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Game Room adds Blades of Steel; Sunset Riders and Twinbee rumored
Hey, remember Game Room? Despite ongoing troubles at Krome, the studio continues to add emulated arcade, Intellivision and Atari 2600 titles to Xbox Live's retro download service -- and the latest update is actually pretty awesome. Game Pack 012 has launched with the arcade versions of Blades of Steel and Trick Trap 1771, plus the Atari 2600's Pitfall 2 and the Intellivision's Vectron. And there are still 11 titles to come from the pack! GamerBytes reports that "Game Room hackers" have discovered the identities of the rest of Game Pack 012's pending releases, and they're even more awesome than the launch titles, including Konami's cute-em-ups Twinbee and Detana!! Twinbee, the run-and-gun Western Sunset Riders and the four-player Atari classic Warlords. See the full (rumored) list after the break. [Image source: The Arcade Flyer Archive]
New Game Room additions this Wednesday, Krome still developing Game Packs
The delayed update for the Xbox 360's Game Room, featuring Pitfall! and Super Breakout, will arrive this Wednesday, May 5, according to a representative from Krome Studios. Prompted by last week's tweet by an Xbox Europe representative -- saying that Game Room content had been "delayed until further notice" -- coupled with the unfortunate layoffs at developer Krome Studios, we followed up to find out if Game Room development had been affected by the developer's current situation. A Microsoft representative stated, "We're working to bring you additional Game Room titles as soon as possible! We appreciate your patience, and we've been thrilled by the community response so far. ... We enjoy working with Krome and they are doing a great job on Game Room." Asked directly whether it was still developing Game Room content, a Krome spokesperson told Joystiq, "Krome is continuing to work on Game Room content. The recent layoffs have not impacted Game Room at all or any of our titles in development. We're looking forward to the release of new Game Packs for Game Room."
Report: Krome Studios lays off 30-50 more staff [update]
Aussie developer Krome Studios (Game Room, Blade Kitten, Star Wars: Republic Heroes) has allegedly just completed another round of layoffs, with the number of employees let go this time ranging from 30 to 50. Develop notes that Krome had somewhere around 400 employees before the first known round of layoffs last year. AusGamers reports a possible financial reason for letting people go: Krome allegedly did not receive the license to develop the The Force Unleashed 2 for Wii "as a result of poor review scores for other Krome titles." IGN adds perspective about the impact of the layoffs, estimating that Krome "accounts for some 25 percent of games development in Australia." Krome CEO Robert Walsh made it very clear last year that developers' budgets "have probably doubled or tripled during the console transition," which likely doesn't make it easy to run a studio -- especially such a large one. We've contacted Krome for comment and will update if we receive a response. Update: Krome has responded to Joystiq saying, "We regret to confirm an unspecified number of positions have been eliminated today at Krome. The industry worldwide is facing new challenges and Krome is not immune to the effects of this. Beyond that, we cannot make a comment." Source -- Rumour: Aussie developer Krome hit with layoffs [IGN] Source -- Krome loses more work and more employees [AusGamers] [Via Develop]
Viva Pinata: Party Animals now party on demand
As promised, Viva Piñata: Party Animals is now available on Xbox Live Games on Demand. Before you get too excited, just remember that Party Animals is the Viva Piñata themed party game. It doesn't involve the wonderfully addicting gardening and breeding aspects of the original Viva Piñata or its sequel, Trouble in Paradise (which is also available on demand, incidentally). That said, if you're looking for a decent game for the kids, you could probably do worse. In the US of A, the game can be had for $19.99. Be sure to check Xbox Live Marketplace for the price in other regions. Shortcut: Add Viva Piñata: Party Animals to your Xbox 360 download queue (via Xbox.com) [Via Major Nelson]
Krome CEO: Developer budgets have increased more than games market
Sure, everything's all sunshine and daffodils in the ever-expanding video game market, right? Wrong. Dead wrong, mister. While stories to that effect might seem to inspire hope in the gaming industry's seemingly impervious leaders, indie developer Krome's CEO Robert Walsh thinks the gaming press has missed out on an important fact impacting the modern development scene -- developer's budgets "have probably doubled or tripled during the console transition."To put Walsh's entire argument (which he made in an interview with Develop) into simple terms, the gaming industry is raking in a bajillion dollars annually, but the current console generation has made developing games astronomically more expensive than it has been in the past. Like, a hojillion dollars more expensive. Seeing as how a hojillion is more than a bajillion (of course), developers aren't really seeing a major financial boon from the burgeoning industry. Which really sucks for them.
