5th-Cell
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Scribblenauts Remix penciled in for iOS release today
5TH Cell used its magic pen and notebook (actually a bunch of professional programmers, designers, and engineers within its own team and Iron Galaxy Studios, but whatever) to create an iOS version of its innovative DS game Scribblenauts, delivering the complete product to the App Store ... right now. For 5 bucks, you can download the universal app Scribblenauts Remix (so that's what that title is!) featuring the signature gameplay -- writing words to summon objects, then using those objects to solve puzzles. The app is apparently based on Super Scribblenauts, meaning you can punch up your items with adjectives. It even has new iOS-exclusive levels. For five dollars.
'Scribblenauts Remix' domain registered by WB
WB apparently hasn't written off the Scribblenauts series, if a recent domain registration is any clue. Superannuation found a registration for the site scribblenautsremix.com. The use of the word "remix" in the potential game's title would suggest that the new game is based on material from the first two; i.e. remixed content instead of entirely original material. But we don't know more than that -- and, since that was just an extrapolation based on the title, we don't really know anything. Though we might expect more Scribblenauts, which seems like a good thing. We've typed out an email to WB to try to summon some answers.
5th Cell's Hybrid bumped to 2012
Hybrid, developer 5th Cell's unique XBLA shooter, originally slated for a release sometime this year, can now be expected to provide an unexpected experience in 2012. 5th Cell announced the delay today, with creative director Jeremiah Slaczka explaining that "with an additional year, we can take what we've learned and really drill down on our ideas to hopefully transform this game into something great." When we saw it a couple of months ago, it was a tactical shooter with movement mapped to the buttons. It's already a transformative experience. We kind of can't wait to see how the company is going to "transform" it further.
Hybrid preview: A new breed
After getting turned around in the rain on the way to check out Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell's first XBLA game, Hybrid, I wandered into the initial presentation a few minutes late. And so, I missed creative director Jeremiah Slaczka explain what sets Hybrid apart from other third-person shooters -- which is nearly everything. Ten minutes later I had my hands on an Xbox 360 controller and understood why Slaczka looked at me like my head was on backwards when I asked what makes the game different from other XBLA shooters. For starters, player movement is mapped to buttons -- a crucial aspect of Hybrid's bizarre, yet shockingly accessible controls -- leaving the right analog stick free to adjust the camera. Slaczka and his team at 5th Cell mitigated the "circle-strafing with shotguns" play style of most online shooters by making movement more deliberate. The result is a game that plays like real-time, sped up, 3-on-3 Valkyria Chronicles. Which, to be clear, means it's a lot of fun. %Gallery-118392%
5th Cell reveals sales for Scribblenauts, Drawn to Life
5th Cell's focus on original IP has worked out quite well for the independent developer, selling millions of copies of its innovative titles. During a DICE 2011 presentation on the studio's development strategy, general manager and COO Joseph Tringali shared that it has sold 3.5 million units in the Drawn to Life series and 2.5 million of Scribblenauts games. We'd known previously that the original Scribblenauts was the fifth best-selling DS title of 2009. The developer is currently working on Hybrid, its XBLA title expected to launch sometime this year. 5th Cell has been incredibly cagey on details, but creative director Jeremiah Slaczka told Joystiq that it'll have its big reveal at GDC next month.
The MMO Report: Not so baggy edition
It's a short week this week on The MMO Report as Casey has some traveling to do and G4TV's writing cast of usual suspects is off doing something... perhaps hunting for Keyser Soze. Nonetheless, even with a shorter video than normal, this week's episode is jam-packed full of the interesting news, speculation, and snarkiness we've come to expect from The MMO Report. First up, Casey takes a look at 5th Cell's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game, Hybrid, and wonders if this console game actually might qualify as an MMO. Since nobody outside of the studio has gotten his mitts on Hybrid as yet, we'll have to wait and see. (If it is what he thinks it is, we totally agree with his ending comment.) From there, it's all eyes on Star Wars: The Old Republic as Casey talks about BioWare's flashpoint instance plans and how that will work with the different story choices available. Next up, it's a nod to our story about the recently announced zombie MMO by JetStream Studios, UnDead Online. Finally, it's the news that brings all the Guild Wars 2 fans to the yard: Guardians! So, for all the news, all the snark, and 100% less Uncle Casey's mailbag than regular shows, pop behind the break and check out this week's edition of the MMO Report. You can also catch it every Thursday on G4TV.
Solid Snake and other Konami characters appear in Japanese Scribblenauts
In addition to the ability to buy it in Japan and play it in Japanese, there are additional benefits to Konami's Japanese localization of Scribblenauts. Specifically, you can use the power of your words to bring forth Konami characters into 5th Cell's world. In these screenshots, including one tweeted by Hideo Kojima and two from Hachimaki, you can see Scribblenized versions of Old Snake, Gradius's Vic Viper, and Love Plus's Manaka Takane. Apparently, the other two Love Plus girls were left out for some reason.
