Change is coming to THQ, according to comments by CEO Brian Farrell during an investor call about the publisher's year-end financial results; in addition to cutting hundreds of employees and reducing its studio count, Farrell said THQ would be reducing the number of hardcore games it creates. Read more...

The lead designer of "Deadly Creatures" recently explained to me why his -- and other -- hardcore games need to sell on the Wii. If they don't, then it's back to mini-games. Read more...

Though the idea for "Deadly Creatures" was inspired by a dream that lead designer Jordan Itkowitz once had, the actual character design came from real-life influences in the deserts of Phoenix, Arizona.

Developed by Phoenix-based, THQ-owned developer Rainbow Studios, the T-rated Wii game features a tarantula and a scorpion as its protagonists as well as a plethora of other insects local to the area.

"We did a lot of research, and all the creatures in [the game] are things that we have in Phoenix," Itkowitz told me during a demo held at the MTV offices earlier this week. In fact, a few team members went above and beyond by bringing their own specimens into the office, and someone even left Itkowitz a present on his desk... Read more...

Over at MTVNews.com, I filed a story with quotes from 50 Cent talking about his new video game "Blood on the Sand," due in January from THQ.

In an interview with MTV UK earlier this week, the rapper said he's played the game and he's pleased with how it turned out. In fact, he's so enthused at how well it plays that he'll challenge any gamer -- right now.

"I actually had the opportunity to play it, and I'm pretty good at it," he said. "If anybody out there wants to create a challenge or wants to bet some money online, we could play the game right now."

He also revealed that 19 exclusive tracks will be included in the game.

Read the full article for more on his unlikely influences and how he combined his ideas with that of developer Swordfish Studios.

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Yesterday, we received a new "Avatar: The Last Airbender" DS game in the mail called "Into the Inferno."

That in itself is not out of the ordinary; we get "Avatar" games pretty often. In fact, we got the PS2 version of the same game a few weeks ago. But this DS version is different; it has a sticker that says "New Game For 2009" on the box.

What does that even mean? Should we not play the game for two more months? Or has THQ identified a problem of "Avatar" fans not knowing which "Avatar" games are new?

I feel the same goes for "Naruto" games. What do you think?

Tired of waiting for "Grand Theft Auto IV"'s downloadable content to be released? THQ and Volition have a possible solution to that problem with "Saints Row 2."

The sequel to one of this generation's first open-world games is bigger and wilder than the first, and based on our brief playtime, boasts some interesting multiplayer concepts.

If you're looking forward to recapturing the streets in "Saints Row 2," you should keep reading. We asked Volition to provide us a list of ten things players must do to get the most out of their "Saints Row 2" experience.

Without further ado, here's Scott Phillips, lead designer on "Saints Row 2."

Volition's Must-Do List For
"Saints Row 2"
(Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Action Game, October 2008)

1. Zombie Uprising

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I played the multiplayer side of "Grand Theft Auto IV" for just one day. So long as I was playing with friends, it was fun. Without them, not so much.

Gamers -- at least my friends -- seemed to leave "GTA IV"'s multiplayer in droves. That was partly because we never knew what game mode to play. Some of the modes were fun in short spurts, but didn't hold up after a few rounds.

THQ and Volition are attempting to solve this case of attention deficit disorder in the M-rated "Saints Row 2" by eliminating the idea of separate game modes and rolling them all into one. They call this the  "Strong Arm" game type.

I learned at a hands-on demo of the new mode in San Francisco last week that it just might work.

Read more...

The gritty but light-hearted "Saints Row" universe gives THQ some interesting options for their promotional events.

Last night in San Francisco, THQ held a small-ish event to show off the many multiplayer options available in "Saints Row 2" -- more on that tomorrow.

Tonight, I want to give you a look at what the event itself was like. THQ had plenty of interesting things to look at…

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It's time to throw out the old playbook, says THQ president and CEO Brian Ferrell, because the the industry's traditional hardware cycles no longer exist.

Ferrell's comments stem from a presentation at today's Pacific Crest 10th Anniversary Technology Leadership Forum.

"We used to always think of this industry as 'the cycle.'" said Ferrell. "I think the reality now is there are several sub-cycles."

THQ's leader sees at least three separate sub-cycles: 1) the handheld market, 2) what Nintendo's done with Wii and 3) the continued competition between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. There's even an emerging sub-cycle in the online world, he said.

"It's hard now to talk about 'the cycle' -- I think we have to talk about all of the cycles," he said. "The way we think about it at THQ is we plan our business around each of those platforms, not around 'the cycle.'"

The success of the Wii and DS combined with the expensive nature of Microsoft and Sony's consoles certainly support Ferrell's theory. The industry no longer shifts all at once. As part of the purchasing public, is this as a positive trend?

Gamers, Stephen's right.

Some of 2008's most promising third-party (and non-licensed) Wii games are coming from a most unlikely source: THQ.

I don't think it's unreasonable to say I went into THQ's Gamer's Day two weeks ago with tempered expectations, but "Deadly Creatures" (which I wrote about last week), "Battle of the Bands" and indie-favorite "de Blob" turned my assumptions inside out.

And that's a very good thing for gamers wondering if Nintendo was going to be the only company who could figure out how to make the Wii work. My time spent with these three, however, convinced me that's not necessarily the case anymore.

Read more...