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WayForward developing next TMNT game, Danger of the Ooze
Activision will publish a new game based on the iconic Ninja Turtles brand called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze, the publisher announced today. The game will slot in between seasons two and three of the current Nickelodeon television show and use 3D artwork inspired by the show. It will launch later this year for Xbox 360, PS3 and 3DS. Danger of the Ooze is a side-scrolling action-adventure game that allows players to freely switch between the four turtles to use their unique skill sets at their convenience. The city of New York and alternate world Dimension X are non-linear, so the game encourages "exploration and creative thinking" from players. The developer behind Danger of the Ooze is WayForward, known for games like Contra 4, BloodRayne: Betrayal, the Shantae series, and A Boy and His Blob (Wii). [Image: Activision]
Bloodrayne Betrayal coming to PC next week, Japanese tease was port
Last week's tease by Arc System Works for something BloodRayne related was simply a razz for the Japanese localization of BloodRayne: Betrayal. The "BRCS" from the teaser site stood for BloodRayne: Crimson Slayer, which will be the game's name for the region. The solid action game from WayForward will be available in Japan on May 1 on PS3. In the west, BloodRayne: Betrayal will be available on Steam for PC on April 30 with full controller support. In our review we said Bloodrayne Betrayal has "style, substance and butter-smooth combat."
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero raises $776k in funding campaign [Update]
WayForward's Kickstarter project for platformer Shantae: Half-Genie Hero ended today, raising a total of $776,084. The project's final amount was enough to push it past the developer's $700,000 "Costume Swap" stretch goal, which will offer players three more fully-animated outfits for use in the game. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero has players leaping through side-scrolling levels as series protagonist and belly-dancing genie Shantae, using her has a whip-like weapon and dancing to transform into other creatures. WayForward likens the series to that of Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, as it encourages exploration and puzzle-solving in order to see the adventure through to completion. Half-Genie Hero's journey is separated in chapters, each including new "subplots, friends and foes, a new Transformation to discover, puzzles to solve, hazards to overcome and a Boss to conquer." The game will launch on a number of platforms in August 2014: PS3, Xbox 360, Steam, PS Vita, Vita TV, Wii U and next-gen consoles PS4 and Xbox One. Update: WayForward added an update to its Kickstarter page, noting that it earned $35,878 from PayPal donors, bringing the total amount of funding to $811,962. It plans to keep its PayPal funding open, and pledges through that system remain eligible for the project's reward tiers.
Capcom reveals DuckTales Remastered, developed by WayForward [update]
Capcom is bringing back DuckTales in a new game developed by WayForward Technologies. This is one of the two new games teased by Capcom ahead of the "World of Capcom" panel, along with Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara.The new DuckTales, of course, is inspired by the NES classic, a Mega Man-esque game in which Scrooge McDuck used his cane as both a golf club and a pogo stick. The new version has new hand-drawn sprites, and features original voice work. It's coming to Wii U, PSN, and XBLA for $15.Update: DuckTales Remastered is actually a full remake of the NES game, with new features including a museum and "A MONEY BIN YOU CAN ACTUALLY SWIM IN!" So we've now solved that mystery, and rewritten history to reflect it.
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King soundtrack now on streaming
The entirety of Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!!'s phenomenal pseudo-chiptune power-pop soundtrack is now streaming on D3Publisher's official Soundcloud account, which means that all 83 minutes of Jake Kaufman's exceptional work on the game can now be enjoyed for free.While the majority of the 34 track album is instrumental, some songs (such as Marceline's boss theme and the beginning/ending themes) are fitting vocal tributes to the source material, which is already famous for having catchy, endearing music.There is one small catch, which is that the soundtrack isn't actually for sale or available to download, and therefore must be enjoyed in-browser. This basically ruins our plans to drive around town blasting Party in the Clouds, but we'll take what we can get at this point.