How 5th Cell follows Naughty Dog's lead with Hybrid
"Expect the unexpected" may be a cliche all but robbed of meaning by overuse, but it's also a pretty helpful way of understanding the path of Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell. Creative director Jeremiah Slaczka explained why the studio's choice of Hybrid, a team-based shooter, isn't such an odd one for the up-to-now kid-friendly studio. Now that we have a slightly better understanding of Hybrid's persistent, ongoing, massively multiplayer war, we're starting to get where he's coming from. 5th Cell has been a two-project studio since it developed Scribblenauts alongside Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the DS, and Slaczka said the studio is still growing. "Right now our studio is at sixty people and still expanding with three full projects in development. We've learned a lot as a studio since the original Scribblenauts and I'm very proud of how our studio has matured in our development," he told Joystiq. "I think working on multiple projects simultaneously has really helped us to expand our talent base; we've always got the right person for the right job, which is indispensible for us as we are offered the opportunity to evaluate new platforms."%Gallery-115142%
5th Cell's 'Hybrid' to feature persistent online war
5th Cell continues to hold back details on its XBLA shooter Hybrid, but the developer has released one key nugget that recalls games like PlanetSide and Chromehounds. Hybrid will feature a "a persistent online world war" with "hundreds of thousands" of players on a "single, unified world server." As always, the war will be waged between the blue team (the Paladins) and red team (the Variants), as the two sides fight to control "territories and countries, leading to global domination" on what appears to be a world map cribbed from Risk. What was initially teased as "a completely new gameplay experience never seen before in the genre" is now revealed to be ... "an innovative new system unique to the shooter genre." Really? Oh, but it has a name! An "it came from marketing"–sounding name: "Combat Focused Movement." Just what is it? We'll have to wait for the first hands-on demo of the game at next month's GDC to find out. %Gallery-115142%
Go deep into Super Scribblenauts with 5th Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka
Looking for deep level Super Scribblenauts gameplay ideas but tired of all those crazy walkthroughs? 5th Cell creative lead Jeremiah Slaczka's got you covered, recently starring in a video on just that subject. Grab your thesaurus, your DS, and a notepad -- things are about to get crazy.
Scribblenauts headed to Japan as 'Maxwell's Peculiar Notebook'
Konami has agreed to undertake the arduous task of translating Scribblenauts into Japanese. On January 27, Konami will release 5TH Cell's DS adventure game as "Flash Puzzle: Maxwell's Peculiar Notebook." ("Fushigi" means anything from "strange" to "mysterious" -- we've gone with Andriasang's translation here.) Ironically, it seems to be a localization of the first Scribblenauts, which means it'll lack the sequel's adjective function, making it impossible to create a "mysterious" notebook in-game. But Konami already has to translate the 22,000 word dictionary for this (budget!) release, so it's understandable. It's probably been working quietly on the game since before Super Scribblenauts even came out. No screens were released, so we don't yet know if any cosmetic changes were made to the game, nor how text entry is handled.
'Hybrid' XBLA shooter announced by 5th Cell, due 2011
The countdown on Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell's site ran its course last night, revealing the somewhat surprising identity of the studio's next project: An Xbox Live Arcade third-person shooter called Hybrid. The game, which is built with the Source Engine, has players enlist in one of two opposing forces, Paladins or Variants. Aside from their titles, these two factions seem to exhibit other differences, as evidenced in the trailer posted after the jump. For instance, one's good at taking cover, while the other does parkour. 5th Cell promises that Hybrid will provide "a completely new gameplay experience never seen before in the genre," a claim that might not be so outrageous given the studio's innovations in the puzzle-platformer genre through its Scribblenauts series. If we were a betting site, we'd wager that the wall-to-ceiling-running shown in the trailer has something to do with said innovativeness -- but seeing as how Hybrid's due for release sometime in 2011, it might be a little too early for such baseless conjecture. %Gallery-106255%
5TH Cell counting down to XBLA announcement [update]
Scribblenauts developer 5TH Cell is about to reveal its next game, which it has been teasing for almost a year -- but there's a bit more teasing to do before that happens. The developer posted a seven-day countdown for the title on its site, revealing in a press release that the end of the countdown -- Thursday, October 28 at 10pm PDT Friday, October 29 at 1am EDT and 1am PDT -- will coincide with the reveal of the new title on Spike TV. A brief teaser will also be shown tonight. According to the press release, the game will be "a completely new experience for Xbox Live Arcade players." 5TH Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka has previously told Joystiq that the company's next original game would use the Source Engine. We'll find out more in ... seven days, and counting. Update: 5TH Cell informed us that it sent out the incorrect time yesterday. You'll be able to see the reveal on Friday, October 29 at 1am EDT/PDT.
