS and we're now the largest independent, second only to Nintendo, on the DS. We feel the same way about Wii because we're real strong on the mass market. We love the Wii, we jumped on it. The company has four Wii titles available."So, with a dedication to both of Nintendo's consoles, THQ is one of Nintendo's strongest third-party supporters. The majority of the piece covers THQ on a whole, but it's always nice to hear someone take time and salute Nintendo.
THQ exec and his dedication to the DS
Brian Farrell, THQ hot-shot, recently sat down with Next-Gen.biz and spoke about his company and its future. More important to all of us, however, is his views on both of Nintendo's platforms. Seeing them both as the major focal points for his business, Farrell said:"We said we were going to bring all our core franchises to the DS and we're now the largest independent, second only to Nintendo, on the DS. We feel the same way about Wii because we're real strong on the mass market. We love the Wii, we jumped on it. The company has four Wii titles available."So, with a dedication to both of Nintendo's consoles, THQ is one of Nintendo's strongest third-party supporters. The majority of the piece covers THQ on a whole, but it's always nice to hear someone take time and salute Nintendo.
