THQ talks Dawn of War III, UFC 3

THQ core games boss Danny Bilson has revealed a number of tentative details on a raft of unannounced games in the works at the publisher.

Developer Relic is working on real-time strategy game Dawn of War III, which may follow the free-to-play model of Company of Heroes Online, Bilson told in a new interview published today.

It'll have a "much larger strategic component" Bilson says is "MMO-like".

We can expect Dawn of War III "18 months to two years" after standalone Dawn of War II expansion Retribution is released in February 2011.

Then there's the next UFC game, which Bilson calls "UFC 3".

THQ's mission with it is to "make everybody who's ever bought the first or second game have to buy the third one".

Bilson said it'll be easier to play for newcomers, and offer a better online experience.

"It'll still be awesome for the hardest core, but it's going to have an adaptive AI system that ramps the newbie into the game in a really good way," he said.

It won't be out in May 2011, either. THQ's going with a longer development cycle for the next game, so we shouldn't expect it until 15-20 months after the last game, UFC Undisputed 2010, which was released in May 2010.

THQ recently signed Tim Schafer's Double Fine for two downloadable games.

Costume Quest, due out this autumn, is the first. The second is yet to be announced, but Bilson told Eurogamer it is not Psychonauts 2, as has been rumoured.

It is, in fact, completely new. "You've never seen anything like it. I promise," he said.

And then Bilson said some stuff about Saints Row developer Volition's unannounced third-person role-playing game, which Hellboy 2 director Guillermo del Toro is rumoured to be collaborating on.

Bilson and del Toro are big pals, apparently. Wink wink.