red-faction-armageddon posts

Red Faction Armageddon, the latest game in the sci-fi action-shooter series, has been delayed yet again but this delay is a small one. Publisher THQ sent over word that the Volition-developed game, last scheduled for a May 31 release, will now be coming out on June 7.

No reason for this new delay was revealed but we are betting part of the reason has to do with Red Faction Origins. The TV movie/pilot, which is a prequel to the game's story, is due to be shown on the Syfy cable channel on June 4. Having the movie come out before the game instead of after is certainly a better marketing move.

The founder of Campaign, Illinois developer Volition, Mike Kulas, has announced that he will depart the company this coming Monday. The local newspaper-based web site News-Gazette.com states that Kulas is leaving the developer voluntarily and his decision to go was not based on any particular event.

Kulas co-founded Volition's predecessor Parallax Software in 1993 which first gained fame with the release of the first two Descent games for Interplay. The company later re-branded itself as Volition and went onto make a sizable number of games, including the Freespace, Red Faction and Saints Row series of titles. THQ acquired the company in 2000. Kulas said he has no immediate plans for what he will do next in his career. His role at Volition will be taken over by Dan Cermak, who has been a vice-president at the developer since 2003.

[Via Gamasutra]

Survival-style gameplay modes seem to be getting more and more popular and it looks like Red Faction Armageddon will be no exception. The upcoming sci-fi third person action game will have what the team at developer Volition is called an Infestation gameplay mode when the game comes out on May 31.

The gameplay is shown off in the newest trailer where players face off against waves of the aliens that are the center of the new game's threats. In addition to the more conventional weapons player will be able to use more advanced "nano attacks" to try to hold off the aliens.

The latest attempt to make a descent movie out of a game franchise now has a date. The Syfy cable TV network has announced that Red Faction Origins will be shown on the channel on Saturday, June 4.

The two hour TV movie will be shown just a few days after developer Volition and publisher THQ release Red Faction: Armageddon, the fourth game in the sci-fi shooter franchise (shown above) with the Mars setting and the destructible environments. Red Faction Origins, which is a prequel to the store events of Red Faction Armageddon, could also serve as a back-door pilot for a possible Red Faction weekly TV series if the ratings are high enough.

There are a few things we expect from Red Faction: high-tech weaponry, excellent destruction physics, and plenty of enemies to kill. This trailer for Armageddon shows off all three, albeit through the lens of a supporting character (Kara). There's lots of running, witty commentary, blowing apart structures, and being generally violent. While it's definitely lacking in the in-game footage department, it's got us excited for the greater role story has in the single-player.

Download Red Faction Armageddon 'Kara' Trailer
Check out all Red Faction Armageddon downloads

There's unfortunately more word about layoffs at game developers today, this time at two of THQ's internal development studios. Gamasutra reports via a THQ rep that New York City based Kaos Studios let go of 17 people out of its 100 team members today. Kaos just shipped the first person shooter Homefront a couple of weeks ago. There's no word yet on what the team is working on next although if Homefront sells well enough a sequel is likely.

Gamasutra also reports via a THQ rep that 16 team members at Illinois-based Volition have also been laid off. That studio has over 200 team members and currently has three announced games in the works. The shooter Red Faction Armageddon is due out on May 31 while Saints Row The Third is due for release sometime this fall. The horror-themed game Insane is due for release in 2013.

With Red Faction Armageddon now set for release on May 31, the sci-fi shooter's publisher THQ has sent out word on some pre-order bonuses that are being given out by various retailers. Ordering the game ahead of time at GameStop will net the player the Commando Pack that adds the exclusive Commando uniform and two unique weapons, the Plasma Thrower and dual Laser Pistols.

Over at Best Buy, pre-orders for the game get the Recon Pack (you can see it after the jump) with the Recon uniform and two more exclusive weapons; the Arc Welder and the "XNG-5000, which launches devastating Nanite-filled projectiles that seek out targets and dissolve them." Finally Walmart gives pre-orders a Red Faction comic book and a mini-strategy guide for their money.

[Via email press release]

The last games in the Red Faction and Saints Row series of action games from developer Volition were released for the PC several months after their console counterparts. Part of the reason is that the PC ports were handled by other development studios. Using those studios caused some quality issues with both games. That won't be the case for the next games in these series, Red Faction Armageddon (due out in May) and Saints Row 3 (due out this fall).

According to a Eurogamer report, Volition studio manager Eric Barker confirms that the PC ports of those titles will now be handled internally by Volition. Barker states, " ... I'm really happy with how Red Faction: Armageddon looks on PC. It's beautiful." And what about the threat of piracy for these PC games? Barker states, "First and foremost, we want to make sure we're making a game people would want to pirate. Let's make a game that's worth stealing, and then we'll worry about making sure they don't."

Red Faction Armageddon is slated for release on May 31 (and likely preceded by the Syfy Channel produced prequel movie Red Faction Origins) but players of the sci-fi action shooter from developer Volition and publisher THQ will get to play a new game mode when the final version is released.

A new trailer that was released this week shows off the new Ruin Mode. Basically its a single player mode where players can blow stuff up with the game's GeoMod Engine and rack up as many points as possible. It certainly looks like it will be a fun little side mode, especially if you can compare your rankings with others.

Download the Red Faction Armageddon Ruin Mode trailer at Big Download

Red Faction Armageddon was already scheduled to be released sometime in the month of May 2011. Today the game's publisher THQ confirmed that the fourth and latest entry in the Volition-developed sci-fi shooter series will indeed be released in May, at least here in the US. North America gets the game on May 31 while the Europeans will have it a few days later on June 3.

As we pointed out earlier this month, May 2011 is looking like it will be filled to the gills with major PC game releases. Indeed Red Faction Armageddon is coming out on the same day as Dungeon Siege 3.

[Via email press release]