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Rumor: THQ acquiring Elephant Entertainment
THQ is dangerously close to landing startup publisher Elephant Entertainment, GameDaily reports. The deal could be brokered and Elephant could join the corporate circus as early as Friday. Seasoned ringmaster Wim Stocks (real name!) brought Elephant to the scene in June 2006, reportedly generating revenues greater than $6 million over the first year -- that's alotta peanuts!Since 2006, Elephant has partnered with Oberon Games, K2 Network and Planetwide Games, and has been involved with a mess of titles we've never played like Cake Mania 2, War Rock and Sword of the New World. "Elephant is in Minneapolis, and both THQ Wireless and their Valusoft division are there as well," notes know-it-all Michael Pachter. "Wim Stocks is an old game industry veteran, has great relationships with Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, and he's worth having on board. The distribution model is pretty simple, and I think Wim can help THQI with other games. It really makes sense, would be cheap, and Wim would be a valuable addition." Yeah, but can he walk the tightrope?
Patterson waxes expansive about 'Woman's Murder Club' game
Gamers around the world have been waiting with bated breath for more information on James Patterson's Woman's Murder Club game since it was announced back in December. OK, they haven't really, but maybe they would if they didn't exclusively pay attention only to games that featured guns, breasts or, er, Nintendo characters.Patterson, one of the world's best-selling authors, is targeting a decidedly different demographic with his first game. "Look, it strikes me that the video game area is an incredibly lucrative niche market," he told the Hollywood Reporter, "one populated by a small number of boys -- and grownup boys -- who like to shoot things and spend a lot of money. But that excludes most of the universe."Patterson compared his efforts to reach new gamers to those of Nintendo's Wii, calling the game a "chance to widen the boundaries of what people can do on the small screen ... We're going to give people who don't want to shoot things ... who prefer to use their brains ... a chance to solve a really good mystery." With Gabriel Knight's Jane Jensen at the development helm, we're cautiously optimistic that he can actually pull it off.
MySpace launching games channel in 2008
Looking to cash in on the ever-growing casual games market, MySpace has officially announced MySpace Games, a new feature to the social networking site that will allow users to add hundreds of casual games to their profile pages.MySpace Games will be developed with the help of Oberon Media, a casual game company specializing in delivering those cookie-cutter formulas we know and love to every format imaginable. Launching in 2008, MySpace Games appears to be a response to the immense popularity of Facebook Applications, which allows users of the MySpace competitor to add and share specialized widgets to their profile pages.No word yet on what the MySpace games will look like, but it's likely they will continue the "ugly" aesthetic Rupert Murdoch has worked so hard to maintain.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
Acidbomb 2 gets a commercial release as ShellBlast
Dave Galindo of Vertigo Games dropped a few hints in our recent interview that Acidbomb 2: Rearmed could be going commercial. Now it's official: casual gaming publisher Oberon Media will be distributing an enhanced version of Acidbomb 2 next month. The commercial version will be renamed ShellBlast and include content from Acidbomb 2 (which will remain free until the day Jack Thompson joins Mensa) as well as a few exclusive game modes: Virtual Bomb Simulator - create your own bombs and try to disarm them Endurance Mode - a gigantic bomb with seven quadrants and more pistons as you progress Vertigo's next game, King of All Cooks, will also be released commercially later this year. No word on pricing for either game, though expect it to cuddle up to the magic number $19.95.
