DescentBB

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:02 pm**

Gary \"ElfShotTheFood\" McLean
Feb 5 2008, 4:16 PM

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI - News) today announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2008, consistent with the company’s recently announced revised financial guidance. The company also reaffirmed its financial outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2008, THQ reported net sales of $509.6 million, driven primarily by WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, Cars: Mater-National and MX vs. ATV Untamed, each across multiple game systems. For the same period a year ago, THQ reported net sales of $475.7 million.

-----

“During the holiday quarter, we were pleased with the record performance of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 and the successful launch of our internally developed game MX vs. ATV Untamed,” said Brian Farrell, THQ president and CEO.

Farrell continued, “We continue to strengthen our product development capabilities to support our long-term strategy of creating new owned intellectual properties. We look forward to launching Frontlines: Fuel of War at the end of this month. In fiscal 2009, we are well positioned for increased sales and profitability with strong owned intellectual properties such as Red Faction and Saints Row and well-known licensed franchises including WWE, UFC, Disney/Pixar and Nickelodeon.”

Recent Developments:

During the quarter, THQ shipped more than 5 million units of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, bringing total lifetime WWE franchise net sales to more than $1 billion.
During the quarter, total lifetime Nickelodeon franchise net sales surpassed $1 billion, driven by Avatar, Nicktoons and SpongeBob SquarePants.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2007, THQ’s international net sales increased significantly, to 50% of total global net sales from 40% a year ago, as THQ continued to execute on its international growth strategy.

For the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2007, THQ grew its Nintendo DS revenue 94% year-over-year, aided by the launch of Drawn to Life™, a newly established owned franchise created specifically for the Nintendo DS system.

On January 18, 2008, the company acquired Big Huge Games, a veteran development studio focused on the multi-billion dollar Role-Playing-Games market.

On January 23, 2008, THQ announced the appointment of two executives to newly-created product development positions to help drive new intellectual property creation.
On February 4, 2008, THQ announced the appointment of technology industry veteran Colin Slade as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:16 pm**

That is no more proof than Interplay bragging about owning Descent.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:11 pm**

I was going to ask why. Then I read this:

\"THQ shipped more than 5 million units of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008\"

Figures.

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:11 am**

No, Red Faction 3 is coming. I've seen it with my own eyes.

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:50 am**

lets hope its a bit better than the last 2 installments.

(I never cared for them all that much)

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:56 am**

Kyouryuu wrote:No, Red Faction 3 is coming. I've seen it with my own eyes.

haha, i never even realised there was a sequal. not sure OP did either *giggle*
it must've gone under my radARRR

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:27 am**

Red Faction was fail.

Posted: **Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:50 am**

It's probably an idea whose time has finally come, considering we're seeing some more advanced physics these days. It was neat that it worked at all in 2001, but if they're creative enough it might be quite a lot more interesting now.

Truth be told geo-mod would have the biggest impact in a Battlefield/CoD4-style game though - would make the battleground more realistic in useful ways. Down in tunnels it less frequently makes such a difference.

Posted: **Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:06 pm**

Yeah, so what youre saying is Descent totally got shafted.

Red Faction 1 was supposed to be Descent 4, but that never happened. They then went on to make Red Faction 2, and now I guess they are doing a 3rd one.

/me is not happy

Posted: **Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:06 pm**

Its a major slap to the face when the game that was supposed to be D4 gets changed into a GP, and it does so well they're announcing a 3rd game, yeah, great, lemme tell THQ where it can stick its game...

Posted: **Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:11 pm**

Sirius wrote: Truth be told geo-mod would have the biggest impact in a Battlefield/CoD4-style game though - would make the battleground more realistic in useful ways. Down in tunnels it less frequently makes such a difference.

I was thinking just the opposite... at least for SP levels. You could have to dig around to connect to another mine. Actually some limited examples of this in D3, where you have to blow up some rock to fly through the hole created.

Posted: **Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:03 pm**

geomodding was ok, but it had its limits. and imho, it wasn't all that.

Most new games have some form of interactive environment. It's just that in most you don't NEED to blow a hole in the ground. Be thankful shakers don't do the real damage the WISH they could. ;D

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:30 am**

Geo-modding by itself doesn't quite cut it, no. The really cool stuff would be technologies that allowed you to be creative in games. For instance, making booby-traps in buildings, shooting out the wheels from cars, or maybe digging holes to stop tanks. Shorting out wires, shooting out lights. Planting explosive devices to create diversions. And, of course, everyone's favourite, bringing down bridges. That kind of thing.

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:17 am**

basically nTrap

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:07 am**

Kyouryuu wrote:No, Red Faction 3 is coming. I've seen it with my own eyes.

I've learned alot here in the last few months but some of this stuff is still "greek" to me. I do know that D3 is the coolest game I'VE ever played.

