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GDC 2011: Joymax weighs Karma
Imagine a world where World War II -- also known as "That War With All Them Movies" -- never ended. Imagine that while the conflict raged, weapons development continued to advance well into the 1950s. Now imagine that this war-ravaged landscape is your new virtual playground. Joymax, the studio behind Silkroad Online, revealed at GDC that its next MMO will take place in such a world. Code-named Karma Online, this massively multiplayer online first-person shooter will attempt to provide the ultimate PvP battleground for players sick of bows and arrows and futuristic plasma rifles. Karma Online seeks to meld the best of both RPGs and FPSs by introducing a skill tree system that allows soldiers to specialize in preferred weapons and tactics. Although we're not quite sure what Joymax means by this, the studio promises more immersion by requiring the use of both hands for combat instead of just the mouse. The game will also come with the popular Call of Duty-style zombie mode if you want to switch up player-killing for undead slaughter. The shooter is scheduled to go into closed beta this May. Hit the jump to see Karma Online in action and get the skinny on Joymax and WeMade Entertainment's other projects-in-progress! %Gallery-118470%
It puts the dog food in the basket or else it gets the hose again: Ubisoft announces Petz World
Several MMOs, such as Free Realms, flirt with the concept of virtual pet ownership and conditioning, but it looks like Ubisoft is ready for a full-fledged commitment to the concept with Petz World. Gamasutra reported that Firma Studio is developing the free-to-play MMO, which will be published by Ubisoft in 2011. Based on the popular Dogz and Catz virtual pet simulators that date all the way back to the stone age of the internet (1995!), Petz has since expanded the franchise to include a wide variety of animals including hamsters, tigers and horses. In these games, players "adopt" a virtual pet of their choice, provide for their needs, and train their behavior through repeated actions. Repeated actions -- that sounds right up an MMO's alley, doesn't it? Ubisoft hopes that Petz World will bring parents and children closer together through the gameplay. The MMO will involve a large variety of collecting, achievements and unlockables as players scour the world for cool pets and conquer special challenges. Ubisoft's Chris Early thinks there's enough to appeal to a wide demographic: "This game is a unique way for children and parents to play games together." This is the latest move by the publisher to expand into the casual MMO landscape, following other titles like Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms.
NintendoWare Weekly: Furry Legends, Scrabble Tools
Nintendo's perfect no-Virtual Console streak continues with no retro re-releases announced for July. As usual, there are plenty of choices on WiiWare and DSiWare, including Gamelion's Furry Legends, which is an interesting-looking side-scroller ... despite the name. DSiWare this week is mostly populated by insane minigames, time-management games, and sudoku -- the unique mix of not-that-interesting stuff that seems to characterize the service every week. Most interesting? A game designed to make you better at Scrabble. %Gallery-97746%
Ubisoft Imagines a blockbuster 'Games for Everyone' holiday lineup
Clear your holiday schedules, folks. We know there are a bunch of high-profile releases you're planning on tucking into as the year concludes, but Ubisoft's recently revealed "Games for Everyone" collection probably won't leave you much time to play all that junk. Pretending to own a resort or work as a veterinarian or design clothes is taxing stuff, you know. Click past the jump to see the full list of Imagine and Petz titles set to drop later this year, then spend the rest of the day thinking about what order you'll be playing them in. We're thinking about doing Style Lab Fashion Design first, then making the jump to Imagine Fashion Stylist. You know, so we can learn the basics before going totally commercial.
Ubisoft launches gaming portal on Facebook
Ubisoft recently launched a new Facebook gaming portal, dubbed the "UbiFriends Portal." Kicking off the casual game hub with TickTock, the French publisher is apparently jumping headfirst into the social gaming arena. Players try and guess which status messages comply with a variety of their friends, and they can send "bombs" to their friends which can then be defused by answering questions.No word yet on what's next for the extremely casual gaming portal, though a bettin' man might put his money on something of the Petz variety. Not that we're bettin' men. No sir.
Ubisoft announces Style Lab casual franchise
Ubisoft's press conference just took a turn for the boastful as the publisher praised its highly profitable casual franchises, Petz and Imagine. In order to rake in more solid gold bars of gold, Ubisoft is attempting to achieve a sales nirvana they're calling "Tween Games 2.0." The latest push in this attempt? An all new for-kids (let's be honest, for little girls) franchise known as "Style Lab."The franchise will feature games that implement the DSi's camera for various girly reasons -- take a picture of yourself, and tart yourself up with make-up, or design your own jewelry which you can submit online and order in real life. Day. One. Purchase.
