Can THQ make it home?

Across digital and retail, a raft of quality, fresh games have emerged since Christmas, including my current favourites Ilomilo and Bulletstorm.

THQ has also been pumping new ideas into the market. And I don’t mean its odd new optical-illusion-esque logo. It has championed the new in clever products, small bets like a download game about Russian stacking dolls, or bigger gambles like uDraw and next week’s Next Big Thing, Homefront.

On the one hand, repeated claims of putting quality first and boasting ‘creative relationships’ with the likes of movie director Guillermo del Toro are clichs from the Great Big Book of Publisher Proverbs. (Remember EA’s Spielberg deal? Jerry Bruckheimer’s presumed-dead studio? Mark Ecko’s PS2 game? Exactly.)

But THQ is making good on its claims so far – from the top-level execs right down to the UK team, who seem to have promoted Homefront to its limit.

With 2m behind it, that release will hopefully remind many that even when the value of games is being undermined by apps, the right triple-A titles will always pack a punch.

And this one can potentially push THQ back up the publisher ranking after a terrible time in the doldrums.