THQ wants Red Faction: Battlegrounds to be free, or at least cheap

There is likely to be a low barrier of entry for THQ's downloadable Red Faction spinoff, Red Faction: Battlegrounds. At Gamescom, a THQ representative told Joystiq that the company may opt to give the game away as a pre-order bonus for Red Faction: Armageddon.

"No price yet," the rep said. "They are talking about possible pre-order specials. It's possible, hasn't been finalized yet, that if you pre-order Armageddon you may be able to toss this in as well. They obviously want to keep it as low as possible." Barring that, he said, THQ hopes to sell it for 400-800 Microsoft Points ($5-10). The freebie strategy fits with THQ core games VP Danny Bilson's strategy to use downloadable games to extend its brands.

In addition, the representative offered additional details on the downloadable title's planned DLC. "Two downloadable packs," he said, "one ties into the [Red Faction: Origins] miniseries ... it also has a Armageddon DLC pack."