Kotaku: Warhammer 40K

THQ Australia Working On "Brutal" Warhammer 40K Brawler

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:30:00 MDT

Looks like THQ have plans to wage an endless war on humanity's wallets. Not only are they (well, they and Relic) serving up Dawn of War II and a "ready when it's done" 40K MMO, but job listings appearing on THQ Australia's website reveal the company also have plans for a 40K "action game" for the 360 and PS3. The company site doesn't out-and-out name the project, saying "We are currently looking for people to work on a next-gen brutal, intimate melee combat game using a world-class brand", but a listing on a local recruitment page gives the game away, using 40K as its main selling-point. Games based on 40K that aren't Space Hulk or Dawn of War have generally sucked, but who knows, a "brutal, intimate" combat game on a PS3/360 might yet be able to take the Dawn of War intro and make a game out of it.

THQ Studio Australia needs developers for Warhammer 40,000 project [Tsumea]
THQ Australia Careers [THQ, both via IGN]

Wait, This Is Good Games PR

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:40:00 MDT

Forget everything I said about that Ectomobile stunt a few months back. Because that was too damn easy. It's just a car! All you gotta do is tart it up a little! No, our new "above and potentially too far beyond the call of duty" award for gaming PR goes to THQ's UK branch, who to kick off Dawn of War II's publicity campaign in earnest have set about...building a real Rhino tank from Warhammer 40K. To do this, they've got hold of an ex-British Army APC, are modifying the bodywork with some heavy welding and will fill the cargo space with banks of PC demo rigs. Madness.

WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR II - RHINO DIARY 1 [THQ, thanks Mike!]

THQ Signs Up With GameTap

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:20:00 MDT

While Turner Broadcasting's GameTap service gave us a scare awhile back by cutting off it's editorial arm, the game download side of things is still as strong as ever, and growing even strong still as they announce a long-term partnership with THQ to include the publisher's games on the service. This will add existing games like Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40K, Titan Quest and Red Faction to the service, while securing future titles such as Saint's Row 2.

“Our new partnership with GameTap allows both a brand new audience and fans alike to enjoy our titles and franchise games online,” said Adrienne Lauer, National Sales Director, Market Development for THQ, “Digital distribution is a great way to extend the reach of our properties and GameTap is an ideal outlet for this effort.”

See? GameTap knows what it's doing. The editorial content always seemed unnecessary to me anyway. More games is good! Hit the jump for the full PR.

GAMETAP SIGNS PARTNERSHIP WITH THQ

New deal includes top titles and franchises like Company of Heroes

ATLANTA – July 22, 2008 – GameTap, the first-of-its-kind broadband entertainment network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., announced today a long-term partnership with THQ Inc. that includes worldwide subscription play and digital download rights for a wide selection of the publisher’s games for Windows PC. Additionally under the new agreement, some THQ games will also be made available for free play on GameTap’s ad-supported website www.gametap.com.

“We are excited to be adding THQ’s roster of top content to GameTap,” said Ricardo Sanchez, vice president of content and creative director for GameTap. “With this new deal, subscribers and website visitors will enjoy great games from THQ, including Company of Heroes and Red Faction.”

As part of the new agreement, GameTap will now feature titles from the THQ and ValuSoft catalogues, including critically acclaimed games such as Company of Heroes®, Warhammer® 40K, Red Faction®, Supreme Commander®, Titan Quest™, Saints Row™ 2, PuzzleQuest and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

“Our new partnership with GameTap allows both a brand new audience and fans alike to enjoy our titles and franchise games online,” said Adrienne Lauer, National Sales Director, Market Development for THQ, “Digital distribution is a great way to extend the reach of our properties and GameTap is an ideal outlet for this effort.”

