THQ Collection

Nordic Games has picked up most of THQ's remaining IPs. The bankrupt publisher sold its biggest names at an auction earlier this year. Its remaining assets were bundled up, with Nordic Games the big winner.

For $4.9 million, the company has acquired Darksiders, Red Faction, MX vs ATV, "Other Owned Software," and "Other Licensed Software." Some noteworthy titles in those bundles include Destroy All Humans, Supreme Commander, Marvel Super Hero Squad, Frontlines, and Full Spectrum Warrior.

Nordic Games is best known as being the publisher of Painkiller HD and Deadfall Adventures.

"First and foremost we are very happy about this deal which also turns over a new leaf for the entire Nordic Games Group," Nordic Games CEO Lars Wingefors said in a press release. "In the long term, we either want to cooperate with the original creators or best possible developers in order to work on sequels or additional content for these titles," he added. (The original creators of the Darksiders IP attempted to buy the rights from THQ, and failed.)

The publisher has also launched a new forum to discuss the company's newly-acquired games.

Earlier today, Gearbox Software announced that it had acquired rights to the Homeworld franchise. The developer paid $1.35 million, according to latest documentation on the auctioning process.

In addition, the Drawn to Life games were picked up by publisher 505 Games.

When THQ collapsed, it could not find a proper home for the Darksiders franchise and its developer, Vigil Games. After the studio closed, many of its former members found a new home in Crytek USA.

David Adams, now-CEO of Crytek USA, says that his company now plans on bidding for the franchise rights, saying that "it belongs at home with its creators."

"Going to bid on Darksiders IP," Adams tweeted. "Put 7 years of heart and soul into that franchise, and I think it belongs at home with its creators."

Destructoid later confirmed Adams' plans with Vigil co-founder Ryan Stefanelli. "When the Darksiders IP goes up for auction, Crytek will be bidding for it," Stefanelli said. "Not much more to say since the rest is left up to courts and legal shenanigans, but we're all excited at the prospect." THQ plans on auctioning off its remaining assets this May.

Plans for a bid come as a surprise, especially after Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said that "we didn't want to continue with Darksiders 3, since that doesn’t fit with our strategy."

Other contenders for the franchise include Platinum Games, saying they'd be interested in picking up the IP "on the cheap." Either way, it seems as though the adventures of Death aren't quite dead yet.

Warhammer 40,000 fans, your prayers to the Emperor (or Gork, Mork, Isha, or whichever vile daemon you heretics worship) have been answered. A turn-based strategy adaptation of Games Workshop's grimdark tabletop wargame is coming, but not from the usual source. While Relic developed and THQ published the 40K RTS series Dawn of War, this is by specialist strategy developer and publisher Slitherine.

We don't know much, though. Yesterday's announcement said it's being made for multiple platforms with "best talents in design and development" available to Slitherine. And that's about all.

"Slitherine are clearly established and successful masters of their genre of games, and there are many fans of their work here at [Games Workshop]," head of licensing Jon Gillard said in yesterday's announcement. "It's a pleasure to work with such like minded individuals who share our passion for strategy games of all types."

As well as the Slitherine brand, the Slitherine Group includes Matrix Games and Ageod.

This isn't the only turn-based 40K game in the works either. Space Hulk is in development for PC, Mac and iOS at Frontline Tactics dev Full Control, complete with co-op.

Relic was working on a Dawn of War III, but it ended up sidelined while the studio focused on Company of Heroes 2. Relic was bought by Sega in the great THQ shutdown sale, and it's not yet clear what will happen with 40K there now.

[That image up top is from Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution]

Yesterday we finally got word of where THQ's franchises were going, as the company's intellectual properties were sold off piece-meal to various publishers. One notable exception, however, was Vigil Games and the Darksiders franchise, which went unclaimed. The series' fortunes look bleak, but Platinum Games has signaled an interest in saving it.

IGN reports that JP Kellams, a talent spotter and translator for Platinum, reached out to Vigil lead designer Haydn Dalton about getting in touch with staff members to work with or at Platinum.

Then, Platinum head Atsushi Inaba tweeted (translated by Kotaku), "In THQ studio and IP selling off auction, Darksiders is unsold? [We] wanna buy it...on the cheap..."

Platinum isn't as flush with funds as some auction buyers like Ubisoft or Take 2, so the purchase would probably have to be "on the cheap." But given that Darksiders hasn't stirred up interest elsewhere, that might be a viable goal. This could mean future games in the Darksiders franchise, and possibly even some involvement from former team members if they take Kellams up on the job offer.

