I am still trying to wrap my head around the cancellation of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

YEARS of work, money and creative talent went into this game. YEARS worth. Right up till the last minute, we were all assured that it was on target for launch this fall. If I were one of the people who had just spent that much of my life on this doomed project, I'd be having a nervous breakdown right about now.

Many sites and magazines awarded the game "prestigious" awards over the past two years for... what? That's right, vapor.

Brakk walked into Best Buy this evening to purchase the Orange Box, and the store still had a dozen copies of the G&H preorder box on the shelves. Way to communicate with the marketplace, people.

I guess the game was borked in ways that we cannot begin to imagine, or, in spite of the glowing awards, was not gaining enough interest in the marketplace, or maybe some freaking voodoo was afoot. We may never know, because Perpetual Entertainment has purged most of the evidence that Gods and Heroes ever existed from their company site.

Community Manager Chris "Binky" Launius has posted, as part of the brief eulogy on the sad, single, no-replies-allowed thread left to the G&H forums (you can find it if you click around enough):

"Even though we are stepping back from Gods & Heroes for the time being, it does not mean that it is over. We always have the opportunity to revisit G&H and build the game we had envisioned from the beginning."

Too bad they couldn't manage it the first time around after YEARS of effort, because I am not sure who will come the second time around. If I sound bitter, it's because I am loyal to my minions. Loved those guys.


Anyway, lacking in any in-depth, meaningful or REAL reasons for the failure of this project, I present my own theory why Rome fell in a day:

ASTERIX.

Yep, the indomitable Gaul. Now, I don't care if you Americans STILL haven't herd of Asterix since the last time I posted a comic featuring one of the finest comic book heroes of all time. I did try to educate you!

I clearly warned everyone that Asterix was active in G&H, yet they overlooked the little Gaulish firebrand, and see what happened!

I am now going to open a bottle of wine and have my own little wake here. Sure you can come too, but bring your own booze. And some extra for my now unemployed minions.

Brasse