When Sega plucked Relic from the ashes of THQ last month, it appears they didn’t get the Homeworld license along with it. So for now the sublime space RTS series remains without a home, in an odd case of life imitating art. The Homeworld IP is now up for sale in an auction of THQ’s remaining stuff – as is the likes of Supreme Commander, Red Faction, Darksiders, Titan Quest, Full Spectrum Warrior and a whole host of names known and forgotten.
It’s a sad business, and while I’m sometimes no fan of sequel culture, the concept of some of these once-great names simply ceasing to be is not a happy one. Hopefully non-exploitative, non-cynical buyers can be found for the main stuff. Wouldn’t it be nice (and not exactly implausible, given the publisher’s increasing PC-focus) if Sega did scoop up Homeworld, and reunite it with its creators? Or perhaps Gas Powered Games’ new owners Wargaming.net could salvage SupCom.
We’ll find out the fate of these names, all being well, in May. Highest bidder for each of the below lots takes ‘em home. If you are a rich person or company interested in acquiring any of ‘em, you’ve got until the first of April to declare your intentions and proffered monies to auction@thq.com.
Here’s the complete list of what’s up for sale. Godspeed, brave videogame franchises.
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Lot 1 – OWNED SOFTWARE
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| Red Faction | Red Faction Armageddon | |
| Red Faction 2 | Red Faction: Guerrilla | |
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Lot 2 – OWNED SOFTWARE
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| Homeworld | Homeworld 2 | |
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Lot 3 – OWNED SOFTWARE
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| MX Alive | MX vs ATV Untamed | |
| MX Superfly featuring Ricky Carmichael | MX vs. ATV Alive Tournament | |
| MX Unleashed | MX vs. ATV Unleashed | |
| MX vs ATV Reflex | MX vs. ATV: On The Edge | |
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Lot 4 – OWNED SOFTWARE
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| Darksiders | Darksiders 2 | |
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Lot 5 – OWNED SOFTWARE
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| All Star Cheer Squad | Elements of Destruction | |
| All Star Cheer Squad 2 | Fantastic Pets | |
| All Star Karate | Frontlines: Fuel of War | |
| Baja: Edge of Control | Full Spectrum Warrior 1 | |
| Battle of the Bands | Full Spectrum Warrior 2: Ten Hammers | |
| Beat City | Juiced | |
| Big Beach Sports | Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights | |
| Big Beach Sports 2 | Lock’s Quest: Construction Combat | |
| Big Family Games | Neighborhood Games | |
| Crawler | Pax Imperia | |
| de Blob | Stuntman: Ignition | |
| de Blob 2 | Summoner | |
| Deadly Creatures | Summoner 2 | |
| Deep Six | Terranium | |
| Destroy All Humans! | The Outfit | |
| Destroy All Humans! 2 | Titan Quest | |
| Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed | Titan Quest: Immortal Throne | |
| Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon | uDraw | |
| Dood’s Big Adventure | World of Zoo | |
| Drawn to Life | ||
| Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter | ||
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Lot 6 – LICENSED SOFTWARE
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| Costume Quest | Scripps Spelling Bee (Scripps) | |
| Daniel X (SueJack) | Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osborne House | |
| Deepak Chopra’s Leela (Curious Holdings) | Stacking | |
| Fancy Nancy: Tea Party Time! (Harper Collins) | Supreme Commander | |
| Jeopardy | Supreme Commander Forged Alliance | |
| Jeopardy 2 | The Biggest Loser | |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | Truth or Lies | |
| Let’s Ride Best of Breed | Vampire Legends: Power of Three (dtp) | |
| Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat | Wheel of Fortune | |
| Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet | Wheel of Fortune 2 | |
| Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet 2 | World of Zoo | |
| Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase | Worms 2 | |
| Nexuiz | Worms Battle Islands | |
| Paws & Claws Marine Rescue | Worms Open Warfare | |
| Paws & Claws Pampered Pets Resort 3D | Worms: A Space Oddity | |
| PurrPals 2 | Worms: Open Warfare 2 (Team 17) | |
| Rio | You Don’t Know Jack (Jellyvision) | |
| Rocket Riot | ||
| Screwjumper (Frozen Codebase) | ||
27/02/2013 at 10:02 amateurviking says:
TO KICKSTARTER!
