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GamesBeat weekly roundup: Next Xbox rumors, BioShock Infinite talk, and more …

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:33:08 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, Electronic Arts is named the worst company in America yet again, Microsoft executive Adam Orth is no longer employed after disastrous new Xbox tweets, and a Saints Row movie might be in the works.

You’ll also find previews for Civilization V’s Brave New World expansion, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded.

News

EA Troubles

Mobile

Multimedia

Tech

Previews

Interviews

Pieces of flair

Filed under: Games

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Saints Row film possible under Deep Silver

Jeffrey Grubb — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:46:56 +0000

In a time when Hollywood is churning out a sixth Fast & Furious and a second live-action G.I. Joe film, the environment seems ripe for a movie adaptation of the insane Saints Row franchise.

Game publisher Deep Silver owns the rights to the open-world crime series and is putting out Saints Row IV later this year. Interestingly, Deep Silver’s parent organization, Koch Media, is also deeply invested in film production and distribution in Europe.

Koch Media chief executive officer Klemens Kundratitz told GamesBeat that he is considering films for all of Koch’s properties. That includes Saints Row and first-person action series Metro.

“[Those movies are] not out of the question,” Kundratitz told GamesBeat. “If a company can deliver that transmedia experience, we are probably one of the few that have the ambition and ability to deliver that.”

Koch, which has nothing to do with the influential Koch brothers of the U.S., partnered with Hollywood to release films like Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Margin Call, and Moon in Germany. So the company has deep knowledge of the film-production industry.

“At the same time, I have to be honest, we have not been able to deliver that [transmedia experience] yet,” said Kundratitz. “But it’s one of my long-term strategic goals to do so.”

In 2011, following the release of the original trailer for Deep Silver’s game Dead Island, Koch sold the film rights to Lionsgate. That project is still in development.

Filed under: Games

Lego City: Undercover is Grand Theft Auto for kids (review)

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:00:49 +0000

It’s sad how many open-world/sandbox titles almost exclusively target adults. Kids are probably more inclined to chase down pigeons in Grand Theft Auto IV than I ever will be, but I can’t justify handing that game over to a child. Luckily, Lego City: Undercover provides younger players with all the manic, open-world adventure found in the Grand Theft Auto and Saint’s Row series without the innuendo and violence.

You control detective Chase McCain as he returns to Lego City after a disastrous case that caused him to leave town and ended with his girlfriend going into witness protection. It’s up to Chase to track down the dastardly Rex Fury even if it means infiltrating various street gangs in the process. Putting Fury in prison was the whole reason Chase left Lego City on bad terms, so he’s out to make up for past mistakes.

Lego City: Undercover is the first game in the Lego franchise built for the Wii U. While a 3DS version is in the works, Lego City’s use of the GamePad blends so seamlessly into the action that it’s hard to imagine playing without a tablet in your hand.

What you’ll like

Collectibles and building

I make a habit of finding all the collectables I can in a Lego game, but that feels almost impossible in Undercover (in the best way, though). With several disguises, hundreds of blocks, and even more vehicles to build and find, you’ll easily put 10-20 hours into gathering everything you can.

Undercover also introduces a much more involved item-building mechanic than previous games had. As you explore, you’ll find numerous “super build” points that cost anywhere from 8,000–100,000 blocks. Now, whenever you break things, you’ll collect little Lego pieces that help you make bigger items as well as the typical “stud” currency used to unlock cheats and special gear.

Now you have twice as many reasons to break everything you can in Lego City, including other cars while driving around.

Clever references

I’m not sure how many people younger than me will be able to spot the Colombo reference in the first hour of Lego City, but I love that it exists. Lego City gleefully and unapologetically embraces references from film and TV that children likely won’t understand, but their parents will. Dirty Harry, The Shawshank Redemption, and even The Matrix show up in various and obvious ways.

Clever references aren’t just reserved for characters, however. As you explore, you’ll uncover several international landmarks re-created in Lego form. A few of my favorites are definitely Times Square, Mt. Rushmore, and the Golden Gate bridge. Of course, a mountain with massive Lego faces carved in it overlooks a sprawling Chinese-inspired castle! That kind of whimsical absurdity fuels most of Undercover and makes the various winks and nods to real-world things that much funnier.

