Red Faction III blasts to 360, PS3, PC

Although publishers typically promote their upcoming games by showing them off at gaming events, arranging for preview coverage, or just blasting out press releases, news of THQ's soon-to-be-resuscitated Red Faction franchise has been emerging primarily from the publisher's investor-focused conference calls.

A return of the franchise--which hasn't been seen since Red Faction II launched on the PC in April of 2003--was first hinted at to investors in a conference call. Weeks later, a new Red Faction was then explicitly mentioned by management in a conference call. Months later, the publisher brought the project up again in a conference call.

Today, THQ CEO Brian Farrell brought up the new Red Faction in yet another conference call. The executive promised that more on the game would be shown in the coming weeks, but he did drop a few additional details today. Referring to it as "Red Faction III" for the first time, Farrell said it is being made by THQ's Volition Studios for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. As one would expect, it will bring back the series' hook of interactive environments, using the power of the new consoles and PCs to incorporate "more exciting destruction technology."

As for when gamers can expect to blast through Red Faction III, THQ is planning the game for its fiscal 2009, which runs from April 2008 through March 2009.