THQ Message Board older than one year ago

Certain owners of the PC version of Saints Row: The Third have had performance issues, such as low framerates and generally slow performance. In a statement on the game's forum, Volition clarified that the problem seems isolated to AMD and ATi GPUs. "This has mostly been seen with cards in the 5xxx or 6xxx range."

Volition reports that efforts to patch these issues have shown "mild improvement." Unfortunately, "we're still not up the level of quality we all expect from a Volition game, and we thank you for your patience as we work with AMD for a solution." If you're affected by this issue, maybe it'll make you feel better to know Volition's working on it? Not quite as good as it would feel to play Saints Row: The Third, but at least better.

[Thanks, Keith.]

Saints Row: The Third is a great game and for the rest of the day the downloadable PC version is only $10 on Amazon. Think fast if beating someone with a giant purple phallus is worth the entrance fee, because this deal will end at midnight Pacific time (Spoiler: it's totally worth it in every way conceivable).

If you find $10 too little to pay for so much game, there's plenty of DLC to purchase. Let your freak flag fly as a giant wiener! If you took that last line to mean something else than dressing up as a hot dog, we'd understand the potential confusion given the subject at hand.

THQ announced late last month its Saints Row: The Third standalone expansion, Enter the Dominatrix, intended for September, will now be incorporated into "The Next Great Sequel in the Saints Row Franchise" next year.

#darksiders The sinister sounding Darkstalkers II: Soul Harvest is more than just an iOS marketing tie-in that let's fans of all things dark and stalky unlock special goodies prior to the game's release next month. It's also how I imagine the anthropomorphic personification of the end of all things would get things done in the digital age. Why risk your unlife traveling to Waffle House to harvest 12 souls when there's an app for that? More »

#companyofheroes They thought they were doing the right thing. They figured at least one adult in my household would have a normal-sized head. They thought wrong, and a child suffered. More »

When we visited THQ's E3 2012 private meeting rooms, small-ish areas were cordoned off for intimate engagements with each of the publisher's games: Metro: Last Light, Company of Heroes 2, and Darksiders 2. Rather than seeing the games on the dance club-esque show floor, THQ employees slowly and calmly lead attendees through demos, which certainly helped me to get a better grasp on the finer nuances of each game.

I mention this because the Last Light gameplay seen above is what THQ showed during E3, and it was super creepy. Do yourself a favor and snag some headphones, turn out the lights, and watch this alone.

Way back at the beginning of 2011, Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart hinted that his company was about to work on a huge licensed title it didn't dare pass up. "It's a license that you would go, well you gotta do it," he told us at the time. "It's not a license where it's, 'Ok, we'll take that and we can do something with it.' It's more like, well that's once in a lifetime." Urquhart didn't budge at the time on what the license was, but he was visibly excited about being able to make it happen, whatever it was.

That licensed turned out to be none other than Matt Stone and Trey Parker's South Park, and the game turned out to be South Park: The Stick of Truth. It combines Obsidian's talent for grindy fantasy RPGs with Stone and Parker's warped sense of humor (and construction paper production values) to make a mix that's one of a kind.

#homefront In a superb autopsy of Kaos Studios, closed three months after it finished Homefront for THQ, Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander paints a vivid picture of a studio doomed by meddling, duplicitous executives, and filled with underqualified managers, overworked developers and even an overflowing urinal. More »

The slow demise of Kaos Studios leading up to its June 2011 closure has been attributed to poor management and a misallocation of resources, according to conversations anonymous ex-staff members had with Gamasutra. One of the Homefront developers believed THQ's "plan was to close the studio regardless."

Management issues reportedly stemmed from inexperienced team members leading more qualified peers during Homefront's development. One ex-staff member said the studio "had this level of leads with tons and tons of experience, and you had the directors with much less." Those directors "didn't listen to the very talented team they hired."

Former THQ Executive VP of Core Games Danny Bilson was also the target of former team members' frustrations. Ex-staffers spoke of Bilson's heavy involvement in Homefront's development and his tendency to "hand out mandates on high and then disappear," adding that "he's not qualified to talk about game mechanics."

We've contacted THQ for comment on this story.

THQ apparently couldn't find a buyer for Valhalla Games' first project, Devil's Third. The rights to the project were handed back to creative lead Tomonobu Itagaki and his studio, THQ confirmed to Eurogamer. "All of the game's IP rights have been returned to Itagaki-san and the Valhalla team," the statement reads.

The news comes on the heels of a Famitsu interview Itagaki participated in, where he expressed gratitude to THQ and Danny Bilson for trying to make things work before giving in. "We were anguished and they were really kind to us. Mr. Danny Bilson was searching for a way to work together until the very end. I do appreciate him and THQ managers that signed the transfer contract," Itagaki said, according to EG's translation.

Itagaki also said that the game is "in its final stage now, though he admitted that the final stage is also "most expensive." THQ announced its collaboration with Itagaki and Valhalla Studios in 2010 - part of its "Core Games" push - but the publisher's recent financial issues eventually gutted the deal. It's unclear what publisher, if any, will pick up Devil's Third.

#hitman Hitman: Absolution's E3 2012 trailer depicting Agent 47 brutally dispatching a group of killers dressed as sexy nuns caused quite a stir. People called it exploitatitive. People called it misogynistic. In the latest in a series of ICA Profile videos for the game, an unseen bureaucrat agrees with these assessments. More »

#devilsthird Last we heard, Devil's Third - the latest game from Ninja Gaiden mastermind and badass Tomonobu Itagaki - was on hold as publishers THQ looked to offload it. Well, now they've offloaded it, giving all rights back to the developers, Itagaki's Valhalla Studios. More »

#humor Wondering what THQ will run you on the market nowadays? Me too. More »

War is hell, and it never changes, as we've been repeatedly told by video games. Company of Heroes 2, however, isn't about a fictional future proxy war or some such - it's about the Russian front during World War 2. It's about firing on your own soldiers who were terrified enough to retreat. It's about being handed ammo without a gun because there isn't enough money to afford the luxury of both guns and ammunition, and being told to grab a gun from one of your fallen comrades when you get a chance.