Sensible use of the Wii U GamePad

Using the GamePad as a scanner or map isn’t anything new, but implementing that functionality into a sandbox game is surprisingly fluid. You’ll use the GamePad to talk with other characters as well as search for hidden items and covertly listen in on conversations. Chase McCain spends most of his time operating just outside the law and uses any technological advantage he can to get the drop on the various crime syndicates he’s investigating.

It’s surprisingly natural to lift up the controller to search for clues and doesn’t require a lot of movement on the player’s part. But if you’re really into spinning around your living room, any way you turn can reveal new parts of the map immediately around Chase.

Mostly non-violent

Chase McCain is a police officer. Whenever criminals approach him to fight, he deftly dodges or redirects their attacks until he can slap a pair of cuffs on them. I absolutely love that developer TT Fusion embraced the tried-but-true concept of a kung fu hero while subtly suggesting that the police should behave with a bit more decorum than, say, Batman. You aren’t breaking baddies into bits in Lego City, but that’s alright. Chase’s silly floating crane kicks and dramatic cuffing animations are equally as rewarding as shattering villains into their core components. This is also a great message that heroes don’t have to go on the offensive to ultimately win a fight.

If you can’t help but inflict a bit of harm on poor Lego minifigures, you can flatten unlucky pedestrians as you race through the streets. Since you do get studs and blocks for smashing items on sidewalks, I’m pretty sure running down innocent passers-by was totally intended. Anyone you hit will eventually get back up, but they’re pretty surly about being trampled.

What you won’t like

Hurry up and wait

From the moment you boot up Lego City: Undercover, you’ll find yourself idling at various loading screens. It’s no secret that Wii U software takes awhile to start, but you’ll sit through three separate loading sequences before you even access your save data. A little waiting isn’t bad, but those long progress bars start to feel very tedious as Lego City’s generic ’70s cop show theme music perpetually plays in the background.

Mocking dialogue

If your game has frustrating timers, poor load times, and drawn-out action sequences, it’s usually not the best idea to repeatedly point them out in the dialogue. Throughout Lego City, Chase often comments on various environmental things that annoy him and likely the player as well. Self-aware humor is funny, but not when it points out real and frustrating flaws within a game.

I know progress bars are terrible; I sat through several of them just to watch Chase sit through one of his own.

Clumsy platforming

Free-running in an open environment is instantly less fun the moment you feel confined by camera controls. Lego City often falls victim to odd camera angles that can obscure jumps and alter the game’s perspective. Many rooft0p sequences end in disaster as Chase narrowly misses a ledge he probably would have made if you could have lined up the action before following through with it.

I feel most of the Undercover’s platforming hazards are directly caused by the camera occasionally freezing into an awkward position, but Lego minifigures aren’t exactly the most dexterously animated characters, either.

Conclusion

Lego City: Undercover is a very silly but rewarding romp that proves how well the Wii U’s GamePad functions as a tool as well as a controller. Despite the predictable loading hiccups and the inevitable technical pitfalls of an open world, Undercover delivers a sanitized sandbox experience that doesn’t require violence or explicit dialogue to make its point.

Children deserve massive, explorable worlds just as much as adults. It’s wonderful that TT Fusion took that concept and made a fully functioning and largely non-violent world without sacrificing action. You won’t miss firing guns or swinging lightsabers in Lego City — not when you’re scouring the landscape for super builds and smashing everything in sight.

Score: 90/100

Lego City: Undercover is a Wii U title that released March 19, 2013. A 3DS version is scheduled for April. Nintendo provided a retail copy of the game for this review.

Filed under: Games

Lego City: Undercover is less violent than Grand Theft Auto but still just as fun (preview)

Giancarlo Valdes — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:00:36 +0000

I wanted to kill someone — anyone — in Lego City. But whenever I tried to start a fight, people jumped out of the way or magically picked themselves off the ground after I rammed them with my police car. Either everyone is Superman or I’m just playing it wrong.

After a few minutes, I realized it was definitely the latter. The world of TT Game’s Lego City: Undercover (out March 18 for the Wii U) is a safe space, built on Lego bricks and studs and not on blood-soaked tales of gang wars and criminals seen in other open-world city games like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row. You can stop crimes — you play as the veteran cop Chase McCain — but it’s the kind of crime filled with so many jokes and hijinks that it wouldn’t look out of place in a Looney Tunes episode.

You won’t find any sort of deadly weapons here: You handcuff foes after slamming them to the ground with throws and Aikido-inspired moves. And you can forget all hopes of using attack helicopters or tanks to demolish the city.

