Press Play’s Max and the Magic Marker made quite a splash when it was released back in early 2010 for the iOS, WiiWare, and Steam. Today it was announced that the little indie game will be expanding it’s resume even further, as Easy Interactive have plans to bring the platformer to the Nintendo DS.
If you have by chance never heard of Max and the Magic Marker before, it is an adventure that places player’s in the role of Max as he traverses a cartoony world, using his handy marker to bring objects to life and solve puzzles along the way.
A little list of features were also announced, giving us a better idea of what to expect from Max’s DS romp:
Three stunning worlds
15 challenging levels
Variety of challenges, secrets and rewards to unlock
Intuitive use of the DS stylus as the magic marker
Original soundtrack by Danish band Analogik
I can definitely see the interest on bringing this tale to the DS, as the marker controls should be well complimented with the DS’ stylus and platformers in general usually perform quite well on the handheld. Those who are ready to grab their marker and set off on this adventure should know that Max and the Magic Marker will officially release this holiday season.
PixoFactor Entertainment announces the release of Zorro™: Shadow of Vengeance on August 15th, 2011. Excelling in cross platform games and mobile apps, PixoFactor provides an action packed platformer with hours of entertaining gameplay.
Zorro™: Shadow of Vengeance provides key game features to initiate a new blood flow in the platformer genre. Delve into the beautifully designed environments that captivate the essence of the mid 1800s Western themes. In this dark, sinister world Zorro must utilize his prestige sword attacks and knife throwing abilities to defeat new foes. With your sword make your mark of Zorro by swiping the screen in a “Z” pattern to leave your signature on wanted posters, doors, and walls. Collect in-game items such as wanted posters to increase your game score, and compare your accomplishments with friends on Facebook.
$2.99 on iPhone® and iPod® touch (Here)
$3.99 for iPad®. (Here)
$2.99 for Android (Here)
The World of Warcraft lot have announced the beginning of their annual Blizzard Global Writing Contest. Gamers around the world have the chance to win a free trip to Blizzard HQ in California to meet (and eat) with the writing team. Yes, that’s the writing team. This one is definitely all about the lore, with runner up prizes including sets of game novels signed by the author and the publishing team.
Entries must be in the form of a short story between 2,500-7,500 words, and to save the writers scratching their heads over translation, only in english. The setting of course, is the Warcraft, Starfcraft or Diablo universe.
“You sit at your typewriter, hands frozen in fear by the sound of
crumpling paper from the darkness behind you. Shadows of broken quills
encroach on your sight’s periphery but slither out of view when you turn
toward them. Summoning your courage, you lash out at the apparitions
before they fade, only to awaken in a cold sweat with pencils and pens
gripped tight in your clenched fists. You know what this dream
foretells: the 2011 Global Writing Contest is upon us!
The Prophecy of the Unblinking Eye portends of a time when writing
contest judges, mad with ocular fortitude from judging the 2009 and 2010
Global Writing Contests, would brazenly unleash the powers of the
Ocunomicon. Seeking rituals to infuse themselves with the twisted souls
of fel ocularians, they look to wield powers not meant for this or any
other contest. But the sacrifices of semicolon keys and left-handed
quills have only just begun, their Inkwells of Despair not yet
depleted—there is time yet to save this contest!”
If you want to put those fanfics to use or just think you have the writing chops and game knowledge to impress the lore masters over at Blizzard, you have until September 28th to get that mini masterpiece rolling. One lucky fan will win the trip to Blizzard HQ, novel sets from each of the three universes, and his (or her, you never know) very own Doomhammer, to um, hammer doom.
For all the official info and to submit your entry, click here.
If you have been waiting to return to the role of El Presidente, you should now now that Kalyspo have finally came forward with an official release date for the long awaited Tropico 4. Interestingly enough, it was announced today that the dictator sim’s sequel will arrive first on the PC on August 26th, and then hit the Xbox 360 in “mid-September”.
There isn’t a whole lot of difference in either version, except the PC release will feature Facebook and Twitter integration that will let player’s boast about their achievements and feats while controlling their island in-game. This date has changed quite a few times for both versions, but it looks like Kalypso are not looking to change it again and future dictators of the world can finally rest easy knowing they are just weeks away from the official release for Tropico 4.
