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Microsoft cancels 'Fable Legends' and closes Lionhead
Fable Legends has officially been canned and developer Lionhead Studios will be shut down, Microsoft announced in a blog post this morning. Fable Legends was poised to be a free, multiplayer-focused, fantasy-action game -- and a fairly dramatic departure from previous installments in the series. Microsoft announced Fable Legends in 2013 and it was supposed to launch in late 2015, though in December it was delayed into 2016. Lionhead is based in the United Kingdom and it's responsible for franchises such as Black & White and (of course) Fable. Famed game designer Peter Molyneux founded Lionhead in 1997 and led it for more than a decade, even once Microsoft acquired the studio in 2006. Molyneux left in 2012 after finishing Fable: The Journey.
Max and the Magic Marker dev acquired by Microsoft
Microsoft has just acquired Press Play, developer of the multiplatformer Max & the Magic Marker. MS's Phil Spencer revealed the news during a pre-E3 discussion on Spike (which you can actually watch on Joystiq!) calling the developer the latest addition to Microsoft Studios.
Indie Royale unveils four fancy games in the New Year's Bundle
Indie Royale has lifted the beautiful silver lid from its New Year's Bundle games -- Nuclear Dawn, Fractal, Max & the Magic Marker and Super Crossfire, the last of which is marked as an Indie Royale exclusive. The New Year's Bundle was released as a mystery earlier this week and was available for blind pre-order at $3.99, with a free copy of George & Jonathan's chiptune album, "Beautiful Lifestyle," for faithful early buyers. Indie Royale bundles increase in price as the sale continues, but paying more than the minimum knocks that price down and gets you a free copy of George & Jonathan's chiptune goodness to boot. There are just under five days left to snag the Indie Royale New Year's Eve Bundle -- and don't judge it for celebrating the new year one week late. We know some of you are still feeling the annual effects of the new year, too.
PSN Tuesday: Hydrophobia, DC Universe Online F2P, more PS2 games
Dark Energy Digital decants Hydrophobia Prophecy onto PSN this week -- free for Plus members, $10 for everyone else. In other format-change news, the multiplatform side-scroller Max & The Magic Marker comes to PS3, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe goes downloadable, and DC Universe Online officially becomes free-to-play. Also enjoying a change of hardware as of this week: three new PS2 classics -- Raiden III, BloodRayne, and Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland; and two more PSOne imports. Check the PlayStation Blog for a more exhaustive list of this week's PS3 and PSP downloads.
Max and the Magic Marker coming to PSN this fall with Move support
Delightful platformer Max and the Magic Marker is making its way to PSN, decked out in a full 1080p overhaul. Outside of the injection of so many high-def Ps, this latest port will also support the PlayStation Move. It only seems natural in a game about drawin' stuff. Max and the Magic Marker is currently slated to launch sometime this fall for $9.99 on US PSN and €9,99 in Europe. There will be a total of 58 different levels to doodle your way through, including unlockable challenges, secrets and rewards. Feel free to hit up the gallery below for some screens -- just try not to doodle all over them. Unlike the game, you can't really erase stuff from your computer monitor. %Gallery-133503%
Max & the Magic Marker DS version penciled in for this holiday
Max & the Magic Marker, Press Play's indie platformer in which players control both a young boy and a free-floating marker that can draw platforms and objects, is headed to the DS after releases on WiiWare, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Windows Phone 7. Basically, if it's a game platform with some kind of pointing device, this game will eventually end up there. The DS version will be released as a retail cartridge in North America "Holiday 2011". The port is being published by Easy Interactive, who also re-released the WiiWare game as a Wii disc in Europe.
TUAW's Daily App: Max and the Magic Marker
Max and the Magic Marker is a really incredible game. It's won awards everywhere, and now it's available from EA on iOS for iPhone and iPad. Essentially, the game is a platformer with Max having to navigate the weird game world by moving and jumping around. But the twist is he also has a magic marker that can be used to draw real-world objects that he can physically interact with. When you combine Max's platforming with the physics-based items created by the Magic Marker, things can get pretty wild. It's a lot of fun, and the puzzles included in the game are limited only by your creativity. Max and the Magic Marker originally came out on Nintendo's WiiWare platform, but it's available on iOS now with full Retina Display support across all 58 levels. There's no Game Center integration, which is a disappointment, especially from EA, but considering that it's basically a solo affair, it's not a deal breaker. Max and the Magic Marker is US$1.99 on the iPhone (and note that it only works with the 3GS and up) or $4.99 on the iPad.
Max & the Magic Marker draws new life on iPhone, iPad
Max & the Magic Marker sales probably dried up on WiiWare long ago, but, with the help of EA Mobile, Demark-based indie Press Play has uncapped its puzzle-platformer for use on iOS devices. Both an iPhone and iPad version are now available on the App Store.
NintendoWare Weekly: Chick Chick Boom, Around the World
The Flashy-looking Chick Chick Boom headlines this week's WiiWare releases, as a pair of Neo Geo titles comes to Virtual Console. On DSiWare, there's a virtual slots game and the sequel to DodoGo! (the exclamation being part of the game title). Check out the full breakdown of digital Wii and DSi releases for the week after the break. %Gallery-104897%
Game + Music Bundle offers three 'pay what you want' indie deals for charity
'Tis the season, as they say, for paying whatever you want to both support charities and get some great indie downloads. You've probably already seen the Humble Indie Bundle 2, and now a group named YAWMA is offering a deal on both indie games and music with the Giving Game + Music Bundle. Paying whatever you want will grant you access to seven days of various bundles, featuring one indie CD and one indie game at a time. Indie musicians like Girl Talk, Black Moth Super Rainbow and Twin Sister are teamed up with indie games like Beat Hazard, Multiwinia and Max and the Magic Marker for a pair of downloads each over the seven days, and there's one special secret bundle coming up on day 7. Yes, you need to buy each bundle separately, but it's pay what you want, and 25% of the profits for each day's sales will even go to charities like Child's Play and Save the Music. To take advantage of the deal, head on over and hit the "PWYW" button right now. Who knows, not only do you get some sweet tunes, but it might earn you some much-needed karma before Santa comes down the chimney. Check out a video after the break to learn more.
