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UK honors 'Tomb Raider', 'Worms' and other classics with retro postage stamps
The UK's video game legacy is being honored with a new set of commemorative stamps from the Royal Mail. The collection, which will set you back £14.25 (nearly $19), features iconic designs from the likes of Wipeout, Lemmings, Micro Machines, Worms and, of course, Tomb Raider.
US working on rules for flying drones over populated areas
A US government committee has submitted proposed rules to the FAA for drone flights over populated areas, according to the Associated Press. The move would allow much broader use of UAVs for movie filming, package deliveries and other commercial purposes. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned drone flights over cities and crowds except via special exemptions, due to the dangers of crashing into people or commercial planes. However, many industries feel such restrictions are holding back the commercial potential of drones and that the risks are minimal.
Assassin's Creed 3 director Jamie Stowe joins 22cans
Assassin's Creed 3 level design director Jamie Stowe recently joined Peter Molyneux's 22Cans studio. Stowe will assume the role of technical director for Godus, the developer's spiritual successor to Populous. Stowe worked at Codemasters as a QA lead and level designer prior to joining Ubisoft Singapore in 2009.22Cans successfully raised £526,563 ($852K) on Kickstarter in December 2012 to fund Godus' development. Molyneux and his crew posted a new video update to 22Cans' Facebook page, which welcomes Stowe to the team.
Peter Molyneux's 22cans pitching Populous-esque project on Kickstarter, 'Godus'
Peter Molyneux, like so many of you, pines for the glory days of the studio he co-founded over 15 years ago, Bullfrog Productions. His new studio, 22cans, today launched its first initiative aimed at recreating those glory days, with "Godus" -- a Kickstarter project to "recreate the god game." Of course, Molyneux and Bullfrog were partially responsible for the original invention as well, with PC classic Populous. Like with Populous, you'll control a virtual world and its people, building up (or tearing down) their society as you see fit; it seems the "re-invention" bit comes in the form of multiplayer and mobile play. The nascent studio of game industry vets is hoping for a seven to nine month turnaround on the project, post-Kickstarter (should it pass the £450,000 goal, that is), and it's planned for launch on "PC and mobile devices." In the (hilarious) video 22cans included in its Kickstarter, the company revealed that its first title cum social experiment, Curiosity, already has "about 2 million downloads almost," which we'd certainly call a success. The ever self-aware Molyneux also notes in the video that, "I don't want to promise anything, I just want to deliver the glory of the old days in the new format of today's world." Even when he's trying not to promise something, he just can't help himself, eh? See for yourself below the break.
Molyneux reinventing Populous with 'Godus,' calls on Kickstarter for help
Peter Molyneux's next experiment with his new studio, 22 Cans, is a "reinvention" of his classic god game Populous, fittingly titled Godus. "Project Godus" is now live on Kickstarter, where 22 Cans is asking for £450,000 to develop this rebirth of god games for PC, iOS and Android."Godus blends the power, growth and scope of Populous with the detailed construction and multiplayer excitement of Dungeon Keeper, and the intuitive interface and technical innovation of Black & White," its Kickstarter description reads. It will be multiplayer, probably with up to eight players at a time (though it seems Molyneux would like more). 22 Cans expects Godus will take seven to nine months to develop.This is the second endeavor from 22 Cans, following Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube. Check out the Kickstarter video for Godus below.
GOG weekend sale: Alpha Centauri, Syndicate and other EA classics 60% off
Several of EA's classic PC games have had their prices slashed to ridiculous levels on GOG for this weekend – games like Alpha Centauri, Syndicate, Populous and more can be had for under $3 each.Other EA games taking part in the sale include a whole bunch of Ultimas, the Wing Commander series and SimCity 2000. All of the games listed on GOG's weekend promo page will set you back $2.39 a pop. If you want to purchase all 26 eligible games, it'll cost $62.14.
Molyneux's Populous rebuilt as Caplin's Reprisal, play God now
The first true god game for PC, Peter Molyneux's Populous, unleashed its fury in 1989. Today, that omniscient rage has been remapped, revamped and softened in designer John Caplin's first title, Reprisal, an homage offering to the deity that is Populous.Reprisal is browser-based and free, playable right here. So far Reprisal has snagged more than 1 million players, going by the game's Universe Population counter. Maybe give your fingers a good stretch first -- we hear playing god isn't so easy a task.