27/02/2013 at 10:05 GamerOS says:
Yes, let’s buy the HW IP and then force Relic to make a sequel… or something along those lines.
At least now I know for sure where the hell that IP went.
27/02/2013 at 10:42 Zlarp says:
This happened. Nobody gave the project any money.
27/02/2013 at 10:59 SteamTrout says:
Ah but it was Homeworld for touch devices by a company with no known gaming background asking $50k.
27/02/2013 at 11:53 Hans Kisaragi says:
You mean people did not give money to a web designing team to save a game on a site nobody uses?
27/02/2013 at 12:50 Axyl says:
Noone uses Kickstarter? Really??
27/02/2013 at 12:56 InternetBatman says:
It was an indiegogo with flexible funding. The last two words probably scared as many people off as the sketchiness of the rest of it.
27/02/2013 at 10:17 slerbal says:
Argh, no. Someone has already done that but it is a terrible idea (at least for the backers).
Raise money for a bid that may or may not be high enough but the organisers of the Kickstarter will get to keep the money whatever… that could get ugly. Unfortunately there is no way to make the money raised on Kickstarter provisional upon success (at least not as far as I know).
I’d love to see a new Homeworld, but I don’t think Kickstarter is the way to acquire the rights though as a vehicle for raising funding for making a game by the rights-holder it would seem ideal depending on who they were.
27/02/2013 at 10:28 amateurviking says:
Oh you’re right it’s a terrible idea. I can dream though :)
27/02/2013 at 10:32 slerbal says:
Dreams of a new Homeworld are all we have so far… *sniff* :(
27/02/2013 at 13:55 larchy says:
Homeworld Complex scratches the itch
27/02/2013 at 10:05 Jarenth says:
I was going to make a joke about All Star Cheer Squad, one and two, and then my eyes scrolled down a bit and saw Costume Quest on the list.
Nobody’s picked up Costume Quest yet.
So I guess my contribution to your happiness today is to remind you that Costume Quest exists. And that nobody’s bought the license yet.
27/02/2013 at 10:25 kibayasu says:
I believe Double Fine is looking into buying the rights to both it and Stacking so they can actually make money off the console sales of those games. Could be too expensive for them though, I doubt Double Fine has much expendable cash on hand.
27/02/2013 at 10:40 Hoaxfish says:
I’m a bit weirded out by the idea that in order to regain Stacking and Costume quest they’d have to buy a whole bunch of other games they have nothing to do with.
I assume the license would revert to them if nobody bought that lot.
27/02/2013 at 10:59 Malibu Stacey says:
Lot 6 is “Licensed Software” which means it’s stuff THQ published not IP they owned.
I assume this means you’d be purchasing the publishing contracts for those games for the remainder of the terms (if any).
27/02/2013 at 12:47 plugmonkey says:
That would be my best guess also, considering that it’s only Supreme Commander 1 listed and not 2. I also find it had to believe that THQ own the Worms franchise, which is in the same list.
I think these are just back catalog titles rather than franchise rights.
27/02/2013 at 18:10 LintMan says:
So if THQ only had publishing rights, who actually owns the SupCom 1 IP? Definitely not GPG. Maybe Squeenix got the IP rights to all of the SupCom universe when they published SupCom2?
27/02/2013 at 10:05 TheApologist says:
Hmmm…World of Zoo is both Owned Software and Licensed Software and being sold in two lots? Weird.
Also weird/sad, the great de Blob lumped in with the I’m assuming not so great Big Beach Sports…
27/02/2013 at 12:04 TheApologist says:
No one cares about de Blob apart from me.
:(
27/02/2013 at 12:44 InternetBatman says:
I would love to see DeBlob on PC, and I too think the series has potential. The first was a bit better than the second, but the world needs more free roaming platformers. Deadly creatures is another great one. I had to quit playing it because it freaked my fiancee out.
27/02/2013 at 16:04 TheApologist says:
It’s not just me!
27/02/2013 at 10:06 gyokzoli says:
And what about Homeworld Cataclysm???
27/02/2013 at 10:14 Hans Kisaragi says:
Relic did not make it.
The reason THQ bought Homeworld 1 and 2 was cause they wanted to buy Relic.
And so they did.
