THQ Collection

After the big auction for its top-shelf intellectual property and game studios last month, the bones of former publishing giant THQ have announced that the company's remaining franchises are now to be sold as part of a "court-approved sales process."

The series up for grabs include Darksiders, Homeworld, Red Faction and Destroy All Humans!

Final bids for the properties are due on April 15. THQ says it has already received over "100 expressions of interest" regarding "various titles" still left in its vaults.

There will be six items in total for sale, four properties available individually and two "bundle" deals, one for internal properties, the other for licensed IP.

Darksiders, Red Faction, Homeworld and MX will be sold separately. Big Beach Sports, Destroy All Humans!, Summoner and "more" are included in the internal bundle, while Marvel Super Hero, Supreme Commander, Worms and "more" make up the licensed pack.

If anyone would like to join me in buying Homeworld, here's the relevant information you need to know:

Interested bidders must provide: 1) complete identification, including the names of corporate officers or those authorized to act on the bidder's behalf; 2) written evidence of authority to enter into the anticipated transaction; and 3) proof of financial ability to perform the contemplated transaction. Only those bidders who meet all three requirements will be provided access to confidential information about each lot of titles once a non-disclosure agreement has been executed. Documentation meeting these three requirements should be sent to auction@thq.com.

Surprisingly, blood suckers aren't as common in video games as you might expect. They might appear as a generic type of enemy, and of course there are a few of them in the Castlevania series. We collected some of these vampires, paying attention to leave out those who like to carry people on their backs.

Bodhi (Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows Of Amn)

This former elf is the scariest thing ever created that has anything to do with elves. Geez those random entries!
source: BioWare

Demitri Maximoff (DarkStalkers: The Night Warriors)

Probably the only vampire in the world that looks like Phoenix Wright on steroids.
source: DarkStalkersOpedia

Vamp (Metal Gear Solid series)

Even if he is not a real one, he's got all the abilities—and the right to be on this list as well.
source: Raiden vs Vamp in Metal Gear Solid 4

Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII)

Just as Vamp, Vincent is rather a result of an experiment than a natural born vampire, but the similarities are quite obvious.
source: SquareEnix

Rachel Alucard (BlazBlue series)

An arrogant vampire, who—according to her bio—even likes tea. She probably has high blood pressure.
source: Xephyr26's fan art on DeviantArt

Vorador (Legacy Of Kain series)

The main characers Kain or Raziel should have been the obvious choices, but Vorador—who also has a major role—looks just so much cooler.
source: Legacy Of Kain Wiki

Alucard and Dracula (Castlevania series)

At least these legendary guys bring back something from the classic Dracula look.
source: Wackwikivideos

Jeanette Voerman (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)

Both Vampire games—Redemption and Bloodlines—are full of vampires (sounds incredible, right?) but the only possible pick is this memorable NPC from the second game.
source: White Wolf Wiki

Jericho Cross (Darkwatch)

The weird western-steampunk hybrid style, mixed with classic vampire lore made this character (and the game!) really exciting.
source: Capcom Database

Rayne (BloodRayne)

One of those female vampires that look badass rather than cute—and there's absolutely no problem with that.
source: BloodRayne Wiki

You should submit your picks with visual support in the comments!

One of the sad and somewhat odd outcomes of today's big auction of top games and studios from game publisher THQ is that no one—not EA, not Activision, not Take Two, not Bethesda, not Ubisoft... no one—made a bid for the action-game series Darksiders and Vigil, the studio that made those games.

Look, even here at Kotaku the Darksiders games aren't uniformly loved. But some of us dig them and we can now share the bittersweet news that some very talented game developers dig them, too.

Here's Atsushi Inaba, the head of Platinum Games, makers of Bayonetta, Vanquish and other cool action titles:

And here's a translation, via our own Brian Ashcraft:

"In THQ's studio and IP selling off auction, Darksiders is unsold? [We] wanna buy it...on the cheap..."

Earlier today, some of us half-kidded that Nintendo should have snatched up Vigil. The Darksiders games are, more or less, an M-rated love letter to Zelda (please don't read that the wrong way!). Nintendo obviously didn't go for Vigil. If Platinum did? Or even went just for the series? We're not rooting for people to be out of work, but either result would be fascinating.

We're following up to see what could come of this.

News has broken out about the sale of THQ's assets and it looks like many of the defunct publisher's signature franchises have been acquired. But, surprisingly, some seemingly bankable properties haven't been snatched up.

Many of the titles mentioned in a previously published assets list were sold off today. Most conspicuously, WWE isn't mentioned in the list of sold-off franchises mentioned in an official goodbye letter from earlier today. The pro wrestling license was the source of annually released games, which ranked among THQ's top earners for years. Another installment of the WWE franchise was said to be in development, presumably due to hit shelves later this year. But so far, no suitors for the video game slice of Vince McMahon's empire have emerged.

Vigil Studios, the wholly owned dev group of the two Darksiders games, also hasn't found a home yet. The future for any further Darksiders games was nebulous and updates to the dev team's work on the Warhammer franchise were unclear as of a month ago.

Add the Red Faction franchise to those two entities too. While Dead Island publisher Deep Silver has acquired Volition and that dev studio's beloved Saint's Row series, it's still unknown where Red Faction—also created by Volition—will wind up.

In the letter that circulated to THQ employees today, exec leaders Brian Farrell and Jason Rubin said:

Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.

That seems to hint that THQ may yet find companies willing to take on the WWE franchise and Vigil. Kotaku has reached out to WWE representatives for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

The sale of THQ's assets in federal bankruptcy court will be finalized today. Word is that the hearing begins at 3 p.m.

Rumors already are spreading as to where THQ's studios and the series developed there have ended up. A Relic Entertainment developer has said he's now an employee of Sega—which it should be stressed is so far unconfirmed by Sega, THQ or the court.