Ubisoft: full-year sales up 14% in 2008
Ubisoft announced its financial results (PDF link) for fiscal 2008 (which ended on March 31, 2009), and for the most part news (or Newz, if you prefer) is good. Full-year sales for 2008 grew to €1.058 billion, up 14% over last year's €928 million total.The company explained the strong results of its last quarter with "a continued very strong showing" for its Wii lineup, including Raving Rabbids TV Party, Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip, and My Fitness Coach. One million units each of Shaun White (not just limited to the Wii version), Tom Clancy's HAWX and the Petz and Imagine games were shipped to retailers in Q4.Ubisoft's sales target for the 2009 fiscal year is €1.1 billion. It expects the first quarter sales of 2009 to be weaker than 2008's, due to the relative lack of major releases (Q1 2008 included Haze and Assassin's Creed on PC), with growth to occur in the second half of the year.Source (PDF document)
Quazal inks middleware deal with Ubisoft, Petz deathmatch now possible
Have you ever heard of Quazal? You know, the "leading supplier of multiplayer middleware solutions for the entertainment industry," known most recently for working with Atari on the upcoming Ghostbusters game and likely better known for their work with Harmonix on the Rock Band franchise? Oh you have? Good! So you might already know that the company has just signed a deal with Ubisoft for use of its Rendez-Vous, Net-Z and Spark! middleware products, promising also to provide long-term consulting and support. You didn't know that? Yeah, neither did we.But in a press release issued by Quazal, we found out all about the contract inked this past week to deliver "cutting-edge multiplayer experiences" by licensing the middleware to Ubisoft. Christine Burgess-Quémard, executive director of worldwide studios at Ubisoft notes in the release, "By securing this Enterprise deal, Ubisoft is positioning itself to be at the forefront of the next generation of online enabled titles." Though we'd like to point out that the "next-gen" started in 2005, we'll go right ahead and assume she means the real next-gen coming in 2012. 'Til then, we'll have to hold fast hope that the perpetually deathmatch-less Petz franchise receives the long overdue multiplayer mode we've been waiting for.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
Wendy's becomes Wendy'z for Petz in-store promotion
It seems that while advertisers in the UK are discouraging gamers from eating fast food (or playing games, for that matter), US fast food chain Wendy's is partnering with Ubisoft to offer toys based on its uber-popular Petz series, according to Brandweek.com. During a five-week campaign in stores, customers picking up a Wendy's "Kids Meal" will receive one of a variety of Petz-themed items: a Petz Catz PC game, Petz Dogz PC game, a Catz balancer ball, a Dogz plush toy or a copy of the Petz-themed card game.Astute readers will note this isn't the first time Wendy's has partnered with a video game company for an in-store promotion, though this time around, we're betting Jack Thompson isn't getting up in arms over the less than inflammatory nature of the product involved.
New Hannah Montana PSP bundle includes Lilac PSP
SCEA is showing a new initiative to cater to young girls at its Destination Playstation event today. The company has announced a new PSP bundle to be released in July, containing a PSP system in a new Lilac color. The bundle comes with a Hannah Montana rhythm game, a UMD of episodes from the series, a 2 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, and some stickers!In addition, Ubisoft's Petz line is headed to PSP in North America later this year, allowing players to "create and care for cute, furry pets chosen from many different breeds of dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, dolphins, tigers and bunnies." The likely first release: GameStop shows Petz Saddle Club coming this September. This series may help enhance young players' impressions of the PSP, by reminding them of the Nintendo DS.
Ubisoft bringing select titles to Mac gamers
Through a partnership with TransGaming Inc., Ubisoft is poised to bring select titles to Mac gamers (yes, we repeat: "Mac gamers") through retail and digital download channels. The two most significant offerings will be Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding, although Ubisoft will also provide CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hard Evidence, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Petz Sports to retail locations for the first time. Those games are currently only available through Ubisoft's website. You can download Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding for Mac from Ubisoft's site (and look for the other games on retail shelves) next month.
