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Daily iPhone App: Fling a Thing
Big Blue Bubble is the developer behind the Burn the Rope game that we liked a while back. They're back on the App Store with the strange but fun Fling a Thing. In this one, you control a little creature (which is actually a little too close to a bug for me to really like it, but we got along anyway) with a sucker on one end, so that you can stretch him back and fling him up into the upper part of the screen. There, you'll find items and bubbles to collect, and the game itself is a distance title, where you try to make your way up through various sets of stages while trying to do the best you can with the limited number of shots you're given. The mechanic itself isn't all that original, but the game is really well polished, and the difficulty curve is very nicely tuned. Early on, the game seems pretty simple and easy, but as you go up the ladder, more and more items and complexity appear, and eventually the game starts getting the better of you. It's fun, and while the game isn't quite as tight as it could be (there's a "feeding" mechanic for your creatures that I didn't understand at all), what's there is entertaining enough. Fling a Thing is available for a buck on the App Store. It's a simple but colorful palate cleanser of a game.
Burn the Rope HD starting fires on iPad today
Not to be confused with You Have to Burn the Rope and Cut the Rope, Big Blue Bubble's Burn the Rope is available on iPad today in a spiffy new HD version. It'll set wannabe fire-starters back $4.99 and will sport 116 missions, full Game Center support, new Bug-Blasting bonus rounds and an additional Lights Out! mode. %Gallery-119314%
Hands-on: Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (DS)
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is based on a fantasy gamebook of the same name -- essentially Dungeons & Dragons crossed with Choose Your Own Adventure. In my case, the story I managed to weave for myself is the epic tale of an adventurer who wanders into a cave and is swiftly murdered by dwarves. %Gallery-69535%
First look in first-person: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
click to Firetop Mountain-sizeAspyr kindly sent us some exclusive screens and artwork for Big Blue Bubble's Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the action-RPG based on the classic roleplaying book. Looking over the screenshots, we get a very mid-'90s PC RPG vibe, which is totally cool with us. Stuff like Etrian Odyssey and The Dark Spire satisfies our nostalgia for even older first-person role-playing, but these high-detail 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds hit a different era of nostalgia. Also in the gallery, two panoramic pieces of environment concept art like the "Dwarven Room" above. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is expected to reach the Fortress of Retail this holiday season.%Gallery-69535%
Warlock of Firetop Mountain dev: 'big guys' not interested in DS-exclusive games
Big Blue Bubble had difficulty finding a publisher for The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, its newly announced DS adaptation of the Fighting Fantasy book series, before finally discovering Aspyr Media. Damir Slogar, the developer's CEO, told CVG (who also has the first screens of the game) that other publishers expressed a lack of interest in the game based on its platform."Everyone we showed the game loved it but the 'big guys' like EA, Ubi or Activision were not interested in DS only titles," Slogar said. That attitude is no surprise from the massively multiplatform EA and Activision, but it's unusual coming from Ubisoft, which has the DS-exclusive COP: The Recruit on the way and has made a pile of money from the infamous, primarily DS-based Petz and Imagine lines.
Big Blue Bubble developing Warlock of Firetop Mountain for DS
Canadian developer Big Blue Bubble is working on an action RPG for the DS named "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain." Sound familiar? Some of you may recognize it as the first book in Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy book series -- portable gaming for the pre-Gameboy crowd. This game, based on the book, will be published by Aspyr Media and will release this holiday season.Jackson and Livingstone have both been involved with the project, helping Big Blue Bubble nail the look and feel of the Fighting Fantasy universe. While the last Fighting Fantasy book to be made into a video game, Deathtrap Dungeon, wasn't particular successful -- or good -- Warlock of Firetop Mountain looks to remain much more faithful to the book. Hey, games industry. You know what else would make a good transition from book to game? The Lone Wolf series. You should get on that.
VC Friday: Tetris Party drops in PAL regions
A port of casual PC title Home Sweet Home (succumb to your IKEA nesting instinct) and The Incredible Maze (succumb to possibly the worst game on WiiWare) would struggle to get noticed in most weeks, but on the day Tetris Party finally lands in Europe and Australia? Poor things don't stand a chance, cos' there ain't no party like a Tetris Party! Tetris Party -- WiiWare -- 1200 Nintendo Points Home Sweet Home -- WiiWare -- 1000 Nintendo Points The Incredible Maze -- WiiWare -- 500 Nintendo Points %Gallery-18122%
Hockey Allstar Shootout skating onto WiiWare
Big Blue Bubble, developer of Home Sweet Home, has announced a new WiiWare game that is a bit more stereotypically dude-oriented than the home-design game. Specifically, Canadian-dude-oriented. Hockey Allstar Shootout is a hockey game in which players use the Wiimote as a hockey stick in three game variants.Rather than a full hockey game, Shootout, as the title implies, focuses on hitting pucks at targets or toward goalies. There's also a Power Shot Challenge, in which you are judged on the size of the hole in your TV how hard you hit the puck. Sounds like a good time -- we enjoy knocking stuff into other stuff now and then.[Via press release]
Casual decorating game Home Sweet Home coming to WiiWare
Interior design hopefuls looking for a way to live out their future profession of choice from the comfort of their living room will soon get their wish, albeit vicariously through WiiWare, as casual pub Big Blue Bubble has confirmed plans to release Home Sweet Home over the download service. The game, which is currently available on for the PC, offers more or less the experience you'd expect from a casual game built around home decorating, though we imagine the Wii version will include a great deal more waggle and wrist-twisting antics. Just try not to get carpal tunnel while hanging the dining room drapes.
Our House gets competition from Home Sweet Home
Somehow, the Wii is now in the position of being the game system with two games about designing and building houses -- not including MySims or the inevitable Animal Crossing. We're quite sure that when Majesco announced Our House, they'd be comfortably alone in a genre of their very own.Home Sweet Home is a WiiWare game from BigBlueBubble based on a casual PC title of the same name (and the same gameplay!) Rather than home-building, Home Sweet Home focuses on interior design and renovation, casting the player as a professional decorator. You'll talk to your clients about their needs, and then direct a team to do the appropriate building and decorating.In addition to the 'home-design' genre, Home Sweet Home also joins Our House in the category of games whose titles remind us of songs. Enjoy some Mötley Crüe! It's Crüesday.%Gallery-20603%[Via press release]