“It just wouldn’t be right, would it?” said executive producer Loz Doyle. “It’s a Lego City game, and the city is a very safe world, really. We can’t have that kind of stuff in there.”

But just because TT Games designed Lego City: Undercover with a younger audience in mind (who probably played with the toy company’s long-lived line of City-themed Lego sets) doesn’t mean that we older folk are left out. I traversed through the virtual city with the same sort of awe I have when I see huge Lego structures in person. And the lack of violence isn’t a deal-breaker — you’ll always have something to do, whether that involves side missions, finding collectible items, or finishing McCain’s hilariou story.

A kid-friendly Grand Theft Auto

While you can’t kill or maim anyone, Undercover has a lot of the mechanics we’re familiar with from GTA-style open-world games. You can still grab a car at any time, but it’s not necessarily stealing, since McCain uses his status as a police officer to coax drivers into lending him their vehicle. And since he’s so damn good at his job, you don’t even have to step out of your current car to do it — as long as your vehicle is next to the one you want, pressing X will launch McCain out of the old car and into the new one.

As the Undercover name implies, being a cop in Lego City is more than just donning a blue uniform. Major story missions will unlock disguises for you to use, giving you different abilities: You use the miner costume to blow up boulders with dynamite, the firefighter outfit to put out fires, and so on. You can manage your wardrobe using the Wii U’s GamePad screen, which also serves as your communicator — other characters will speak to you directly through the controller’s speakers — and city map.

Sometimes, the most interesting moments in an open-world game happen when you least expect it. One of the first missions in Undercover has you chasing down a bank robber, and you have to knock his car off course to catch him. But it seemed that the fine public transportation system of Lego City decided to do it for me — the criminal drove directly in front of a train, obliterating his car and forcing him to continue his getaway on foot.

Odd glitches and bugs are also a staple of the genre, but I didn’t find anything of that sort during my demo. When I asked Doyle about it, he felt that Undercover is “really clean” after his team squashed over 50,000 bugs during a rigorous play-testing phase.

“I wish I’d done a video with some of the bugs [we had],” said Doyle. “We developed a new physics system for the vehicles, and when we first put that in, sometimes the cars would for no reason ping themselves out of the world and fire up into the sky.”

A reference-packed adventure

I saw a lot of slapstick humor, but it was TT Games’ love for movies and TV shows that genuinely got a chuckle out of me. Parodies of Titanic, The Dark Knight, Mission Impossible 2, Starksy and Hutch, Dirty Harry, Colombo, and much more appeared during my hour-long playthrough.

The dialogue sounds sharp and witty, and some of the tongue-in-cheek writing is very self-aware: At the police station, one character asked, “Why is it that all furniture is self-assembly these days?” as I was rebuilding a closet with Lego bricks. And then we have Frank, McCain’s dim-witted but well-meaning partner who’s afraid of imaginary monsters and pronounces computer as “comp-u-per.” I have a feeling people will either love him or hate him.

The city itself is a combination of different locations from famous metropolitan centers in the U.S. You begin exploring an area that’s an obvious homage to San Francisco and the bay that surrounds it, complete with a large Golden Gate Bridge lookalike.

“We take quite a lot of different places from different areas,” said Doyle. “We have a Times Square area, a Central Park, we’ve got an Alcatraz island, a Chinatown, Little Italy, a Miami Beach area. It’s quite a lot of different influences and different styles across the city. … You get [that distinction] between the areas so you always know where you are.”

Stay tuned for GamesBeat’s full review of Lego City: Undercover next month.

Filed under: Games

THQ denied request for quick bankruptcy sale and loan

Dean Takahashi — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 16:00:38 +0000

THQ isn’t having an easy bankruptcy. Courts just denied its request for a quick sale. The maker of Saints Row video games also didn’t win approval of a loan to fund its operations.

Federal bankruptcy judge Mary Walrath took the side of creditors who objected to the proposed sale process because it didn’t give potential buyers enough time to make rival bids. THQ filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 19 and announced the same day that Clearlake Capital was prepared to buy all of its assets for $60.5 million. The deal gave rival bidders until Jan. 9 to kick the tires and make their own competing bids. But the judge said that was not enough time.

