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GDC 2010: Call of Duty: World at War Zombies postmortem
Russell Clarke of Ideaworks Game Studio hosted a post-mortem report near the end of the first day of GDC 2010 about Call of Duty: World at War Zombies for the iPhone. The game was one of the first big brand hits on the App Store -- it successfully brought a game mode from one of Activision's Call of Duty console games (originally developed by Treyarch) to Apple's handheld device. After a quick joke about how a "post-mortem" was an appropriate exercise for a game about zombies, Clarke got into the nuts and bolts of how Ideaworks went about adapting the game for the iPhone. The most major feature of the game's development, he said, was the decision last year around this time to sit down and work on prototyping for about six weeks. Nowadays, there are a few successful first person shooters around the App Store, but last year, FPSes were still a new genre for the iPhone, so the team decided to really brainstorm how one would work on a touchscreen.
Call of Duty: Zombies gets downloadable Verruckt map
Now, this is just adorable. The pint-sized, touch-screened adaptation of Call of Duty: World at War's Zombie Mode is getting a pint-sized, touch-screened adaptation of the console game's first piece of DLC: The undead-infested asylum known as Verrückt. The map is available to purchase through the game's main menu for $4.99. Much like the console version of the DLC, Verrückt comes with a mess of new guns, electro-shock defenses and Perks-a-Cola machines. Because, hey, staving off floods of Nazombies sure works up a powerful thirst.
Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies gets Lite version on App Store
Are you on the fence about whether or not you should pick up the cumbersomely titled Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies for your Apple-branded mobile device? First of all, fence straddling is dangerous. Get down from there! Also, there's no reason to be all wishy-washy anymore, as a free "Lite" version of the game has recently become available on the App Store. Zombies Lite allows players to mow down three rounds of oncoming Nazombies in a single-player match, or two waves of the undead in a multiplayer match before coming to an abrupt end. That may come off as a little unsatisfying, but hey -- 'tis better to have murdered zombies and lost than to have never murdered zombies at all. %Gallery-78313%
Call of Duty on iPhone sells like a Call of Duty game
The release of Call of Duty: World at War Zombies on iPhone seems to prove the sales power of the Call of Duty brand. FingerGaming reports that the $10 app topped the iPhone sales chart this week, dethroning Bejeweled 2. Or perhaps it's the combined influence of the brand and making a gam3 with Z0MB1ES!!!1We have to wonder, however, who is the audience for this game? Presumably It would appear from sales that everyone interested in playing Call of Duty was busy playing Modern Warfare 2 last week. ... Oh, no. You guys aren't playing this in the bathroom between Modern Warfare 2 missions, are you? Don't tell us.%Gallery-78313%
Achtung! Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies infests iPhone
No doubt strategically timed between last week's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launch and this week's Left 4 Dead 2 launch, Activision just announced Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies, a $9.99 iPhone game based on the zombie-themed multiplayer antics of the series' console counterpart. Since the only thing the publishers sent us by way of details was an 8GB iPod Touch and iTunes code for the game (Joyswag, ahoy!) we'll turn to the App Store description. Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies supports up to four players over Wi-Fi, and two players over a local Bluetooth connection. You can use the iPhone's tilt sensors, or the always enjoyable virtual analog thumbsticks, to control the game. With Apple remaining hands-off in the space, the game supports "Achievements" and a "Leaderboard," but they're presumably isolated from other games. The description also promises that the game will "fully support future Downloadable Content, ensuring that the classic survival experience will live on with new maps." Thanks, in-game purchasing! What's less clear is who is behind the development of Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies. The iTunes Store lists the game under "Vivendi Games Mobile," the presumably outdated name of Vivendi Games' mobile gaming arm, taken over during the 2007 merger. We've put a line into Activision. [Update: The press release just went out over the wires, and it states that Zombies was "developed by Ideaworks Game Studio" who have brought other high-profile cell phone games to market, including Metal Gear Solid Mobile, Project Gotham Racing, and Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode Final Fantasy VII.] %Gallery-78313% Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies –
