black-hole-games posts

Fans of the Might and Magic franchise will have to wait a few more months than originally announced for the next entry in the series. Publisher Ubisoft has just announced that the turn-based strategy game Might and Magic Heroes VI will not make its previously announced June 21 release date.

Instead the game will now be coming out on September 8, according to an updated forum post on the game's official web site. The PC exclusive game, developed by Black Hole Games, was first announced last August at Gamescom. No reason for the new delay for the game's release was announced.

Earlier this week we reported on Ubisoft's plans to release a retail Collector's Edition of Might and Magic Heroes VI in Europe. Now people who want to purchase a downloadable copy of the upcoming turn-based strategy game can now do so via both Ubisoft's online store as well as Steam in both standard and deluxe digital versions.

Pre-orders for both versions will let players gain access to the game's upcoming beta test (no word yet on when that will start) along with an exclusive hero and exclusive in-game item. The standard edition costs $49.99. The Digital Deluxe version costs $54.99 and includes a number of extras that were mentioned in the game's Collector's Edition, including four exclusive heroes, two exclusive in-game items, a new map and a one month subscription to the browser MMO Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms.

Might and Magic Heroes VI is due out later this year but fans of the turn-based fantasy strategy game series in Europe will be getting a nice Collector's Edition of the game alongside the Standard Edition. Ubisoft announced the Collector's Edition via a YouTube trailer which you can check out after the jump.

In addition to the game, the Collector's Edition will include four exclusive in-game heroes, two exclusive in-game items, a real world metal ring, an art book, the game's CD soundtrack, a t-shirt and a poster. All of these items will be put in an extra-sized box. The Collector's Edition will also have a one month free subscription to Ubisoft's browser-based MMO Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms.

There's no word on pricing yet and there's also no word if the Collector's Edition will be released in the US. The game itself is set for release sometime in 2011.

While it's not quite the announcement we were hoping for (we though it might actually be a new entry in the core Might and Magic RPG series), publisher Ubisoft has just announced its plans to release Heroes of Might and Magic VI, the upcoming and latest installment of the fantasy strategy game series. The development team in charge of this entry is Black Hole Entertainment who previously created the RTS game Warhammer: Mark of Chaos.

Due out sometime in 2011, the new game actually takes place several hundred years before the events of the last game in the series Heroes of Might and Magic V. It retains the previous games' mix of turn-based strategy with RPG elements. The press release also says the game will have a "new and intelligent, online community interface." Sounds a bit like the game is turning into Farmville but that remains to be seen.

Update: We got the title of the game a bit wrong. For some reason Ubisoft is calling this game Might and Magic Heroes VI. Odd. In any case we regret the error.

The development team at Hungray-based Black Hole Entertainment has been pretty silent since the release of their last game, the RTS title Warhammer Mark of Chaos Battle March in the fall of 2008. They previously released the fantasy RTS game Armies Of Exigo in 2006. However a new PDF file from their management agency has revealed the developer has two upcoming PC game products in the works.

The document from Digital Development Management states that Black Hole Entertainment's two projects include a PC exclusive game that's a "frontline franchise for major European publisher". The developer is also branching out into the first person shooter genre. The document states they have made a "FPS prototype for major Japanese publisher" using Epic's Unreal Engine. Hopefully we will learn more about these games in the near future.

As fantasy MMO fans eagerly await the official launch of Warhammer Online later this month, Namco Bandai Games is trying to steal a little of Mythic's fame with the announcement today that Warhammer Mark of Chaos: Battle March has shipped for the PC. If you are going, "What? What is this game?" you are not alone.

This RTS game, set in the same universe as Warhammer Online, is basically a stand alone expansion pack to Warhammer Mark of Chaos, a game that was released way back in November 2006. Developed by Black Hole Games, this expansion pack has a new single player campaign, new units and the new multiplayer World Domination mode. However the fact that Namco Bandai has almost ignored this game before today's press release doesn't bode well for it. So considered yourself alerted.

Namco Bandai is mostly a console game publisher but they do release the occasional PC game.The company held a recent press event to show off their upcoming titles and one of those games just happened to be Warhammer Mark of Chaos: Battle March, an upcoming expansion pack to the 2006 released fantasy RTS title.

Developed once again by Black Hole Games and based of course on the Games Workshop war game series, the expansion will add new units, factions and an all new single player campaign to the original Mark of Chaos title. The new screenshots released by Namco Bandai show off the graphical goodness of the expansion which apparently includes units that ride upon walking dragon-lizard things. You can't go too wrong with walking dragon-lizard things. Expect Warhammer Mark of Chaos Battle March to be released in September alongside the Xbox 360 Warhammer Battle March game (which will contain the original title and the expansion's content).