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Sega Australia boss shows interest in acquiring ex-THQ talent down under
Two days ago, THQ announced it's realigning its resources, shutting down two of its Australia-based studios: the Melbourne-based Blue Tongue Entertainment and the Brisbane-based THQ Studio Australia. Today, Sega Studios Australia's head honcho, Marcus Fielding, has shown interest in THQ's dismissed devs. Fielding told MCV that Sega is looking to "explore our short term hiring strategy to reflect the sudden influx of talent in Australia." He added that he hopes to "announce the potential for taking on more staff soon." Sega Studios Australia is currently the largest video game development studio in Brisbane, and is busy working on London 2012 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC platforms. Over the last several years, Australia has lost a handful of Brisbane-based studios including Pandemic Australia, Auran, and most of Krome.
THQ hints at de Blob getting de sequel treatment
You know, sometime in de future. In response to solid sales enjoyed by its squishy, Wii roll-playing game, publisher THQ has hinted that de Blob may be changing status from quirky once-off to lovable franchise. "We're pleased with de Blob's performance worldwide," a THQ representative recently told IGN. "It's a great intellectual property and you can tell your readers to expect to see more of de Blob in the future." According to IGN and data compiled by the NPD group, de Blob had sold 230,000 copies by the end of 2008 in the US alone -- not exactly a colossal smash hit, but certainly a happy end to a humble beginning.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: De Blob and Force Unleashed for iPhone
With the App Store open for business, games are finally headed to Apple's iPhone, and the unit's multitouch interface, accelerometer, and built-in mic and speaker make it perfect for gaming. THQ Wireless is one of the many companies getting ready to try and cash in on the first generation of the App Store -- after making games for a lot of other mobile devices, Director of Global Production Brad Pitser is excited about finally releasing software for the iPhone. Joystiq got to play two different games in THQ's demo at E3. De Blob is a handheld adaptation of the Wii game, and uses the accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod touch to do a little light platform puzzling. And Force Unleashed attempts to recreate the upcoming Star Wars action title, by using a touchscreen gesture system to try and make you feel like a Jedi. impressions of both are after the break.
de Blob gets delightful new images
Some ripe, juicy screens from THQ's de Blob are available for you to gnaw on, providing us with further reason to need this game. And, hey, even though Joystiq didn't find the game to be all that great, we're still hopeful that it will be the fun experience we've been expecting it to be. If the single-player bombs, there's always the multiplayer, right? Check out the new images in our gallery below. %Gallery-17709%
Joystiq hands-on: De Blob
THQ recently touted its original Wii games, saying that the company is creating titles especially for that platform, and pushing multi-platform, "next-generation" games on the PS3 and 360. de Blob is one of the first of these Wii-only games, although its origins go back to a student, PC project. Still, de Blob's strange style matches the Wii. In this cute game, players splatter color over a whitewashed world. That's mostly it, all of the buildings, roads, trees, and other objects are blank, and its up to you to colorize the surroundings. The analog stick steers the blob character, while flicks with the Wiimote jump or perform other actions. The D-pad can change the camera angle, but it usually stayed in a clear position when I recently played. As I rolled and bounced around the world, the blob trailed his current color. If I touched a building while red, the splotch would spread over the entire structure. Eventually I'd run out of paint, or if I fell into water, it washed away. So I'd find another paint bucket, bop it, and add more color. Most of the levels seem like a race to color the fastest, although a two-player match-up adds a little more depth. de Blob looks like a cuddly Wii game, but it didn't hook me like Katamari. I think certain Wii owners will enjoy it, but the novelty didn't last long on me. %Gallery-1970%
de Layed
Due to lower-than-expected ratings and sales performance of their racing games Stuntman: Ignition and Juiced: Hot Import Nights, THQ has decided to delay some of their upcoming games into the next fiscal year, which starts on April 1st. This includes de Blob, the former Utrecht School of the Arts student project, which is being delayed in order to put more work in. According to THQ CEO Brian Ferrell, the company is now treating de Blob as something of a flagship product, describing it as "less of a pick up title, and more of a franchise." Ferrell said that the extra time will be used to make the game "look more like a Nintendo-level Wii product." We are more than impressed with THQ's commitment to this unique title, and we wish more companies would take this kind of time with their ports. Strangely, it seems to be the games based on PC freeware that are getting the most care in their Wiimakes.