DS releases for the week of November 17th
From big name releases like Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades to kids' games, at this point, the releases just aren't going to slow down. Everyone wants a piece of the holiday pie, even -- or perhaps especially -- in a flagging economy, but that just means a few agonizing decisions over what to buy. What will win for you this week? Bolt Cradle of Rome Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams Imagine: Ballet Star Imagine: Movie Star Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine Luminous Arc 2 Metal Slug 7 Need for Speed Undercover Petz Catz Clan Petz Monkeyz House Petz Rescue: Endangered Paradise Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party Robocalypse Rune Factory 2 Skate It Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff Tomb Raider Underworld Tony Hawk's Motion/Hue Pixel Painter Ultimate Band Winter Sports 2: The Next Challenge
Bury the Shovelware: Myst
Ports are tricky. Indeed, the DS's big brother gets a lot of flak for hosting PS2 ports with tacked-on waggle. Yet, if the original game is good and a reasonable amount of bonus content is added, we generally give the game a pass. But things get even trickier when discussing the retro-port. I touched on this at the end of the Petz Dogz Fashion post, but it's worth restating: would you pay full retail price for an exact copy of your favorite retro game? As the Super Mario Advance series proved: yes, you will. Apparently, identical or near-identical copies of older games at standard market prices can still sell extremely well. It'll be interesting to see how successful the Chrono Trigger port will be (my prediction: very). It'd be especially nice if we could determine how many of those purchasing the game have never played it before (my second prediction: not very many). Information such as this would allow us to determine what effect -- if any -- retro-ports have on the current state of gaming. Examining Myst for the DS has been on my queue for quite some time. The reason for the delay was simply because I was unsure if it was fair to put it under the spotlight since I never played the original. But upon deliberating the sentiments above, I realized the DS port of the 1993 graphic adventure would be the perfect opportunity to put the question to a litmus test.
GC 2008: Finally, a pet game we can get behind
Click image for MORE MONKEYS. "Monkey Madness Wii targets kids ages 6 to 8 years," reads the opening line of the press release for Ubisoft's new monkey sim. "Like hell it does!" say we. Okay, so maybe it does, but we can't help being drawn to Ubisoft's newest pet game (and at least it's not Monkeyz). Fact: monkeys are adorable and awesome. Everybody thinks this, so no wonder Ubisoft settled on making a game about them. We've had it with labradors and kittens, frankly.In Monkey Madness Wii, kids we will be able to adopt a monkey and then befriend, train, feed, play with, and photograph our simian chum. There's a range of ridiculous outfits to dress George in (we've already settled on a name), and George's personality will be shaped by how you treat him -- he could be meek, courageous, loyal, indifferent, or something else. We can even cross-breed George with other species of monkeys to create "fantastical hybrids," which sounds a tad disturbing, but we plan on George being an amorous little bugger.We haven't even touched on the neatest feature of Monkey Madness Wii -- the ability to upload George to your Wii Remote (using the Wiimote's 6 kilobytes of on-board memory) and take him to a friend's house to play with the monkeys on their Wii. Clever! In fact, this is wasted on chil'n, and we'll say it now, readers: DO WANT. Now, can you resist a monkey gallery?%Gallery-30057%[Via press release]
Bury the Shovelware: Petz Dogz Fashion
This title seemed to be doomed from the beginning: it's made by Ubisoft, it's a pet simulator, and it uses Z's where there should be S's. But you may be surprised to learn that this actually isn't quite a terrible game. Yet it's still shovelware. So how does one achieve this seemingly contradictory state? Last week, we discussed imitation. While Best of Tests DS was clearly trying to bite off some of the Brain Age momentum, its limited content and awful design made it a lackluster game. Thus, it was easily identified as shovelware. But what does one do when a seemingly good game is, at its core, nothing more than a simple clone of an existing title (albeit a well done clone)? Here's my take on things.
