Namco Bandai Games Sells North American Publishing Rights to Hellgate: London

Written on January 18, 2010 at 4:17 pm, by James Fudge

HanbitSoft locks down the worldwide rights to Hellgate: London

HanbitSoft has finally wrestled the license for Hellgate: London from the West. The company announced this morning that it has secured the publishing rights to the action-MMO developed by Flagship Studios. The North American rights were owned by Namco Bandai Games, who have decided to sell those rights to HanbitSoft. This is the second MMO property that HanbitSoft has secured, repurposed and will inevitable relaunch in North America; the first was Mythos.

In July 2008, T3 Entertainment acquired HanbitSoft – and with it – the Hellgate’s IP and publishing rights in Asia. There was some debate as to whether or not it actually owned that IP according to Flagship’s position when Hellgate was shut down and Flagship went bankrupt. That aside, HanbitSoft says that it will roll out the launch of Hellgate overseas in 2010, starting with China, Taiwan, and South East Asia followed by North America, Europe, and Japan.

‘Mythos is Reborn,’ proclaims Redbana

Written on December 2, 2009 at 2:14 am, by James Fudge

Redbana, the North American development and publishing arm of Korean publisher T3 Entertainment, proclaims that “Mythos is reborn” and that it will bring the game to North America (I call it a resurrection, but whatever). While I don’t begrudge Redbana for wanting to launch Mythos in the United States, I can imagine that the makers of Torchlight, the upcoming Torchlight MMO, and the early product known as “Mythos” might be upset about hearing that this game will see the light of day in North America. Or perhaps they just won’t care after the success of Torchlight and its future plans for a Torchlight MMO.

I also wonder how much of the original game developed by the first Mythos team at Flagship Studios was used in making this game. In 2008 HanbitSoft acquired the intellectual property rights from Flagship Studios (in a messy and sometimes public battle stemming from problems with Hellgate and Flagship’s financial troubles at the time) and parent company T3 Entertainment resumed development. The game it developed is now in closed beta in South Korea.

“We’re privileged to be able to take the helm of this ambitious and highly-regarded project,” said Young Rok Park, CEO of Redbana. “We launched Redbana with Audition, and are now diversifying our offering with Mythos. Our vision is to deliver a diverse selection of high quality games to the North American market.”

Redbana will oversee the launch and operations for the title in North America. A North American closed beta is planned, though the timing of that is still to be determined. A teaser site featuring a new trailer can be found at www.mythos.com

Runic Games, Dungeon Masters: The Torchlight Interview, Part II

Written on October 19, 2009 at 10:33 am, by James Fudge

In part II of our interview with Runic Games (you can check out the first part right here) we talk about what went wrong at Flagship Studios and what the future holds after the single-player part of Torchlight is released on Oct. 28.

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Runic Games, Dungeon Masters: The Torchlight Interview, Part I

Written on October 16, 2009 at 2:56 am, by James Fudge

Runic Games first title, an action RPG called Torchlight, got a lot of buzz at the Penny Arcade Expo in Sept. and a lot of positive feedback from fans that were seeing it for the very first time. A month later the game is in its final stage of development as the team races towards its Oct. 27 release date. To understand the appeal of Torchlight, you need look no further than the gentlemen working on the game and their influences and past accomplishments. Collectively the small development team working on this game has worked on such titles as Diablo and Diablo II, the indie hit RPG FATE, and the now cancelled MMO Mythos. While that list of accomplishments might seem short, it’s also very impressive.

What I learned from talking to Runic Games co-founder and CEO Max Shaefer, Art Director Jason Beck and Runic Games co-founder Travis Baldree was that these influences are helping them to build a better game and later to build a perfect extension of that game with an MMO project. In part I of my interview with this trio I learn about the first fruits of their labors: Torchlight. Read on.

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Former Blizzard North president joins Gazillion Entertainment

Written on July 21, 2009 at 1:48 pm, by James Fudge

Former Blizzard North president, David Brevik, has joined Gazillion Entertainment, it was announced today. Brevikhas been named the new Studio Director for Gargantuan. In this role he will lead development efforts for the company’s upcoming Marvel Universe MMO for PC and consoles, in addition to heading up the Gargantuan development studio located at Gazillion’s headquarters in San Mateo, California.

Brevik has held many leadership roles, most notably as president of Blizzard North for seven years.  Brevik was responsible for creating Blizzard’s Diablo series, for which he was Project Lead, Design Lead and Lead Programmer on both Diablo and Diablo II. He also helped launched Blizzard’s online gaming service, Battle.Net, and was involved in key initiatives spanning multiple game and technology projects at Blizzard Entertainment. Prior to joining Gazillion, Brevik was a Director at Flagship Studios.

This week at the San Diego Comic-Con, Brevik will participate on a panel Q&A called The State of MMOs: A Discussion with the Developer with other game designers, including Craig Alexander (Turbine), Gordon Walton (BioWare), and Bob Ferrari (Sanrio Digital) on Thursday, July 23rd from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Redbana launches U.S. operations

Written on June 23, 2009 at 4:01 pm, by James Fudge

Redbana US, the North American development and publishing division of T3 Entertainment, today officially announced their presence in the North American market as a game development and publishing studio. Their first order of business, says this new entity is the localization and ongoing operation of the global title, Audition, a massively-multiplayer online rhythm game with more than 300 million registered users worldwide.

Redbana took over operations of Audition from Nexon earlier this year. The game was originally launched in Korea in 2004 and has since become a worldwide phenomenon, with more than 300 million users playing Audition in more than 50 countries. In the game, players create avatars to compete in virtual dance competitions. An in-game micro-transaction system allows players to buy unique hair styles, attire, accessories, faces and more.

But the more interesting fact is that in 2008 Redbana acquired select intellectual property rights from Flagship Studios, which the company says it will announce plans for shortly. www.redbana.com

The Rundown: Jan 21, 2009

Written on January 21, 2009 at 3:02 pm, by James Fudge

The live from NYC edition. Today we learn about what one might do after leaving an MMO company like Flagship Studios,  the release of Sim Animals, tons of MMO news the release of Skate 2  and so much more. Jump on in after the break.

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