Humble THQ Bundle Waves Bye-Bye to Indie - UPDATED

[Andy Chalk]

Humble THQ Bundle Waves Bye-Bye to Indie - UPDATED

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Saints Row: The Third, Metro 2033, Darksiders and more are up for grabs in the first-ever AAA Humble Bundle.

The Humble Bundle has always been about offering up great collections of indie games at any price you care to pay, but this time around it's trying something a little different, with nothing but major commercial releases from everybody's favorite publisher-on-the-verge-of-implosion, THQ. The Humble THQ Bundle includes Darksiders, Company of Heroes and the stand-alone expansions Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor, Red Faction: Armageddon and my personal pick of the litter (which I'm sure will come as no surprise), Metro 2033.

But that's not all! It never is, right? The bundle also comes with the soundtracks for Company of Heroes, Red Faction: Armageddon and Darksiders, and anyone who ponies up more than the average bundle will also get Saints Row: The Third and its soundtrack, too. I think we can all agree that's a pretty solid bonus offer.

All games are Windows-only and will be provided to buyers via Steam keys. And believe it or not, this isn't just a bake sale for THQ, although I'm sure it could use the money: As with all Humble Bundles, you can divide your payment in whatever portion you wish to the developers, Child's Play and the American Red Cross.

UPDATE: Two more bonuses have been added to the bundle for anyone who pays more than the average price, currently parked at $5.58: the seriously underrated action-RPG Titan Quest and the Red Faction: Armageddon expansion Path to War. The two new extras, like everything else in the Humble THQ Bundle, will be provided by way of Steam keys.

UPDATE NUMBER TWO: The Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Game of the Year Edition has now been added to the mix for anyone who pays more than the average price, which is still at a ridiculously cheap $5.69. If you've already purchased the bundle, it will be added automatically.

A little more than a day remains on the Humble THQ Bundle clock. Find out more and fork over your bucks at humblebundle.com [http://www.humblebundle.com].


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[Scow2]

I would have thought they wanted to reward us for going over the average
Having all the titles from a major developer isn't exactly humble, but then again this IS THQ

Swallowing and selling them for "Whatever you care to pay" certainly IS humble, though. Unfortunately... I'd feel bad if I offered what I could afford for them... they deserve more .

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Well certainly is an interesting why for THQ to try and make some money. I imagine anyone who bought they any of these games in the steam sale is kicking themselves now.

 

[Irridium]

Not really "indie." Like, at all. Oh well, it's neat that these games will be on Mac and Linux, since the humble indie bundle requires the games to be cross-platform! Oh, Windows only... kind of lame. But hey, big AAA games DRM-free! After all, when the bundle first launched, the co-founder, Jeffrey Rosen, said he's willing to tolerate piracy numbers, and remained adamant that the games be DRM-free. He even said the following: "When considering any kind of DRM, we have to ask ourselves, 'How many legitimate users is it OK to inconvenience in order to reduce piracy?'" he wrote at the time. "The answer should be none." So yeah, big AAA games DRM-free! That's awesome!

Wait, it requires Steam? Well, Steam is pretty convenient as far as DRM goes, but it's still certainly more inconvenient than "no DRM at all."

I mean, it's a damn good deal and all, but it still seems kind of... opposite of what this bundle was apparently intended to do. Bring not-so-well-known indie games into the public eye for a low price, cross-platform compatibility, and no DRM. This bundle does none of that, apart from the low price.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

It'll be interesting to see if this catches on. I don't really expect it to, mind, but it would definitely be interesting to see which developers have to stones to let their customers pay what they want for a wodge of AAA titles like this. So, yeah, fair play to THQ for doing this. I bought the bundle pretty much the minute it cropped up on my Twitter feed and although I can't give what they're worth, I gave what I could afford. Probably won't be able to run most of these, to be honest, but whatever. I'll upgrade my PC some point in the future and they'll still be waiting for me.

 

[Azuaron]

Top contributors:

1. LET RELIC FINISH DoW3
2. @LinuxGamers not happy
3. kilroy was here
4. Homeworld > DOW

 

[Doom972]

Well certainly is an interesting why for THQ to try and make some money. I imagine anyone who bought they any of these games in the steam sale is kicking themselves now.

I already had SR3, but since it means I can get the rest for $1, I'm fine with it.

THQ, you have my dollar. What a pleasant surprise. I hope that this if the first of many AAA humble bundles.