'Outernauts' trademarked by Insomniac, could be part of EA Partners deal
The wily gentlemen at NeoGAF have spotted a copyright registration by Insomniac Games for something called Outernauts, supposedly a new game the developer is working on. If you thought the company was already working on "O-something," you're also right: Overstrike was announced at last year's E3. But Outernauts is new, and Insomniac has also registered "outernauts-game.com," and "outernauts-game.net," so the game, as they say, is afoot.There's more, too: A Google search for the recently unburied title revealed a wiki page that was apparently meant for EA Partners marketing planning, and revealed both Overstrike and Outernauts, along with "Respawn" (probably the new project from the studio of the same name), The Secret World (which EA is publishing with Funcom) and "Populous," which might be a new version of that old strategy series. And as if all of that isn't enough, the wiki page was created by one "pmarineau," which matches up to Phil Marineau, who happens to be EA's director of marketing.Whew! Did we mention that the NeoGAF folks were wily? We've contacted Insomniac for comment on this one, but it's unlikely they'll confirm at this point. We'll probably just have to wait for the official Outernauts announcement to know what it's all about.
Populous and Ultima IV hit GOG -- and Ultima's free
Interested in being the master of a whole world -- or being a total slave to the rules of one? Two games newly added to GOG's DRM-free lineup will let you experience both. Populous lets you build a world and a civilization, and then ... you know, unleash natural disasters upon it. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar puts you in the role of a hero who must save the land of Britannia while adhering strictly to eight virtues. Thrift isn't one of those virtues, but it's still something you can practice with this game, as GOG is giving it away for free! If you want to pay for some Ultimas, the first three are also up.
Peter Molyneux's 'FeedMe' is a 256-player Populous pet project
After taking a trip back through the development of his first game, Populous, at GDC today, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux revealed that he's actually still working on the game. Programmed by Molyneux in his spare time, "FeedMe" is a 256-player version of the original Commodore Amiga title -- and the audience for his presentation got a rare look at it. Showing if off wasn't easy. Molyneux had to compile the Visual C++ code, encountered a fatal error and sucessfully debugged it. The result: a very basic, high-res Populous world map with almost no user interface. In the course of watching this, we realized that the famed designer has only one game in the taskbar on his computer: Minecraft -- which, when you think about it, does draw inspiration from Molyneux's world-manipulation-based classic.
EA studio boss would love to revisit Bullfrog IP; EA renews Bullfrog trademarks
In an interview with Kikizo, EA's Bright Light Studio head, Harvey Elliot, mentioned that he would "love" to work on old Bullfrog Productions properties like Populous and Theme Park. Elliot cautiously noted that Bullfrog's classics were "right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now." In other words, he's not entirely keen on "just a 'remake' or something." With a new edition of Bullfrog's Syndicate rumored to be in production at Starbreeze Studios, one might conclude that Harvey isn't the only one at EA looking for "what's right for the time now." And one might conclude even harder when database digger Superannuation finds that Electronic Arts has filed new trademarks for Populous, Theme Park, Wing Commander and Road Rash. Pure speculation? Yes. Highly desirable? Also yes. Source -- Why there's hope for Bullfrog IP returning [Kikizo] Source -- Superannuation
DS releases for the week of November 10th
Lots of games out this week that may have dropped off your radar, like Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff and Populous DS. If you like a wide variety of games, this one may be tough for you: there's a lot of different things out this week, and unfortunately, they all cost money. That one always gets us in the end.Europe is just now getting Dementium: The Ward? We'd feel bad, but you guys also have Flower, Sun, and Rain this week, so mainly, we're just jealous. Amazing Adventures: The Forgotten Ruins Avatar - The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno Call of Duty: World at War futureU: The Prep Game for SAT Guinness World Records: The Videogame Hello Kitty Daily My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr National Geographic Panda Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia Pony Friends: Mini Breeds Edition Populous DS Sally's Salon Six Flags Fun Park Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff TrackMania DS Winx Club: Mission Enchantix WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals
E308: DS Fanboy plays God with Populous DS
It's been a very long time since I played Populous. In fact, the only version I ever got to play was the SNES port (the game first released on the PC, Atari ST-1 and Amiga) back in the day. But, I did play that port quite a bit in my youth, so seeing the game hit the DS is very exciting to me. Populous DS very much feels like the game of old, but in truth is nothing like the SNES title in both presentation and gameplay.%Gallery-11987%
E308: Populous DS revamps an enjoyable classic
XSeed is determined to get in our good graces by bringing niche joys to American DS owners, including titles like Korg DS-10, Retro Game Challenge, Avalon Code, and now Populous DS. Let's take a look now at Populous DS, a game that's sure to sate your lingering god complex.
