Is Relic going to be at E3?

[deepjay]

Does anyone know if there's been any mention of relic having any kind of presence - even via THQ - at this years E3?

[gorays]

I don't think so, because I don't think they will announce any games. Relic did go to E3 in 2005 and 2008, and they presented new info on COH(E3 2005) and DOW 2(E3 2008).

[deepjay]

Yeah I guess I read IGN's E3 predictions that included Relic possibly announcing some future expansion type info and well hoped.

[Shuma]

My memory is a bit dodgy(Can't blame me, it has been 4-5 years) but didn't Relic announce Winter Assault on the E3 AFTER Dow1 came out? Same with DC?

[Hirmetrium]

yes Shuma, I believe WA was announced the week before, and DOW2 was a year ago around E3.

I think its foolish not to expect THQ to be there showing off Red Faction (new/upcoming) and Relic being one of THQ's premier game studios having lots of dev teams means theres a likelyhood of at least one announcement, either in regards to DOW2 DLC, COHO or something else entirely (theres an unannounced console game in development).

I'm hoping THQ might even show off Vigil Game's 40k MMO...

At any rate, your REAL question should be - is THQ going to show off at E3? if so, how much?

[Hamsterminator]

When is this year's E3? I remember E3 as being a massive celebration in gaming history, but haven't seen much press on it this year. Is it being swept under the carpet or have I just missed the hype?

[deepjay]

It's in approximately 2 weeks. For the past few years it's been massively scaled down - i guess because it was getting to almost joke proportions what was expected from developers - more like a circus than a display of up and coming products. It's more a media show now - though lots of good stuff usually makes its way online.

[Hirmetrium]

Yeah, I'm glad they have changed it back. Last year's information stream and crappy reporting (from gamespot and pretty much every media outlet) meant a very slow and poor performance. Combined with the "We're Nintendo, and never gave a shit about the hardcore" "We're microsoft and want you to watch movies" and "WERE SONY, COME'ON MAN PLEASE FORGIVE THE PS3!"

[MegaDok]

+1 for busty scantily clad chaos heretic both babes at the Relic both to announce dem 'umies joinin' da fray against da boyz!

[deepjay]

They havent changed it back...it's the same as it was last year and the year previous.

[Coffee]

Either way publishers have been saving up their juicy bits for E3. Microsoft, Ubisoft, Nintendo .. it could mean something!


I don't think Relic will be announcing DoW stuff so soon already. Maybe for GamesCom in Koln.

[deepjay]

Yeah probably too soon, but I have my fingers crossed anyway. Their live team working on patches and content would likely be different from the main group working on expansion type content etc.

[Shuma]

That's what everyone always say about Relic, "it's too soon" i can see them showing footage of the Ork and Eldar campaings and other DLC if they don't announce an expansion.

[deepjay]

DoW2 had an amazingly fast production cycle, hopefully the expansion follows suit, some new races or units would be just dandy thx.

[Taiko]

I'm still hoping for Relic to announce DoW2 on console in this years E3...don't worry I gave up holding my breath long ago. But I can always dream :D

[Malecite]

They were at Penny Arcade Expo when I went last year. I remember they demoed DOW 2 and announced TOV. DOW 2 looked absolutely phenomenal.Had I known at the time that TOV would be a blatant robbery I would have calmly launched a brick at the projector.

But you should defintely check out PAX, ive gone 3 times now and its an absolute blast every time. If Relics there this time I may have to heckle them a bit about their patching lol.

[Tranj]

Yes Relic will be there...don't miss it!

[FooF]

E3 announcement:

Dawn of War 2 Expansion: Revenge of the Squats!

;)

[Hirmetrium]

come on FooF, we all know thats not going to happen :(

And hello Tranj, which rock have you been hiding under? Generic "we're busy at THQ HQ right now, cool stuff on the way, ask again later"? ;)

[FooF]

Tranj and Ruined are both probably playing Homeworld 3 right now and staring at Hirm's question, laughing hysterically.

As well as demo-ing Revenge of the Squats for some media outlets and showing all the cool new units. ;)

(I promise I'm done now) :D

[deepjay]

Woot sweet Tranj, excited!

[The Voltr0n]

yay, thanks tranj... i'm hoping there will be a nice little announcement :D

[ZarX]

I'd so love a HW3. Ugh. I need more Homeworld. It would be awesome if in HW3 they added the ability to control fighters and stuff, and actually fly them with joystick and keyboard!

[Croaxleigh]

Woo, Winter Assault-ier!

(Or, you know, some DLC announcement, or the announcement of some unimportant and unwanted space-based game...)