THQ was a victim of disruption in the game business and poor bets on games by management. Its dedicated uDraw art tablet bombed on game consoles as the popularity of Apple’s iPad soared. Yet THQ owns major game properties such as Company of Heroes (pictured above), Darksiders, and Metro.

“I have problems concluding that the pre-petition sale process was fulsome,” Walrath told lawyers at the hearing, according to Bloomberg. She said THQ “did not even put out to the public that it was for sale” until potential buyers signed non-disclosure agreements.

Oddly enough, though, everybody pretty much knew Agoura Hills, Calif.-based THQ was available for sale, since it was struggling for more than a year and it had hired a financial firm to explore its options as far back as June. No bidders emerged during that long road to bankruptcy. But the court didn’t consider that.

Walrath noted that about 10 potential buyers contacted THQ after finding out about the sale from its bankruptcy filing. That was evidence that THQ didn’t try hard enough to find bidders. Creditors who objected wanted the bidding process extended by several weeks.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, which bought Midway Games Inc. out of bankruptcy in July 2009, told the court it would be interested in evaluating THQ’s assets if the sale process is extended. Creditors also said that bidders should be able to make offers for specific game titles rather than offering to buy the company as a whole.

THQ also wanted approval of a $37.5 million bankruptcy loan, which could be paid off on Jan. 15, after the quick sale was finished. It said it would not be able to pay off the loan without a sale.

“I am not convinced that we are under the gun to have a sale process by the 15th,” Walrath said.She scheduled a hearing for Jan. 7.

THQ listed assets of $204.8 million and debt of $248.1 million.

Filed under: Games

THQ lenders object to its fast-track bankruptcy sale

Dean Takahashi — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:54:37 +0000

Several lenders have filed an objection to THQ’s fast-track bankruptcy sale, in which it filed for bankruptcy protection and organized a quick sale to Clearlake Capital for $60.5 million.

Clearlake will buy THQ, maker of video games such as WWE wrestling titles and the action-role-playing game Darksiders II, if no other bidders appear within 30 days of the filing, which took place on Dec. 19. The objection states that THQ’s bankruptcy was orchestrated to benefit the company’s newest executives and their friends at a financial firm hired to sell THQ.

The lenders provided THQ with loans of $41 million, or 41 percent of its $100 million loan. They include Silverback Asset Management, Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund, and Wolverine Flagship Fund Trading. They own a part of THQ’s 5 percent convertible senior notes due 2014.

Clearlake said it would pay off secured claims for creditors in the amount of $29 million. It would pay $6.65 million, assume $15 million in liabilities, and offer lenders a promissory note of $10 million at a 2 percent interest rate, due in seven years. Clearlake gets a break-up fee of $1.75 million and $500,000 in expense reimbursement if the deal does not go through.

In a filing, the lenders said that the timing of the sale is too short to let interested parties make rival bids. Those potential bidders wouldn’t have enough time to kick the tires on THQ’s assets. It also says that THQ should allow bidders to offer bids for some of THQ’s game properties, rather than buying all of them. The publisher’s hot properties include sandbox game Saints Row, Darksiders, apocalyptic shooter Metro, near-future first-person shooter Homefront, and World War II real-time strategy series Company of Heroes. THQ also has rights to make games based on WWE and South Park.

The filing alleges that Clearlake would have too much control over the process. The U.S. trustee overseeing the case, Roberta DeAngelis, filed similar objections.

THQ hired its new president, Jason Rubin, and his partner, Jason Kay, in the spring of 2012. The filing says that in June or so, the two Jasons orchestrated plans to take over THQ and gain significant upside, if they executed a turnaround. They hired Centerview Partners to handle a sale of THQ or find new investors for it. The lenders who objected clearly wanted THQ to consider selling off its game properties piecemeal, but Centerview shopped the company as a whole. The lenders allege the liquidity crisis was “manufactured.”

Still, on Nov. 7, Wells Fargo sent a letter to THQ saying it was in default on its credit facility. THQ said that one of its problems was that its cash held overseas could not be brought back to the U.S. without taxation. Wells Fargo held off on proceeding with default process as long as THQ kept it informed of its finances on a weekly basis. The lenders appear to be critical of THQ’s decision to preserve its game development teams at the cost of draining reserves of cash.

THQ hasn’t responded to a request for comment.

