THQ bankruptcy filing reveals unannounced projects

Posted on December 19, 2012 by John Scalzo

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THQ’s bankruptcy filing is full of all sorts fun little tidbits, including a list of unannounced projects from THQ’s internal studios.

While the games are officially unannounced, most of these titles have already been discovered thanks to trademark filings and domain registrations over the years.

  • Vigil is hard at work on Crawler (working title). With Darksiders II less than six months old, development has probably just begun on Crawler.
  • RTS specialists Relic will release Atlas (working title) in 2014.
  • As expected, THQ Montreal is working on a game known as 1666. The development team is being lead by Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Desilets.
  • Turtle Rock’s “co-op multiplayer action game” will be titled Evolve.
  • And finally (and not surprisingly), the document has confirmed that WWE 14 is in development at Yuke’s.

Development on all of these titles will continue and we’ll hopefully hear more about them soon.

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Daily Scoop: December 19, 2012 – Last night of Encounters

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Tonight is the last night of this Encounter season, and I’m actually kind of sad to see it go! It’s been a really fun eight weeks. The next season doesn’t start until February 6, so I don’t know what I’ll do with my Wednesday nights in the interim. Rumor has it we’ll be playtesting some D&D Next, which I’m eager to try out!

As for deals, you might want to get on the latest Humble Indie Bundle, which just launched. You get the games The Binding of Isaac (plus the Wrath of the Lamb DLC), Closure, Eff, Shank 2, and Snapshot, plus Indie Game: The Movie, with a basic average donation. If you give more than the average, you also get Dungeon Defenders( with DLC) as well as Legend of Grimrock. Oh, and four soundtracks (six if you pay more). This is an amazing deal, and you should absolutely get it!

What else, you ask? Well, just more of Amazon’s featured video game deals, including Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City for $14.99, The Secret World for $29.99, Steel Diver for $6.99, Street Fighter X Tekken for $14.99, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition for $14.33, and Tera Online for $14.95. Scoop ’em up!

Just two game-related shirts today… and yes, I did cave and buy the Totoro shirt yesterday!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

THQ files for bankruptcy protection, company up for sale

Posted on December 19, 2012 by John Scalzo

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I can’t say we weren’t expecting this, but THQ has announced they’ve petitioned the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Chapter 11 protection. But there’s a twist! The game publisher has partnered with Clearlake Capital Group, an investment firm, in an attempt to sell the company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Clearlake will purchase all of THQ’s assets in a “stalking horse bid.” This acquisition includes all of THQ’s internal studios and games in development. Clearlake has agreed to buy THQ for approximately $60 million and, as the “stalking horse” bidder, have set the low point for any future purchase of the publisher.

Jason Rubin, THQ’s President, said, “We have incredible, creative talent here at THQ. We look forward to partnering with experienced investors for a new start as we will continue to use our intellectual property assets to develop high-quality core games, create new franchise titles, and drive demand through both traditional and digital channels.”

Business at THQ will continue as usual with no layoffs or game cancellations planned.

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Lego Lord of the Rings, Batman: Arkham Asylum, more added to PS Store

Posted on December 19, 2012 by John Scalzo

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Ready for another weekly dose of new PlayStation downloads? Here’s what’s new on the PlayStation Store this week…

  • Lego Lord of the Rings (PS3) – Just in time for your Hobbit after-viewing party comes the Lego version of Tolkien’s trilogy.
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) – Batman’s first adventure inside Arkham is now on the PS Store.
  • Kareteka (PS3) – Martial arts remake from the creator of Prince of Persia.
  • Zombie Driver HD (PS3) – Overhead driving game where you have to… drive over zombies!
  • Bully, Red Dead Revolver, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix – A trio of Rockstar-published PS2 Classics.
  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Vita) – Sonic and company are back for another round of racing.

Hit the jump for more information on this week’s new releases (as well as a few more). And be sure to check out the PlayStation Blog for details on this week’s new game add-ons.

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Halo 4: Crimson Map Pack Review: Vehicle Lovin’ Fun

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Troy Matsumiya

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The first map pack for Halo 4 is here, and all three battlefields have one thing in common: vehicles. Each one has a plethora of death-dealing machinery for you to ride and enhance your Spartan-blasting pleasure (hmm, I think I’ve been playing this game way too much). So how do the new maps stack up?

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Posted in Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Daily Scoop: December 18, 2012 – Make up your mind, weather!

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Nicole Kline

So, it’s December, and it’s a week until Christmas, and somehow it’s 60 degrees outside? Seriously, what is going on here? I can’t take this anymore, and neither can my brain. My headaches have been off the charts lately!

There are some great deals going on today. Amazon’s Gold Box deal is PS3 320 GB PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection Bundle for $249.99, $50 off the regular price. So that means you get LittleBigPlanet 2, Infamous 2, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One included, as well as whatever other crazy stuff Sony releases for free. And if you have a Vita, that Plus membership will get you a ton of games on there as well. This is a pretty good deal!

Also, GameStop has a bunch of great stuff going on in their weekly ad, including some great deals on Xbox 360 consoles on page 6. I keep telling myself I’m going to get that R2D2 Xbox 360! Maybe this is the week…

Sadly, only one shirt today, and it’s a repeat, but I’ve included something adorable as an added bonus:

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

XBLM Countdown to 2013 deals begin today with CoD Modern Warfare 3 and a lot more

Posted on December 18, 2012 by John Scalzo

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Microsoft has announced that the “Countdown to 2013” sale has begun on the Xbox Live Marketplace. From now until December 31, a ton of games, add-ons, and Avatar items have had their prices slashed by as much as 67% off. Kinect owners will also be able to download the Double Fine-developed Kinect Party for free until the 31st as well.

You might also be interested to know that today’s “ONE DAY ONLY” deal is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

The Game on Demand edition of Modern Warfare 3 can be downloaded TODAY ONLY for $29.99 (a savings of 50% off). All four of the game’s DLC Collections are also half off and they’ve been priced at 600 Microsoft Points ($10) apiece.

The full list of deals can be found after the break.

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Add two new courses to Doritos Crash Course on January 2

Posted on December 18, 2012 by John Scalzo

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Microsoft has announced that they plan to release an expansion for Doritos Crash Course on January 2. You remember Doritos Crash Course, right? It was a freely available advergame that was added to the XBLA in 2010 and one of the most-downloaded XBLA games of all time.

The Crash Course add-on will be priced at 160 Microsoft Points ($2) and it’ll include two new locations (London and Vegas) as well an Easy Mode for the Japan courses, new Achievements, and two new Avatar Awards. Each location will include ten courses, almost doubling the size of the game.

Not bad for $2.

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