[FooF]

As this is not DoW2 specific, hyperspacing to GD.

:Prays to Sorak for HW3:

[Bowkers]

Or could be that new game that Uber was talking about earlier this year. I can't seem to find the thread now, but they could be at the event to talk to us about this?

[Busby]

Tranj and Ruined are both probably playing Homeworld 3 The Forestry Sim right now and staring at Hirm's question, laughing hysterically.

Fixed.

[Dauntless]

Tranj and Ruined are both probably playing Homeworld 3 The Forestry Sim Winter Logging Expansion right now and staring at Hirm's question, laughing hysterically.


Fixed.

Double Fixed

[A176]

homeworld 3 or bust

[Mokinokaro]

It's obvious they're going to announce the new expansion to Forestry Sim 2, Redwood Country.

[Imperial Honour]

They havent changed it back...it's the same as it was last year and the year previous.
Now apparently with booth babes again :).

[n0z3k1ll3r]

homeworld 3 or bustYou might want to rephrase that. If E3 does have booth babes again then there's certainly going to be a fair amount of bust.

Homeworld 3 AND bust.

[Harmanoff]

I was gonna make that joke. =[

[Jake]

Homeworld 3 AND bust. Didn't they already try that in HW2?

[Imperial Honour]

There wasn't enough bust in HW2 for it to be classified as HW2 AND bust in my opinion :p. In all seriousness though, I don't recall seeing anything about THQ announcing their line up for E3 so they must be hiding something, or can't be arsed to announce their E3 line up.

[Retroboy]

HW2 and Sinead O'Connor with green spaghetti hair after an unfortunate encounter with a prison tattooist.

http://www.whattheyplay.com/media/images/product/pc/homeworld-2-5299/boxart/5299-boxart.jpg

I still think the gamebox looked goofy. The art itself was okay, but the theme was just wrong for the game.

[Bowkers]

General manager Tarrnie Williams admitted there were "three or four" titles in the works at Relic. "It depends how you count; whether you use the old math or the new math." He declined to explain the difference.

I got this from an internet interview from November last year (yes I know, bit late, but still relevant). If we do the maths: DoW2 was a project they were working on at the current stage along with CoH: TOV, which then gives a 'missing' title/titles. (Certainly got the old maths brain working hard this morning :p) I'm not sure whether the project for Company of Heroes: Online had been released yet, but that still gives the mouth watering for a potential missing game.

"[Homeworld 3 is] as it always has--behind closed doors. Blacked off," Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor designer Chris Degnan responded when asked of the mythical project. "Homeworld 3, obviously, I'm not at liberty to tell you anything about."

"We're really happy the IP has made its way home, and yeah, we're definitely looking at it. We'll see what happens in the future," Dawn of War II lead designer Jonny Ebbert said. Upon further inquiry, Ebbert noted "there's always that chance" that Homeworld 3 could be among the studio's current projects.

Obviously this could be a complete taunt at the reader, some bait dangling in front of the mouth, for the desperate fan to bite. Or it could have something serious behind it. I leave it to you guys and your imaginative minds. :)

[coldplay]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/3543215361_16fc20e31a.jpg

[SquidDNA]

Oh shit what engine is that

[Hiroshi_Tea]

the Outside Engine

still in development though

[Chrome]

The Outside Engine features high-resolution detail rendering known as 'Project Sunlight.' There's also the extremely proprietary bump mapping technique called 'therealthing."

Quite spectacular stuff there. I'm looking forward to seeing the renders of the Space-Marine like loggers and the cute-yet-terrifying tree gnomes that the rumor mill keeps circulating stuff about. Anyone found about the tech upgrades for either race yet?

[Coey]

This advanced AI it has still needs some work though.

yuck yuck yuck

[coldplay]

It features base-building and 5 man squads, though.

[Ammon Ra]

HW2 and Sinead O'Connor with green spaghetti hair after an unfortunate encounter with a prison tattooist. THIS. Whoever did the marketing for the cover box should be banned from attempting to market anything else ever again.

Having being introduced to Juipiter incident recently, i can't help but ponder at what homeworld3 would look like if it were made in a similar style. :3

Or a homeworld-universe space fighter racing/shooting/arcade game.

[Mnementh]

It features base-building and 5 man squads, though.

Bleh, squads. Squads/wings made HW2 feel weird, as if you couldn't be trusted to micromanage your ships if you wanted to. Best of both worlds would have been to have a tactic that winged ships up, while other tactics allowed the player to do whatever the hell they wanted with individual ships :)

And retro, did you not learn anything from Marweas's massive marketing knowledge and bee chewing experience? Faces sell games! :slow:

[Hirmetrium]

Choose your commander. Bambi is an excellent character, but he can't compete with the terrain corrupting presence of a chaos sorcerer.