Filed under: Games

The gaming school of law enforcement: How video games can improve officers’ effectiveness

Community Writer — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 14:01:54 +0000

So, it’s possible that maybe a few of my tips might have led to the alleged escape of 69 convicts from multiple state and federal prisons. Some “unnamed person,” who is most certainly not I, apparently gave these ne’er-do-wells a proven method to escape prison, which they used to great effect during completely unrelated prison riots started across the country.

I, of course, know nothing about this and am completely innocent. After all, is there a citizen who could possibly be more upstanding than I am? No, there couldn’t. And to prove that, I am going to provide you fine police officers out there with some advice for recapturing those criminals. Isn’t that nice of me?

Without further ado, I bring you the gaming school of policing.

Lesson 1: Catching those fugitive monkeys after the apes escape

The first step in restoring order should no doubt be recapturing those criminals (the ones you let escape, you over glorified mall cop). And who better to show you how to do your job than Spike? What’s that, you say? He’s only 12-years-old? Let me ask you something: How many fugitive monkeys have you caught? None? That’s funny — the 12-year-old has caught over 200. Perhaps you should listen.

Now, the first thing you’ll need is a weapon, but if you were competent with a pistol, no one would have escaped in the first place. No, you’ll need something else — something a Neanderthal like yourself could use, like a club. And the finesse of a butterfly net would be a perfect complement to its brute force. It’ll be easy. Just club them and stuff them in your oversized net. You’ll have a van full of unconscious (and possibly dead) criminals in no time! And I wouldn’t worry too much about any lawsuits. Police brutality is just a myth, anyway.

Lesson 2: Cracking down with a vengeance

Strength in numbers is not a myth, however. Catching all of those gangsters isn’t going to be easy if all you’re using is a stick and a butterfly net stolen from a little girl. Hopefully, you’ll be ready to move up to a weapon that is a little less … pathetic. Our advanced technology thankfully affords officers of the law new possibilities like superpowers!

Yes, you too can now recapture those villainous … erm … villains with your new cybernetically enhanced suit, which gives you the strength of 50 men, the skill of 100 assassins, and the speed of some guy from Jamaica or something. All enemies of the state will be within your grasp! All you need to do is drop by the Agency and apply for our super-agent program. You’ll be fitted for a suit and will be mopping the floor with those lawbreakers in no time. No, literally. I mean you’ll actually have to mop the floor after the last batch of test subje — willing participants in this program experienced a few small, insignificant side effects. Homicidal rampages, excessive use of force, megalomania, obsessive compulsive behavior, hallucinations of “orbs” floating around the city … but nothing serious.

I’m sure those kinks have been worked out by now.

Lesson 3: Don’t let sleeping dogs lie

By now, you’re probably thinking, “Everything is under control. The city is safe, and my job is done.” Well, no. Good job wiping out crime and all, but you only cleaned the surface. The dirty underside is still there, festering like a 40-day-old chicken salad sandwich that I may or may not have left in your fridge. They’ll rise up when you least expect it and bring chaos to the streets.

That would be bad … for you. I get paid regardless.

But since I’m not too keen on murders and thieves rampaging through the streets, I’ll give you some advice. Everyone is going to run away from you with that armor on, and that can’t happen. You’re going to need to go undercover. Get a new name and occupation — maybe even a new face. John Notacop, professional enforcer and bodyguard. Yeah, no one will suspect that.

You’ll be able to rise through the criminal world nearly unopposed, eliminating and arresting all who would question your motives. Nearly all of the remaining gang lords will be within your grasp, and they’ll only be a dramatic confrontation away. A few tense moments, a couple of gunshots, and a few good blows to the head, and they’ll be yours. The only thing left to do is deliver their mutilated corp — I mean, lifeless bod — err, completely unharmed persons to the authorities.

Lesson 4: Reducing grand theft auto rates

It may be a bit early to say, but I believe that your city is now the perfect metropolis, full of well-to-do citizens and upstanding working class urbanites. The streets are no doubt paved with gold, and a rainbow is permanently etched into the skyline. The denizens of your utopian society are all kind and thoughtful, and many of them are even great intellectuals and scholars. Yes, there’s a new “happiest place on earth.”

What’s that? Do you mean to tell me that none of that is true? The taxpayers found out about the millions of dollars spent on supersuits? You’re encountering police brutality lawsuits? And you murdered a gang lord? Gang lords? You should be ashamed of yourself! But you’ll have to feel sorry about it later.

