Gods and Heroes – MMO Fallout

ghrome_large_2 — The lions can't take much more, captain!

I don’t need to test my stress, because I already know it is far above the healthy rate for someone my age, or really any human being who is not half-robot. Back in the days when Perpetual Entertainment was not bankrupt and still making MMOs, their two staple titles were Star Trek Online and Gods and Heroes. When the developer went belly up, Cryptic picked up Star Trek Online, leaving Gods and Heroes to die in the Colosseum. Heatwave Interactive, a company likely none of you have heard of before, picked up the game in February looking to get it going sometime late 2010, early 2011.

Heatwave has reached the point where they are stress testing servers, and they need a few good testers to sign up on the main page. Currently the only scheduled test will take place this Saturday from 2-4pm Central time US.

Gods and Heroes looks to be a fun game, assuming it ever makes it to a live release, especially since there aren’t many MMOs set in Ancient Rome (alright so they don’t call it Ancient Rome). More on Gods and Heroes as it appears, especially now that it has its own category here on MMO Fallout (ooh, exclusive).

Back when Cryptic Studios was more like “Cryptic plans for a company,” Perpetual Entertainment was taking care of Star Trek Online and another title, Gods & Heroes, an Ancient Rome MMO set in a realm of Cyclops, Gladiators, and more. Thanks to several rounds of layoffs by Perpetual Entertainment in 2007, Gods & Heroes was put on indefinite hold until 2008, when the company went belly up and had its carcass picked at by various developers. Perpetual was sued by their PR firm for holding back money as an incentive to get more buzz about the title, as well as bribing reviewers for good scores.

Much like how Cryptic picked off Star Trek Online, it is only natural that someone would pick up Gods & Heroes. Heatwave Interactive just so happens to be that vulture, and is happy to take the assets and move the game forward to release status. Heatwave is looking to gather an elite group of past G&H beta testers to give them information on where to go with the latest incarnation. They want to stay true to the title, and Perpetual’s vision for it.

Gods And Heroes is on board for a release date not yet set in stone, but Heatwave says they don’t want to take “another three or four years,” so I would bet my money on late 2010 at the earliest, with 2011 a more likely candidate. With the number of games shutting down in 2010, it’s always good to see a previously doomed title being revived.

More on Gods, and their heroes, as it appears.