Being a Wordmaster won't cost much
It's not often that a game goes on sale before it's even released, not that we're complaining. If you enjoy word games, then, you might want to consider picking up Wordmaster at Amazon. Although the MSRP is $19.99, Amazon is currently offering the game for $13.99, which is as budget as it gets for a new release.The title doesn't even come out until July 15th, but you can preorder now if you want to secure the game for cheap. As for what Wordmaster is? Well, think Lingo or Jotto, only on the DS. On a side note, you can also pick up Petz: Hamsterz 2 as Amazon's "Deal of the Day" for $11.99. Um, woot?[Via CAG]Source: Wordmaster for $13.99Source: Petz: Hamsterz 2 for $11.99 (today only)
Transgaming makes deal with Ubisoft
First EA, and now gaming giant Ubisoft has inked a deal with Transgaming to wrap their titles in Cider and port them over to the Mac. Which seems like great news -- Ubisoft has a huge number of quality titles, and bringing those to the Mac must be great for gamers who appreciate a better operating system. But not so fast.First things first, Cider hasn't exactly proven itself in terms of making great games, or even ports for that matter. And apparently Ubisoft is taking it slow -- rather than bring us games like Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed or the great Rainbow Six Vegas series, we're getting... wait for it... Catz and Dogz. Oh, and CSI: Hard Evidence, which was hardly a blockbuster on game shelves.It's definitely good news that Mac gamers are getting more to play, but if this is all we're going to get, they can keep it. If they wanted to port us Far Cry 2 when it comes out, or maybe even the long-awaited Beyond Good and Evil 2 whenever it's done, awesome. But if all we're going to get is years-old bottom-of-the-barrel crapware, we'll stick with original Mac game developers, thanks.[via Big Download]
Ubisoft Montreal vs. Dog Z
As hated as Ubisoft's Petz games are by the "hardcore" blog-reading crowd, kids apparently eat them up (the games, not pets). They're so important that, according to Ubisoft's Benoit Galarneau, the company's Montreal studio (Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed) is handling development of the latest Wii game in the series, Dogz 2008. "We did this one internally," Galarneau said, "because we feel that as the casual market is growing, we feel that our Petz line will explode, and we need to raise the quality of the game to make sure that no competitor will steal our position as pet people."This interview is actually the most we've heard Ubisoft open up about this type of game. Galarneau discusses the differences in regional markets, in-game advertising, and failure states in casual games. But the really interesting part comes at the end, when the subject of the Z came up. Ubisoft inherited the "Petz" naming convention from the original PF Magic-developed series, and kept it. Now the company sees it as kind of an identifying trademark. "But one thing we have to make sure of is that people understand that the one with the "z" is the one we're pushing. It's not just "Pets" or "Dogs", as any dog or any pet. It's Petz. My team would say "Dog Z" most of the time."When told by Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield that "Dog Z" sounds like a specific dog, Galarneau said "There will be Dog Z in the game, in fact."
Casual Wii games cost Ubisoft serious dollarz
Poor old Ubisoft. Contrary to popular belief, it turns out that casual games won't pay for your entire HQ to be paved in gold. According to Ubisoft North American president Laurent Detoc, this is because any savings made on developing such titles goes towards marketing the things, which apparently costs an arm and a leg."The margins on these games are good when you look at development, but it takes a lot of marketing dollars," revealed Detoc to Gamasutra, instantly endearing himself to all of us hardcore gamers who can't stand a lot of the casual tat on the Wii. "It's like packaged goods. You have to think about marketing, retail space, branding." My, isn't it nice to see that the creative flame still burns bright in the industry?Anyway, Ubisoft is especially struggling with its Wii line-up of casual fare, with Detoc admitting that much work is to be done if Ubi's games are to "sell as well as Nintendo's own Wii titles." Needless to say, our hearts bleed.
Amazon unbags Catz 2 sale
Wait! Before you roll your eyes and scroll past this post in search of non Petz news, we want to make sure you know that unlike the DS and PC versions, Petz Catz 2 isn't your garden-variety shovelware pet sim.It's more of a light RPG adventure in which you, a kitten, set out to retrieve a magical top hat from a mean wolf. Of course, along the way, you'll have several different minigames and side quests which you can pounce into, instead. Also, you can put hats on cats.If that short description -- or the prospect of adorning cats with hats -- interests you at all, Amazon has the game on sale for a super cheap $7.99 until the end of the day. If you're more of a puppy person, you can also pick up the palette-swapped canine complement, Petz Dogz 2, for only $9.99. [Via CAG]Read - Petz Catz 2 for $7.99Read - Petz Dogz 2 for $9.99