27/02/2013 at 13:04 Surlywombat says:
Actually, THQ brought Relic about 4 years before they brought the Homeworld IP. It is interesting that they didn’t decide to pick up Cataclysm back then.
27/02/2013 at 16:37 Corb says:
cataclysm was made by barking dog studio, not relic, so I don’t think they had much interest in an offshoot that they didn’t make (albeit a very fun off shoot :D Somtaaw BeastSlayer for life!)
28/02/2013 at 00:49 Razumen says:
Here here! Cataclysm made a lot of improvements to the Homeworld formula, unfortunately most of them were ignored in the by the numbers sequel.
27/02/2013 at 20:40 Casimir Effect says:
Cataclysm Homeworld is best Homeworld, not to take anything away from 1 or 2 which were also great.
27/02/2013 at 10:15 Zephro says:
I wonder if there’s any chance of Sega getting the FreeSpace license off of Interplay, or whatever is left of them.
27/02/2013 at 10:20 unangbangkay says:
I believe Freespace is still in Interplay’s hands (or was it Sierra?).
27/02/2013 at 10:45 FionaSarah says:
It is indeed stuck within the rotting corpse of Interplay.
27/02/2013 at 16:39 Corb says:
honestly I’d rather see new space sim IPs than have someone try to “resurrect” freespace and ruin my childhood memories.
28/02/2013 at 00:48 Razumen says:
Balderdash, no one can ruin your childhood memories, not until they invent time travel at least.
I’d be totally down for more Freespace – new IPs would just change too much and I’d like to see more of the Freespace world..
27/02/2013 at 10:16 gibb3h says:
Lot 5 for uDraw.
27/02/2013 at 10:17 slerbal says:
I saw that and chuckled.
“Here sir, would you like to buy this poisoned chalice that killed the former owner?”
28/02/2013 at 01:12 The Random One says:
I like how it’s essentially in the lot with the most games in it, that might as well be labeled “Misc. Crap”.
28/02/2013 at 03:25 DK says:
Except there’s Titan Quest in there. A fucking Gem that made THQ a ton of money, and because that money only started flowing in a few years after release (and since then, hasn’t stopped) the original devs didn’t see a cent of it.
27/02/2013 at 10:16 Shantara says:
All these franchise bundles… It’s like a Steam sale once again.
27/02/2013 at 10:22 Teovald says:
I doubt anyone will want to buy the supcom licence..
If I want to make a new big robots RTS, I don’t need to put it in the SupCom universe (even if Brackman and his MonkeyLords are a fond memory).
Planetary Annihilation is also its own IP.
27/02/2013 at 12:22 mouton says:
Come to think of it, you are right. It’s not like SupCom’s setting was that much to write about. It had some potential, but meh.
I just wish someone made a game that draws on its wonderful UI. Why are we stuck with crap like Starcraft 2?
27/02/2013 at 14:25 rapchee says:
oh that ui … every time a ragequit company of heroes because the units do something unexpectedly retarded, i go to relax with sc2 … ah yes, queue-able commands … ah yes, patrols .. ah yes, editable wayoints. oh and the zoom-out-to-full-map-feature … why don’t they make’em like that anymore?
27/02/2013 at 18:21 LintMan says:
It could be worth something if it includes not just the IP rights but the actual code base. But it seems it’s not even IP in Sup Com’s case, just a publishing license.
27/02/2013 at 10:23 kibayasu says:
Don’t most of the people that worked on Homeworld 1 and 2 no longer work at Relic? That’s not to say that Relic is making bad games but Company of Heroes and Dawn or War are a tad different from everybody’s favorite space RTS.
27/02/2013 at 10:24 unangbangkay says:
For the record, I wouldn’t want a Homeworld 3. Or at least, I wouldn’t want a Homeworld game that takes place after the end of Homeworld 2 (during the Age of S’jet). That ending was perfect as it was!
There are still possibilities for that universe, though. Maybe a prequel set during the time when the Higarans were dominant, perhaps one that tells the story of how they fell. Seeing the end of their empire in real time would be pretty cool, almost like a Mass Effect game set during the time of Javik.
Even a reverse-Galactica storyline (one that echoes the original plot of Homeworld 1) that takes place just after the fall of Higara, as they made their way to Kharak, dodging the threats that would rather see them extinct than exiled.
