Hellgate: London Coming Back to North America

[Andy Chalk]

Hellgate: London Coming Back to North America

Hellgate: London [http://www.amazon.com/Hellgate-London-Pc/dp/B000QB058U/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280783655&sr=1-1] is finally poised to return to American shores as HanbitSoft has acquired the worldwide publishing rights to the game from Namco Bandai.

Hellgate: London sounded great before it launched: A Diablo-esque action RPG with integrated online gameplay, set in a post-apocalyptic London that's been overrun by demons. The reality was somewhat less thrilling, however; the game brought home average reviews, suffered from numerous issues at release and stumbled over inconsistent follow-up development and support. shutting down [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagship_Studios].

Confusion about the game's ultimate future reigned for some time thereafter. Korean publisher expressed interest [http://www.hanbitsoft.com/] in bringing the game back to North American and European players, it was unable to do so because Namco continued to hold the publishing rights to those territories.

But that doesn't appear to be an issue anymore. HanbitSoft announced today that it has acquired the worldwide publishing rights to the Hellgate franchise and plans to bring it back to the rest of the world later this year. An updated version of the game known as Hellgate: Resurrection, which was recently launched in Korea, will appear first in China, Taiwan and South-East Asia, after which it will be released in North America, Europe and Japan.

"Hellgate: Resurrection is heading towards success in Korea such that we decided to push ahead with launching the game overseas next year," said HanbitSoft CEO Kee-Young Kim. "We will do our best to get the game to the fans as soon as possible."

No time frame for the relaunch was given, but HanbitSoft said the number of Hellgate players in Korea is "rapidly increasing" in the wake up the update. In spite of its rough launch, I'm looking forward to finally trying this one when it comes back. I think the concept is great and now that it's had a couple of years to simmer, it might turn out to be a very good game the second time around.


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[LTK_70]

Well, at least it's aptly named. If this one kicks the bucket as well, I suggest they name the third one Hellgate: Necromancer!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Didn't it have guns? Like an RPS, similar to the recent Borderlands?

 

[archvile93]

Didn't it have guns? Like an RPS, similar to the recent Borderlands?

Yeah, but very few of them require precision targeting. The majority of guns either home on the target, or saturate the area with damage.

 

[cainx10a]

about time

 

[Jared]

Well, at least it's aptly named. If this one kicks the bucket as well, I suggest they name the third one Hellgate: Necromancer!

lol, too true.

Well, here is hope they will be able to do something with it =D

 

[Aloran]

I actually enjoyed the first game. For a little bit anyway. However after a certain point you burned through the quests and had to move to the next area, way before the level was apt.

Even if they've merely addressed that issue, I'll be happy

 

[Geamo]

Well this is a glimmer of good news. I loved the concept for Hellgate:London, what with the demonhunters in London (subways etc) with guns and swords in a resistance, but the game itself I found lacking. Hopefully this'll turn it up!

 

[Valiance]

Hey, if they get this one right I might actually buy it.

 

[sniperworm]

I never did get around to playing the game the first time. Yay for second chances

 

[Scrythe]

Hmm... I dunno how well this will fare with people who were unfortunate to have to suffer the crap they went through with Hellgate: London.

I for one, am excited for the news and I can't wait. I really like Hellgate's setting and I even bought the novels because of it.

 

[Snowalker]

Well, what if you have the original, will it get an update? Will it be useless? Will it get internet support in the least?

 

[SinisterDeath]

Ressurection = a patch.
Also means they are re-releasing it patched to new costumers...

I still don't get the hate on this game.
ITs basically Diablo, With guns, Its just that the genre is no longer as 'fun' as most other games.
The Multi-player is a 'who cares' for me, if you played Diablo 1&2, at least this game has more than '5' levels that you farm a billion times.

 

[Pingieking]

It was a fun game, just wasn't great enough to carve out a large market share for itself. Suffered from a few design issues IMHO. If those were fixed/improved, it can be a great game. Since it's seen lots of success in Asia, I think I'll give it a shot.

 

[Dragonearl]

I bought the game when it first came out. It's meh at least, fun on average. Nothing special and highly repatative. I liked the storyline though, good times.

 

[Sevre]

Yay! Thank the gaming Gods for Korea, saving our asses by playing our most obscure titles.

 

[Eatbrainz]

Shame it didnt sell well, the concept sounds preety cool for and MMO

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Why do I suddenly get the feeling that this is going to do just as bad as vanilla flavored Hellgate London? I mean, the concept sounds cool...but gameplay-wise, it doesn't look very fun. And I heard the old version had quite a few balance issues, so HanbitSoft is going to have a lot on their plate if they want to do things right.

 

[Void(null)]

Wonder what will happen to the people whom purchased Lifetime subscriptions to Hellgate: London. Will they get shafted with the resurrection or will they attempt to mend a very broken bridge?

 

[Korten12]

finally!!!!!!!! Ive been waiting for this for so long... I was very sad when the game closed down before.