Scene It? BOS to test your Award Winners knowledge with new DLC
Capitalizing on the movie award season, Microsoft will be releasing the first set of downloadable content for Scene It? Box Office Smash. The 560 Award Winners pack, as it's called, will be available Friday, February 13th and come packed with over 300 questions that are targeted towards over two dozen award winning films. But that isn't all, the Award Winners DLC will also add a new bonus-round game called "Pop Quiz" that's said to feature around 600 true or false questions. That's some box office smashing news, no?
Buzz! Scene It? Box Office Smash demo on XBLM
Up for download off the Xbox Live Marketplace is a new Scene It? Box Office Smash demo that's aimed at testing your movie knowledge and convince you to part with your cash come its release. The 447MB (nice and light) demo features a sampling of video and textual movie questions all while promoting the game's Live features, big button controller capabilities and New Xbox Experience integration. Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Scene It? sequel smashes into retailers Oct. 28th
Today, Microsoft announced that the sequel to Lights, Camera, Action, Scene It? Box Office Smash will be releasing to North American stores on Tuesday, October 28th. Box Office Smash and its trivia based on 250+ movies will be available in two flavors, bundled with the four big button controllers for $59 or without the controllers for just $39. Microsoft also announced that Box Office Smash will be the first retail game to support Avatars in-game, but will only be available once the New Xbox Experience rolls out later this year.
Clone Wars: 'the ultimate lightsaber dueling experience'
That's according to LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez. We imagine the Force Unleashed team's shoulders drooping a little in unison every time LucasArts undersells their game in favor of serving the larger Clone Wars multimedia hype machine.This Entertainment Weekly video interview with Rodriguez, Clone Wars TV series director Dave Filoni and George Lucas, as well as members of both the DS and Wii dev teams, features a little bit of excellent-looking footage of the Wii game. According to Krome's Robert Walsh, the Wii game is designed to allow players to replay experiences from the TV show. LucasArts' goal of a totally convergent game/show experience is cool, but it's kind of a shame that they're spreading those particular character designs across so many screens.%Gallery-27972%
Wii Lightsaber Games Episode II: The Clone Wars [update]
IGN's interview with LucasArts producer Ken Fox offers the first gameplay information (and screenshot) of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The one-on-one lightsaber fighting game, developed by Krome Studios, makes heavy use of Wii Remote motion controls to simulate swordfighting. You know, just like that other Star Wars Wii game coming out. Strangely, Fox's discussion of this new game seems to omit The Force Unleashed -- which is also a Star Wars game developed by Krome which features a duel mode. "The promise of a Wii lightsaber game has hung in the air since the Wii hit the shelves," Fox said. "We think this is the game that delivers on that promise." Sort of implies that the other one isn't going to deliver, doesn't it? Is LucasArts trying to shift focus away from The Force Unleashed? Should we be worried about its quality? We only say this because since its reveal, The Force Unleashed has been positioned as The Wii Lightsaber Game.[Update: another screen now available after the break.]]
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on PSP by Sept. 16
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is hitting the PSP this coming September 16. In case you didn't hear about it yesterday over on PS3 Fanboy, Force Unleashed lets players run amok as Darth Vader's secret apprentice. That means feel free to kill any and all younglings your dark heart so desires.The PSP version of Force Unleashed is not being developed by LucasArts but is under the care of Krome Studios. The portable version will also not be featuring the Digital Molecular Matter and Euphoria engines that make the PS3 version so life-like; however, it will include exclusive levels. Expect this title to ship out to Southeast Asia and Australia by Sept. 17, and Europe on Sept. 19.
The Force Unleashed ... unleashed on September 16
After the strain induced by writing such a complex and infinitely witty headline, we think it would be best to stay on target for the rest of the post and merely deliver the facts. LucasArts has announced that its physics-based jedi sim, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will arrive on September 16th in the United States, September 17th in Southeast Asia and Australia, and September 19th in Europe. That's the plan and, given our anticipation for the title, we can only pray the publisher doesn't alter it any further. Developed internally for the Xbox 360 and PS3, The Force Unleashed has players becoming Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice" and, as the title vaguely alludes to, unleashing the force. Other "equally enthralling" versions of the game releasing on the same date include the Krome Studios-developed Wii, PS2 and PSP titles, as well as a DS game from n-Space. You'll be able to spot exclusive footage on SpikeTV this month, but rather than subjecting you to watching it for hours on end, we've posted a schedule of the game's appearances after the break. %Gallery-1662%
Spyro Eternal Night less awesome on DS
Remember how we lauded The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night on Game Boy Advance for being a beautifully drawn side-scrolling brawler with a nice combo system? Yeah, that's not happening on DS. Eternal Night on DS is a regular Spyro game, which for the DS means a PlayStation-looking 3D platformer for children. Which is fine for children. 1UP has new screens of all the polygons and such.There are plenty of 3D platformers in the world. What we need more of is Metroidvania-style free-roaming 2D action games.