27/02/2013 at 10:31 silgidorn says:
Don’t you need an IP to mimic the core gameplay of said IP? I mean, does the intellectual property only cover the background and universe or does it covers the gameplay too?
27/02/2013 at 11:07 unangbangkay says:
Not really. If that were true there would only ever be one kind spacefighter sim IP. If you make a Homeworld clone and aren’t Relic about the most serious complaint you’d get was accusations of ripping off Homeworld. And even then, given how much people want a new Homeworld and how rare games that do the Homeworld style are, I doubt many would complain.
28/02/2013 at 00:51 Razumen says:
You can’t copyright gameplay (thank God).
27/02/2013 at 10:34 kibayasu says:
I’d hazard a guess that if someone was going to make a new Homeworld they’d simply start anew. How exactly to do that is something I’ll leave to the more creative minded.
Simply getting the Homeworld’s re-released would be good enough at this point. Neat thing about the original Homeworld is that through 4 different versions of Windows and 5 different computers I’ve never had any trouble getting it running. All it ever needs to run is Software display mode and some registry edits for a widescreen resolution.
27/02/2013 at 11:11 unangbangkay says:
True enough. Buying the Homeworld IP to authorize a re-release (maybe a tarted-up remaster) or one that makes Homeworld 2 more playable on modern machines (I’ve had great trouble getting that to run) would be enough for me.
Seriously, Homeworld’s storytelling was absolutely sublime. My only minor gripe was the realization that Hiigarans look like humans. I played through most of HW1 thinking they looked like weird aliens (in retrospect, I think my mental image was similar to a Quarian) and that lent the story an exotic aura.
27/02/2013 at 10:28 apocraphyn says:
Welp. Here’s hoping that Platinum weren’t just bullshitting about being interested in purchasing Darksiders. I have a sort of unplaceable fondness for the series.
Would also be interested to see where Titan Quest and Crawler end up (if there’s even anything salvagable from the latter – they were raving about that before THQ dissolved).
27/02/2013 at 10:49 KikiJiki says:
It’s a great IP with a nice art direction imo and pretty decent writing. A real shame it seemed to have ambitions that THQ couldn’t fulfil.
27/02/2013 at 16:03 Baines says:
I hope Platinum gets it, because Vanquish and Bayonetta show that they can make such games.
The downside of Platinum is that they also released MadWorld and Max Anarchy, two games that arguably came up shorter of ambition than THQ and/or were disconnected from what consumers wanted.
27/02/2013 at 10:32 DarkLiberator says:
Anybody got a few million dollars hidden away? :P
27/02/2013 at 20:06 SuperNashwanPower says:
YES.
Oh no, wait. The other thing.
27/02/2013 at 10:35 Syra says:
At least that seems to confirm that the dawn of war and 40k license did indeed stay with Relic…
27/02/2013 at 14:16 Werthead says:
Negatory. The IP was and is owned by Games Workshop. They licensed it to THQ, who then directed their then-wholly-owned subsidiary, Relic, to make the games. Relic never owned the licence at all. When THQ went down in the flames, the WH40K video game licence reverted to Games Workshop. All Sega have to do is strike up a new deal with GW (presumably easy enough, as Sega recently bought a Warhammer Fantasy licence from GW and thus must be on good terms with them) and Relic can then make new WH40K games (allegedly they were working on a multiplayer-focused DoW III anyway) with no problem.
27/02/2013 at 16:58 FriendlyFire says:
Actually, no. The license was automatically transferred with Relic, as far as I know, and GW actually withdrew their objection to the license transfer recently, which means that Relic can keep working on DoW3.
27/02/2013 at 18:58 Werthead says:
Any source? I remember hearing that the WH40K licence had actually been transferred back to GW a few months before THQ went under as a precaution against this problem arising.
The only thing I can find suggesting that the licence was transferred was a non-article from Eurogamer based on guesswork only:
link to eurogamer.net
Since Relic are shipping CoH2 this year and presumably won’t be looking at a new DoW game in detail until after that, there is no rush for them to be reunited with the licence anyway.
27/02/2013 at 10:37 silgidorn says:
For my part, I would love seeing Rockstar take the Red Faction IP and make a game with the destruction of Red Faction Guerilla, animation form Max Payne 3, a GTA-like open world and … why not, face animation from L.A.Noire. (also Jesper Kyd for music).