Double Dragon Neon review: Rock me, Amadeus
Developer WayForward Technologies has been able to carve out a niche for itself in the gaming industry through its careful reboots of select series. A Boy and His Blob, Contra 4, BloodRayne: Betrayal and now Double Dragon Neon show the developer's knack for paying respect to the source material, while simultaneously updating it with interesting new gameplay mechanics and systems.Double Dragon Neon is yet another jewel in WayForward's crown, unmistakably a Double Dragon game but with just the right amount of new flavor to make it something distinct, all wrapped in a brilliant '80s motif. Neon, for those who don't know, was so bad to the bone in the '80s.%Gallery-152707%
Konami PAX 2012 gallery megapost: Metal Gear Rising, Castlevania, Silent Hill and more
The ancient game developer's tradition of distributing a massive pile of media assets during a conference is a sacred, time-honored trust that Konami is well aware of, hence the four galleries of brand spankin' new screenshots you see before you.The images represent the latest look at Kojima and Platinum Games' slicing simulator Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, while the three galleries beyond the veil represent the same for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, Silent Hill: Book of Memories and New Little King's Story.%Gallery-164083%
Development timeline: Silent Hill Book of Memories
Last year, we got our first look at Silent Hill: Book of Memories, a PlayStation Vita game that inspires curiosity, to say the least. As a top-down, multiplayer Silent Hill, it's an oddity among horror games and among Silent Hills.We wanted to know more about how this unusual game came to be, so we went to publisher Konami and developer WayForward to get some insight on the development process behind Book of Memories. The two companies responded with a surprisingly detailed development timeline for Silent Hill: Book of Memories, and a wealth of never-before-seen images from throughout the process, including screenshots of a PC demo WayForward put together to convince Konami they were the right team for the job. We've also spoken at length to Konami producer Tomm Hulett and WayForward Director Adam Tierney about the motivations behind the game's design.
Get your punching fists ready with the latest Double Dragon Neon gameplay
Double Dragon Neon is coming, y'all. Who's gonna stop the Lee brothers as they punch and kick everyone on their neverending path to destroy Abobo Corp.? No one, that's who! Okay, we just made up like, all of that story stuff. But still!
Silent Hill HD Collection, Downpour and Book of Memories all coming in March
You know what they say about March: In like a lion, out like a twitchy, messed up sex monster. That is to say that Konami has revealed that Silent Hill HD Collection, Silent Hill: Downpour and Silent Hill: Book of Memories will all be released this March. Breaking it all down, HD Collection will be released on March 6, Downpour on March 13 and the Vita exclusive Book of Memories on March 27. Then again, maybe a March release makes sense, what with the madness and all. Check out some new screens of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 iteration, Silent Hill: Downpour, in the gallery below.%Gallery-144415%
Bloodrayne: Betrayal gets a temporary price cut on PSN
Couldn't bother to shell out $14.99 for WayForward's delightful, 2D action-platformer Bloodrayne: Betrayal? What if we knocked three bucks clean off that price? Well, not us, so much as Sony, who is doing just that for one week on the PlayStation Store.
2012 goes Silent Hill crazy with Book of Memories, HD Collection, and Downpour launching in Q1
Originally slated for Fall 2011, Silent Hill HD Collection is now heading to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 24, 2012. Konami is also putting Silent Hill's first PlayStation Vita outing, Book of Memories, in the handheld's launch window of February 2012 (Vita itself hits retailers on February 22). Rounding out the survival-horror trio of launches, Silent Hill Downpour falls to retail sometime in March. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game was pushed back to the murky "Q1 2012" earlier this month, but it seems that Konami has cleared things up. Here's hoping you're ready for a surprisingly macabre beginning to 2012!
Aliens: Infestation incubates new trailer
WayForward's "Metroidvania-esque" take on the Aliens universe with Infestation has us almost ready to facehug this game on its October 11 launch date -- or join the colonial marines. Where every meal's a banquet, every paycheck a fortune!
New Bloodrayne: Betrayal screens feature improbable weapons
We've seen quite a few lovingly illustrated environments in screens and trailers for Bloodrayne: Betrayal, which means we can assume the titular protagonist does a bit of traveling. Tell us, how does she get around while toting a laser cannon that is bigger than she is? Answer that, science.