Super Scribblenauts review: Everyday I write the book
Forget the Scribblenauts you knew. Usually, when people say things like that, it's because the new thing is so different, that trying to compare it to the old thing is just going to leave you confused. That's not the case with Super Scribblenauts, which is tonally, graphically and sonically almost identical to its predecessor. No, I mention it only because Super Scribblenauts, which fixes practically every problem with the series' debut, is viewed most favorably in an alternate dimension where said debut never existed. %Gallery-95592%
Super Scribblenauts-branded eggs coming soon to the UK
Thanks to Super Scribblenauts, we've learned all about this delightful little caste of words known as "adjectives," which can be used to describe things. With this knowledge, we now have the ability to talk about Warner Bros. bizarre, inscrutable, unprecedented and delicious new promotion for the wordy puzzle title: A partnership with UK's Stonegate Eggs, to include Scribblenauts branding on cartons of the company's "Intelligent Eating Eggs." The promotion will have an accompanying website, where egg consumers can solve puzzles for a chance to win a DSi and a copy of the vocabulary-expanding sequel. We guess we can see the correlation, but we still wish the game had a more direct impact on the foodstuff. Imagine if you will: Super Scramblenauts, a foil pouch with pre-made scrambled eggs inside, for on-the-go oh man that would be disgusting.
Super Scribblenauts trailer pits 5TH Cell against Cowthulu
In this Super Scribblenauts trailer, 5TH Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka makes a personal, Scribblenaut-ized appearance to outline the new adjective feature. And then proceeds to upstage himself by making a "cuddlesome cowlike Cthulu." And a "brave milkmaid." To milk it. So ... yeah.
Grab Super Scribblenauts early at LA launch party
After holding the first Scribblenauts launch event in New York, Warner Bros. Interactive has decided to modify the party for Super Scribblenauts with a couple of adjectives, like "sunny" and "smoggy." The launch party for the DS puzzle-adventure sequel will be held at the GameStop on Sunset and Vine in Los Angeles on October 10. There, you'll be able to buy the game early, of course, and also participate in a Super Scribblenauts costume contest, solve puzzles on a magnetic wall and meet the 5TH Cell team responsible for the game. The celebration is only going on from 11AM–2PM -- if you're late, you'll have to buy the game on its regular October 12 date, like everyone else in America. Update: See the invitation after the break.
Super Scribblenauts preview: Maxwell's house
From what we've seen, it seems safe to say that if you liked Scribblenauts, you'll love the sequel. It's got a refined and updated version of the original's wordplay, along with plenty of fun extras like a level editor with deep scripting capability, and a "merit" achievements system that keeps the gameplay moving even after you've beaten the 100-plus levels the first time. But what if you didn't like Scribblenauts? What if, like me, you were charmed by the premise, but were overwhelmed by the execution, by the option to create anything in order to solve a series of often nebulous puzzles? %Gallery-99780%
Super Scribblenauts features a reprogrammed Maxwell
Upon playing Super Scribblenauts, it becomes readily apparent why you'd want to use the D-pad to manipulate the game's hero, Maxwell. So why wasn't that an option in the first game? Joystiq asked 5TH Cell Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka, and were told that the original touch-screen input didn't draw any complaints -- at least not from casual players. "We haven't gotten any emails from casual users," he told us this week, "that are like, 'Hey, I don't like the controls.' It's the hardcore users that are like, 'I play Mario all of the time, and I'm a hardcore gamer, and I'm used to these kinds of controls, and what's what I want." Though controlling Maxwell directly with the D-pad may seem an obvious choice, it wasn't the first time around. "Maxwell's actually an AI," Slaczka said. "So it wasn't just like throw the D-pad controls in." Maxwell was programmed to respond to the rest of the game's systems rather than just follow button directions, and so it didn't occur to the developers to control him directly. "You'd have to overwrite all of the code that we'd built up for him. So in the second one, we basically did that." The team "stripped out" all of the behaviors and responses that had been coded, and created the option for "one-to-one player control." For his own part, Slaczka says he doesn't care which option players use, but he'll stick with the stylus. "This isn't a platforming game," he said. "This is a puzzle game. Unfortunately, it has a platforming-type feel to it. So we said for the second one, that's fine, we'll address it, we'll give you both. And we actually fixed up the stylus controls, too, so Maxwell doesn't run away as you tap -- when you let go he stops. So we made it way better."
Super Scribblenauts screenshots are really, really (adjective)
You guys already know the drill: 5TH Cell has released a new batch of screenshots for Super Scribblenauts, one which follows the format of all the developer's previous asset blasts for the series. That is to say: There's a lovely, illustrated desktop background, followed by: A handful of clever solutions to a few in-game puzzles, which leads into: A couple of screens showing the puzzle creation tools, and finally: A screen showing that, yes, the game is capable of discerning between cerulean, sunlit, cow-like, centaurian, tricolor and cotton elementals. This screen is commonly referred to as "5TH Cell's really just showing off now." %Gallery-99780%