27/02/2013 at 10:38 Jekhar says:
Damn you with your Headline! I thought Homeworld is finally available on GOG or something.
27/02/2013 at 10:53 Jhoosier says:
Me too. And now I’m sad.
27/02/2013 at 11:04 der_baer_fm says:
Same here, how disapointing..
27/02/2013 at 11:20 Heliocentric says:
Me to, First thought, “Where is me credit card”
27/02/2013 at 11:29 Eclipse says:
yeah that’s not the “homeworld for sale” we all dreamed of…
27/02/2013 at 12:31 bigjig says:
Same :( Ah well, after System Shock 2 anything’s possible
27/02/2013 at 13:22 El_MUERkO says:
If sane person/persons buy the game they’ll be able to bring it to steam, depends how much it costs.
27/02/2013 at 13:58 Chuckaluphagus says:
Same here. I was about to rush over to GoG and pay for versions that would be updated to work on 64-bit Windows without requiring me to tweak registry files, spin thrice widdershins and sacrifice a black chicken.
I still have the install discs for Homeworld, Cataclysm and Homeworld II, but I find they don’t work very well on current OS’s and at high resolutions.
27/02/2013 at 14:43 MrLebanon says:
i had no problem running HW2 at 1080p with an HD texture pack on windows 7 64 bit
in fact, the game holds up beautifully today
27/02/2013 at 14:46 Guvornator says:
Where would a fellow get said pack?
27/02/2013 at 10:40 Guvornator says:
THQ licensed a James Patterson book?! Also I wouldn’t mind a new version of You Don’t Know Jack.
27/02/2013 at 10:46 FionaSarah says:
I don’t understand, these seem to be lists of specific software licenses that are up for grabs, not the overall IPs themselves. Am I missing something?
27/02/2013 at 10:48 Gap Gen says:
What’s the logic behind how the lots are split up?
27/02/2013 at 10:53 Shockeh says:
The logic is ‘What we can sell individually to make the most money, and what crap we can tack onto semi-interesting IP to get rid of it and make a few bucks extra’.
27/02/2013 at 10:49 MajorManiac says:
Good God! THQ owned the rights to both Homeworld and Pax Imperia. Yet haven’t made sequels to either for the last 10 years!
I’m glad they went bust. Hmpf!
27/02/2013 at 11:04 Malibu Stacey says:
I never played the original Pax Imperia but I loved the sequel Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain.
I think it might have been the first Space 4X game I played and thus began my addiction.
27/02/2013 at 11:16 MajorManiac says:
To be honest, I was thinking of Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain. It may sound strange but it is still my favourite Space 4X game.
Unlike most 4X games, Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain is in real-time. But it streamlines the general management of an empire in such a way as to make this work. For my personal taste this is the high water mark for 4X games. Whats yours?
27/02/2013 at 14:46 cjlr says:
Damn, Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain was one of the first games I ever played! And I still maintain it had the BEST INTRO VIDEO OF ALL TIME.
I was about 9, maybe. I kept going to my dad for advice. Of course, his advice was always the same: build more battleships.
So part of my love for it is unbridled nostalgia, but nonetheless I love that game.
27/02/2013 at 10:56 Bhazor says:
Someone get Notch on the phone!
If Activision get these I will be Supremely pissed.
27/02/2013 at 10:56 Zarunil says:
Let’s pool our resources!
I’ve got a half-sovereign, ten bobs, two crowns, five florins and a piece of string.
27/02/2013 at 11:03 MOKKA says:
I can contribute three buttons which recently exploded of my jacket and one deutsche Mark, which isn’t worth much any more but which you can still use to get shopping carts.
27/02/2013 at 13:03 McDan says:
I’ve got a full gold sovereign (thanks for reminding me) and about half an hours worth of time every weekday and an hour every saturday which can be used for whatever if that’s worth anything. I would ask that we get the Homeworld IP first though. Because we’ll obviously have enough for multiple ones but lets make that our priority.
I found some pennies and a red permanent marker as well.
27/02/2013 at 10:58 F3ck says:
I’ll give you…three crayons and my milk.
27/02/2013 at 11:23 Xocrates says:
You know, considering Gamersgate is having a sale on Supreme Commander, for a moment I though Homeworld had made it to GoG or similar.
