Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

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 it’s a bit of a sad day (and several days after the fact). Relic’s first community manager, Allie “Buggo” Henze is no longer at Relic. Allie was Relic’s first “version” of a community manager. I think I can speak for all the fans when I say that we appreciate everything Allie did for the community and for us fans.

To the members of the Relic community, we have to tell you that Buggo is currently pursuing other opportunities. This has led to some speculation that Relic will no longer be supporting our loyal fans - nothing could be further from the truth. Soon we will be introducing you to new members of Relic who will carry forth the commitment we have to our fans. We are expanding our community support greatly over the coming months; better support for our modders, frequent updates about what’s going on in the studio, expanding our numbers, contests, content, and more.

And for those wondering, we are still hosting our upcoming community open house - you don’t want to miss it because you’ll be treated to some sneak previews of our work.

Thank you for your continued support!

Relic Entertainment

Official post here.

Buggo does still have an account on the forums, and hopefully will be able to pop in and say hi (I’d not expect her to be able to comment on Relic and all the cool stuff she worked on). The forum staff helped Relic out by modifying her account to be named “Relic” and then created a new account for Buggo. Any posts on the “Relic” account before April 24th were made by Allie, and anything after were from another Relic rep. I expect to hear more soon from Relic about their intentions, but it’s been made very clear to me that they’re not going to go without a community manager type position again. Also, as far as I know, the Relic Open House is still on, and judging on the biggest fan contest starts today at noon pacific.

Allie, you set the bar pretty high for any future community folks at Relic. I hope whoever gets the position next can meet the community’s expectations. Good luck in the future and we’ll see you around!

Relic’s biggest fan contest 2008 is accepting submissions until Friday.

Last year, Goldo_0 won with this entry (100 MB download). Not only did he get a free trip to Vancouver, he got a job at Relic!

Get your submissions in, and good luck to whoever wins!

A new video has showed up on Youtube last evening. I’ll say that it’s pretty darn impressive watching big angry giant robots slug it out against the horde of orcs.

Rickrolled

Hirmetrium on the forums linked this article at Joystiq about THQ picking Gamersgate as an online Retailer.

According to the article (there’s no PR from GamersGate or THQ that I can find), it looks like the games will be available to everyone around the world except those in New Zealand and Australia. Company of Heroes and Opposing Fronts are two products from Relic that are currently available.

Buggo’s posted a thread with details about Relic’s holiday contest.

Sounds fun! Click the picture for a full size view of the details.

The tournament, organized by ToT-gaming, with the support of Razer, will pit together teams from all over the Daw of War community, in an attempt to determine the first ever Dawn of War Community Champion. There will be teams from many of the major DoW sites, including Relicnews, DoWSanctuary?, DawnOfWar.de, Gamereplays and there will also be a team from Relic taking part as well as a team from the DCPro modification crew.

There’s a 44 second trailer of what to except available here, by [DEU] Codi of CND-Productions.

For more information on the rules, very cool prizes from Razer, map pool and the tournament schedule, check out the announcement thread on the forums: here.

Thanks Slow_Runner for the heads up!

Buggo wanted to mention that she is looking to start up an event called “Mod Days”. The purpose of this is to expose Relic fans to the many different mods that were created for all the Relic games. Fans who participate in the events will have a chance to win a t-shirt.

Hi everyone, I’m working on putting together a really cool even (involving limited edition Relic t-shirts). I’m going to be running “Mod Days”, where everyone gets online to try out a new mod. Both the modders and people playing the mod that day will have a chance to win the t-shirts. I won’t post up what the t-shirts look like yet but I have them in my hands and they are awesome!

She is also looking for modders interested in showcasing their mods for “Mod Days”

For more information for interested folks and modders, head over to Bloggo.

Got word from Chris @ Gamereplays.org that they've posted an article by Tae Yeon (David) Kim AKA dayvie. Here's what you have to look forward to if you go and read it.

Competitive gaming and game balance are related, but are not the same things. To be a successful professional/competitive gamer, one must have the talent for understanding RTS games, dedication to improve, as well as the desire to win. Talent is needed to succeed as a competitive gamer, but is definitely not the most important factor. The reason I say this is because when a game is first released, there are many players that “play at the top level,” and then disappear from the competitive gaming scene shortly after. Personally, I wouldn’t consider these players to be true professional gamers. The reason is simple; playing a game at the professional level is not about learning to play a game to a certain skill level faster, but about mastering the game. On the other hand, practice alone is sometimes not enough. This can easily be seen by the many gamers that spend so much time playing and practicing a certain RTS game day after day, but just can’t compete at the top level. In other words, mastering a game cannot be done by talent alone, but must be supported by the gamer’s dedication and effort to practice.

Check the article out here.