Fresh screens for de Blob
We're going to cut to the chase here. If you're looking for screens for de Blob, the IGF student game finalist that THQ picked up to publish, then we've got you covered. If you're not searching for some screens, then this might not be the post for you. But hey, that doesn't mean you can't stick around! We've got video for the game here, and we're sure if you gave the game a chance, you might grow to like it. Heck, the thing even got nominated for an award at E3 for crying out loud!
Wii games pepper nomination list for E3 awards
The Game Critics Association has released their list of nominations for the best of E3, and Nintendo is all over the place -- particularly with Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit. The DS may have been spurned for anything other than the handheld category, but the Wii sure seems to be holding its own against the 360 and PS3. Unfortunately, however, none of the Wii titles made it into the nominations for Best of Show. We'll skip over multiplatform titles like Guitar Hero III, but Wii games showed up in several categories: Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game (Wii Fit, Zack & Wiki) Best Fighting Game (WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2008) Best Action/Adventure Game (Super Mario Galaxy) Best Action Game (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) Best Hardware (Balance Board, Zapper) Best Console Game (Super Mario Galaxy) Best Original Game (Wii Fit, de Blob) An interesting mix of games -- some expected, some surprises. The winners will be announced next Tuesday. Think a few Wii games will pull out wins?
Friday video: Blob-style
All new game announcements should come complete with video, just so you know what to expect. Since THQ has announced de Blob, we've uncovered this handy video that shows off the bouncing blobs. The best part? The game is apparently filled with praise. We always love it when a game tells us we're brilliant because we can manage to bounce off a wall. We just wish someone would do that in real life, considering that we often manage to bounce off walls there, too.
De Blob confirmed for Wii, also coming to DS
A German gaming magazine recently revealed the student project De Blob would make its way to the Wii courtesy of THQ. Today the official announcement was released pegging a February/March 2008 release date for the title along with the surprising bit of news: De Blob will also be released for the DS. This time around you'll paint the town trying to restore color that an evil corporation drained from the buildings and scenery. The PC demo is available as a free download to give you a taste of the wackiness to come.
THQ announces de Blob
THQ has brought forth their intention to publish a new game for the Wii, titled de Blob. The game, which will be developed by Blue Tongue and Helixe, was a IGF student game finalist and falls into the action puzzle category. de Blob tasks players with spreading color, so that they may "liberate an alien city from the evil, monochromatic I.N.K.T. Corporation." de Blob is currently slated for a February 2008 release.
German magazine reveals new THQ games to All Humans
A game magazine called Maniac has some exclusive screens and info from THQ about one new franchise and one old one, both headed to the Wii. De Blob is a Wii exclusive about a blob (obviously) that, by rolling around in paint then rolling around on stuff, adds color to a dull environment. It seems to be based on an indie PC game called The Blob. Destroy All Humans 3, also coming to PS2, PSP, 360, and PS3 is about destroying all humans, which shamefully didn't get done the first two times. We guess Pandemic changed their minds about the Wii.
Cute gets serious with De Blob
Serious games are all the rage at GDC this year and nothing could possibly be more serious than an adorable jelly-thing lighting up the town. Found at the Student Showcase area of the expo floor, De Blob began life as a project to show what the station region of Utrecht, Netherlands, could look like 10 years from now. Taking their simulation and tossing in a few simple mechanics, De Blob plays like a cross between Katamari Damacy and Mario Paint. Although it's more of a sandbox title than anything, there are still a few objectives to be found while rolling about the virtual recreation of Utecht. The most prominent of which being the colorization of the city, done by swallowing up tiny, color coded people and slamming headlong into any and all objects. There are also hidden coins to be found that can be as hard to find as they are hard to reach. You too can check out De Blob in both English and Dutch at their GameDev site.