Right now, criminals are infecting your fair city, corrupting everything they touch with bloodlust and greed. They’ve amassed an arsenal of concealable weapons: rocket launchers hidden in their pants (not a sex joke), death-dealing helicopters that out materialize out of thin air, vibrating sex toys … and I wish that one was a joke.

But here you are, probably rotting in one of the recently vacated prisons, contemplating your rise and fall — a pity party of one. This is no time for reflection. It’s time for (more) action! After reading this excellently written article (whose author, for legal reasons, can’t be named) and breaking out of prison, the most important task at hand becomes assembling a police force. I’m sure you’re fairly used to being an army of one by now, but unfortunately, that just won’t work anymore. The criminals have become smarter, and they’re not going down without a fight.

You’ll need a handpicked task force — nothing but the best. I recommend overweight, trigger-happy lunatics bent on killing every last lawbreaker. They should also like donuts because it’s funny. Then, if they experience any problems with bringing those outlaws to justice, you can make fun of their weight. Consequently, they’ll become enraged and take it out on those fugitives, thereby ridding the city of evil.

You get to make fun of someone, and they stop being useless. Everybody wins.

Lesson 5: Using unnecessary force on the Third Street Saints

This is clearly your fault, but I suppose not everyone can carry out plans as competently as I can. No, you’ve utterly and completely failed to restore order and spent millions of the taxpayers’ dollars so that you could recapture criminals who escaped because of your incompetence. It didn’t have to come to this, but the city can’t be allowed to remain in this state. The siege must be ended and the war won. It’s time to bring out the real muscle.

Unfortunately, few gangs and mercenary groups want to cooperate with “the fuzz,” so we’ll just have to settle for the technologically advanced, wholly psychotic military group intent on wiping all gangs from the face of the earth. Yes, I know it’s hardly an equal substitute, but they’ll make do for now. And after declaring martial law, they should have no trouble cleaning up your mess. Of course, you may find a few dissenters who claim that your new team is using “unnecessary force” and are “batsh*t crazy murders,” but those people have a tendency of disappearing unexpectedly … in mysterious circumstances … with no witnesses.

Moving on, a few things might change once the army moves in to your neighborhood, such as the sky permanently darkening because of the enormous flying carrier blocking the sun and Big Brother forever watching you (by the way, don’t look over your shoulder). It may take time to adjust, but stand tall, officer! You’ve completed the gaming school of policing and can stand up to any threat. Unless it happens to include mimes. Then you’re screwed. Mimes will **** you up.

Filed under: Games

Our gaming heroes are actually evil, horrible monsters

James Pikover — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:00:56 +0000

Are our favorite game characters actually good, or is that just a ploy to get us to like them? If you really think about it, they’re actually pretty awful. Consider just how many people they have to kill, how many awful things they do in the course of the game’s story. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, players are mass-murdering thieves with the psychotic compulsion to take everything. Uncharted’s Nathan Drake kills hundreds of people around the world, generally locals, and blows up buildings and landmarks only to find some lost treasure.

And don’t even get me started on Pokémon.

This funny take on video game characters is cute, but it’s also thought provoking. Are all of our favorites really this bad?

Have any of your own? Share them in the comments and make us laugh.

Via Reddit, originally found on lolmyday.com (original author unknown)

Filed under: Games, gbunfiltered

THQ in trouble? Publisher denies multiple-game cancellation rumor

Stefanie Fogel — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:07:09 +0000

Saints Row: The Third publisher THQ says rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Speculation on the company’s future spread like wildfire this weekend after a series of tweets from gaming industry veteran Kevin Dent suggested the publisher was cancelling its Game Workshops massively multiplayer online game, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online, and its entire 2014 lineup, in order to preserve cash.

Dent later went on to say he thought THQ shutting its doors was a longshot and that he couldn’t see “institutional investors allowing THQ to go down the toilet,” but by then the rumor had gone viral and was reported on by various gaming publications. Now, THQ is in full damage control mode and has issued a statement debunking the rumor.

THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO. As part of the ongoing review of our business, we have made decisions to ensure that the company is strategically addressing the most attractive markets. As we have previously announced, we have dramatically reduced our commitment to the kids’ boxed games sector which leads to a significantly more focused release schedule moving forward. Our slate for calendar 2012 and beyond is focused on high-quality core games and continues to build our digital platform and business. We are excited for our pipeline of original and high-quality content along with our relationships with some of the best talent in the industry.

