Hasta La Gadget!

Crytek is looking to reunite Darksiders with its original creators, Vigil. The company hired 35 of Vigil’s employees after the company failed to receive any bids back in THQ’s original auctions. Crytek launched a new studio in Austin, Texas called Crytek USA and housed all of the Vigil employees there. Crytek USA is currently headed by Vigil’s old co-founder, David Adams.

The bidding for Darksiders, as well as the other IPs in THQ’s back catalog auction, will begin on April 1st and will continue on through April 15th. THQ will then have to discuss the bids with the entities that it owes money to, and then it will decide on a primary bidder and back-up bidder for each of its IPs. THQ will then have to present the sales to the court, who will have to approve each sale. Everything is expected to finalize sometime in May.

David Adams tweeted, “Looking to buy @Darksiders IP back from #THQ. The IP belongs in the hands of its creators.” Ryan Stefanelli, the Principal Designer at Crytek USA, further confirmed that Crytek will be bidding for Darksiders’s IP, and that everyone is “excited at the prospect”. It’s still up in the air what Crytek plans on doing with the IP. It had already stated that it doesn’t plan on working on Darksiders 3, because it “doesn’t fit with our strategy”.

Nonetheless, fans, as well as the ex-Vigil staff, will be relieved that Darksiders will return home to its rightful owners. For those of you that are interested in playing Darksiders or Darksiders 2 for the PC, you can purchase the games for extremely cheap through this week’s Humble Bundle. You can pay $1 to get Darksiders, or a little over the average payment to get both games. You will also get Red Faction: Armageddon and Red Faction: Guerrilla.

[via Joystiq]

Crytek intends to take Darksiders off THQ’s hands is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time again for the most wild and crazy blast of do-anything gaming madness with the next chapter of the franchise: Saints Row IV. The idea that this game series would continue was doused last year as the original owner of the title THQ was kicked in the gut and closed shop – as it turns out, the developers behind the series survived, and being purchased by none other than Koch Media in the time between then and now, Volition will once again be allowing us into their collective wild and crazy mind environment. The teaser for Saint’s Row IV was revealed today.

What you’re working with here in the newest chapter in the Saint’s Row franchise is another look at the go-anywhere and do-anything universe the public first fell in love with in the game known as Grand Theft Auto III. Open-run blast-anything and ride-everything returns here with Saint’s Row IV and we couldn’t be more pumped up about it. Have a peek at the first teaser trailer right this minute!

This game has been teased as taking place everywhere “from the Crack House to the White House” with no less than “ball-busting” excellence from start to finish. As you’ll see here, this game is ready to allow you to ride a car through town, murder your way through enemies galore, and fly. Fly right through the sky if you want – go for it!

The release of this game is set for some time inside August of 2013. At the moment it’s looking like a PC-certain release with current-generation consoles on deck. This means we’ll likely see Saint’s Row IV on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – no word yet on PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720 action as yet. Stay tuned for more!

[via DeepSilverHQ]

Saint’s Row IV unleashed: open-playground madness on tap! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After a whirlwind week that saw many of THQ‘s studios and properties auctioned off to other publishers, the company is closing the doors at its corporate offices and Vigil Games today. IGN has gotten its hands on a memo that was sent out to employees today, asking them to clear out their desks. Some employees will stay on to assist with THQ’s transition to its new owners, but the ones who received this memo are serving their final day with the company.

Those employees are receiving their final paychecks today, and though a lot of benefits are also ending today, health insurance will continue until January 31. Unsurprisingly, THQ’s stock isn’t worth anything with its core business shutting down. Whether or not employees will receive severance or back vacation pay is currently up in the air, we imagine much to the annoyance of those workers. THQ says that it will be talking with creditors to provide an answer about severance and vacation pay, but at the moment, things don’t sound very good on that front.

What happens from here on out is something of a mystery. While a number of THQ’s former studios are now under new ownership, there are some franchises and studios that weren’t bid on in this week’s auction. THQ president Jason Rubin said yesterday that the left over IP would be sold off in a separate process, but for now, we don’t know what that process is or when it will be happening.

Hopefully it happens soon though, as fan-favorite series Darksiders is one of the casualties of THQ’s bankruptcy. No one made a bid for developer Vigil Games, despite the fact that Darksiders is one of THQ’s biggest franchises. Many gamers out there would hate the see the Darksiders franchise go, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that it will find a new home eventually.

THQ corporate offices closing doors today is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday, a bunch of studios and properties owned by THQ were auctioned off to other games publishers from around the world. Many of them found new homes, with Relic and the Company of Heroes series going to Sega and Ubisoft making a grab for South Park: The Stick of Truth. Some of the others weren’t so lucky, with Darksiders developer Vigil Games not receiving any bids and remaining a part of THQ’s chapter 11 proceedings.

There are plenty of Darksiders fans who were saddened to hear that Vigil hadn’t found a new owner, but hope isn’t entirely lost yet. In a new interview with Game Informer, THQ president Jason Rubin touched briefly on what will happen to the IP and studios that weren’t sold off in yesterday’s auction. According to him, THQ’s remaining properties will be sold off in a “separate process” sometime down the road.

“There will be a separate process to sell off the back catalog and IP,” Rubin said “That process will take place in the coming weeks.” Rubin didn’t get into detail about this separate process, so we’ll have to wait and see what the company has planned. Take heart, Darksiders fans, because the franchise may not be dead yet.

In fact, after the results of the auction were announced yesterday, we heard that Platinum Games might be interested in buying up Darksiders. Platinum would probably only buy the IP and not Vigil, so that may ruffle some feathers with fans of the studio. You never know though – maybe a different company will swoop in to buy Vigil and all of its properties before everything is said and done. Stay tuned.

Remaining THQ IP to be sold off in separate process is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Humble THQ Bundle has just two days left before coming to a close, and it’s apparently looking to go out with a bang. The bundle was already an excellent offering that brought together some of THQ‘s biggest titles for some name-your-price insanity, but the deal just got even sweeter with the addition of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Game of the Year Edition. The game, as many of you are aware, is the first title in THQ’s much-loved Dawn of War series, and it is now available to those who pay more than the average of $5.64.

Of course, if you’ve already purchased the Humble THQ Bundle, you don’t have to do anything other than head to your download page, where a code for the game will be waiting for you. The addition of Dawn of War brings the total number of games up to seven, and that isn’t even counting the expansions that are included in the bundle. You get to name one price for all of them too, which makes this one of the best gaming deals of the year.

Unsurprisingly, the Humble THQ Bundle has managed to bring in more than $4.3 million, with that money being split between THQ, Child’s Play, the American Red Cross, and the folks who put these bundles together. Those who purchase the bundle get to determine how much of their money goes where, and are given Steam codes for the games they purchase. Soundtracks for five of the games are included in each bundle purchase as well, so there’s a lot of content crammed into this latest Humble Bundle.

With nearly 770,000 bundles sold amd two days left to go, we wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the Humble THQ Bundle manages to break $5 million by the time everything is said and done. Needless to say, we think this is a pretty great idea and would like to see more publishers opt for a Humble Bundle of their own, even though the chances of that happening seem pretty slim. If you’ve been thinking of picking up the Humble THQ Bundle but haven’t taken the dive yet, you better make your decision quick – things will be winding down here pretty soon, after all.

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War joins Humble THQ Bundle is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.