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South Park: The Stick of Truth rights go up for auction in THQ’s fire sale

Anthony John Agnello
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It’s finally out! Check out our review of South Park: The Stick of Truth RPG from Ubisoft.

The credit extension from Wells Fargo, the potential buyouts, the Humble Bundle fire sale, the declaration of bankruptcy, the NASDAQ stock exchange delisting… all the financial turbulence video game publisher THQ has experienced over the past two months has been prelude to Tuesday. Tuesday is the day that THQ begins to auction of its holdings, including valuable intellectual property rights to video game franchises like Darksiders, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Red Faction, and many others. THQ is attempting to sell more than just IP, though, it’s also looking to sell off its lucrative rights to certain licenses, something at least one license holder is none too happy about. THQ is attempting to auction of its license to South Park, which it currently holds while backing the development of Obsidian RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth. South Park Studios, makers of the show, are none too happy about it.

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South Park Digital Studios in particular claims that THQ doesn’t have the right to sell off its contract with the company. According to South Park Studio’s filing attempting to block the auction, THQ would first have to pay the nearly $2.3 million it currently owes the studio. Even if it did that though, the contract (or “deal memo” as it were) already states that the studio has to sign off on any transfer of the contract, and that any purchasing publisher would have to honor the terms of the purchased contract in turn, meaning that they would have to fund Obsidian until it finished the game. It’s a moot point anyway, as the contract also states that South Park Studios has the right to buy back the contract before it’s sold to any new party.

THQ’s response is that South Park Studios is, in effect, full of it. For starters, South Park Studios is only allowed to repurchase the contract if THQ breaches its terms, which it has not. Further down that line of reasoning, THQ claims it does not owe the $2.3 million mentioned in South Park Studios’ motioned, though it is evaluating any outstanding debts to the company and plans to pay them accordingly. Finally, THQ says that it fully intends to find a buyer for the contract that will honor it and see the game to completion.

THQ’s auction will carry on throughout the day. We expect to hear much more about THQ selling off licensing and publishing rights to older games. Double Fine, for example, is reportedly attempting to get back the rights to its downloadable games Costume Quest and Stacking.

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Ubisoft censors South Park: The Stick of Truth in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
south park stick truth delayed march 2014 the of

It's finally out! Check out our review of South Park: The Stick of Truth RPG from Ubisoft.
If you know South Park, then you really shouldn’t be surprised to hear that the upcoming game, South Park: The Stick of Truth, has some moments that could easily be described as "offensive". It therefore also shouldn’t be surprising to hear that the game, which is written by series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, features content that could be seen as censorship-worthy in certain regions of the world. And by “censorship-worthy,” we mean “horribly offensive, and how dare you.” But in a funny way.
Before the official regional censors freak out though, Ubisoft decided to take matters into its own hands by removing seven 20-second scenes from the versions of the game that will be released in the region known as EMEA, which includes Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The news came via a leaked document that made its way to NeoGAF and was then picked up by Kotaku. Ubisoft made the decision to remove the sections in accordance with EMEA standards, and in their place Parker and Stone will select descriptive text of what censored gamers are missing.
There are minor story spoilers below describing the removed scenes. Skip over the image if you want to remain fresh for the game, which debuts (in North America) on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 on March 4.

According to Ubisoft, this was a marketing decision. The publisher seemingly decided to preemptively remove the scenes, fully aware that they wouldn’t be approved. Of course, knowing Parker and Stone, the text replacements may be every bit as offensive as the animated scenes.

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South Park: Stick of Truth goes gold, and we have screenshots to celebrate
south park stick truth goes gold screenshots celebrate southpark 1 1380100568

It's finally out! Check out our review of South Park: The Stick of Truth RPG from Ubisoft.
Following multiple delays and a change of publishers, development on South Park: Stick of Truth has concluded, and copies should begin to ship to retailers shortly. The game will officially be released on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on March 4.
When a video game goes “gold,” it means the game's code has finalized and it is on the way for full production. It isn’t surprising that South Park went gold with the release date looming, but following the delays it’s nice to know the game will soon be in the hands of gamers. There was even a joke in a recent South Park episode about whether or not the game would actually hit the March release - but then again South Park has never been afraid to make fun of anything and everything, even itself.
The game has been earning attention since it was first announced, thanks partly to the involvement of the show’s creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone, who are credited with writing the game. The game also made headlines when it survived the collapse of publisher THQ, and ended up with in the hands of Ubisoft. From there it was initially scheduled for a December release date, which it obviously missed.
That’s all in the past now, and soon enough we’ll have the game in our hands. In the meantime, check out some screenshots for a closer look at South Park: Stick of Truth.
 

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South Park: The Stick of Truth TV spots are filled with easter eggs
matt stone calls south park stick truth censorship double standard of

It's finally out! Check out our review of South Park: The Stick of Truth RPG from Ubisoft.
Ubisoft has three new TV spots up for South Park: The Stick of Truth and they're overflowing with knowing nods to the hit Comedy Central series' past. You'll spot familiar sights like aliens, anime Butters/Professor Chaos, and the rise of zombie Chef. That's just in one commercial. There are two others as well. Beware of naughty language.
South Park: The Stick of Truth comes to PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on March 4, 2014. The Obsidian Entertainment-developed game was originally set to be published by THQ, but Ubisoft stepped in to take over last year when THQ was dismantled. The game appears to be a traditional RPG in many ways, only it's enhanced by South Park-y graphics and scathingly funny writing from series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Check out all three new TV spots below.

 

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