Project Torque
Encyclopedia
Invictus Controversy
In October 2009, the developer company of Project Torque, InvictusInvictus Games
Invictus Games is an independent Hungarian video game development studio founded in 1992 by Tamás Kozák and Ákos Diviánszky. They specialize in racing simulation games, like Project Torque, Street Legal and Street Legal Racing Redline, 1NSANE, and onEscapee. Their publishers include Codemasters,...
, issued an IP ban of all non-US accounts on Project Torque. The reason is to be believed that the Europe publisher of Level-R, gamigo AG
Gamigo AG
gamigo AG, based in Hamburg, Germany, is an online games publisher and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Axel Springer AG. It focuses on massively multiplayer online role-playing games, licensing games from developers for a North American and European audience....
, filed a complaint concerning a breach in contract because Europe players were playing Project Torque which is claimed to be a North America only version. Aeria Games & Entertainment (AGE) had to comply with the IP ban, and as a result the player base of Project Torque dramatically decreased. Fellow users of Project Torque gathered together in an attempt to dodge the IP bans in forms of Proxies
Proxy server
In computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...
and VPN clients, but the tools used to dodge the IP Bans became blocked as well.
Soon after the IP ban was issued, Invictus stated that they would no longer support the "Project Torque" version of their game which was very different from the "Level-R" version. This means that Project Torque would not receive anymore special builds from Invictus. On May 24, 2010, AGE had announced that a new build, Julia, was coming to Project Torque. CTF and Drift modes would be removed from the game, there would be a GUI refresh, and a few new modes added. However, the patch did not promise a lift of the IP ban of non-US IPs. On the morning of June 3, 2010, the Julia build was released as a current, but "open beta," version of the game. There was much criticism from the build as it was similar to the Level-R version, and the patch removed all the unique features that had made Project Torque popular.
Reception
The game's critical reception was average. Some users have complained about the change in the steering mechanics from some builds, and the inability to sell cars.MMO Hut gave Project Torque a "Good" rating saying, "Project Torque is a really polished and fun racing MMO." They also noted the beautiful graphics compared to other MMO games, and the solid gameplay. Users gave it a 3.99/5 rating.
MMORPG Center rated Project Torque a 8.0/10. "Overall Project Feature is a great online racing game, played in small sessions or sometimes you will want more and more." Users on MMORPG Center gave Project Torque a 9.3/10.
Swift World rated Project Torque a 7/10 for great gameplay, but mentioned the lack of players during the time. Users of Swift World rated Project Torque a 9.7/10.
Kei Beneza of OnRPG said, "If I were to judge this game, I would say that the game is a lot better than most of the racing games out there." He noted that the game had great graphics, was able to run on low end PCs, and had a simple solution to connection lag during races.
The End
On July 8, 2010, Aeria Games announced that they could no longer support the running of Project Torque, and that the game would be completely shut down on August 2, 2010. Aeria also stated that they will hold a series of events, refund AP(Aeria cash currency) to players who had spent AP in the past 90 days, and even grant access to "hidden content" that had never been released before.On July 29, 2010, Invictus announced a new publisher for Project Torque. The game would be called HEAT Online, and would be hosted by the publisher, Innologin Ltd. The publishers are allowing people to try the game as guest accounts before registering under the Innologin service.
On July 31, 2010, Aeria Games shut down the servers for Project Torque. The download for the game was taken down shortly after.
On August 1, 2010, the Project Torque forums were shut down except the general discussion area. Aeria Games left open a "Project Torque Community" section on their forums for the players to stay in touch.