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Rock of the Dead coming to Facebook
Our main complaint with Epicenter/Conspiracy's Rock of the Dead was that its zombie-killing, rock-fueled action didn't make the guitar peripheral a central part of the experience. But that's apparently working to its advantage today as Conspiracy has just announced that the game is coming to the very guitar-less Facebook in 2011. No word on when the game is due exactly, but development is slated to start in Q1 of next year and it's a Facebook game so ... what, a couple of weeks after that? No, no we kid. It'll be at least a month.
Rock of the Dead review: Frampton comes undead
I'm not unsympathetic to the plight of the small developer. You've got to battle time, personnel and cash crunches all while competing on the same console as studios that seem to have nigh-bottomless pockets. Even if you've got something original to say, how do you make your voice heard over the MegaCorp loudspeakers? So from the opening bars of Epicenter Studios' new zombie rhythm game Rock of the Dead, I was willing to look past the sub-par presentation. The bargain price tag certainly doesn't hurt, but the key thing is this: Behind that haggard face hides a single great idea. %Gallery-100419%
Rock of the Dead for Wii undead, but 'on the back burner'
UFO Interactive has responded to our inquiry about the missing Wii version of Rock of the Dead, informing us that it's not been canceled. According to a UFO rep, the Wii game is "on the back burner for the time being." The publisher wouldn't disclose specific reasons for the delay of the Wii release, but told Joystiq that UFO and developer Epicenter Studios are focusing on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions for now, and they plan to get back to the Wii game "once we have accomplished our goals with these two platforms." Once you've accomplished the goal of releasing a game about killing zombies by playing guitars and drums, anything seems possible.%Gallery-100419%
Rock of the Dead now listed for PS3 and 360, with spinoff iOS apps
A fact sheet for Epicenter's zombie-murder/guitar music mashup (why not?) Rock of the Dead now presents the title as coming only to Xbox 360 and PS3, with a date of October 5. A Wii version was previously planned, but seems to have fallen away like the walking dead after a sweet solo. In fact, when it was first announced, the game was for Wii only! We're checking with UFO about the absent Wii game. You can see what could have been (and, on Xbox and PS3, what will be) in two new trailers after the break. UFO also announced a set of three apps for various iThings to support the release of the main game. Rock of the Dead: Zombie Pong, a free two-player Pong game with musical and undead themes, is available now for iPad. It'll be followed by Rock of the Dead: Zombie Survival, a miniature, top-down iPhone version of the "real" game, and Rock of the Dead: Whack-a-Zombie, which is exactly what it sounds like, also for iPhone.%Gallery-100419%
Preview: Rock of the Dead
Rock of the Dead is unapologetically The Typing of the Dead meets Rock Band. As Bryan Jury, CCO of developer Epicenter Studios and producer on the game, put it, "People already own the plastic. We're just giving them a different type of game to play with it." And an on-rails shooter where one uses the guitar or drum peripheral already in close proximity to their entertainment center is certainly different. Gameplay is what you'd expect from some cracked out House of the Dead mod: creatures of death come toward the screen constantly as the camera moves on rails and it's your job to fret (or drum) the undead to un-undeath. Epicenter believes that the title is compatible with most major guitar and drum peripherals. It's also in the process of testing beyond the Guitar Hero and Rock Band peripherals that many already own.