I saw this in the news this morning and wondered if someone could tell me how these would compare to the Red Faction games, Quake III Arena and D3.

1st-Person Shooting Games Win Top Honors
Published: 2/8/08, 8:05 AM EDT

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Three critically acclaimed first-person shooters won top honors at the video game industry's most prestigious awards show.

"BioShock," "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" and "The Orange Box" garnered four prizes apiece Thursday night at the 11th annual Interactive Achievement Awards.

"Call of Duty," praised for its unique online multiplayer leveling system, was named overall game of the year and console game of the year. It was also honored as the top action and online game. It features an intense single-player mission revolving around global terror as well as a diverse set of multiplayer modes.

"BioShock," which had a record-setting 12 nominations, won awards for art direction, story development, music and sound.

"The Orange Box," a compilation of five distinct games, was named computer game of the year. Its mind-bending physics puzzler, "Portal," was honored for game design, character performance and game play engineering.

Edit: umm ... now that I'm awake

what I'd really like to know is if anyone is familiar with the games they're talking about, how would you compare them to D3?

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:35 pm**

D3 when it was released, D3 now or D3 on the whole?

wait.. Descent 3 or doom 3? ... I as because FPS are being discussed.

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:12 pm**

Duper wrote:D3 when it was released, D3 now or D3 on the whole?

wait.. Descent 3 or doom 3? ... I as because FPS are being discussed.

Descent 3 v1.4 which is the only version I've ever played. I've had Quake III for awhile but kinda lost interest since I got D3. Haven't played either one on line yet.

I've been told there's nothing out there that compares to D3, but I don't know anything about the ones they're talking about in the news report.

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:31 pm**

The main difference between those games and D3 is that they're all Ground-pounders, that meaning that the whole point of the game is to run around with a gun in the lower right of your screen. The last \"Descent-like\" game to come out was.... Oh yeah! Descent 3. For some reason the gaming industry has decided to reincarnate the same type of gameplay an endless number of times. I think that the only trouble with a 6DoF game (think \"descent-like\") is that the controls may be difficult to master, thus making the average teenager who has the span of a newt say \"That's gay\" and start playing Counterstrike\\Halo.

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:06 pm**

On top of being hard to master, availability of controllers that can handle Descent are also more limited than other types of games. It takes a really good keyboard to do the job with only a mouse in the other hand. Also if you use a joystick, not too many of them are built to last the kind of abuse that playing Descent requires. I've seen a new stick come out of the box and be broken within two days at a LAN party. I personally have resorted to finding spare switches for my Precision Pros to keep them working (and I also own four of them!).

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:24 pm**

Looks like one of us will have to win the lottery so we can design a new stick, and market it...

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:00 am**

mistercool2 wrote:Edit: umm ... now that I'm awake what I'd really like to know is if anyone is familiar with the games they're talking about, how would you compare them to D3?

They're all much better, to be honest. This is a point of view though. They each have their own good points, but they are really quite good games - bringing certain things to the table none of the Descent games ever had, but they do lack a few things that would make them as fun for me to play.

BioShock has, from the reviews I've heard (media and friends), an incredible sense of atmosphere, and it lets you THINK.

Call of Duty is one of the most solid tactical shooters to date. It is similar to some of the Battlefield games, from the short bit I've played, except that it seems perhaps more stable and also tends to focus on urban settings more - which makes things more hectic and interesting. I may actually end up playing this one with a group of guys I know.

The Orange Box is basically Half-Life 2 + eps 1/2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. HL2 is one of the best single-player FPS games ever made, and the follow-up episodes are quite impressive as well, I've heard. Portal is an unusually innovative, but short, title that evokes the memory and creativity that Descent used to have. Team Fortress 2 has been widely lauded as the most fun multiplayer shooter game in years.

All of the above are FPS games, naturally, but they are at the top of their field. If you're a die-hard Descent player, though, they're probably not what you're looking for.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:27 am**

I know it's controversial to say on a board dedicated to Descent, but really, some of you have got to join us in the year 2008. There are a lot of excellent games out there right now and to dismiss all of them as \"ground pounders\" is rather ignorant given the innovation that the genre has seen in the last few years. We all graduated from that moronic \"Doom clone\" nonsense years ago.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:01 am**

Kyouryuu wrote:I know it's controversial to say on a board dedicated to Descent, but really, some of you have got to join us in the year 2008. There are a lot of excellent games out there right now and to dismiss all of them as "ground pounders" is rather ignorant given the innovation that the genre has seen in the last few years. We all graduated from that moronic "Doom clone" nonsense years ago.