After S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was cancelled, former members of developer GSC Game World founded Vostok Games to continue the ideals of the open-world survival shooter series with Survarium. As for the actual S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brand, though, it wasn't quite clear what was happening. Shady rumours said Skyrim developer Bethesda was sniffing around, but publisher bitComposer today announced that it has grabbed the games license and plans to make more S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a reputable brand with a long history of success. To date, the series has sold many millions of units worldwide," bitComposer executive Wolfgang Duhr said in today's announcement. "Naturally, we'd like to tap into the success of this series, and we see a great deal of potential for the future."

bitComposer published the third and almost final S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, Call of Pripyat (pictured above), in Europe. Who exactly it'll draft to develop the new games is a mystery for now. One might hope it'll find its way back to Vostok, who established its own new setting in Survarium after failing to secure the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game rights.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is based upon the sci-fi novel 'Roadside Picnic' by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which was also the inspiration for the 1979 Russian movie Stalker.

For November's final Weekend Confirmed, Garnett Lee, Jeff Cannata, and "Indie" Jeff Mattas are joined by Jake Kazdal of 17-BIT Games, the indie studio behind the upcoming strategy game, Skulls of the Shogun. Far Cry 3 gets much love from Mattas, Cannata talks about his joyous return to Darksiders 2, and Garnett gives an update on his slog through the final hours of Lost Odyssey. The lively discussion includes a whole lot more, before the crew's Finishing Moves and post-show TailGate cap things off.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 141: 11/30/2012

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Whatcha' Been Playin Part 1 - 00:31:05 - 00:57:57

Whatcha Been Playin Part 2 00:58:25 - 01:30:07

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Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest Album, Club Tipsy on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter @delriomusic.

In what seems to be an odd move, Humble Bundle has teamed with publisher THQ to offer seven PC games in its traditional pay-what-you-want packs. It marks the first time Humble has bundled games from a large publisher, while packaging Windows-only games and using the Steam DRM.

The package of games, which will be unlocked with Steam codes, includes Darksiders, Red Faction: Armageddon, Metro 2033, Company of Heroes and two CoH stand-alone expansions, Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor. If you beat the average donation, you'll get Saints Row: The Third as a bonus.

The move is unusual as it goes against Humble's traditional indie games and anti-DRM stance. As for THQ, the cash-strapped publisher is apparently looking for money any way it can to survive. The company is already looking for buyers, and big games like Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2 have been delayed.

Dmitry Glukhovsky's post-apocalyptic novel Metro 2033, which was introduced to most of us by 4A Games' pleasing video game adaptation, is headed to the silver screen. MGM has picked up the movie rights, and it's a fair bet that it'll follow the game's lead and be light on philosophy and politics, but heavy on action, given Hollywood's penchant for the bombastic.

Fledgling screenwriter F. Scott Frazier is penning Metro 2033's script, the Hollywood Reporter reports. Mark John is producing the movie, who's made his name with talkies including Donnie Brasco, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Good Morning, Vietnam.

Metro 2033's set in the subways of a post-apocalyptic Moscow, where each station has become a different town, sheltering from the cold and horrors above. Of course, mutants are a problem.

Of course, it's still early days and countless adaptations fall by the wayside.

4A is currently working on sequel Metro: Last Light, previously known as Metro 2034 but quite different to the original novel of the same name. It's due on PC, 360 and PS3 in Q1 2013.

Garnett and the two Jeffs are joined by regular guest Andrea Rene this week to liven up the summer gaming drought with discussions about a number of games and some recent news. The psychedelic action game DYAD gets praised some more, and some fresh Borderlands 2 details are shared. In the spirit of clearing out summer backlogs, Garnett finally dives into the post-apocalyptic Russian subway system of Metro 2033, and comes away quite impressed. The mild controversy surrounding the Fez patch also gets discussed, before the crew brings it all home with Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 122: 07/20/2012

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Weekend Confirmed comes in four segments to make it easy to listen to in segments or all at once. Here's the timing for this week's episode:

Show Breakdown:

Round 1 00:00:48 â€" 00:30:25

Whatcha Been Playing Part 1 00:31:19 â€" 01:09:35

Whatcha Been Playing Part 2 01:10:19 â€" 01:31:43

Listener Feedback/Front Page News 01:32:33 â€" 02:10:47

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Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his Album, The Wait is Over on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter @delriomusic.

Del Rio's newest album, Club Tipsy, has also been released! Check out his official web page for more information.

The anime-inspired Tau are bringing their mecha suits to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution this month, with a new Tau Commander hero coming to Last Stand mode as paid downloadable content. Developer Relic also announced that new premium multiplayer chapters are in the works for the Chaos and Imperial Guard factions.

"The major themes that drove the design were to have a hero that was offensively potent but fragile, and to provide different avenues of playstyle," Relic's Clint Tasker explained in the announcement dev diary. According to Tasker, the Tau Commander can be set up to be offensive powerhouses, disrupt enemy forces, or support their allies.

Relic says that the Tau Commander will arrive alongside Imperial Guard Death Korps of Krieg and Chaos Word Bearers chapter packs in the next update, this month. The chapter packs traditionally cost $7.49. Relic hasn't announced how much the Tau Commander, the first new Last Stand DLC hero, will be.

While the Tau became playable in the original Dawn of War with the standalone expansion Dark Crusade, this will be their debut in the Dawn of War II sub-series.