What's in a Name: Epicenter Studios
Epicenter is the studio that currently holds the title for "2009 Game That By All External Signs Should Have Been Awful, But Is Actually Pretty Fun" for its Real Heroes: Firefighter. To reward the company prematurely, we've decided to tell you exactly how it got it's name. A few years ago, Epicenter co-founder Nathaniel McClure and I were at a friend's house in the San Fernando Valley, just north of Los Angeles, brainstorming a name for the game studio we were just starting up. Now, naming things is actually a pretty difficult process filled with ups (coming up with an absolutely killer name that will destroy the industry as we know it) and downs (finding out it's already been taken by someone who likes to create flash games based on Creed videos). After coming to the bitter realization that just about any good name we agreed on was already taken, we sulked in our chairs in silence. That's when the walls started to rattle. Even after living in California for nearly 10 years, you still don't get used to a solid earthquake. As the adrenaline starts to flow, you tend to make internal guesses whether you should continue sitting there stoically or jump under the nearest table. Our good friend Kekoa, under the nearest table, wondered where we thought the epicenter of the quake was since it felt so close. Nathaniel and I looked at each other, realizing it was as good a name as any, especially considering we were just a few miles from the epicenter of Los Angeles' last big quake in Northridge. Epicenter Studios finally had a name. Brian Jury Epicenter studios co-founder Liked this story? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name archives.
Buying Real Heroes: Firefighter could make you a real hero
Click for more firefighting heroes Epicenter Studios has announced an initiative to assist real heroes through the sales of its game, Real Heroes: Firefighter. The studio says that it will donate a share of the proceeds to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, a charity that aims to "provide timely assistance to all fire service members and their families in the event of cancer diagnosis," though Nathaniel McClure, CEO of Epicenter, says he also appreciates how the charity "aggressively promotes prevention and early detection." So, not only will you save virtual people if you decide to pick up the game, but you could be helping in the recovery of real people in need, too. It's like kind of like a Double Stuff Oreo of justice.Real Heroes: Firefighter is slated for release in June 2009. %Gallery-63399%
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Wii Fanboy Review: Critter Round-Up
One of the stranger games that's currently offered on WiiWare is Critter Round-Up, or Saku Saku Animal Panic in Japan. Knowing that this was created by a relatively new developer, Epicenter Studios, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Never one to turn down the possibility of a good puzzle game, though, I bravely endeavored to corral these critters to the best of my abilities.With another costly puzzle game lurking around the corner, would Critter Round-Up turn out to be worth the download? Keep reading to find out!%Gallery-23224%
Konami rounding up critters for U.S. WiiWare launch
In all our excitement over the likes of My Life as a King, Dr. Mario, and Star Soldier R, we've barely found the time to discuss cutesy animal-based puzzler Saku Saku Animal Panic. That's a shame, because a Konami press release has now confirmed that the title will be released as part of the U.S. WiiWare launch line-up on May 12th (as Critter Round-Up), and it sounds like this could be more than a fun distraction.Critter Round-Up has players segregating animals into groups by laying down fences, but there are other factors involved, namely avoiding aggressive animals who might attack you, and preventing the animals from chomping each other (for example, you wouldn't want to create a crocodile-and-chicken pen). Successfully sorting the wildlife into like groups (within a time limit) is the key to victory, and there's 50 levels of fencin' and segregatin' to plow through.Also in the Konami WiiWare pipeline: a sandcastle-building sim currently known as Fresco Beach. That would take this blogger back to his childhood, if much of his childhood wasn't spent in Blackpool, next to the worst beaches in the world.
Epicenter Studios planning to fight fire with... Wii
Despite Mega Man's interpretation of the subject, a fireman is designed to put out fires, not to start them. Yes, we said "designed." Mega Man actually got that part right -- firemen are, in fact, super efficient robots. According to upstart developer Epicenter Studios, they're also the perfect subject for a video game on Nintendo's Wii. The studio, comprised of former producers for the Call of Duty, Shrek, Spider-Man and Star Trek franchises, recently announced a Wii game by the name of Real Heroes: Firefighter. Gamasutra describes it as a "firefighting action puzzle game," one that has the Wiimote becoming a water hose, a fire axe or a crowbar (for saving people, not bashing aliens!). The game also features "Thinking Fire" technology meant to incur "unexpected changes to the environments that will suddenly alter the player's options and strategies." It sounds an awful lot like real, dumb fire to us, but we'll take anything given today's glaring lack of Burning Rangers 2. If the game finds a publisher and makes its planned 2008 holiday release, we'll see whether or not those flames are intelligent enough to spread to the sales charts.[Via Wii Fanboy]