Relic, the studio behind Company of Heroes and many of the Warhammer video games, was currently working on Company of Heroes 2. Their most recent release was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.

Additionally, Manveer Heir, a developer at BioWare in Montréal, said on his personal Twitter account that sources he knows within the industry said Ubisoft had purchased the THQ Montréal studio and the South Park license, which includes the upcoming South Park: The Stick of Truth.

[UPDATE: 3:14 P.M.] The sale of THQ's assets has been confirmed in both a letter to employees and in a document just now filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Here is a list of the winning bidders, the winning bid amounts, and the backup bidder (if any) for the assets sold during THQ's bankruptcy auction. The blog Distressed Debt Investing, which had been following the proceedings in person for some time, said no bids were made for Vigil Games, makers of the Darksiders series.

Relic Entertainment

Makers of Company of Heroes
Winning bidder: Sega, $26.6 million.
Backup: Zenimax Media, $26.3 million.

THQ Montreal

Makers of 1666 and Underdog, titles under development.
Winning bidder: Ubisoft, $2.5 million. No runner-up.

Evolve

(title in development at Turtle Rock Studios)
Winning bidder: Take-Two Interactive, $10.894 million.
Backup: Turtle Rock Studios, $250,000.

Volition, Inc.

Maker of Saints Row
Winning bidder: Koch Media, $22,312,925.
Backup: Ubisoft, $5.4 million.

Homefront

Released 2011; due for a sequel.
Winning bidder: Crytek. $544,218.

Metro

Series; due for the sequel Metro: Last Light.
Winning Bidder: Koch Media, $5,877,551
Backup: Ubisoft: $5.175 million.

South Park

License; South Park: The Stick of Truth is due for release March 5.
Winning bidder: Ubisoft, $3,265,306

THQ, the troubled publisher of Saints Row, WWE games, Company of Heroes, Metro: Last Light, the new South Park role-playing game, Red Faction and more, may still be sold in its entirety to an investment group called Clearlake as part of a bankruptcy sale, according to a court ruling.

But other interested parties may also bid on pieces of the company, which is why word has been making the rounds that Warner Brothers and possibly EA as well as other parties of interest might want to pick off some of THQ's franchises.

All bids for THQ's stuff must be in by 9am ET on January 22, THQ reported this morning in an update regarding the bankruptcy court proceedings. There will be a hearing on the sale the day after. The sale(s) close on January 24.

The results could be similar to what happened with the shuttering Midway. Warner Bros. snatched Mortal Kombat. EA wound up with NBA Jam at some point.

So start the parlor game... which companies or people would you like to see take control of the various THQ series/studios?

• Company of Heroes
• Homeworld (assuming THQ still owns it)
• Metro
• Saints Row
• Darksiders
• Red Faction
• Relic
• Vigil
• THQ Montreal (Patrice Desilet's studio)
• Volition

Let's say you don't yet own Darksiders II, do own a Wii U, and are considering picking the game up for your new console. How's it shape up against the versions that have been out on the market on competing platforms for a few months now?

Like most other games, it's not really a clear-cut case of the new Wii U edition being any better or worse. Some parts, according to a report on Digital Foundry, feature better effects, while other parts are missing models or have lower-res textures.

The video above, compared the PS3 and Wii U versions, while DF's full report goes into great detail contrasting all four editions, and includes performance graphs tracking things like framerate.

Face-Off: Darksiders 2 on Wii U [Eurogamer]

Nobody tells me anything any more.

Seems back in March a Company of Heroes movie was quietly announced by Sony. That movie, a direct-to-DVD thing that is actually tied to the famous PC strategy title (somehow), will be out on March 19.

It's got Tom Sizemore in it. And Neal "I was in Band of Brothers too you know" McDonough. And Jürgen Prochnow. Oh, and Vinnie Jones.

The plot's got something to do with Nazi scientists, and really, being a World War Two flick has nothing in common except the setting (what are they going to share, voice actors? Control schemes?), but it's got the Company of Heroes name and publishers THQ get a credit, so this goes in the books as an adaptation.

One that, by the looks of this trailer, I'm going to enjoy. In an "oh no it's so awful it's amazing" kind of way.

Company of Heroes Hits Blu-ray [IGN]

Ahh, Humble Bundle, the best site in the world for great packages of indie games and- wait, what's this? Saints Row? Darksiders? I see you, THQ! Just peeking in the bushes there, waiting to ensnare us with your new humble bundle. You're not an indie developer at all, THQ! What are you even doing.

At least it's a good deal. And I guess they're certainly humble.

If you've been on the internet since forever, you know that The Onion is a humor site that satirizes the news. People's Daily didn't seem to know that when it ran a top story, stating that North Korea's supreme leader—and fellow nerd like us—Kim Jong-un as the "The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012". People's Daily apparently confused People with The Onion. Sure, that happens all the time!

As Twitter user Adam Minter showed, the snafu even made the People's Daily front page (not sure if the story made its way into the print edition).

China's paper of record quoted this bit from The Onion:

"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile," it said.

"He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time," said Marissa Blake-Zweiber, editor of The Onion Style and Entertainment.

And boy is he ever sexy! He's sexy when he's looking at things, and he's sexy when he's on a horse.

As website ShanghaiIst points out, People's Daily showed off just how smexy Kim Jong-Un is with a fifty-five page gallery (FIFTY-FIVE) of the supreme leader. Here's a sample:

SO HOT. Of course, gamers will know that Kim Jong-Un was way sexier in the first-person shooter Homefront when a professional actor played him.

This is like an Onion article that's about an Onion article being turned into a real newspaper article.

North Korea's top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012 [People's Daily via ShanghaiIst]