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Warhammer 40K Armageddon gets details, coming in 2014
There are a couple of Warhammer-related titles on their way to iOS soon, but this is the most interesting yet. Developer Slitherine has revealed that it's working on a title called Warhammer 40K: Armageddon, a turn-based, hex-tiled strategy game coming to PC and iOS next year. The game will set Space Marines against Orks across 35 different scenarios, and feature over 100 units with upgradeable stats and attributes, along with a modding system and a separate set of maps balanced out for multiplayer. Armageddon joins a number of other Warhammer games in progress, including Warhammer Quest and the upcoming Space Hulk adaptation. This is an extremely popular game franchise, and iOS is quickly becoming the home of choice for its games. Unfortunately, we won't get to see Armageddon in action until next year at least, but we'll look forward to seeing it then. Show full PR text Armageddon™ invasion starts in 2014 Warhammer® 40,000® turn-based strategy videogame details are disclosed Slitherine and Games Workshop® are pleased to announce Warhammer® 40,000®: Armageddon™. Having announced an exciting partnership with Games Workshop a few weeks ago, Slitherine are delighted to release further details. Slitherine have acquired the exclusive rights to Games Workshop's "Battle for Armageddon" setting in order to create a series of amazing multiplatform, turn-based, hex-based games. Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon will make full use of Slitherine's expertise in creating compelling and challenging strategy gaming experiences. The initial game is set during the Second War of Armageddon and players will lead the Imperial forces of the Armageddon Steel Legion and Space Marines® from the Ultramarines, Blood Angels and Salamanders Chapters against Ghazghkull Thraka's massive Ork Waaagh! invasion through over 30 scenarios, on the hostile terrain of the planet and its gigantic Hive Cities. "It is very exciting to see a game like this come alive - I just can't wait to play it!", said Iain McNeil, Development Director of the Slitherine Group. "It's been almost 15 years since a turn-based strategy game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe has been released and we think it is now time to deliver that experience to all fans around the world". "The Battle for Armageddon is a classic event in the lore of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, having been detailed in games, models and novels over the past 20 years." said Jon Gillard, Head of Licensing at Games Workshop. "Slitherine's masterful use of their classic digital wargame style applied to this seminal setting will delight fans of both." The game is currently in development for PC and iOS and will release in the first quarter of 2014. Main features of the game include: The game portrays the Second War for Armageddon™ in great detail, from the initial Ork landings to the final liberation of the planet; It contains a large branching campaign with 30 major scenarios, plus additional 5 tutorial scenarios that explore the story in detail; A complex plot, which can develop during a mission, right in the middle of battle, creating an engaging story line with unexpected twists; Players lead Imperial troops of the Armageddon™ Steel Legion, with supporting assets from a number of Space Marine chapters against the ferocious Orks; Fight alongside Commissar Yarrik and Commander Dante against the cunning Ork Warboss Ghazghkull Thraka; Carry over battle-hardened veterans from scenario to scenario, using their experience and upgrading their equipment; Detailed combat model with terrain, weather and morale effects; Extensive modding options delivered through a powerful and easy-to-use game editor. Some numbers: Over 35 scenarios; Over 100 unit types, with unique roles, stats and special abilities; 20 different units stats; A separate set of maps are designed and balanced specifically for multiplayer via Slitherine's PBEM++ system.