First Proper Details On Warhammer 40K MMO

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:00:00 MDT

We know a Warhammer 40K MMO is coming, we know it's "years away", and we know I'm terribly excited about the whole thing. Aside from that, though, we don't really know squat. Do now! Last month's PC Gamer ran a big feature on the game (of which we've already posted some scraps), which finally got us some answers to some of the more burning questions surrounding the game. Like what kind of game it was, exactly. Vigil's David Adams:

Let me say that this game will be an RPG. That needs to be said, because when someone thinks of a Warhammer 40,000 MMO there is definitely some question as to the style of play: will it be an FPS, an RTS, or some other genre altogether? Relic has the RTS angle covered with the awesome Dawn of War series - we are making an RPG.

Got it? It's an RPG. Though, thankfully, not a terribly traditional one, as its combat sounds more Brothers In Arms than World of Warcraft, with the use of ranged weapons meaning you'll have to pay attention to things like cover, suppression fire, etc. Also touched on were the game's races ("...all of the races important to Warhammer 40,000 lore (not to mention the fans) will be represented"), it's setting within 40K's massive storyline and also NPCs and possible vehicle use.

Warhammer 40,000 Online [PC Gamer]

Wage An Endless War Against This Warhammer 40K MMO Info

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:20:00 MDT

A two-year wait gives us plenty of time to read up on THQ's Warhammer 40K MMO, so you can take your time with this. A sentence a week should ration things out nicely. The latest issue of PC Gamer has some real, actual information on the project, including the fact there'll be large-scale combat, you can naturally form squads/chapters and that, according to creative director Joe Madureira, there'll be "tons of stuff hanging off your character, weapons, scrolls... we are going to have the coolest looking characters of any MMO, ever". Oh, and fans of Space Hulk, know that the game will feature, amongst stuff like crumbling cities and alien temples, the ability to explore space hulks.
Actual WH40K MMO details here [PC Gamer, via CVG] [Pic]

Warhammer 40K MMO Still "Years Away"

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:30:00 MDT

As a general rule, I hate MMOs. Elves, grinding, enchanted amulets, yuck. Though I've always set aside a condition that, should I ever run into one that's both decent and based on a franchise or IP that I'm keen on, I'd at least dip my toes in the shallow end. Perhaps the only one to potentially meet this condition at this stage is THQ's Warhammer 40K MMO, so it's with a slightly pathetic frown on my face that I hear THQ CEO Brian Farrell saying the project's "probably still a couple of years out". Bummer.
Interview: Brian Farrell, CEO, THQ [paidcontent, via VG247] [Pic]

Teardown's Space Hulk Torn Down

Mike Fahey — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:40:08 MST

Back on Tuesday we posted about an excellent free-to-play update to the video game of the board game Space Hulk, crafted loving by a team calling themselves Teardown with "the blessing of both EA and the Games Workshop." Since then they've had nothing but trouble, first with bandwidth issues after gamers flocked to the site to download 327 gigs worth of data, and then with Games Workshop, who kindly asked them to pull the game from the downloads section. Apparently the whole blessings thing was a bit of a reach. From the latest Teardown news post:

We still havn't had any contact with Games Workshop. We called them but they told us that someone would get back as soon as they could. Perhaps the fact that they do not chase us around 24 hours a day is a good sign? We'll soon find out. once more thank you for all conerns and support. Time will tell if it is worth something.

I don't expect this to end well. Those of you who downloaded the game enjoy it, because I've a feeling we won't be seeing it again.

Website is closed [Teardown - Thanks Mark]

Space Hulk Gets A Touch-Up

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:30:00 MST

You've either played Space Hulk (the "accessible" board game) or Space Hulk (the old PC/Amiga/3D0 game) by now. I'm just going to assume that. This, then, is truly a pleasant surprise: A group of guys going by the name Teardown have, with the blessing of both EA and the Games Workshop, released a free-to-play update of the old classic. It lacks the first-person mode of the old computerised version, but anyone aching for another go-round of the board game will find this does the job quite nicely.
Space Hulk [Teardown]