Dementium
Latest
DS releases for the week of October 29th
We're just going to have to get used to seeing these long lists of weekly releases. The lazy -- and cheap! -- days of summer are behind us, and the holidays are just around the corner. That means a number of games will be jockeying for our money over the next few months. It's a bittersweet time. Sure, we'll be doing lots of gaming, but, oh, the lack of money ... it's so tragic. Barbie as The Island Princess Bee Movie Game Ben 10: Protector of Earth Cars Mater-National Dementium: The Ward Dr. Suess: How the Grinch Stole Christmas Garfield Gets Real Neves Ratatouille Food Frenzy Shrek: Ogres and Dronkeys The Simpsons Game Super Collapse 3 For the releases in the rest of the major markets, check the lists after the jump.
Renegade Kid on Dementium and the limits of the DS
Last week, we spoke with Renegade Kid's Creative Director, Jools Watsham, about some of the more general challenges the fledgling developer faced when bringing survival horror to the handheld, and today we'd like to get a little more specific. Good survival horror on a handheld? Sounds like quite an undertaking, and from some of what Watsham told us, a lot of effort went into bringing a traditionally home-based experience to a portable format. From the look of horror to the sound of fear, Renegade Kid had their work cut out for them with Dementium: The Ward.%Gallery-4929%
The many sounds of Dementium
In this latest trailer for Dementium: The Ward, the focus is on the sounds of the game. It follows the same theme as the previous trailers, combining live-action segments with in-game footage. As if we could have any more reason to absolutely need this game, we find ourselves at the point where we'd assassinate a foreign diplomat if it meant getting our hands on this title sooner. Harsh, we know, but how great does this game look?!%Gallery-4929%
Joystiq interview: Dementium's Renegade Kid
You may not recognize the name Renegade Kid, but chances are you're familiar with some of the more than twenty titles this tiny three-person development team in Austin has jointly had a hand in creating, including games such as XS Games' The Red Star, Aspyr's Stubbs the Zombie, and Namco's Sigma Star Saga. Now working as an independent developer under the Gamecock umbrella, Renegade Kid will soon launch its first title this Halloween with Dementium: The Ward, a first-person survival horror game for the Nintendo DS.We recently had a chance to gab some time with two members of Renegade Kid, co-owner and creative director Jools Watsham and fellow co-owner and art director Gregg Hargrove, and we spoke to them about what it's like to work under their Gamecock overlords (did I say overlords? I meant protectors), as well as as just how crazy they must be to attempt a game as ambitious as Dementium on the DS as their freshman effort. Read on.%Gallery-3636%
Renegade Kid talks challenges with Dementium
After Fountainhead's Anna Kang spoke about the "younger audience" the DS commands this week, it's refreshing to see someone taking the opposite position. Jools Watsham, Creative Director at Renegade Kid, the team behind Dementium, has a lot to say about M-rated games on the DS, a system that commands an audience of, well, pretty much everyone. While some companies may be worried about sales numbers before plotting out a game, the good folks at Renegade Kid were more interested in finding ways around those barriers, and Watsham was happy to tell us all about it."When I think about it now, there I was trying to convince publishers to pick up our game while putting up every red flag there is. They must have all thought we were crazy! Our hope was that publishers would think our game was good. And thankfully they did. Gamecock didn't want changes or anything watered down. They just told us to go for it," Watsham said, and we're glad to hear about Gamecock's faith in the new developer. With no other titles behind them and without an established franchise to lean on, as with some of the system's other mature fare, Watsham knew they were going to face challenges with Dementium: The Ward.%Gallery-4929%
Gamepro gets freaked out ten times by Dementium
Genuine horror is a bold objective for a handheld game. It's very hard to create an atmosphere when your material is contained entirely in two tiny screens (and proportionately tiny speakers.) In fact, we'd say that it's even harder to make a handheld horror game than it is to make a good FPS on the DS. Renegade Kid seems to be pulling off both tasks with Dementium, however.This fun, spooky feature from Gamepro outlines some of the scary junk that will jump out at you during the game. It's all screaming this and blood-covered that. We suppose that if you're avoiding spoilers, you may want to skip it, but we think that even if you know something is coming, there's still a good chance it'll give you the jibblies when it does bust through the window.