 

[repeating integers]

Top contributors:

1. LET RELIC FINISH DoW3
2. @LinuxGamers not happy
3. kilroy was here
4. Homeworld > DOW

I fuckin' love these guys. "Kilroy was here" is due for a revival.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Well certainly is an interesting why for THQ to try and make some money. I imagine anyone who bought they any of these games in the steam sale is kicking themselves now.

I already had SR3, but since it means I can get the rest for $1, I'm fine with it.

THQ, you have my dollar. What a pleasant surprise. I hope that this if the first of many AAA humble bundles.

I doubt it will be since some cheap people only give $1 for great games.

I would pick this up, but I already own them all except the CoH expansions and Saint's Row 3, but planned on getting SR3 on 360 since I have the first two on there and I'm OCD like that.

 

[Klitch]

Well I've never had any interest in any of these games, but if THQ is so hard-up for cash that they're willing to essentially give away their entire library, I guess I can spare $10.

 

[gardian06]

my only real complaint (because I normally just use the steam keys anyways) is that I can't give the money to the devs instead I have to give it to THQ (granted that is how the contract between THQ and it's devs is written) I think that this is like THQ's last big "we need money to survive" but I think that were THQ is already on the way to death bed I would much rather give the money to the devs, so that when they are transitioned to the new publisher (because game IPs are considered company assets) they will be able to continue working during the transition.

 

[Omgsarge]

Wow, poor THQ is really getting desperate. They are willing to try everything in the book to get some money in. Good for the consumers but I hope they manage to survive this. They are sitting on so many good licences and they were not thaaaaat bad as a publisher. (certainly not what I would call evil)

 

[Doom972]

Well certainly is an interesting why for THQ to try and make some money. I imagine anyone who bought they any of these games in the steam sale is kicking themselves now.

I already had SR3, but since it means I can get the rest for $1, I'm fine with it.

THQ, you have my dollar. What a pleasant surprise. I hope that this if the first of many AAA humble bundles.

I doubt it will be since some cheap people only give $1 for great games.

I would pick this up, but I already own them all except the CoH expansions and Saint's Row 3, but planned on getting SR3 on 360 since I have the first two on there and I'm OCD like that.

Those cheap bastards!
Actually, all bundles get an average of approximately $5.40. I'm sure THQ knew that and expected that to be the case.

 

[ciancon]

Although I'm not really interested in these games I can see this easily being the top selling bundle yet!

 

[ritchards]

SR3 means I grabbed this... but I always say 'give all my monies to the charity'...

 

[jollybarracuda]

Hopefully this bundle will get enough publicity and support that it can keep THQ and all the companies under the umbrella to stay afloat for just a bit longer. Now if Amazon would just process my request to give them my money...

 

[Callate]

THQ is getting grief for letting some of their best-known games go for pennies (and no insurance of any re-imbursement whatsoever), and the average purchase is a whopping $5.22 right now.

Way to endorse my inherent misanthropy, humanity.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Not really "indie." Like, at all. Oh well, it's neat that these games will be on Mac and Linux, since the humble indie bundle requires the games to be cross-platform! Oh, Windows only... kind of lame. But hey, big AAA games DRM-free! After all, when the bundle first launched, the co-founder, Jeffrey Rosen, said he's willing to tolerate piracy numbers, and remained adamant that the games be DRM-free. He even said the following: "When considering any kind of DRM, we have to ask ourselves, 'How many legitimate users is it OK to inconvenience in order to reduce piracy?'" he wrote at the time. "The answer should be none." So yeah, big AAA games DRM-free! That's awesome!

Wait, it requires Steam? Well, Steam is pretty convenient as far as DRM goes, but it's still certainly more inconvenient than "no DRM at all."

I was kinda interested (though not very, since I'm an indie hipster prick) but the further I read... well, I was thinking just like Irridium here.

It's a Steam sale. That's all this is. With charity elements I guess, but I'm not sure that entirely offsets them using the Humble advertising engine, which up until now wouldn't have appeared in the same paragraph as THQ.

I've learned one good thing about all this though: In the past I'd just glanced at the titles on offer and didn't read the fine print because the DRM free version was a given. THQ's involvement set off so many warning bells that I went straight into looking for the catch and found the Steam-only part, which is a problem when you're like me and don't use Steam.

So thanks, THQ, for making me mistrustful enough that you've alerted me to Humble Bundle's new policy and saved me $30-$50 hastily spent on a future bundle that pulls this crap with a smaller publisher. I still won't buy the games, but I promise I'll up the donation I'm making to Child's Play next month.