Hellgate: IncGames has been online since the game was first announced, and as many of you know, Hellgate has had its up and downs during development and ultimately the western markets were locked out of the game. As most of you know by now, Hanbitsoft recently acquired the rights to Hellgate and the game is finally going to receive a relaunch in North America and Europe.

For the past year or so the site here has ticked along and we decided to keep it live and kicking in the hope that the game would be revived. Now that we know Hellgate will be heading back to Europe and North America, we have rejigged the site and also HellgateWiki.com where you can share your Hellgate knowledge with the community, it’s a great resource. We have also opened the Hellgate News Twitter channels if you are a Twitter user you can follow all the updates via Twitter as well.

Welcome back everyone!

The latest update to the game has now been released taking the Korean version of the game to version 1.5. Full details on what’s included can be found here.

Korean Hellgate players are enjoying a new update but Hanbit wanted to make sure Western fans are clear on their position on future game updates. In a press release they state:

“Just to be accurate, the update news mentioned below is only related to Hellgate: London serviced in Korea. HanbitSoft do not hold the publishing right in the US or Europe for Hellgate: London, therefore I am not authorized to respond to gamers in those territories. I know there are many fans who are from US and Europe, who have many Hellgate inquiries. You guys should contact the person in charge at Namco directly, you should be able to get the answers from them.”

Korean gamers can also expect a v1.5 update soon according to the press release. Western gamers are again left in the lurch it seems. Time to move on perhaps? Hanbit really don’t want to get involved with the the legal issues regarding the western version of the game and the comment “You guys should contact the person in charge at Namco directly” is just simply pointless when aimed at the community at large. Perhaps if Hanbit got off their backsides and gave Hellgate fans some real answers we might get things straightened out.

Some pretty major news for everyone this evening, Hanbitsoft has announced that Hellgate London has been revived and the servers will stay online as development continues at Redbana.

The game has also gone free to play and a new major patch will be incoming which will include “combining the two game play modes, unifying the split two communities into one. Also planned are class balance improvements and differentiation of each of the 5 acts. Gamers who attended the conference applauded this announcement”.

Get the full story on IncGamers.com.

Despite rumours over the past 48 hours that Hellgate may well be revived and development would continue on the game with new content. Namco has confirmed that the servers will shut down at the end of January. Registered users received an email saying:

“Please be advised that NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. will continue to support customers of Hellgate: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009. In a further gesture of support, we will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date.”

All of us at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. appreciate your enthusiasm for Hellgate: London and look forward to providing you with future entertainment products.”

This follows news that an update for the game was in the works. The Hellgate chapter will finally close in January.

IncGamers.com reports that Bill Roper, the former lead on Diablo II (and other titles), has joined Cryptic Studios to work on Champions Online as the design director.

He comes from the recently dissolved Flagship Studios, a company he founded in 2003 with fellow ex top brass of Blizzard North (creators of Diablo I and Diablo II) where they produced Hellgate:London. Previous to that Roper worked at Blizzard North in various capacities but mostly as producer on their trio of franchises (Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft) and among fans he is also well known for orcish voices in the WarCraft series.

Roper said he was looking forward to working on the “compelling IPs that have rich histories such as Champions and Star Trek”.

John Needham, chief executive for Cryptic said Ropers “years of gaming and online experience are huge assets to all of our projects.

We wish all the best for Bill Ropes, and are happy to see that Hellgate: London didn’t bring him down.

Today we have an announcement over at the Official Hellgate:London Web Site. Here is what they have to say:
[I]Santa Clara, Calif., (October 24, 2008) - NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate�: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios. In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date.

[/I]

[I]NAMCO BANDAI Games appreciate the enthusiasm of all the Hellgate: London players and looks forward to providing them with future entertainment products.[/I]
[I]For questions regarding the shut down or additional information about Hellgate: London, please visit the game�s official website at http://www.hellgatelondon.com.[/I]
—————
At last we have some official news, the kind most people expected. It’s good to know that those who are having fun playing HGL on the live servers will have till the end of January to continue to do so. It seems that Namco will try to flag all players as Subscribers for the last three months. It has been confirmed by Tiggs that all players now are flagged as subscribers.
Hopefully during these 3+ months that the game will still be alive, we’ll get some more official news on what is going on with the HGL IP. For now I guess all we can continue to do is play and hope for the best.

Continue Reading & Comment >>

Filed under: Multiplayer

After the turmoil at Flagship Studios and the constant rumors of server shutting down, we get confirmation that our fellow comrades over at the Alliance Server will have about 1 more week to play HGL online.

The following was posted by IAHGames Team:

Suspension of Hellgate: London’s Multiplayer Service 15/10/2008        

Dear Gamers,

The online PC game Hellgate: London, IAHGames will suspend online multiplayer service for the game’s Alliance Server as of 1200hrs (GMT+8) on 21st October 2008. The suspension of service will allow IAHGames, Flagship Studios, and other involved parties to reassess the situation before moving forward.

Be assured that IAHGames has weighed several options and opinions into this situation, and at the encouragement of virtually all involved, from the management to many current players, we feel it is the correct course of action.

All character, account, and item data will be safely retained on our servers until such a time when the multiplayer service status has changed. As such, all the heart and soul you have poured into your characters and Hellgate: London’s online world will not be erased.

Online support of Hellgate: London’s single player mode will continue. The latest v1.2 patch from Flagship Studios can be manually applied here.

The official Hellgate: London Alliance Forum will also be closed. Future updates to multiplayer and single player service will be released via our official site and direct emails.

Thank you for your support and patience.

The good news (if you can call it good) is that the database will be saved and players will not loose their characters/items/mules, meaning that some people have not given up on HGL and will try to find a way to keep it alive. Lets hope that in the end the game is saved and our friends at SEA can join in the fight for London again.

A new Hellgate: London book was released last month.  This third book in the Hellgate series book is called Covenant.  Here is a blurb about the story:

“Templar Simon Cross fights to lead the hunted survivors of the demon surge toward salvation, time and supplies run short. Simon must penetrate the dark secrets of the demons—as well as those of his partner in peril, Leah Creasey—to keep his charges safe. But when a vicious weapon that uses dreams against the human survivors of the city draws the Templars, the Cabalists, and the Hunters into the same arena, will they join forces ... or turn against one another?”

EA were involved with the distribution of Hellgate: London and in a new interview on Gamasutra they talk about the game and the demise of Flagship.

“We’re certainly sad with the results for Flagship and what’s happened with Hellgate, because at the time we signed it, we were trying to get involved in a very complicated relationship between Namco and Flagship.

We were coming late to the party, and trying to do whatever we could to sprinkle the game magic on the project and get it headed in the right direction.

I think that’s an example where all three parties had the best interest of the game in mind, and sometimes the game doesn’t work out. Hellgate is still an incredible concept.”