Much to the dismay of Epic Games and Microsoft, Gears of War 3 has ended up being leaked online. But Epic Games isn’t going to just sit down and let nobody get in trouble for this. Epic Games has recently said in a statement to Eurogamer that anyone they find who has posted up spoilers or gameplay footage of Gears of War 3 that isn’t from an event or an official source before the game’s release then they will be able to ban you from playing Gears of War 3 legitimately.
Rod Fergusson, executive producer says that Epic is “extremely diligent about getting that stuff taken down and issued a call to fans to not perpetuate it… and just keeping track of those who do. They have gone so far to say that they will have created a banning system that can identify certain people and that they will “be disappointed on 20th September when they can’t get in and can’t play. They may be banned.”
This is a strong stance that Epic is taking but it is the best stance that the company probably could take in this situation. In closing Fergusson had some even tougher words for these people, saying that “If you don’t value this community, you don’t value this experience, then we don’t value you.”
Showing that you can never license enough anime, Sentai Filmworks have licensed yet another anime, this time being the OVA ICE.
The ICE OVA tells the story of post apocalyptic world in which all male’s have died off leaving only 20,000 females living in the centre of Tokyo. The women have accepted the end of the human race, however a mysterious substance known as ICE has appeared giving humanity hope of salvation.
This news follows a large slew of anime films, OVA’s and series licensed by Sentai Filmworks. The ICE OVA is set to be released in November on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc with both Japanese and English Audio included.
Valve is still planning to make Dota2 the centerpiece of Gamescom but they have a little reveal for you at the moment. Well not much of a reveal so don’t get too excited, it is simply a trailer focusing on a shopkeeper. This shopkeeper has a bit of a question for you however, What exactly does a hero truly need? Could it be strength? Speed? Wisdom?
Valve’s trailer contains absolutely zero gameplay footage, but obviously has extremely well done animation, especially when they show the combat sections. You can catch the trailer below and also if you happen to be attending Gamescom you can enter “The International” tournament that is being held by Valve where competitors will play Dota 2 and the winner will receive 1 million dollars in cash.
Looks as though some of the hackers have returned from the hills after fleeing from potential lawsuits and federal agents; revisiting and re-hacking the Bethesda studio forums. The company themselves have acknowledged the attack, and have sent out an email to potentially affected parties notifying them of “a potential breach of our forum user database.” As is always done in these cases, all users must have their passwords reset and changed before logging on. Bethesda is also urging users to update and change details of any other account that uses the same password.
With LulzSec having ceased high profile attacks and also previously noting they “quite like” Bethesda, no one is sure who is responsible for the hack. What is known is that the studio is currently in a copyright lawsuit with Mojang, the publisher of Scrolls and Minecraft. While this could just be a coincidence, if the past is anything to go by, it looks like someone, somewhere has taken offense.
Despite there being absolutely zero information or media released for Guillermo Del Toro’s inSANE, the project is still under way. THQ has been working closely with Del Toro to bring the project to life. It seems that there will be a bit more life in inSANE than we originally thought, because it will actually be a sandbox game Del Toro revealed in an interview with MTV.
This revelation actually makes a lot of sense because the company developing inSANE, Volition, has quite a pedigree with sandbox titles, especially with Saints Row. Besides the sandboxiness of the game, Del Toro revealed that inSANe will be “Lovecraftian in a very sick way” so we know roughly what to expect in the horror department. Guy Davis will be designing the game’s creatures, and he has a history working on Hellboy spin-off comics known as B.P.R.D. Despite this bit of new news, the first game won’t be released until sometime in 2013 which is a long way off.
In a move that will assist them strengthen their position in the mobile market, Google has announced a 12.5 billion dollar deal to take over control of the Motorola Company. The deal was solidified by Motorolas exclusive use of the Android operating system, a platform Google CEO Larry Page sees “explosive growth,” in the future.
Commenting via Googles official company blog, Page remarks “The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences.” Andy Rubin, Googles Vice President of mobile has ensured that Motorola will be run as a separate company, allowing Android to remain an open platform and source community.
In relation to competitors and the industry Page says “Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.” Although the deal has been approved by both companies boards for an end of year completion it is subject to Motorolas shareholders.
