Space Marines and Bioware – Rumours To Believe In?

Here is an interesting conundrum for you to ponder.

According to recent rumours posted by the little-known blog Bit by Bit Gaming, Bioware picked up the Space Marines IP left vacant by THQ’s meltdown some time ago. Hurray!

But hold on.. where’s the rumour coming from? Who is Bit by Bit Gaming? How credible is this?

Not very much, I am afraid. But have a look and judge for yourself!

#1 – Bit by Bit Gaming and the Bioware Rumour

To start, here’s the source of the current humdrum. This was posted on Bit by Bit Gaming!

According to a reliable source within Bioware, I have been told that as of Monday, Bioware is now the proud owner of the Space Marines : 40k Franchise after THQ went under and sold off its IPs due to finical troubles earlier this year.

The source, who shall remain unnamed told me about several features that might make themselves a reality in 2014, the projected date of the games release. Originally Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium was to be a MMORPG based on the Games Workshop table top game, but THQ decided to make it into a 3rd person shooter with online elements. It seems that Bioware is going to keep with this formula. The only solid feature I could drag out of the source was that the campaign is going to be fluid and will feature a 1st founding chapter of Space Marines.I tried to glean more information from him but all he could tell me was that the main playable chapter for the Space Marines might have very very dark skin (The Salamanders?). He also went on to say Orks, Imperial Guard and The Tao [sic!] might might an appearance as playable races. This is yet to be set into stone but here’s hoping!

I saw this pop-up in a discussion over on Dakkadakka (where it also met with some skepticism). Despite this, this tasty bit of news certainly made the rounds, getting re-posted on just about every miniature wargaming site out there.

I suppose the potential for Space Marines pixel-fun, if this is true, is too tantalizing to simply ignore.

#2 – Rumours, and Rumours You Can Trust?

The interesting question is, who is Bit by Bit Gaming?

Admittedly, the wargaming-rumour-scene is in a funk after the Faeit212 lock-down. While Faeit212 sadly didn’t put much effort into sorting the wheat from the chaff, the site’s reputation as “the” wargames-rumour-blog alone was enough to attract enough sources to give it authority.

But that is child’s play compared to the video-game blogging scene, which features online power-houses such as Kotaku.com and Joystiq.com, and where the right scoop at the right time can make you serious money.

The reason, of course, is that the video-game market is vastly larger than the miniature wargaming niche. Good coverage, or an exclusive scoop, can draw many million of readers.

By both standards, video-game blogs and miniature-wargame blogs, Bit by Bit Gaming is an unknown. The site was only set up this year, it barely has 20 or so blog posts on it.

Bit by Bit Gaming makes Faeit212 look like the BBC.

#3 – Do You Want To Believe?

Of course, it just might be the Bit by Bit Gaming was created precisely so an insider with secrets could post his stuff anonymously. I seriously doubt that, however.

To me, it looks like internet-trolling at its finest (and not just because he cannot spell Tau).

Or not?

What do you think?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Z.