[Meatkin]

Jupiter incident was shit Ammon don't go down that road!

And... zomg Forestry Sim!!!

[Ammon Ra]

Not so sure, meatkin, people say the voice acting and other aspects were fail, and that the game as a whole was a bit "meh", but having played through the first few missions, i'm absolutely loving it. I especially love the ship designs. /end derail


I call:
"The outfit" + "Spess mehrens" vs "Aliens" = "The Squad"

^_^

[Fish Of Doom]

@ Ammon: or they could go for the pun and replace outfit with "Power Armor"

[fuggles]

Popular press say that Relic's next game is an action one...

[Coey]

Space Hulk. It makes perfect sense. And you could easily mod it to Higaaran Marines in Spaaaaaaace or somesuch.

[MadCatChiken]

Jupiter incident was shit Ammon don't go down that road!

Nexus was a great game, yeah the voice acting and story are poor but the gameplay and the design of it is great, tactical ship battles and the graphics and detail are great.

[ÜberJumper]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/3543215361_16fc20e31a.jpg


That's the freaking Forestry Sim! WOOT CMART!

[Mantaray]

now, not to be pedantic but 'plz can we haz hw3??'
[/ChildhoodDream]

in any case. i shan't be there. but i will be following it from the ole' UK and preying for the old forrestry sim 9and maybe even its winter logging expantion)
then i can get to work eddititng the .oak files (or LUA 6.0) and include my own compex mod that involves the player then having to re-accommodate the environment (critters and such whose abodes you demolish) and build oil wells to fuel their logging machines...

as you can see. 2010 is a big year for me.

[Bowkers]

One assumes that if you cut down an oak, or a redwood, it gives you more experience then say, a birch or an ash? Very excited to see what features they are going to bring to this new game. :)

[Dauntless]

Yes, it's a world of possibilities, hell, we may one day be choppin 'dose yews and saying 'Dow? Whats that?'

[Busby]

I'd assume experience gain is not only determined by type, but also height, thickness, age, season, past events, disease, and what tools you used.

So for the best experience you would want to chop down the largest, oldest, tree in the forest, making sure it has no diseases in the spring with nothing but your hands and teeth.

Extra points if you crush your competition with it.

[Dauntless]

I can already imagine the unlockables

[Busby]

A friend told me that they were told by a friend who was told by another friend who was told by another friend who was told a truthful and trustworthy source that forests will be procedurally generated, allowing the Outside engine to render millions of trees and small plants while tracking there individual stats and genealogy stretching back since before the world was created.

Forest critters and opposing loggers/ents/goat throwing viking longboats also use a similar system that tracks everything right down to the number of blood vessels in there body for realistic dispersal when struck by falling tree limbs.

A side effect of using the system is that players can play there favorite forests again by entering a 42 digit seed into the parameters.

[Black]

Sounds like Dwarf Fortress.

[Busby]

But instead of magma we get Agent Orange!

[YurdleTheTurtle]

Sorry for being extremely behind the news, but what exactly is this famed "Forestry Sim" about? I know I'm missing a big inside joke here.

At any rate, if Relic's coming, I am hoping for a neat announcement. DoW 2 expansion sounds very likely for E3, but after that, the next IP sequel or new IP could be anything.

[ZellFish]

DoW2 had an amazingly fast production cycle, hopefully the expansion follows suit, some new races or units would be just dandy thx.

It also has amazingly HORRIBLE quality, and game play. I honestly do hope they abandon the entire DoW franchise, or go back to their roots, and make it a game worth playing. I do hope we possibly see some new IP's though, from them.

[CommodoreKitty]

@Yurdle: The Forestry is an Inside joke. A while ago there was a viral marketing campaign for the release of Company of Heroes:Online, and part of it involved locations. One of the locations was a forest, so people made the joke that Relics next game would be a forestry sim.

[Vijil]

Actually it's a lot older than that. It started when the old relic website had something about NSP3 or "next secret project 3" - with the accompanying imagery being of silhouetted trees. We then made that into a forum skin. Since then it's been resurrected almost every time somebody is speculating about future relic games, even Relic.

[CommodoreKitty]

Well that shows what I know.

^what he said^

[ÜberJumper]

I think we'll hear some stuff about the unannounced project @ E3.

Also, it's not Homeworld 3.

[Homdax]

Dang! Über beat me to it for the Forestry Sim...

/me prays for space related thingie, BFG or HW3

[A176]

Also, it's not Homeworld 3.

well then.