GDC 2013: Space Hulk lurches towards release
Since I'm a huge Warhammer 40k fan, I was very excited to hear that a company named Full Control is planning to port the old Space Hulk board game to iOS, and I was even more excited to find the game up and running on the floor of GDC last week in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Full Control's game has quite a bit of development yet to go. It's definitely working, and the team is moving towards an iOS-playable version of the famous Warhammer board game. But the animations and the balance both need a lot of work yet before the title is set to arrive this fall. If you've never played Space Hulk, it's essentially a very condensed, close-quarters battle simulation set in the Warhammer 40k universe. You play as a crew of Space Marines (big, hulking soldiers equipped with heavy armor) aboard a giant ship, with monstrous creatures called genestealers in between you and certain objectives. Turn by turn, you move your Space Marines tactically down crowded corridors, trying to break through the genestealer lines in a series of scenarios. I saw the game played on a PC, though Full Control says it's hoping to release on PC, Mac and iPad all at the same time, and it's even trying to get an iPhone version done, though the game's controls aren't really viable at the moment for a screen that small. It definitely looked cramped and dingy, which is what you want in a game like this, though lots of the graphical elements weren't done, including the animation of the Space Marines moving around. The team may have a bit of an issue getting the graphics running on the iPad, too: Full Control's rep said a lot of the dynamic lighting might have to be removed to run the game on the tablet. The other major issue with Space Hulk right now is that the game is hard. Really hard. Obviously, a tactical board game shouldn't be a walk in the park, but even in the short demo I saw, the developer got rushed by genestealers very quickly, and only by luck was able to take one or two of them down. His whole party was soon overwhelmed as the Space Marines moved across the grid-based board trying to shore up the lines, and we lost on the very first level. Obviously, the game is a long way out from release, and the team has plenty of time to streamline the title down a bit to make sure that new players can at least figure things out. But Space Hulk looks like a relatively faithful version of the old board game, and Warhammer 40k enthusiasts will undoubtedly be happy to hear the Marines call each other "brother" and stomp around the dark spaceship's hallways. We'll look for a more refined version of the title later on this year.
Warhammer Quest coming to the App Store next year
Rodeo Games, the team behind the popular Hunters strategy RPG series, has announced a new title called Warhammer Quest, which is of course set in the excellent Warhammer universe owned by Games Workshop. Unfortunately, despite there being a short teaser trailer for the upcoming game, we don't know much about it at all. Given Rodeo's past, we'd hope that it's a strategy RPG title that borrows a lot of elements from the great tabletop game. There was an old Warhammer Quest board game released back in 1995, and considering that these two have the same logo, it's probably going to be very similar to that. The Warhammer license is definitely a popular one (I prefer the sci-fi oriented Warhammer 40,000 series myself, but I don't mind the fantasy version either), and Rodeo has already proven that it's got the chops to make a solid strategy action title. Warhammer Quest is due out on iOS sometime in 2013, so there will be a bit of a wait until we hear more.
THQ reveals the dark engine powering Warhammer 40K
Hungry for information -- any information at all -- on Vigil Games' upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online? Did you watch the Imperium of Man trailer and gibber, "More! MORE!" So did we. Unfortunately, it was looking like we'd have to be content with hints... ...but fortunately, Games On Net cornered David Adams, Vigil Games' GM, and pumped him for further details. While Adams was reluctant to go into the specifics of gameplay, he did open up about WAR40K's engine, which is the same one the company used for Darksiders. The engine is being tweaked for the MMO, although Adams testified that it was already great with portraying a seamless world, which should be perfect for WAR40K's needs. DirectX 11 is also slated for inclusion. So will the graphic requirements be low enough that the game could run on a toaster, or will it be a high-performance-only excursion? While Adams admits that the necessary graphic options will take a decent machine to run well, he's hoping to have as many visual toggles as possible so that WAR40K can reach a wider audience. He wouldn't say how many characters he expects the engine to handle in a certain area, other than to claim: "Big, it's 40K, it's all about big giant battlefields." You can watch the full video over at Games On Net.
THQ says Warhammer 40K MMO doesn't need a million subscribers
We all know game developers love to announce big numbers. A million of this, ten million of that, forty million of the other. No thanks, says THQ -- our Warhammer 40K MMO will be just fine without all that. The Warhammer 40k team is small and very experienced, so they have the advantage of skipping a lot of expensive trial-and-error, moving straight to building the game right. In a recent conference call, THQ's CEO Brian Farrell pointed to the relatively low investment cost of the Warhammer 40k MMO as the reason that they don't need to aim for huge numbers: "We don't need the kind of subscriber levels that people throw around, like a million subscribers, to make a lot of money on this title. If we get anywhere near that level, we'll be making a lot of money." Given the enthusiasm shown by fans of the title, they just might hit those numbers anyway.