Let these Populous screens populate your retinas
Those of you with fond memories of Populous back in the day, you've probably been watching for news on the remake as closely as we have. Well, sadly we're not presenting anything new on the title today, aside from, as you've gathered from this post's title, new screens.You can see all of the new screens right here. And, if you're still craving some more eye candy, hit up our gallery below.%Gallery-11987%
Lionhead's Molyneux open to revisiting his past catalog
Though his vision usually outstrips his games' technical prowess, super developer Peter Molyneux is still responsible for some the most unique gaming experiences ever put to code. He's let us soar through the air on an enchanted rug, mow down civilians in a near-future dystopia, and has even let us play god once or twice. Unfortunately, after having the distinct 'pleasure' of being absorbed by larger studios on two separate occasions, many of his most memorable creations have since been left to the pages of history. Even so, while Molyneux is currently courting players with his canine-friendly Fable 2, he recently told Shacknews that he's open to revisiting his earlier games, particularly Syndicate. "I really would love to redo a version of Syndicate," he commented, adding that while he has not been given the go ahead to knock the dust off his past achievements, "one day, I'm sure that opportunity is going to come up and I'd love to do it." Of course, he's said this all before, but we continue to hold out hope. In a world filled with one mundane first-person shooter after the next, we could really use another Magic Carpet.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 2/18-2/24
The DS and PSP seem to be in a tooth-and-nail fight for second place. This week, the PSP took back the second spot, but just barely.Hardware: Wii: 63,504 PSP: 53,373 Nintendo DS: 50,151 PlayStation 3: 14,060 PlayStation 2: 9,634 Xbox 360: 2,001 The DS did better in software, though, with Etrian Odyssey II becoming popular in its first week. The DS dungeon crawler was only 9,000 units away from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in fact. Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends was another DS champ, ending up 5th on this week's chart. There were twelve DS games in the top thirty, which is impressive, especially considering the ton of new releases that came out last week. The new software did manage to bump a bunch of DS games out of the top thirty, though, including big names like Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, Dragon Quest IV, and Final Fantasy IV. To see the software placements, make sure to check after the break.
DS releases for the week of February 18th
It's a good week to be a DS gamer in pretty much any region. Europe is a possible exception, but we happen to think Paint by DS is a neat-looking product. Outside of Europe and its possibly compelling coloring game, quality abounds this week, with Capcom's Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney as the flagship release in the U.S. Whenever an Ace Attorney game comes out, it's a Big Deal in DS-land, and this one is especially noteworthy!Japan is flooded with cool games this week, including Space Invaders Extreme, the remake, J.B. Harold Murder ClubPopulous DS, and even a new Harvest Moon. And Australia gets a shot at both Advance Wars and Cooking Mama 2! There's a pretty good chance you'll have something to buy this week. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of the Ancient Arts FIFA Street 3
A little more on Populous
Ah, at last we can check out some of those Bit-plane shots from Populous DS without all those pesky watermarks fudging up the corners. There are also some other, newer screens in the mix, all loaded into our gallery below. Unfortunately, we still haven't seen anything on a release outside of Japan, but considering how popular the game has been over the years, and the fact that it is viewed as the god game by many, surely we'll hear something. Eventually. Probably. Right?Here's hoping.%Gallery-11987%
Build a fanboy paradise in Populous DS
The civilizations you build in Populous DS can grow in different areas of the Populous world, developing wildly different cultures. Famitsu has revealed these cultures and the warriors produced by each. By far the most interesting area you can build is the Nintendo-themed land of Bitplane, in which buildings are gigantic Nintendo consoles and the inhabitants are made of pixel-like cubes. Basically, it's just like our minds, except that we assume useful work gets done within its confines.Our other favorite new location is Mars -- not because we hate liquid water (apparently the denizens are grateful for tsunamis), but because it is protected by caped superheroes. And also because we're just going to assume that the cities are full of circa-1990 Spike Lees.%Gallery-11987%