Aliens: Infestation is a side-scrolling action game
Aliens: Infestation, the long-gestating xenomorph game for the Nintendo DS, has been rated by the ESRB. The classification board describes the teen-rated title as an action game, in which "players run and jump through side-scrolling levels, they use rifles, pistols, flamethrowers, and explosives to kill enemy soldiers and aliens (i.e., 'xenomorphs')." There are also the obligatory scenes of chest bursting and some "briefly exposed" male buttocks in a locker room. That one's less obligatory, but still edgy. Infestation, which has still not been officially announced by Sega, must be close to exploding out of the company's marketing abdomen by now. After a long period of silence, the game was classified by the Australians in May, with WayForward Technologies (Bloodrayne: Betrayal, A Boy and His Blob) indicated as developer.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories developed by WayForward
We've got another marginal detail about Silent Hill: Book of Memories for you. During an E3 showing of downloadable splatterfest Bloodrayne: Betrayal, WayForward designer and director Sean Velasco briefly discussed the company's expanding slate of games -- which now includes a new Silent Hill game for PlayStation Vita. Velasco didn't divulge much, only describing Book of Memories as a "left-field" part of the prolific developer's upcoming lineup. A "left-field" multiplayer Silent Hill game? Scariest licensed baseball game ever.
'Aliens Infestation' rated down under
Aliens Infestation has been classified by the Australians for publisher Sega and developer WayForward Technologies. The rating makes no mention of platform. Previously, we were aware of WayForward working on a DS companion game to Aliens: Colonial Marines, but there's no clear indication from the classification that Infestation is that game. Sega's experimentation with the xenomorphs has gotten messier than a chest-bursting at dinner, so here's where things currently stand from what we can gather: Gearbox is working on Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Creative Assembly (Total War) is working on some Alien IP, and WayForward is working on Aliens Infestation. An Aliens RPG was canceled back in 2009, even though developer Obsidian felt it had made worthwhile progress.
BloodRayne: Betrayal this summer on XBLA and PSN, courtesy of WayForward
Everyone's favorite (by default) redheaded, Nazi-fighting half-vampire is rising once again, this time with the help of an unlikely ally. Majesco is bringing back its pre-Cooking Mama, pre-casual property Bloodrayne in BloodRayne: Betrayal. The new game is the work of WayForward Technologies, a developer best known for games like A Boy and His Blob, Contra 4, and Shantae, and not really for grimdark games. It's also the developer's first Xbox 360 and PS3 project, due for XBLA and PSN this summer. Betrayal is a 2D side-scroller with "new characters, gruesome environmental puzzles and a full arsenal of lethal weapons including Rayne's signature arm blades" -- and, of course, a "deadly dose of bloodshed."
Preview: Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Despite starring the same character, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and last year's Batman: Arkham Asylum are worlds apart. Rocksteady's game used Unreal technology to realistically render a Grim & Gritty(tm) Gotham in which Batman has to rely on his detective skills and the element of surprise to survive every encounter. The Brave and the Bold, however, is brightly colored and brimming with cartoon flourishes, and stars a Batman who punches thugs with abandon in broad daylight. Sure, you can't silently take a henchman down from a dark corner in The Brave and the Bold, but conversely, I don't recall Arkham Asylum allowing you to team up with Green Lantern Guy Gardner to drop hard-light anvils on the Weather Wizard. %Gallery-95864%
Batman: The Brave, the Bold, and the Trailer
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is as different as a game could be from Batman: Arkham Asylum. That's in keeping with the source material (the intentionally campy Brave and the Bold cartoon currently airing on Cartoon Network) and with the team behind it (A Boy and His Blob developer WayForward). The trailer after the break reveals a 2D, side-scrolling brawler featuring Batman and a rotating cast of sidekicks, including Hawkman, the Blue Beetle, and the beefiest Robin ever. Also, Batman turns into a panther creature for some reason! The cartoon's colorful universe and WayForward's 2D expertise make a pretty good team. The Brave and the Bold will be out on both Wii and DS in September.