[Mantaray]

Also, it's not Homeworld 3.

can we have sources attributing to this claim?
as we dont actualy know what the hell its gonna be. it could very well be homeworld3. although i agree that it could well NOT be HW3...

[Zephyx]

Also, it's not Homeworld 3.
There is no source to back that claim, for or against, so why mention it?

[JAL-18]

Considering Uber pratically lives inside Relic studios, his word is generally pretty reliable.

But go ahead, get your hopes up.

[ÜberJumper]

I mention it so expectations are appropriately set going into E3.

People wasting their time expecting/hoping for Homeworld 3 and knowing now that there will NEVER be a Homeworld 3 produced by the THQ version of Relic can then go into THQ/Relic's E3 annoucement and not have their dreams smashed.

A PC RTS like Homeworld is a NICHE market game. Not enough people will want to play it to make it profitable.

With Dawn of War 2 selling well, and CoHO soon to be released, expect the focus on that, and hopefully, HOPEFULLY we'll see some info on the unannounced title (which as far as I know is an entirely new IP not created by Relic that they've not made a game on before).


(Please realize that I want a Homeworld 3 more than any of you combined)

[A176]

(Please realize that I want a Homeworld 3 more than any of you combined)

your blasphemous words say otherwise :slap:

[Jake]

I think we may take the trouble that THQ went to securing the Homeworld IP to mean they intend on making one at some point.

[ÜberJumper]

Jake:

Oh I agree, but even then, it won't be a PC 3d space RTS if they make one... it will be something else... something profitable.

That is, unless they can make a *new* Homeworld 3 with an extremely limited budget.

I'd love to see them dust off Homeworld, Cataclysm and Homeworld 2, tweak Homeworld/Cataclysm's graphics engine to handle new cards well (it does already) and update the menu system in HW to scale better and then finally hook up a new multiplayer backend. THQ could resell those properties with relatively minor tweaks to make them viable properties.

I know I'd pick up a Homeworld bundle pack with those 3 in it... especially if they were all one engine/one mod.

The key people behind Homeworld at Relic though are gone. The vast majority of the artists (Kambietz and Cunningham primarily) have left Relic. There's a handful, if any, of the people who worked on Homeworld still at Relic. Several that worked on Homeworld 2 are still there.

If we see another Homeworld game, it will not be an RTS like Homeworld. It'll be something else... something more accessible.

[Jake]

I don't really care what genre it's in, so long as the development team play all three games all the way through and hang out on the forums for a few weeks before they start. THQ only releasing it when Relic say it's ready to go and not one minute before would also be appreciated.

[Wintermute]

I'm with Uber on this one.

I want to - no, I'd love to - see Homeworld 3. But it probably won't happen, least at this E3, for the exact reasons Uber described. :(

I'd also really just love to see Homeworld upgraded to the Homeworld 2 engine. But that's also only slightly-more-than improbable to happen unless it's done by a mod (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=198445&page=1&pp=50) team (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=214373).

[SubakuGaara]

Prolly a new COH, or maybe that 40K MMORPG we've heard so much about.

I'd be really disappointed if it was simply that 40k 3rd person shoot, hack, slash fest game though :(

Personally, all I want is DOW1 with updated graphics and a campaign that is linear and relavant. But I know I'd take alot of heat for defending my views :spartaaa:

[ÜberJumper]

Sub:

It's apparently a totally new IP, IE: not 40k, Homeworld, Impossible creatures, The Outfit, or CoH.

[Shuma]

And the 40k MMO is not being made by Relic. Also, while i love Homeworld as much as anyone else here i honestly don't whant "this" Relic to do it, as far as i know the people behind Homeworld are not even in Relic anymore and the Relic of this time apparently loves to simplify and "dumb down" things, Homeworld was great because it wasn't a simple RTS, and chances are that the new Relic would dumb it down.

[ÜberJumper]

Shuma:

When it comes to being financially successful the game has to be accessible, thus made easier to play and understand.

RTS games have a pretty big learning curve, and a 3d-rts even more so. Homeworld 2 did a LOT to simply the interface and make it standardized to RTS convention, including narrowing the use of the Z-axis and allowing ships to move to other ships by right clicking on them.

Enhancement that make games easier to play are a GOOD thing... but there's only so much you can do to enhance a 3d RTS game to bring in massive numbers.

[Elukka]

Why does everything suddenly have to be easy and simple to succeed? I could argue that the endgame of WoW is fairly complex, and then there are games like EVE which certainly isn't even accessible. Then there's Civilization IV, Sim City 4... Popular games which are not easy on the beginner at all.

