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XMG Studios announces Evil Empire, Hero and one more at Macworld
Just as they were last year, XMG Studios is on the floor of Macworld/iWorld 2013 in San Francisco. XMG has three new games to talk about that aren't playable just yet, but should be released this year. XMG's Lydia Schaele told us about a big title called Evil Empire. It's darker and more stylistic than older XMG games like Cows vs. Aliens and last year's Ghostbusters title. Evil Empire is a military combat strategy game set in an alternate reality during the Cold War, in which the USSR is more powerful than it was at the time. In this wild, propaganda-filled setting, an alien creature lands on Earth. As the player, you must use various units and tactics to lead the rebels against a strong, alien military. Evil Empire is still in the planning stages, and XMG is dong its homework. The company took a close look at the App Store, and determined that going with a more complex strategy-style game would land them in the right part of the market. Evil Empire is also expected to be a free-to-play title, with in-app purchases centered around customization and extra content. The game is being designed according to XMG's new philosophy, which we were told targets four main pillars: Character, Choices, Collection and Community. Characters and story will play a big part in Evil Empire's narrative, while meaningful choices will keep player experiences very different each time through the game. Collecting will be a big part of replay value, and of course XMG has quite a bit of experience already with building up social features and communities, so Evil Empire should show off that talent as well. Evil Empire sounds fascinating, but Schaele said that XMG plans to take its time with development. We should see more on this one before the end of the year. Also in development is a game that's code-named Card Battle, which is very similar to the current hit Rage of Bahamut. It's due near the end of May, and will feature original, colorful card art. Card Battle is a card game that features an evolution mechanic and plenty of collection options. XMG wants to make a popular card game that's a little bit better quality than what's currently available, so that should be excellent. And finally, we got to see some concept art of a game called Hero, which is another card game, though this time much more character and story driven. That game will have a rarity system, with various tiers of cards to go after and collect, though the mechanics haven't been defined. Schaele also told us that XMG will attempt to beta test technique with this game. The studio may release it on Android for just a few devices, and let players try out the game on that smaller platform first, before eventually bringing it over to iOS. This isn't the first time we've heard this idea from developers -- right now, the traditional iOS beta test is to release the game in Canada before bringing it to other countries, but with cross-platform development easier than ever, a smaller Android release may become the testing method of choice. We should see more about Hero in June or July of this year. XMG's lineup for 2013 looks pretty solid, and we'll stay tuned for any more news on these titles.
Toy Soldiers storm PC today, DLC for XBLA's Toy Soldiers: Cold War tomorrow
Signal Studios dropped several information bombs today about its Toy Soldiers series, with the first volley announcing that the original Toy Soldiers will be available on Steam and Games for Windows Live Marketplace today for $9.99. The Steam version will be 25 percent off during launch week.Wait a minute, but Toy Soldiers on XBLA is $15! Not anymore. The XBLA version is receiving a permanent price drop to 800 MSP ($10).Signal Studios, which notes the Toy Soldiers franchise has had over 1 million paid downloads, also announced DLC for last year's excellent co-op XBLA sequel, Toy Soldiers: Cold War. The "Evil Empire" and "Napalm" packs will expand the single-player and co-op campaigns, having players take on the role of the USSR or Americans."As a thank you to our fans, we are releasing a Multiplayer DLC compatibility pack for free," said Toy Soldiers: Cold War Game Director Jason Ilano. "This will give them a chance to join matches hosted by players that have the new content, play it, and decide if it is for them."The dueling side expansions will be 400 MSP ($5) apiece and the launch codes are set to execute tomorrow, April 25.
Bungie says Mac games are still a possibility
Macworld has a quick chat with Bungie after this morning's big announcement that the company is "evolving" away from Microsoft a bit, and the good news is that a new Mac release from our favorite game developer (before they were bought out by the Evil Empire, that is) is not out of the question.Spokeman Brian Jarrard plays pretty loose with the announcement, and says that while Bungie and Microsoft are going to retain their developer and publisher relationship, his company won't "rule out anything going forward." He says the move will let Bungie "[control] our destiny, and that puts us in a position where we could put ourselves back on the [Mac] platform definitively again."We can only hope. EA and id games made a big appearance at this years' WWDC, and I think I speak for many, many Mac gamers when I say we'd love to see Bungie announcing a brand new game at Macworld in a few months.
Steve Ballmer disses on the iPhone
Engadget tells us about Steve Ballmer's big diss on the iPhone. He calls it "by far the most expensive phone in the marketplace," which is of course not even close to true. There's a big luxury phone market out there, as Engadget reminds us, and the iPhone is hardly among the biggest tickets of the big ticket mobile phone items. Ballmer called the iPhone "not suitable for business purposes", which was also not a huge surprise given its lack of keyboard, 3G and (as Engadget puts it) "half-hearted attempt at Push mail". So is Ballmer out of line? No, not really, especially since he talks specifically about subsidies and contracts in reference to his "expensive" comments, but that won't stop us from complaining about his comments. We're fangeeks and this is one of the things we do.
