“We’re doing an 8chan AMA and we have no idea why,” announced THQ Nordic on their Twitter account earlier this evening. If you’re not aware, 8chan is an imageboard website which has been de-listed from Google search results for hosting “suspected child abuse content,” and which is associated with Swatting and Gamergate.

THQ Nordic’s marketing director has since apologised and claimed ignorance, but both are hard to believe.

(more…)

THQ Nordic have gobbled up yet more studios, today announcing they’ve bought Bugbear Entertainment and Coffee Stain Studios. Bugbear are the smash-happy Finnish studio behind racing games including Wreckfest and the first three FlatOuts, while Coffee Stain made FPS tower defence series Sanctum and wack ’em up Goat Simulator as well as publishing games including Deep Rock Galatic. It sounds like they broadly plan to have the studios continue to do their things, with Bugbear making roughhousing racers and Coffee Stain both making and publishing games.

(more…)

I am not one who subscribes to the school of games criticism where each game is compared to others in its field. Firstly, because you may as well just plot the game on a graph for all the lack of detail and nuance this provides, and secondly because to be meaningful it really depends upon the reader’s having a working knowledge of every other game. But wow, I like Wreckfest so much more than The Crew 2. (more…)

After four years of crashing, smashing, bashing, and dashing around early access, Wreckfest today finally launches in full. It’s the new (well… new-ish now, I suppose) racer from FlatOut creators Bugbear, who previously called it just Next Car Game, and it certainly has pretty destruction effects. Wreckfest is crossing the finish line with an update including a new destruction derby arena, new parts and paint jobs, and shenanigans-laden vehicles including a harvester and a wobbly double-decker car. See these antics and more during in the launch trailer below. (more…)

Smash-happy racer Wreckfest will finally leave early access after 1611 days and launch in full this month, publishers THQ Nordic announced today. It’s been a long journey for developers Bugbear Entertainment (who also created FlatOut) and the game they once called Next Car Game, from a failed crowdfunding campaign in 2013, through early access, picking up a publisher, and being delayed so many times. It’s been productive, mind, adding loads of new stuff and making those titular wrecks even fancier. These wrecks have certainly earned a festival. (more…)

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

There was a time, before even rudimentary physics, when a football in a football game felt like it was glued to the feet of your players. Next Car Game: Wreckfest makes every other driving game feel as if the cars are stapled to the road. (more…)

After three years (and counting) in early access, smashbash racing game Wreckfest should finally launch in full this year. Publishers THQ Nordic today announced their “cooperation” with developers Bugbear Entertainment, joining forces to help give the game a shove across the finish line later this year. Wreckfest, to refresh your memory, is the new smash-o-racer from the creators of Flatout, who Kickstarted it in 2013 under the codename ‘Next Car Game’. How’s it looking now? Check out this new trailer: … [visit site to read more]

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

FlatOut [Steam page] is one of my favourite games about cars wot go fast. It’s like the twisted metal wreckage of a collision between Carmageddon, Burnout and Destruction Derby, and manages to succeed as a vehicular combat physics playground and> a competitive racing game. Ultimate Carnage is the best version of this brilliant crash ’em up.

… [visit site to read more]

All I know about sit-on lawnmowers comes from David Lynch’s The Straight Story> and Hank Hill. They seem sedate, pleasant things. I do not consider them high-speed deathracers. Well, I didn’t, until I saw Wreckfest [official site] developers Bugbear added lawnmowers to their smashtastic racer in the latest big Early Access update, along with ragdoll physics for riders flung from their mowers in the carnage. Now I’m fascinated by this muddy karting.

I believe they remove the mowers’ blades before racing, though. Babies.

… [visit site to read more]