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Darius Twin, Max & the Magic Marker
With only one download per service, Japan's Wii and DSi Shops this week resemble the kind of updates we're used to in North America. At least the content is mostly good. Darius Twin, the SNES debut of Taito's horizontal shmup series, provides multiplayer shooting against a variety of giant robotic sea creatures. And Rakugaki Hero is the World Game Parade–localized Max & the Magic Marker. As for, Let's Make a Zoo on DSiWare, it was released elsewhere as Zoo Frenzy. It's all the fun of managing a fake zoo! The full list of weekly releases follows: Darius Twin (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Rakugaki Hero (WiiWare, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Let's Make a Zoo (DSiWare, 1 player, 800 DSi Points)
NintendoWare Weekly: Final Fantasy II, Max & the Magic Marker
Sure, you could play Final Fantasy XIII on PS3 and Xbox 360 this week, but you could also buy a Final Fantasy game whose quality isn't under any debate -- partly because it's really good, and partly because Final Fantasy II for SNES was released in 1991 and the debate has pretty much elapsed by now. Or you could bypass that whole Final Fantasy thing and play a cute game about a kid and his amazing drawing ability. %Gallery-86446%
Marvelous licenses Western WiiWare games for Japan
Marvelous Entertainment, faced with low sales and financial trouble, is turning to a relatively low-cost source of new material to publish: Western WiiWare games. The publisher just started a new label, World Game Parade, to release localized Japanese versions of some WiiWare games originally developed and published outside of Japan. In March, World Game Parade will release Zombie in Wonderland (called Zombie Panic in Wonderland outside of Japan) and Bit Man!! (Bplus's Bit Boy!!). Katamuki Spirits (Equilibrio) and Rakugaki Hero (Max & the Magic Marker) will follow in April. WiiWare sales figures aren't normally released, so we may have to wait until Marvelous's next earnings report to determine the effectiveness of the plan. We can confirm right now that the logo is adorable. [Via Andriasang]
Max & the Magic Marker scribbles down March US WiiWare release
Danish developer Press Play would like to draw everyone's attention to Max & the Magic Marker's US release on WiiWare this March. The game released late last month on European WiiWare for 1,000 Wii Points. M&TMM is currently available in the US, directly from Press Play and digital distributors, for PC and Mac at a suggested price of $20. With a WiiWare demo for the game uncertain, we suggest you try it over on the official website. We're also drawing a direct link to some gameplay videos here. %Gallery-83833%
Max and the Magic Marker video for those waiting in North America
Allow us to draw your attention to some video and images of Max & The Magic Marker, which is currently available in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. For those of us patiently waiting for the game in North America, the internets have graced us with some video of the title, so we can see if it's worth drawing 1,000 Wii Points from our accounts when it eventually releases. For those who just can't wait to try out Harold and the Purple Crayon ... we mean, Max and the Magic Marker, they should feel free to try the demo on the official website. Check out video of the game after the break. %Gallery-83833% [Via Nintendaan]
European Nintendo downloads: Max and the Magic Marker, Electroplankton
As we predicted (based on having been told exactly what to predict), Max and the Magic Marker is available on WiiWare in Europe today. Those of you with doodling on the brain now have an adventure waiting for you on the Wii Shop Channel! Those of you with simulated historical conflict resolution in mind will also have something to do: shoot at video clips in Fast Draw Showdown. Additionally, on DSiWare, Nintendo continues to dole out single Electroplankton instruments. The full list of release for the week follows: Fast Draw Showdown (WiiWare, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Max and the Magic Marker (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points) Electroplankton: Trapy DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Electroplankton: Nanocarp (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
Max & the Magic Marker Euro release date highlighted
With releases like Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth, and The Magic Obelisk, WiiWare has been pretty great lately. Press Play has announced that another promising-looking title will be joining those games on the service soon -- and unlike those two, it's hitting PAL territories first. According to the Facebook page for Max & The Magic Marker, a side-scroller that allows the player to interact with the world by drawing on the screen with the Wiimote pointer, will be available for download in Europe on January 22, with worldwide releases following soon after. While Press Play didn't divulge the North American release date specifically, we're pleased to have some news. [Via GoNintendo]
Max and the Magic Marker scribbles down a new trailer
It's amazing that it took this long for a game like Max and the Magic Marker to show up on the Wii, though we're definitely looking forward to trying out this WiiWare title at some point, hopefully before it releases this fall. Like we've said before, it looks like the interactive version of Harold and the Purple Crayon.We know Scribblenauts is for fans of language, so we hope Max will naut disappoint those who like to scribble. Check out the trailer after the break.
Max and the Magic Marker draws our attention
Max and the Magic Marker is one of those titles that walks on the scene with charisma ... now it just needs to back its eraser up with solid gameplay. The first footage of game looks impressive and gives off a Commander Keen meets Duck Amuck surrealism -- with a little bit of Harold and the Purple Crayon.The game is expected this autumn on WiiWare. We've contacted Press Play to find out if it plans on exhibiting at E3 or any time before launch. Check out the video after the break![Via GoNintendo]