Additionally, we are thrilled with the great performance of Saints Row: The Third, which on a like for like period in North America has tripled in sell-through from Saints Row 2. In addition, WWE ’12’s worldwide sell-through sales are up almost 40 percent year-over-year for the same sales period with fewer platforms. According to NPD, for the month of December and the 2011 year, THQ was the #5 publisher overall, #4 third party, with reported sell through growing over 18 percent in a market that was down almost 6 percent. And coming up next, we have two great titles for the first half of the year including UFC Undisputed 3 and Darksiders 2.

Despite its assurances, THQ is clearly struggling. Shares in its stock were down 6.90 percent on Friday. Since the stock market is closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there’s no way of knowing if this weekend’s rumor will cause a further drop.

For the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, THQ said it expects to report weaker-than-expected results because of poor sales of its uDraw Game Tablet for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Sales for the third quarter are expected to be 25 percent below its previous guidance of $510 million to $550 million. Results will be released for the third fiscal quarter in early February. In the second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, THQ reported a loss of $92.4 million on revenues of $146 million, compared to a year earlier loss of $47 million on revenue of $77.1 million a year earlier. On a non-GAAP basis, the loss for the second fiscal quarter was $46.9 million on revenues of $119.6 million, compared with a non-GAAP loss of $40.6 million on revenue of $70.4 million a year ago.

The launch of the uDraw GameTablet was a big misstep for the company in 2011. Weak sales of the device led to 30 layoffs for developer Play THQ in an effort to reduce costs and re-focus attention on other brands such as Saints Row and WWE.

Despite its lousy year, however, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter thinks it’s too soon to write THQ off. “They are low on cash, and will likely run out by June or earlier unless they do something,” he told VentureBeat through email. ”‘Something’ includes reducing their overhead, canceling projects, selling assets or raising capital. There are a lot of options before they cancel their 2014 slate, put themselves up for sale, or declare bankruptcy, so I think the rumors of their imminent demise are exaggerated.”

THQ’s upcoming projects include the recently announced South Park role-playing game, Darksiders II, film director Guillermo del Toro’s inSane, Metro: Last Light, and a sequel to Homefront.

Filed under: Games

42 horrible, hilarious, and humiliating ways to die in Saints Row: The Third (video)

Sebastian Haley — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:03:33 +0000

Last month’s Saints Row: The Third is over-the-top, completely insane, and probably the most fun you’ll have while dressed up in a purple gimp suit committing drive-bys from a parking enforcement vehicle. Naturally, Nerd Cubed has collected the very worst ways to take a dirt nap in the virtual city of Steelport and rolled them all up into one nice video for your amusement. And you will be amused!

So without further ado… How awesome is Saints Row: The Third? This awesome:

Filed under: Games, OffBeat, Video

Cloud gaming service OnLive offers crazy discounts this Thanksgiving weekend

Dan Crawley — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:30:28 +0000

The pioneering on-demand cloud gaming service, OnLive, is offering all users a free five-day rental of both Homefront and Red Faction: Armageddon during its Frag Feast promotion this Thanksgiving weekend. In addition, you can buy your first full OnLive game for just one dollar, an offer that includes such recent blockbuster titles as Batman: Arkham City, L.A. Noire and Saints Row: The Third.

Having launched in June 2010, OnLive is attempting to revolutionize the way that games are distributed and played. All OnLive games play instantly on demand over the Internet via a small browser download on almost any PC or Mac, or on a HDTV via the OnLive Game System, with no discs, no big game downloads and no high-performance computer required.

As well as offering a place to instantly play the latest games, OnLive provides some unique community features, including a spectator mode, which allows you can watch and comment on hundreds of games being played live. OnLive currently has Android and iOS clients that support this spectator mode, and it is planning on rolling out a full gaming service on these devices this fall, alongside a tablet compatible wireless dual analogue controller.

Additional deals will be also be announced on the onlive.com website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter throughout the weekend, featuring dozens of titles from OnLive’s comprehensive library of over 175 games, including some of the season’s biggest blockbuster titles.

If you haven’t yet tried the OnLive service, now would seem a great time to do so. Your experience with the service will depend a lot on the quality of your internet connection, but with a no-fee sign up, and hundreds of games available to instantly demo, it is an innovation that is definitely worth checking out.

Filed under: Games