[Ammon Ra]

Sure uber, but don't stomp on our hopes 'n dreams. :[

To be honest though, HW3 isn't really required. giving the HW2 engine a thorough facelift and retelling the homeworld story would be more than enough to satisfy most hw-fan needs. All the ships and content already exist, they would just need a facelift. A 5-10 man team working on it for two or three quarters at a constant productive rate should be more than enough to get a low-budget high quality game.

That said, i'd be more than pleased with something akin to the 3D spaceship combat-racing idea i've been throwing around in every thread that mentions hw3. :3

[A176]

If we see another Homeworld game, it will not be an RTS like Homeworld. It'll be something else... something more accessible.

Excuse my internet nerd rage, but fuck THQ is they reduce Relic to that role. Or perhaps, they already have?

[ÜberJumper]

A176 - it happened years ago, before THQ even purchased them.

Relic's always been moving towards more accessible games. The change in Impossible Creatures from initial concept to release shows it the most.

The entire gaming industry is like that now. Games have to be accessible to be commercially successful (with the odd exception). Accessible doesn't mean *easy* though, just easy to pick up and play with a low learning curve.

[Wintermute]

I won't mind a dumbed-down HW3 as long as it's modifiable (and keeps some basic things, like 3-axis movement and... hell, just reuse the HW2 engine for all I care!). Let modders take care of the complexity! :)

[Paladin]

I hate the lack of learning curve in modern games. I like learning curves :)

[Homdax]

downhill

[Harmanoff]

New IP sounds like a good idea either way. Its too often you see a once succesfull concept just being endlessly repeated.

[edit] Not that Relic are guilty of this but really, we have HW, HW:C(yeah yeah barking dog) and HW2. I think i have my quota filled.. unless someone wants to make a space sim! *hint hint*

[Surrealitycheck]

That is, unless they can make a *new* Homeworld 3 with an extremely limited budget.

I honestly would have thought that of all the games to make on a low budget, a space 3d rts would be the best. You just need models for the ships (which don't even have to be that detailed to look great), and some backgrounds with maybe a few 3d objects like space stations and asteroids. As far as content creation goes it's nowhere near as bad as something like Company of Heroes, where you have to construct shitloads of environments and houses and weather effects and so on. Maybe I is crazy.

[ÜberJumper]

Pay attention to gaming news sources (*cough* Relicnews.com *cough*) today.

[MadCatChiken]

Got me hyped now Uber.... :hw:

[Bowkers]

Today is such a good day. I woke up, looked at my local football team's website to discover they are being bought by a rich billionaire. I then proceed to check all the usual websites, coming across an intriguing game that was announced by THQ, Homefront. Which sounds, unfortunately no pictures as of yet, very interesting. Then I come onto here, and Uber's like:

'Pay attention to gaming news sources (*cough* Relicnews.com *cough*) today.

So yeah, interesting day I have had today, and it hasn't even finished yet.

[ÜberJumper]

Homefront's not by Relic... something from Kaos Studios I think.

But this looks like "new product info release" day for THQ.

[Bowkers]

Homefront's not by Relic... something from Kaos Studios I think.

Oh yeah, I know, I was just saying that it looks an interesting game.

Also-Someguy's article in Relicnews. :D

Something lurks just around the corner.

[Someguy]

WOLVERINES!!!!!!

http://kotaku.com/5271161/thq-announces-homefront-by-the-guy-who-wrote-red-dawn

[Paladin]

Pay attention to gaming news sources (*cough* Relicnews.com *cough*) today.
Wait, there's a news site attached to this forum???

[Ruined]

Exciting stuff :)

[MadCatChiken]

Whatever it is it better not be DoW or CoH related... Relic have made enough of those games..

[Colonel Temp]

They've only made one CoH game... Though the expansions are standalone I guess.
I agree though, CoH isn't showing any aging yet and with DOW2 just released I doubt they'd be working on another unless it's an expansion.
If it's a new IP I predict something Sci-fi, they seem to like the genre..

Or maybe Impossible Creatures 2!!... :(

[MadCatChiken]

Well i just meant anything DoW/CoH related expansions included.

[SwiftRanger]

Now we know that Space Marine is the new Relic title, is there any word on whether Relic/THQ will show off future DoW II stuff at E3?

Even much of the press expects 'something' in that regard, or at least information about new DLC (campaigns), paid or not.

[Taiko]

"I'm still hoping for Relic to announce DoW2 on console in this years E3...don't worry I gave up holding my breath long ago. But I can always dream"

roflcopter wow I was close to the mark on that one ^^