Vigil Games details Warhammer 40K MMO
While what we know about the game is barely knee-high to a gretchin, PC Gamer magazine recently had the opportunity to speak with a pair of folks behind Vigil Games' upcoming Warhammer 40,000 MMO, specifically general manager David Adams and studio creative director Joe Madureira. Both shed a few details on what we can expect while we wait patiently to kill rats aboard space hulks for the emperor. Says Adams, the game will be "much more intense" and combat-focused than the traditional fantasy MMOs upon which we've cut our teeth, giving us all the more reason to want to trade up our broadsword for a storm bolter. However, the dev notes that the MMO "will be an RPG," adding that "Relic has the RTS angle covered with the awesome Dawn of War series - we are making an RPG." Other interesting tidbits from the article include note that the game will include all of the tabletop game's "important" races, customizable characters, a variety of solo, party-based, and PvP missions, and the possibility of in-game vehicles as well. We can't wait to see how the tabletop war game makes the leap to MMO, but as it stands, in the grim darkness of the far future ... there is only waiting.[Via Massively]
WRUP: Squad-based vehicles edition
This week, the new releases pretty much deal with squad-based combat or vehicles exclusively. So, if you aren't down with that, you're likely to not be picking up a new game. But, have no fear, as the holidays come next week and you're likely to receive some kind of gaming gift, if you were a good boy or girl. There's that to look forward to as you spend the weekend without a new game.So, what are you playing?
Promotional Consideration: Advertising with Power
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.As of October of this year, Nintendo of America relinquished its hold of Nintendo Power and handed over publishing duties to Future US, the same media corporation behind the official Xbox and PlayStation magazines. Two issues into the transition, Nintendo Power's writing staff and format haven't changed much, but the number of ads certainly has!
Pretty much the most badass DS Lite mod ever
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/mods/Pretty_much_the_most_badass_DS_Lite_mod_ever'; Though THQ hasn't made an official announcement for this customized Nintendo DS Lite, considering that the publisher has a giveaway in progress for six similar modded PlayStation Portables to promote Warhammer 40K: Squad Command's release on the PSP, we'll probably hear more about a contest for this dual-screened version once the game comes to the DS this December 13th.Like with the PSPs, only six of these special edition systems have been made. The two-tone handheld, dressed in black and Ultramarine blue, resembles Nintendo's red-and-black DS and several other mods we've featured before, but sets itself apart with the ornate winged skull on its lid. Even if you're not a fan of Warhammer 40K or its upcoming online-enabled, turn-based strategy game for the DS, you could always replace the skull with a big "S" and pretend it's a spread-shot power-up from Contra!Check past the post break for larger photos of the Warhammer 40K DS Lite and PSP mods. See also: Phat mod: glowing skull
The latest from Warhammer 40k: Squad Command
Remember those Warhammer 40k: Squad Command screens we mentioned a few weeks back? Now you can see them for yourself, sans watermark, in their original glory. This is one we think will definitely look great in motion, and the online battles promise hours of fun. We're always interested in more Wi-Fi games, especially when there are strategy elements. [Via GoNintendo]%Gallery-5510%
Warhammer 40K: Squad Command might be awesome
If you blinked at all during E3 last week, you probably missed the screenshots released for Warhammer 40k: Squad Command. To be honest, the dark images and muddy textures didn't reveal much except that, yes, there is in fact a squad, and as expected, you get to command them. Though we were disappointed when we first heard that THQ opted for 3D instead of using the fantastic 2D assets the developer/publisher employed with its N-Gage title, Warhammer 40K: Glory in Death, Pocket Gamer's preview of the strategy title has a few details that might change our tune.Though exploring the maps with your six-man crew occurs in real-time, all combat is turn-based, taking into account terrain variations and line of sight for any movements or attacks. Up to six players can battle each other locally and online, choosing from three Space Marine teams or three Chaos Space Marine Legions. Squad Command also joins the handful of games that support voice-chat. Friend codes weren't mentioned, but you can bet they're in there!
THQ announces Warhammer 40k MMO
From Gamespot, the same people who brought you the fake World of Starcraft, comes the announcement of a Warhammer 40,000 MMO -- this sci-fi MMO based on a popular franchise is real though. The Warhammer MMO should also not be confused or compared to the orcs and humans Warhammer: Age of Reckoning MMO by EA Mythic, expected this holiday season.THQ will develop the game with Austin, Texas-based Vigil Games. All of this Warhammer 40k MMO stuff is just in the talking stage at the moment, so expect the game sometime near the next decade. By then we should have hoverboards and Duke Nukem Forever.
