Word started passing yesterday that Flagship Studios went caput, and now multiple sites are reporting that the Hellgate developer is indeed no more.

We got an anonymous tipster who said Flagship shut down abruptly yesterday, and that developers for both Hellgate (San Francisco) and Mythos (Seattle) have all been pink-slipped. "But there's also hope that they will all have their jobs back at the end of next week at a brand new company," our tipster says.

But wait, there's more. Flagship's Korean partners/owners, Hanbitsoft, were said to be taking over. That sparked a foofaraw regarding who owns the Hellgate intellectual property.

Flagship Co-Founder: Hellgate Was Overambitious, Rushed

We're all pretty much aware that Hellgate: London failed, and I'd say we're all pretty sure of the reasoning behind that failure, but it's always nice to get confirmation from someone in the know. In an interview with Eurogamer mainly dealing with their new MMO Mythos, Flagship's operations chief and co-founder Max Schaefer explains that the company just bit off more than they could chew.

If we made a mistake with Hellgate, it was trying to do too many things for too many people. We wanted a cutting edge graphics engine, we wanted multiple business models with subscriptions and free play, and single-player, we wanted to combine third-person play with first-person play, we wanted to do random 3D levels, and when you're starting with a brand new game studio with very limited budget and no existing technologies, that was probably biting off too much. We ended up rushing it to market and not keeping it in the oven long enough, just out of necessity.

It's still a shame, especially when the game had so much potential, but it's good to see Flagship accepting and learning from their mistake and moving on to bigger and better things. Hit the link for the full interview.

Flagship's Max Schaefer [Eurogamer]

"This milestone wouldn't have been possible for us to achieve without the incredible support of our publishing partner, Hanbitsoft, and our dedicated community in Korea."

Flagship Studios has announced a new patch for Hellgate: London. Patch 1.2 contains a bunch of new features and improvements to the game. Most notable is the addition of an in-game mail system that will allow players not only to communicate, but to send items to each other as well. There is also a major character class balance and upgrades to certain in-game characters. Also included is a new enemy, six new weapons, higher monster spawns in certain areas and "pets with abilities."

All the gory details of the patch can be found on the Hellgate:London forums.

The nether regions of Hellgate: London are expanding. Hellgate creators Flagship Studios announced yesterday that they would be adding new content to the game as of Jan. 21. The expansion is known as The Stonehenge Chronicles and will add outdoor areas to the game's rotting city locales. It contains three new sections entitled The Caste Caves, Moloch's Lair and The Wild that will enable players to earn some new items and unlock new dungeon scenarios. Also included are a PvP area, upgraded UI and the ability to pay for your subscription via PayPal and PaybyCash. More hell is good hell!

Hellgate London To Get First Content Update [Gamasutra]

Holy crap our Hellgate: London contest was way too close to call! Finalist 2 and Finalist 4 ran neck and neck. Here's our solution: We're giving both copies of Hellgate: London. The other finalists must be satisfied with INTERNET FAME — however ephemeral it is. We're not going to do this every contest, so do not ask.

Congrats to our dual winners and much love to everyone else who entered! Finalist 2 and Finalist 4 shoot tips an email with your address so we can get your prizes to you.

Our Show-Us-Hell-Win-Hellgate: London contest has drawn to a close. Voting time! We've got TK finalists, and it's up to you, Kotakuland, to vote for the one finalist you like best. Remember, vote for ONE and only ONE. Voting ends Monday, December 10th at 11:59pm. Hit the jump for the finalists!

Hellgate - A Novel Purchase

Show Us Hell, Win Hellgate

More hell! For our Show-Us-Hell-Win-Hellgate: London contest, reader Nasser writes:

..in Norway actually....

I live in Norway too..

here is a link on google maps

The first picture is in hell.. The second leads straight to hell :)

Have a nice day :)

This is a scene from the end of 28 Days Later, an excellent movie and much better than the suckfest called 28 Weeks Later.
The picture even gets a little gaming flavor by having Mario with his Wiimote in it and I was playing the movie on my Playstation 3.

Show Us Hell, Win Hellgate

Win Hellgate With "Hell"

The already rocky launch of Hellgate: London in Asia has gotten even rockier. After several weeks of server crashing issues, a patch known as Patch0 was created to help solve the problem. After numerous attempts to apply the patch to the servers it was discovered that the only way to make it work would be to perform a complete character wipe. Needless to say, Asian players of the game who have spent hours leveling up their characters are furious and in an attempt to appease them, IAH Games is offering players a months worth of free play time. Now at least they won't have to pay for all the time they will have to spend grinding back up to where they were before the wipe if they choose to continue playing.

You can read IAH Game's notice about the wipe after the jump

Xfire is hosting a special chat with the developers of Hellgate: London this Wednesday, which acts as both the launch day for the game as well as International Spooky Day. Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper rounds out the five-man crack team of people who discuss things:pertaining to Hellgate:

* Bill Roper, CEO Flagship Studios
* Aletheia Simonson, Art Producer
* Bill Manegold, Game Programmer
* Amir Ebrahimi, Graphics Programmer
* Guy Somberg, Audio and Gameplay Programmer

Hellgate: London Page at Xfire [Xfire]

Here we are again at another week full of games that threaten to drain my bank account. I haven't even gotten through last week's "must have" list and here comes Manhunt 2, GH III, The Simpsons Game, Hellgate: London, Dementium: The Ward. My Christmas wish list grows longer with each passing day while my time to play games grows ever shorter. What's a poor gamer to do?

Manhunt 2 (WII, PS2, PSP)
At long last it finally arrives, castrated but no worse for the wear.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (X360, WII, PS3, PS2)
Barracuda, here I come!

The Simpsons Game (X360, PS2, DS, WII, PS3)
One Simpsons game to rule them all.

The Witcher (PC)
It's witchcraft, wicked witchcraft...

Hellgate: London (PC)
Welcome to the 'ell 'ole.

Culpa Innata (PC)
What life will be like 40 years from now. I can't wait to see if it's accurate.

Dementium: The Ward (DS)
GameCock rolls out the monsters.

TimeShift (PC, X360)
The clothes make the man.

Battalion Wars 2 (WII)
Who knew war could be so cute.

Tabula Rasa (PC)
Richard Garriot's futuristic MMO finally arrives.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
YOU are the Overlord. Or at least you will be if you win.

Virtua Fighter 5 (X360)
Beat down in HD.

It's been an extremely long time coming, but Flagship Studios has announced that the oft-delayed Hellgate: London has finally been freed from the nest, finding a new home at the manufacturing plant. A very proud Bill Roper of Flagship, teary-eyed from an errant stream of champagne and certainly not emotion, said that making Hellgate: London was an "amazing journey for us."

Whomever writes the press releases at EA or Namco Bandai Games reveals that the singe-player demo for the PC game will go live this Friday, October 19. Gamers will get their hands on the full version of the game on Halloween day. Yay!

HGL Gone Gold, Demo Coming! [Hellgate: London]

Diablo 3 Talk From Blizzard's Ex

I think with Diablo, for example, the camera angle is a big part of it. I think with the Diablo series there is a level of expectation about only using the mouse to move.