Now I’m sad :(
27/02/2013 at 11:34 Asurmen says:
Ah Homeworld. I remember how I cheesed my way to victory by capturing a load of ion cannon frigates towards the end of the campaign. AI was stupid enough to chase a corvette around for an hour and totally ignore the salvage frigates that kept capturing their mates. Good times.
27/02/2013 at 11:44 Beybars says:
I call for a campaign of annoying emails and late night calls to Hajime Satomi, the CEO of Sega, until they acquire the Homeworld franchise and pass it to Relic.
27/02/2013 at 11:49 Diziet Sma says:
Because a campaign of harassment is likely to succeed?
27/02/2013 at 11:56 Beybars says:
This is the best idea I can come up with.
27/02/2013 at 12:28 mouton says:
Well, it IS a better idea than terrorism, that’s for sure.
27/02/2013 at 12:01 Hunchback says:
link to youtube.com
Enjoy
27/02/2013 at 12:21 mbp says:
The old classics don’t actually need sequels.
Homeworld still shines bright as an example of the best that gaming can provide. It doesn’t need another sequel. What it needs is for someone to get their act together and allow GoG to do its magic so the game can be still be bought and played.
The newer titles like Darksiders and Red faction still have life in them though. It would be a shame to see those worthy titles consigned to history.
27/02/2013 at 12:47 InternetBatman says:
I didn’t even know there was a Summoner 2. The first was a decent RPG.
27/02/2013 at 13:29 spaceoperavictim says:
Another Homeworld without Rob Cunningham involved in it, haven´t interest to me. I hope Blackbird studios bid to recover this franchaise.
27/02/2013 at 18:52 Xardas Kane says:
And I wasn’t interested in a Deus Ex without Harvey Smith and Warren Spector. Yet look how HR turned out.
27/02/2013 at 13:38 wodin says:
Could be worth taking a punt on one or two of the less well known..as I doubt they will cost too much and you never know one day someone might want it.
I wonder if you can make a decent business buying and selling IP’s?
Edit: Hopefully some of the dev’s may get an IP back they worked on.
27/02/2013 at 13:53 Iskariot says:
Homeworld and Supreme Commander.
To see 2 of my all time favorite IP’s on the brink of eternal death is heart breaking.
After the failure that was SupCom 2 I aleady had given up hope on that IP, but I still had hopes for Homeworld 3.
27/02/2013 at 14:23 Ratchet says:
There are millions of us. Millions. Let US buy Homeworld, open source it, and let the world make a great game forever!
27/02/2013 at 19:18 jalf says:
Right, you now have the right to make a Homeworld game, and you have open-sourced an empty file which *could* in theory, one day, contain some source code.
What happens next? Who’s going to actually spend the time, energy and resources to make the game?
27/02/2013 at 14:40 Trithne says:
I say let Homeworld stay asleep. Game IPs always go sour on the third iteration. Better to have two timeless classics and let it be than a third piece of shit that ruins the series for everyone.
27/02/2013 at 16:38 vecordae says:
The IP and Publishing rights allow for more than just sequels. They also allow the game to be made available on GoG or the like, which would be fantastic. It also means some enterprising folks could give the game an HD upgrade with better textures and more detailed ship models.
I’d pay money either way.
27/02/2013 at 18:21 Trithne says:
I’m down for that – I’ve still got my HW discs but I wasn’t above buying System Shock 2 again just for the convenience of a single-button installer.
But I cringe when I see cries for a Homeworld 3. Let’s tell a different story, shall we? Even HW2 wasn’t that great compared to the original’s.
27/02/2013 at 18:47 Dave L. says:
Enterprising folks could do the HD upgrade for Homeworld 1 now. The source code can be downloaded right here: The fact that nobody has is a source of continual frustration for me.
27/02/2013 at 19:43 vecordae says:
I suspect one would be unable to make any money off of producing such a product without ownership of the IP and art assets that go with the game. Id’ actually love to be a part of such a project, but lack both the art and programming chops.