If people here did that, this board would be empty. :p
The term groundpounder seems kinda strange to me- Honestly, if you're going to categorize something with that much of a simplicity, you could probably say Descent is a copy off one of the thousands of star wars games that have been around in the 90s.
Don't get me wrong here, Descent is a good game that still has an almost untouched unique idea, but that doesn't mean all other games that don't involve descent-like characteristics suck.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:52 am**

Krom wrote:On top of being hard to master, availability of controllers that can handle Descent are also more limited than other types of games. It takes a really good keyboard to do the job with only a mouse in the other hand. Also if you use a joystick, not too many of them are built to last the kind of abuse that playing Descent requires. I've seen a new stick come out of the box and be broken within two days at a LAN party. I personally have resorted to finding spare switches for my Precision Pros to keep them working (and I also own four of them!).

True, but if the genre were more popular, manufactures would step in make the sticks better.

Also, most games now, with a few notable exceptions, tend to focus on 'realism', Descent is firmly set in an abstract world.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:19 am**

d3jake wrote:The main difference between those games and D3 is that they're all Ground-pounders, that meaning that the whole point of the game is to run around with a gun in the lower right of your screen. The last "Descent-like" game to come out was.... Oh yeah! Descent 3. For some reason the gaming industry has decided to reincarnate the same type of gameplay an endless number of times. I think that the only trouble with a 6DoF game (think "descent-like") is that the controls may be difficult to master, thus making the average teenager who has the span of a newt say "That's gay" and start playing Counterstrike\\Halo.

I agree on this. Even myself, if a game requires more than 20 minutes to learn how to control, I give up. It's not worth my time.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:20 am**

Kyouryuu wrote:There are a lot of excellent games out there right now and to dismiss all of them as "ground pounders" is rather ignorant given the innovation that the genre has seen in the last few years.

I'm sorry, I have to agree with d3jake on this. There's nothing out there on store shelves yet that has even come close to true 6DoF movement.

"But Crysis had this cool 6DoF section toward the end - you can't call it a ground-pounder!"

Crysis is a ground-pounder, albeit a fun one. However, that 'zero-G' section at the end was anything but 6DoF.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:11 pm**

Foil wrote:There's nothing out there on store shelves yet that has even come close to true 6DoF movement.

Sure, if you take the myopic view that 6DoF games are the only games worth your time.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:47 pm**

Kyouryuu wrote:
Foil wrote:There's nothing out there on store shelves yet that has even come close to true 6DoF movement.
Sure, if you take the myopic view that 6DoF games are the only games worth your time.

I didn't say that.

But there's something special and different about 6DoF games that's missing from the other games out there.

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:52 pm**

Sirius wrote: All of the above are FPS games, naturally, but they are at the top of their field. If you're a die-hard Descent player, though, they're probably not what you're looking for.

After reading all this I'm inclined to agree.

I've never been all that interested in video games until I tried the Quake III demo several years ago and shortly thereafter got the full version. But now with D3 (which is running perfect thanks to you guys, especially fliptw

) I'd probably be disappointed with anything else. I'm not sure if I'm a "die-hard" Descent player or not, but I can go without potato chips and ice cream.

Although I know very little about all the games out there, I think overall, D3 is gonna be hard to beat. If that does happen ... I'll be 1st in line.

Thanks everybody!

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:57 pm**

Call me a cynic, but threads like this make me wonder if the Descent community lost its imagination...

Firstly, \"ground-pounder\" is an anachronism, as it excessively simplifies the issue... would you call Oblivion a ground-pounder? World of Warcraft? The original concept for Descent 4 (which had on-foot sequences)? Back in the days of Doom, DN3D and Quake it had a point, because they were a very distinctive style of game and there wasn't much variety out there... but the field has changed hugely in the last ten years.

Secondly, Descent 3 is not actually as good as popular belief would dictate... it's simply the prettiest Descent game released. It could easily be surpassed if anyone tried; the problem is no-one who could get to release has tried. The graphics are now rather dated; the mod support and editors are third-rate; the game could be easier to handle on keyboard/mouse (wouldn't take THAT much effort, Minerva is a fairly good example); and the gameplay and weapon balance is really pretty poor (there's a reason why D1 was always the most popular game on the IDL; it was the most competitive).

I dunno. It just seems like we're collectively living under a rock. Go out and play some new games, they might give you ideas! You might even like them!

Posted: **Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:04 pm**

The Orange Box is unbelievably good. *_*

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:21 am**

I wish I had the spare cash for it. You think they'll release all the Orange Box material again when Ep3 comes out?

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:13 am**

Does Super Mario Galaxy count as 6DoF?

Sirius wrote:I wish I had the spare cash for it. You think they'll release all the Orange Box material again when Ep3 comes out?

No, they wouldn't be re-released. But I don't see why Steam would've stopped selling them by that time in the first place.

