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Does this look like a 'Dance Paradise' to you?
As certified screenshotologists from the School of Hard Knocks, we've been trained in the brutally honest art of just knowing from a single, static frame. And so, we just know by looking at this image that THQ's Dance Paradise is best avoided when it's released next Tuesday, February 15 for Kinect. Of course, if people just listened to us professional know-it-alls, then Just Dance wouldn't have happened like it did, and THQ wouldn't be trying to imitate that, and we wouldn't be writing this post, and what purpose would we serve, and ... You know? On second thought, it doesn't look that bad, and you've already played Dance Central to death, and you haven't bought a Kinect game in awhile, and you did drop $150 for it, and ... %Gallery-116331%
THQ needs your money to publish more Double Fine games
Between the adorable (and enjoyable) Costume Quest last October, and the forthcoming (and quite charming) Stacking some time this year, we're quite looking forward to the other two downloadable titles in Double Fine's four game roadmap. And though THQ isn't the only publisher that could release them, it would sure like to be. "I really wanna do a lot more with Tim [Schafer]. I've always been a huge Tim fan. Grim Fandango to me is one of the greatest works of art in gaming," THQ Core Games head Danny Bilson gushed to us this afternoon. He said the choice to publish Stacking was an easy one. "Stacking I fell in love with. When Tim brought that in, I was like, 'Let's do this game! This is fantastic!'," he said. The game was later moved to THQ's "Kids, Family, and Casual" department (like Costume Quest), though Bilson's desire to publish more Double Fine games clearly hasn't diminished. He reiterated that, currently, his studio only has a two-game contract with Double Fine: the aforementioned Costume Quest and Stacking. "There's a few more that I've identified, but I haven't made those deals yet," Bilson told us. He then paused before adding, "We've gotta get some hits rolling so I have more money to spend, to be honest with you." And between Homefront, Red Faction: Armageddon and Stacking, there's ample opportunity for that money to be made in the first quarter of 2011.
THQ and Mattel enter game deal, includes Masters of the Universe rights
THQ will target kids with a new multi-year, multiplatform "alliance" with Mattel -- that's for sure. What we're not so sure about is whether those targets are intended to be kids of the 80s or their kids of today. A news announcement reads like a who's who of garage-sale name drops: Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Masters of the Universe, and even Polly Pocket (who's apparently still going strong these days). While the deal with Mattel encompasses games that could appear on any platform imaginable, THQ did specifically note the potential in re-introducing the toy maker's brands through the uDraw GameTablet for Wii. "As we have shown with the combination of uDraw and Pictionary, there is enormous potential for the strategic relationship between THQ and Mattel," said Martin Good, executive veep of THQ's Kids, Family and Casual Games division. The brilliant part about all this is that when you hand over THQ's Tablet and a copy of the He-Man: By the Power of Grayscale drawing game to the GameStop clerk, you simply say, "It's for my kid" -- and he sort of has to believe you. [Image source: Madman Entertainment; credit: Mattel]
THQ uDraw GameTablet 'doing very well,' software lined up through 2012
As Kinect and Move continue to make headlines as the season's hottest hardware, THQ is quietly enjoying the apparent success of its uDraw GameTablet, which launched November 14 for Wii. Early indications from the company suggest the kid-targeted device is selling well at retail (for around $70), as one tongue-in-cheek tweet from VP Danny Bilson hinted. Without sharing specific sales figures, Wayne Cline, director of product development for THQ's Kids, Family and Casual division, got a bit more specific about uDraw's performance. "Our early reports are looking very promising, and I know we're doing very well at Walmart, Best Buy and Toys R Us -- outlets like that," he told Joystiq. "And we're getting really good first-look feedback from a lot of things like parenting magazines and such. It's looking very positive." But how long will that last? %Gallery-99627%
Costume Quest crusades to Xbox Live, PSN on Oct. 20 for $15
Double Fine's first downloadable title, Costume Quest, is set to bring out your inner child on Xbox Live and PSN on October 20, Game Informer reports. The action RPG -- which is the brainchild of lead animator Tasha Harris -- will be published under THQ's new "Kids, Family, Casual Games division" for $15 and tasks players with finding their lost sibling on Halloween night. [Thanks, Tyler C]
