Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

Some modders have gotten together, and this is the result.

Seriously, check out those screenshots. Amazing.

Folks, I know this isn’t Relic related, but I thought you might be interested.

Today, the Mars Phoenix lander’s going to touch down on Mars. It’s a heavy vehicle that can’t land via airbag landings (which most of the last successful landings have used). It’s a big deal, because in the future, when mankind goes to Mars, all kinds of big heavy vehicles are going to have to land via the methods this lander’s using.

Check out Gizmodo’s post for info about where you can view the landing “live” (with the 15 minute stupid light-speed imposed delay).

Noticed a facebook event about the launch of a new book. I watched the trailer and immediately thought that it was done by folks related to Homeworld. Turns out I was correct!

Dave “The Smoking Dog” Williams is the author, and he did the story concept for Homeworld. Paul Ruskay did the book trailer, and his studio, Studio X Labs helped on audio elements and music for the Homeworld series! Turns out we’ve even interviewed Paul.

Our very own Relicnews Forum staff member, Corsix, is named the winner of this year’s Relic’s Biggest Fan. His contribution to the Relic Community and modding scene includes the Mod Studio Tool for Dawn of War and Company of Heroes.

Corsix will be flying out to Vancouver, Canada to attend Relic’s Community Appreciation Day.

Congrats Corsix!

I’ve been an early adopter for Microsoft Operating Systems since Windows 98. I was there on launch day buying my copies of Vista for use with my GeForce 8800 GTS. I was super keen to download the CoH Direct X 10 patch (which took 3 hours to install due to a bad hard drive). Overall though, I knew game peformance would be slower than XP until the video card drivers improved.

I’ve been telling folks for a while that game performance and compatibility on Vista was a non-issue. Especially for Relic games. I’m actually working on an Article outlining running all of Relic’s PC games running on Vista X64. Spoiler: Relic games run in Vista as well as they do in XP (and better for CoH, as it has DX10 and XP does not).

Video card drivers have been improving for a while now, and we’ve now got benchmarks showing Vista SP1 besting XP SP3 performance wise for World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, and Crysis from Extremetech.com.

If you were using Vista’s gaming performance as an excuse to not get Vista, it’s time to find something else to hitch your horse too! I’ve said it since I’ve had it installed, Vista is Microsoft’s best OS yet. If you have questions about Vista and gaming, post a comment and I’ll try and respond. If you want to dis Microsoft, feel free to post as well, but don’t expect a response :-D

Looks like we missed this back in February during GDC… WildTangent’s launching the ORB, a service/app/platform that turns your PC into a console.

“The WildTangent Orb turns any modern PC into a full-featured game console more powerful than any next generation game console including the Microsoft XBOX 360, Sony PS3 or Nintendo Wii,” said Alex St. John, CEO of WildTangent. “Now enthusiast gamers can download and play popular console games they love on the most ubiquitous gaming device available today: the PC.”

Interesting. If I remember correctly, Alex St. John was Microsoft’s original Direct X evangalist. He pushed DirectX as a development platform for Microsoft back in the day. I wonder if this is a service that will help further standardize games for PCs, to avoid such things as hardware conflicts. Time to investigate I think!

Here’s some of the games involved at the start…

The WildTangent Orb will launch with popular AAA titles from Sierra Online including 3D Ultra™ Mini Golf, Assault Heroes™, Battlestar Gallactica™ and Switchball™ as well as popular PC titles from Sierra Entertainment. THQ titles will include Juiced™ 2 Hot Import Nights™, Company of Heroes®, Company of Heroes® Opposing Fronts™, Red Faction®, Red Faction® II, Full Spectrum Warrior®, MX vs. ATV Unleashed™, Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers®, Titan Quest™, Warhammer® 40,000 Dawn of War Gold and Warhammer® 40,000 Dawn of War Dark Crusade™. Also included in Orb will be more than 55 enthusiast titles from THQs Valusoft.

Interesting. THQ finding new ways for us to play. Thanks to Troubleshooter for pointing it out.

In light of THQ’s losses last year, they’re looking at expanding revenue streams, and finding new ways to prevent piracy.

Here’s another Gamasutra article covering the news.

The first of these was to prepare a more competitive slate of titles, as outlined in its financial results. The second was to bring in new management talent to product development, along with a four stage greenlight process that would not let games through until they met key competitive technological and gameplay feature benchmarks.

Finally, new CFO Colin Slade explained that THQ would be realigning its cost structure along four key elements, notably a company wide plan to reduce infrastructure.

In addition, Slade promised the company would be realigning its resources toward more strategic franchises, instituting a new company-wide operating budget, and making sure its product development and marketing dollars were focused more efficiently on its most competitive titles.

also

Finally, Farrell was optimistic about its first foray into new revenue streams with the upcoming Asian launch of Company Of Heroes Online (pictured), a co-production of its Relic studio and China’s Shanda, which will be free to play but feature paid microtransaction downloads. Farrell wouldn’t say whether the game would be launched in the West any time soon, but said that THQ did “have those rights” and was investigating potential markets, and added that the company was looking into future products of that nature as well.

Fascinating things ahead for Relic! I hope they bring CoHO to North America!

So, three big changes for THQ - 1) a more competitive slate of titles 2) bring in new management talent to product development along with a four stage greenlight process that would not let games through until they met key competitive technological and gameplay feature benchmarks and 3) realigning its cost structure along four key elements, notably a company wide plan to reduce infrastructure.

I suspect Relic, being mentioned in this, has been feeling some of the changes already.

Looks like THQ’s tightening their belt.

With THQ announcing a $35.3 million dollar loss this past fiscal year, it’s time for some people to get the ax. Not executives, mind you, but the little people. Gamasutra reports that CEO Brian Farrell stated 200 people will lose their jobs, but that most of them are employees working on “last gen” platforms like the PS2. On the bright side, the company plans to add about 300 new employees this fiscal year to “key studios” working on “key products.”

This is pretty normal stuff for the industry. I’d expect to see unnanounced projects being put aside, and redundant staff being let go. Hopefully if anyone at Relic’s affected, they’ll find their feet at another one of the many shops in Vancouver working on games.

Are you Canadian? Want to work as a game balancer? Check out this thread.

Relic Entertainment has one spot available for the position of Game Balancer.

What is a game balancer?

A Game Balancer is responsible for making sure that the game is fair. He does this by playing the game at the highest level and by working closely with the Multiplayer design team to single out and correct all design flaws.

What are the requisites to the position?

• Must be able to play RTS games at a high level, and must be able to demonstrate such understanding through a skill test.
• Must be able to work and excel in a team environment
• Strong communication skills. You’ll have to explain your views to other balancers as well as peers who don’t have the time to know the game as well as yourself.
• Canadian residents only

Location and Hours

• This position is a full-time position at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• The hours are a standard 40hours/week. Core work hours are 10am-5pm, Monday-Friday.
• You cannot work remotely
  

There’s more info in that thread, so check it out!