In case it weren't clear, the trailer above for Company of Heroes 2 attempts to elucidate that reality - a reality you'll be carefully navigating come next year when the game launches on PC.

THQ sent us this Darksiders 2 live-action trailer, which does indeed feature Scottish actor James "Lord Mormont, Commander of the Night's Watch" Cosmo. He also plays a role in the game as Death's guide.

The pre-order bonuses for Darksiders 2 have also been laid out: Putting down money ahead of time for the Limited Edition will earn you a Season Pass, with two pieces of DLC content for free, as well as a new set of in-game armor.

The first piece of DLC is called "Argul's Tomb" and is scheduled to hit a month after the game's release on August 14, and both bits of DLC will include "significant new single player content" to play through. Anyone who preorders the game on THQ's official website will get one more armor and weapon set called the Maker's Armor.

THQ vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer Teri Manby officially resigned on June 14, but is scheduled to remain at the company until July 6 to help with the transition, an SEC filing reveals.

Rose Cunningham, current senior director of financial reporting, has been promoted to vice president, corporate controller, and chief financial officer Paul Pucino will take over as chief accounting officer.

Among its ongoing financial troubles, THQ yesterday announced it would cancel a standalone expansion for Saints Row: The Third, a move expected to cost the company $20 million in revenue for its fiscal year.

#metrolastlight Completely bereft of gameplay footage, the stunning live action "Enter the Metro" trailer for THQ's Metro: Last Light generated more interest in the game than any amount of rendered shooting would have. Let's see how it all came together. More »

THQ has closed its offices in Italy and Spain and hired an outside distributor, Koch Media, to ship its games throughout those regions instead. The closures follow a "strategic review" of THQ's operations in Italy and Spain, according to Annie Sullivan, THQ's managing director of European market development.

"We were looking for a distribution partner who has the most effective networks locally to market THQ's products," Sullivan said. "I'm excited for the opportunities that THQ's partnership with Koch Media represents and am looking forward to working together on successful launches of our forthcoming products."

We have contacted THQ for more information on the European closures.

"People tend to look at the industry as it is today and besides looking at hardware changes, which they know are coming, they never assume that there will be business model changes. And that may be fair because the business model hasn't changed in a long time in consoles. But I think if you look at what's happened and what's working outside of it - mobile, casual, PC - it's going to happen. And when it happens, I think it's good for the gamer because the gamer gets entertainment of a much broader variety, and I think it'll be good for THQ." - Jason Rubin, THQ

I really think the Wii U has a chance of moving along with these new trends. It seems that Nintendo is more open than ever before with how the industry is shifting. Let's hope that means a long life and great support for Wii U from all ends.

Mike Tyson is known for his years as a professional boxer slash professional ear-biter, so you can imagine our surprise when THQ announced this morning that he's appearing in upcoming wrestler WWE '13. Tyson's reprising his role from 1998 as a "ringside enforcer" for D-Generation X. He's also a playable character, though, ya know, he's totally not a wrestler.

"The baddest man on the planet is back - and only in WWE '13," Tyson said in the press release, totally of his own volition and not written by someone else. "Fans everywhere can now relive what I experienced during the 'Attitude Era.'"

Only pre-orders of WWE '13 get access to Tyson as a playable character. The game launches on October 30 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

#darksiders While it's a little cheap, even by live-action video game trailer standards, this clip for the upcoming Darksiders II is saved by one thing: the presence of the ever-wonderful James Cosmo. More »

#justcause People loved Just Cause 2. With all the crazy grappling/parachuting/action-stunting in Avalanche Studios' 2010 hit, why wouldn't they? But Rico Rodriguez' adventures didn't have anything by way of online multiplayer, which would've made an already good game even better. Oh, well, JC2 lovers can dream of what might've been, right? More »

#easports In hindsight, it should be no surprise that THQ jettisoned its expensive exclusive license to make video games with the UFC's imagery and fighters. The company is hurting badly and had gone through a huge, soul-searching reorganization, jettisoning its kids-stuff division and completely bailing on E3 this year as its stock price hovers around 66 cents. In a surprise announcement Monday, EA Sports revealed it had bought the UFC license from THQ. More »

#southpark Next-gen graphics? Innovative controls? Nonsense. The best thing I've seen at E3 so far is a video game based on an animated TV show. More »

It's no secret that THQ's Metro 2033 "wasn't properly nurtured," but the game's cult status has translated into over 1.5 million sales since its launch in March 2010 across Xbox 360 and PC.

"[Metro 2033] released to critical acclaim and disappointing sales. The reality is, back then, THQ didn't market the game and we're very aware of that," said Rich Williams, SVP of Global Marketing at THQ, during an investor meeting this morning. "We're absolutely committed to marketing [Metro: Last Light] appropriately."

#southpark I had the chance to check out upcoming role-playing game South Park: The Stick of Truth last night. It's ridiculous—think Paper Mario with hilarious South Park-style humor and what seems like it will be awesome RPG gameplay (as you might expect from developer Obsidian, the makers of Fallout: New Vegas and Neverwinter Nights 2, among other games). More »

#rumor On the very day the deal was publicly announced which saw the rights to the UFC franchise pass from THQ to EA, the former has reportedly closed its San Diego studio, which was last responsible for WWE All Stars. More »

THQ's president discusses the changes he would like to see at the company.