Hellgate: London Is Not Dead….Yet

Flagship may have lost the IP, but their overhyped MMO is still very much alive. Namco Bandai games have made an “official” annoucement by the means of a forum post:

Hello Hellgaters,

I know everyone is looking for an announcement, and we’d love to make one — but right now, many things are in flux and we don’t have all the information yet. As soon as we do, we’ll post here on the forums, on the website, and anywhere else we can find you.

In the short term, please do not worry. The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance.

I’d like to ask for your patience as we try to figure it all out and chart a new course. We value your community, your commitment, and your passion for Hellgate and we will make sure that any solution that we architect will support all of you as best as we are able.

Thanks again. We hope to have a real announcement shortly.

__________________
Zack “Ozuri” Karlsson
Sr. Director, Business Development
NAMCO BANDAI Games America, Inc.

Hellgate: London - the game itself, continues to live along. For how long, that’s anybody’s guess. But with salty responses like these, it looks as if Hellgate: London already has one foot in the grave.

Flagship Studios No Longer Owns Hellgate: London

Flagship Studios is no longer the owner of Hellgate: London. The studio lost the IP to HanbitSoft. HanbitSoft’s reason of IP takeover:

HanbitSoft states that the reason it is pursuing this course of action is because “It is hard for us to accept Flagship Studios’ requests for continued support in capital and funding any longer and because Flagship was being difficult”, and because it co-owns a direct stake in the IP, it therefore “has a say in reviewing and determining any course of action to be taken with Hellgate: London.”

HanbitSoft is expected to take full control over the IP. HanbitSoft goes on to state that in doing so, it will be able to “properly manage and develop Hellgate: London into a good game with proper content”, with its own in-house team of developers.

Basically, Flagship did a miserable job and the korean developer took back the IP to fix the trainwreck RPG.

Ignition Entertainment Licenses Unreal Engine 3.0

Ignition Entertainment is the latest studio to acquire an Unreal Engine 3.0 license to use in their upcoming multi-platform “groundbreaking” FPS.

Press Release: 

Ignition Entertainment, Ltd. (www.ignitionent.com), a UTV enterprise, today announced that the company entered into an agreement with Epic Games to license Unreal Engine 3 for its upcoming, groundbreaking FPS, currently under development at its Florida studio.

“Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 is an extremely versatile engine,” said Jeremy Stieglitz, Game Director and Lead Designer, Ignition Florida. “So when deciding on technology for Ignition Florida’s first next-generation video game, there was no questioning that Unreal Engine 3 is the way to go.” Read more

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI Coming to PCs this July

KOEI, recognized worldwide as the premier brand of strategy and action games, announced today that the Historical Simulation game, Romance of the Three Kingdoms®XI (RTK XI) is coming to Windows-based PCs for gamers throughout North America on July 29, 2008.

“Following KOEI’s successful launch of Warriors Orochi for Windows-based PC earlier this year, the response to bringing more of KOEI’s popular franchises to the platform has been overwhelming,” said Amos Ip, Senior Vice President at KOEI Corporation. “For PC releases, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series has always been at the top of our fans’ wish lists. We are looking forward to bringing Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI to Windows-based PC this summer.”

Mirror’s Edge QnA, New Screenshots

On Mirror’s Edge, the official fansite of Mirror’s Edge (upcoming first person shooter from DICE) did a QnA with DICE regarding Mirror’s Edge. They question everything from the birth and origin of the concept to graphics and estimated release date. Here’s a snip:

1. Why did DICE decide to make a game like this?
It was a very deliberate decision. We wanted to create a new IP that was very different from Battlefield and would appeal to a slightly different audience whilst still building on our strengths in 1st person. When we looked at the market we realized that although there were a lot of first person games out there, most of them were focusing on the gun and not the person. So we decided to do a game that was about the person not the weapon.

Mirror’s Edge is DICE’s take on re-inventing the FPS genre, presenting a game that focuses more character interaction rather than action. Mirror’s Edge centers around Faith, a sexy runner who’s job is to deliver confidential information between various parties. Full interview and 15 images (including a sexy wallpaper!) after the break. Read more