27/02/2013 at 19:11 Werthead says:
Of course, some people would say that it would be a fourth game, with HOMEWORLD and CATACLYSM being the first two and HW2 being the “piece of shit that ruins the series for everyone.” :)
I actually quite liked HW2. The only major problem was the level-scaling issue (prefiguring OBLIVION by several years) which adjusted how many enemies there were and how tough they were based on the size of your fleet. This made the early levels almost impossibly tough, but by around the time you got to the sixth or seven mission you were completely unstoppable, as the AI couldn’t keep up with you. The storyline was also a bit more unnecessarily mystical in the final game, but there were some good levels there and the graphics are still impressive.
27/02/2013 at 14:41 frosty216 says:
Activision
Step 1: Acquire Homeworld
Step 2: Turn all enemies into rogue Russian militants.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Apocalypse
27/02/2013 at 15:24 Radiant says:
There’s a LOT of gold in the last two lots.
*runs to ebay*
Wait where are these being auctioned?
27/02/2013 at 15:54 nimzy says:
This sounds like just the sort of thing that someone with money and opportunity could capitalize on.
Noooooooooooooooooootch, where are you?
27/02/2013 at 17:15 TsunamiWombat says:
There’s actually some good IP in all of those except the final lot.
Edit: Whups, nevermind, Lot 6 has SupCom and Forged Alliance. All of them are good then.
27/02/2013 at 18:53 Xardas Kane says:
Quite frankly I am mighty pissed at Relic right now. They had the IP in their hands for HALF A DECADE. And what did they do with it? NOTHING. Argh!
27/02/2013 at 19:02 Werthead says:
THQ had the licence, not Relic. Relic needed THQ’s go-ahead (and funding) before they could move on with a game. It’s possible they would have gotten round to it eventually – Rockstar sat on the MAX PAYNE IP for years as well before doing anything with it – but it is admittedly odd that THQ paid Vivendi money for the property and then did nothing with it for six years.
That said, I recall an interview where people at Relic said that they considered HOMEWORLD’s interface to be overly-complex for modern gamers, and a HW3 would have to simplify it. Which considering that HOMEWORLD’s interface was fairly minimalistic and quite simple already is rather worrying. A HW3 which omitted fully 3D movement really wouldn’t be the same game.
27/02/2013 at 20:34 Xardas Kane says:
They even gave Fallout 3 as a good example of how to do this, I know. But still, 5 years?! Come on!
27/02/2013 at 19:05 Dave L. says:
Lots 5 and 6 are kind of giant ‘fuck yous’ to the originators of those IPs. Double Fine no doubt want the console rights to Costume Quest and Stacking back, but they’re not going to want SupCom and Nexuiz and Leela and the other crap, and they won’t be able to compete against Marvel who will be trying to get Super Hero Squad back, Gas Powered Games is in the same position with SupCom.
Lot 5 also has a lot of good stuff in it, but it’s such a hodge-podge of demographic targeting that no one studio or publisher would seriously bid on it because the crap is too much of an assumed risk. They really should’ve split off de Blob, Destroy All Humans, and the Draw Something games, maybe lumped Baja and Juiced in with MX as a ‘Racing IPs’ package and Summoner and Titan Quest as an RPG lot.
Making them more granular would guarantee more stuff would sell and a higher return overall. As it is, Lot 5 will probably go to a financial institution, who will sit on all of those IPs, and Lot 6 will probably go to Marvel. I can’t imagine Sega won’t be bidding on Homeworld (while none of the original designers and artists still work at Relic, just about everybody who does work there does so because of an abiding love of the series), and Deep Silver will hopefully be going after Red Faction (and maybe they’ll let Volition make the Red Faction 4 they originally wanted to make).
27/02/2013 at 20:05 Tei says:
The original homeworld engine is public, so it will not be to hard to create something like a expansion pack or something, based on the original. Or maybe a persistent server wih RPG stats.
27/02/2013 at 20:14 SuperNashwanPower says:
OH OH Crytek should get it and combine it with their other popular IP to make…
HOMEWORLDFRONT: REFRONTED
RTS? It would be so much better as a First Person shooter.
**runs away**
27/02/2013 at 22:25 Pirate says:
I want to buy Full Spectrum Warrior. If only I had the money, I’d be an epic comeback. Ehhh, dreams, dreams….
02/03/2013 at 14:17 Johnny Go-Time says:
Agree! Full Spectrum Warrior was an awesome design, totally deserved more recognition & emulation.
FSW nailed what games like Mass Effect are trying to do with their combat systems…but I haven’t tried one yet which does it as well.