Despite the guilty pleasures of Red Faction: Guerilla, all it took was one sub-par game in the series (Red Faction: Armageddon) for publisher THQ to, at least temporarily, pull the plug on the series. Which is a damn shame.

In memory of a franchise (or at least its contemporary revival) that lived too fast and died too young, then, here's a collection of top-shelf concept art from the pariah itself, Red Faction: Armageddon.

These character concepts and environment pieces were done by Massive Black, a creative studio based in San Francisco that not only breathes life into the world of video games but that of major motion pictures as well.

To see the larger pics in all their glory, either click the "expand" icon on the gallery screen or right click and "open link in new tab".

Poor sales of Red Faction: Armageddon this year means the end of the franchise, publisher THQ said in a conference call today.

Brian Farrell, the THQ chief executive, told investors that "we do not intend to carry forward with that franchise in any meaningful way."

Volition, the studio developing the series, has now been reassigned to Guillermo del Toro's inSane game project, a survival horror game.

THQ Abandons Red Faction Franchise [Eurogamer]

Remember when we told you that Mr. Toots, a wee unicorn with a powerful, rainbow-spraying ass, would come to Red Faction: Armageddon? Well, here's your official confirmation from THQ who also reveals how we'll get our hands on Mr. Toots incredibly destructive rectum.

It's going to take a million downloads of the game's demo, according to the video released by THQ today. The demo for Red Faction: Armageddon was released today on Xbox Live and is supposed to come to the PlayStation Network whenever Sony's online service returns from its slumber. Given PS3's owners inability to grab said demo right now, Armageddon will have an uphill battle making it to a million. (There's no PC demo, sadly.)

Might want to tell your friends if you want to unicorn fart things to death.

Red Faction: Armageddon hits the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 7 in North America, June 10 internationally.

THQ and SyFy have teamed up to produce Red Faction: Origins, a made for television movie that spans the time period between 2009's Red Faction: Guerrilla and 2011's Red Faction: Armageddon.

No longer do you have to settle for simple stills of this Red Faction origin story, as THQ released the trailer for the June-due Origins today.

Here's the plot, if it's hard to gather from the above video.

Jake Mason (Brian J. Smith), Alec's last surviving son and an officer in the Red Faction Militia, has his world turned inside out when he discovers that now, 12 years after her kidnapping, his sister is still alive. As a powerful new enemy swarms across the planet, Jake goes out to find her, only to learn that his lost sister is one of them...a cold-blooded soldier sworn to destroy the Red Faction. Jake must now battle the relentless regime and somehow reunite a family torn apart by war.

Furthermore, it would appear that trademark sledgehammers will be used by Robert Patrick and that at least one woman will find herself surprised and topless in a fashion suitable for primetime airing.

Red Faction: Origins premieres Saturday, June 4 on SyFy.

Ten years ago the original Red Faction gave PlayStation 2, PC, and Mac gamers their first taste of the future of humanity on Mars. Developer Volition explains how the three games before led up to next month's Red Faction: Armageddon.

We've come a long way since Red Faction came out back in 2001, haven't we? Back then the PlayStation 2 version of the game was either the bee's knees or the shit, depending on your praise of choice. Nowadays the original doesn't hold up quite as well, but playing through it does convey a strong feeling of how we've gotten from the fledgling franchise of a decade ago to what we're getting next month.

Red Faction: Armageddon hits the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 7.

Get your ass to a limited portion of Mars with the Red Faction Armageddon demo, currently slated to come to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on May 3. Sorry, PC gamers, but there won't be a demo for you. [RedFaction.com]

Syfy's live-action take on the Red Faction universe, Origins, will make its debut on June 4. If you were wondering what the thing looks like, well, wonder no more.

It's hard to make out what's going on, other than the fact there are people on Mars and some of them are wearing clothes that are just bound to need cleaning twice a day.

One thing you can clearly make out, though, is that this film stars Robert Patrick. Otherwise known as the T -"Have You Seen This Boy" 1000.

You may know Volition as the developers behind the Saints Row and Red Faction games. But its history is actually a lot longer, and more illustrious, than that.

A film crew from Game Informer has, during the course of some studio visits, got a little sidetracked and catalogued the entire history of the developer, from the present-day hits all the way back to titles like Descent (when it was still known as Parallax Software) and Freespace, names which still give PC gamers a case of the tingles.

Your mileage on these will vary depending on how much love you have for each series, but if you're like me and have enjoyed most of the stuff that's come out of Volition over the years, they're a great watch.

You can see them at the link below.

The Secret History of Volition [Game Informer]

The Red Faction movie to air on SyFi will begin shooting in January and air in May, concurrent with the release of Red Faction: Armageddon, says the publisher.

THQ's Danny Bilson, the company's president for core games publishing spread the word over his Twitter account.

The one-shot TV movie, originally scheduled to air in March, could end up as the basis for a future series.

Red Faction:Origins film to be released in May instead of March
[VG247]

THQ offered us a peek at a playable version of its downloadable Red Faction spin-off, the four-player vehicular combat action game Red Faction: Battlegrounds, at this week's Tokyo Game Show. What did we learn?

Well, not too much more beyond what was featured in the downloadable game's debut trailer. Red Faction: Battlegrounds is a frantic, competitive arcade action game, a top-down perspective take on Twisted Metal-style car combat. Vehicles, mechs, tanks and weapons lifted from the Red Faction franchise will make an appearance in the game, like the mini-black hole spawning singularity gun.

But some Red Faction standbys—and some of the series' not so common weapons—won't be making an appearance in Battlegrounds. Here's a quick rundown of what won't be available in the game's arsenal. Believe me, I asked.

1. Cars with hammers attached to them
2. A gun that shoots hammers
3. A giant ostrich mech

Fortunately, the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network game doesn't appear to suffer for those absences. The hands-off demo we saw at TGS looked like a fun arcade experience, one on par with the planned $5 to $10 USD price THQ is expecting for Red Faction: Battlegrounds. With persistent rankings, leaderboards and planned downloadable content post-launch, this spin-off title might make the wait for the next fully-fledged Red Faction game a bit easier.

The game is expected to ship "a couple months" before Red Faction: Armageddon arrives in May 2011. Battlegrounds is planned to includes tie-ins to that title that THQ is still yet to detail.