The big Warhammer 40K MMO, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online, has reportedly been cancelled due to financial issues over at publisher THQ. According to rumors which are flooding out of THQ, the company is in such a dire state that it might announce bankruptcy soon, or offer itself up for sale. More THQ games are reported to be on the chopping block, but it’s unclear which ones. Currently, the publisher is funding projects such as Darksiders 2 and Metro: Last Light.
According to reports coming from game analyst Kevin Dent, THQ is now desperately looking for a buyer, and has not only cancelled all projects it had lined up for 2014, but has returned IP rights it acquired from Disney. With no refund.
It’s still unlikely that THQ will go belly up, considering that the company has a lot of assets and a lot of IP that they can sell, like Red Faction, Saints Row et al. If not sell, the IP can be used to attract potential buyers. Currently the company employs around 1,000 people. All things considered, things aren’t looking good for THQ.
As for Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online, it looks like this expensive project is over. The game has been in development since 2009 at Vigil Games.
Every popular multiplayer game experiences hacking and cheating to some extent. Some games and developers are good at dealing with hackers and cheaters, while others… not so much. Battlefield 3, being a very popular shooter, has been the target of game hackers and cheaters for a while now, and it’s getting increasingly common to come across such individuals in a match.
A new video recently popped up showing off one of the most popular Battlefield 3 hacks (we won’t advertise or link to it here), and to rub it in, the hacker went after DICE developers — makers of Battlefield 3 — knifing them, and showing of his “skills”. It’s sad that some gamers have to resort to hacks to boost their ego, and it’s perhaps even sadder that this hasn’t been fixed yet.
Despite fierce competition from shooters such as Battlefield 3 and Gears of War, Activision’s Call of Duty titles still top the activity charts on Xbox Live. For the week of November 21 — Thanksgiving week — Modern Warfare 3 took the top spot, followed by another Call of Duty title, Black Ops, on number 2. Not only that, the two-year old Modern Warfare 2 was ranked 6th. This is another testament of just how popular Activision’s franchise is among Xbox 360 players.
Other shooters on the list include Battlefield 3 (4th), Halo Reach (7th), and Gears of War 3 (8th). You can check out the full list at Major Nelson.
The FPS market is very competitive and new developers to the spot are faced with tough challenges, and that’s just to stay competitive in the field. Developer Atomic Games has tried to enter the multiplayer FPS market with their downloadable title Breach, and sadly, it doesn’t hold up to the competing titles like Battlefield 1943.
Breach is a multiplayer shooter that supports up to 16 players online and that’s the only focus of the game — there is no single player. Two teams are pitted against each other in a variety of modes, which are pretty much much versions of the tired and tested modes we know in most multiplayer games. One of the new modes is called “Convoy”, where it’s your objective to defend and escort of a convoy — much like Payload in Team Fortress 2. You can chose one of five classes: Rifleman, Gunner, Sniper, Support, and Recon, the last class being an unlockable one.
One of the selling points of Breach is the destructible environment, but the destruction is somewhat limited, and nowhere near the extent of Red Faction, or Bad Company 2. It’s rarely known what you can destroy, but the biggest disappointment of the destruction is that it doesn’t impact the game as much as destruction does in Battlefield 1943 or Bad Company 2. Granted, Breach is an indie title, but it’s main competitor is BF1943, a game which now retails for $15, $5 less than Breach.
Visually, the game looks quite dated and perhaps something that would run well on the original Xbox. Textures are low res, the frame rate can stutter at times, and everything has generally a “rough” look to it. Overall, while it’s a great attempt of a new multiplayer title, it falls short to meet the high standards set by competing titles like BF1943. When games don’t meet the standards and indicators set by the market, they usually offer something new, like Team Fortress 2 with its art style. But Breach doesn’t bring anything new to the table, and therefore, it’s hard to recommend. The Good:
Nice concept
Decent gameplay The Bad:
Dated visuals
Uninspired sound
Technical glitches
Lack of polish
Feels and plays like a budget title (and is priced likewise)
The FPS market is very competitive and new developers to the spot are faced with tough challenges, and that’s just to stay competitive in the field. Developer Atomic Games has tried to enter the multiplayer FPS market with their downloadable title Breach, and sadly, it doesn’t hold up to the competing titles like Battlefield 1943.