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:04 pm**

TIGERassault wrote:Does Super Mario Galaxy count as 6DoF?

no.. banging into bricks in a pyro is a BAD thing.

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:48 pm**

Oh, I mainly mean if the Orange Box material is included in a new \"box\" + ep3. That would be pretty compelling for me. Probably would be about two years later than everyone else though.

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:49 pm**

Sirius wrote:Firstly, "ground-pounder" is an anachronism, as it excessively simplifies the issue... would you call Oblivion a ground-pounder? World of Warcraft? The original concept for Descent 4 (which had on-foot sequences)?

d3jake wrote:Ground-pounders, that meaning that the whole point of the game is to run around with a gun in the lower right of your screen

At least that's the definition I use... In the event of a realized D4, then we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

The graphics are now rather dated; the mod support and editors are third-rate; the game could be easier to handle on keyboard/mouse (wouldn't take THAT much effort, Minerva is a fairly good example);

Please tell us how it could be made 'easier to handle on keyboard\\mouse'. I think that a mouser has enough advantages as is, and we don't need to cater to them any more...

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:18 pm**

To help keyboard/mouse pilots think of auto-level on steroids. The current implementation of auto-level in D3 rather stinks in short. It doesn't work that well at what it is supposed to do and often gets in the way because it tries to completely level the ship, even if you actually want to be looking up or down.

If you wanted to make an auto-level to make life easier on keyboard/mouse players, just include an extra set of paths through the entire level that can lock the ships banking axis so it behaves exactly like a \"ground pounder\". In exchange for always being \"upright\", they lose the ability to trichord, but that would greatly help a lot of players from getting disoriented. The only problem would be levels with a lot of vertical shafts and rooms like Polaris or Apparition. But since most levels in play are flat and not too far off in design from a ground pounder level that type of restriction on the controls wouldn't bother most people.

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:37 pm**

d3jake wrote:Please tell us how it could be made 'easier to handle on keyboard\\mouse'. I think that a mouser has enough advantages as is, and we don't need to cater to them any more...

And it's that sort of attitude that ensures another 6DoF game will never be made, much less one that would satisfy the "community."

Only under that flawed logic can one ignore the simple fact that every popular PC game uses the mouse. From BioShock to World of Warcraft, from Oblivion to Half-Life 2. Players do not want to learn gobs of keyboard combinations and buy joysticks in order to play a game. Even back when Descent was popular, that learning curve turned away a lot of gamers. It's only worse now - people by and large don't own joysticks.

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:55 pm**

I think if you visit Joystick Required's website, you'll find at least a few others outside the Descent scene that want to see more of a challenge than a simple keyboard and mouse interface can provide.

The stigma in this thread seems to lean towards the opinion that most of the oldskool Descenters that still frequent this forum are stuck playing 6DoF games and won't play anything else. If you use me as an example, I have played more games since 1983 than most people can fathom, and I'm still playing many of the newest releases when they're released or soon after. After getting a massive case of burnout from non-stop World of Warcraft since closed beta days, I'm currently indulging in some EVE and using Team Fortress 2 (an absolut RIOT OF A GAME - I higly recommend) as an alternative to break up the EVE mission grind while I train up better skills to PvP. I'm also keeping a close eye on the Chronicles of Spellborn, Warhammer Online, Age of Conan, and Jumpgate Evolution.

But guess what - I still regularly go back and play one of the Descent series or D2X-XL, because they have exceeded in the 6DoF arena like no other, and will be hard to beat in the future by any game that attempts to steal the crown. Yes, they're dated, and yes they have a high learning curve, but they are hands-down the greatest skill challenge I have ever come across. Flying with skill and grace in a Pyro gives me a greater sense of accomplishment and a greater degree of control and freedom than anything that has come out since. And that includes TF2, WoW, EVE, Q3, Crysis, JGC, VO, EQ1/2, Forsaken, and anything else I can't think of that's not worth mentioning as a contender because I can't think of it to put it in this list.

I'm definitely looking forward to the new releases, but I hold onto the best and keep playing them. And Descent is, hands-down, one of best.

Posted: **Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:56 am**

With massive franchises like Unreal selling poorly even when they're very good games, I don't think there's much chance of Descent making a comeback on the PC. MMOs are doing alright, RTSs are doing fairly well, but the FPS genre seems to be migrating to consoles. Halo 3, an XBox 360 title, sold spectacularly. UT3, a PC exclusive, just about bombed.

Fortunately, there are only a small handful of features that are truly essential to Descent-like gameplay, and the controller isn't one of them. All you really need is free movement in any axis and weapons that are more than just point-and-click. The rest is dressing.

And if the controls are easier to master, so be it. That just means new players will get onto the real challenge, the mind game, quicker.

DescentBB

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