Dementium 'Rx' video censored and uncensored version
IGN has been running a series of "Director's Diary" regarding the DS' survival-horror game Dementium: The Ward. We're still confused by what's really going on in the series, but the main point is the latest entry is about the video "Rx," a promo for Dementium that allegedly got into trouble with the ESRB. There's a series of email exchanges between the mysterious "Director X" and Mike Wilson of Dementium's publisher Gamecock. Beyond the ESRB issues, apparently Nintendo sent over an email asking, "Well....This one's a little over the top. Can you take out the loss of bodily functions (bladder, bowel and stomach); or, remove the Nintendo DS hardware?"The edited version can be found above. The link for the unedited version can be found after the break along with the rest of the promo videos in the series, which mix in-game footage with live-action. Oh, and before the freakin' Spielbergs get all uppity, the reason it looks "cheap" is because it was apparently done on "3k for 11 movies in 8 weeks or whatever the hell it is" according to "Director X." Beyond these marketing videos, we're keeping an eye on Dementium which releases Halloween because it could do well based on our time with it.
Latest Dementium trailer is kind of disgusting (in a good way)
We're dying to give Dementium: The Ward a proper playthrough. We want to feel the jagged edges of the game cart in our hand and slowly, lovingly place it into the slot of our DS Lite. We want to brave the dark and vanquish the evil within. We want to feel alive.You can check out the NSFW version (see: uncensored) of the trailer here.
Fresh hot craziness in latest Dementium trailer
Mixing in gameplay segments with live-action footage (you know, like they've already been doing), this latest trailer for Dementium: The Ward is a tad bit unsettling. There's lots of blood and creepy women covered in it, shouting and popping up in random places frame after frame. The gameplay, though, looks as good as ever. Seriously, this is one of our most-anticipated titles for the DS to date.How awesome is that whole wheelchair sequence?%Gallery-4929%See also: PAX07 hands-on: Dementium: The Ward
Friday Video: Putting your game face on
We just can't resist these Dementium trailers. They're fresh and different, which definitely grabs our attention, but they seem to demonstrate a great spirit as well -- a blend of comedy, "mature" content, and gameplay that we wish showed up in more trailers and commercials.Though we'll say one thing: if blood ever splashed up from our DS while we were playing a game, we think we'd be asking for a refund. After we stopped uncontrollably freaking out, anyway.
PAX 07 hands-on: Dementium: The Ward
Tiny DS demo stations around Gamecock's Fury booth had demos of Dementium: The Ward available, and I made it a point to try Renegade Kid's horror FPS. The graphics may be simple in terms of polygons, but the game does its best to set a mood, which can be difficult on a handheld!I was immediately impressed with the framerate. I'm not a frame-counting expert, but the game ran perfectly steadily at what looked like 60 FPS. The simple geometry of the game's environments and enemies is masked by the lighting effects (you can really only see about five feet in front of you without a flashlight) and a dirtying effect around the periphery of the screen, which is normally black but turns red when you take a hit. These work similarly to the noise and fog effects in Silent Hill to create a mood while hiding technical limitations. Taking inspiration from Silent Hill is generally smart, and this isn't the only example of such influence.
Friday Video: Bloodletting and cockroaches
While everyone else in the room was bemoaning the presence of cockroaches in this chilling new trailer for Dementium: The Ward, this blogger was simply stunned by the music. The last thing we expected to hear was Concrete Blonde's "Bloodletting" from the album of the same name, and yet it was strangely fitting despite the lack of singer Johnette Napolitano's amazing vocals. It's quite a slick little trailer; while light on the gameplay footage (which is okay! we've seen it), the video is heavy on mood, and we think it will definitely get you excited about spending time in The Ward.And we ain't lying when we tell you that it's a pretty creepy trailer -- definitely a step up on the perversity scale for DS games. See for yourself after the break.
Dementium: The Ward gets psycho on your DS this Halloween
Survival horror FPS, Dementium: The Ward, received an official release date today of ... (cue up haunting music) Halloween. That's Oct. 31 in case you just can't be bothered to remember. The Gamecock published Dementium is a little independent title by Renegade Kid which impressed us at E3 because of its intuitive design and solid feel. Granted, it's on the Nintendo DS, so we don't have many survival horror FPS' to compare it to, but it was fun and almost made us miss our next appointment.Dementium: The Ward is a mature rated game and uses the leeway that rating gives it. We're definitely looking forward to more DS titles from Renegade Kid. They seem to know what they're doing, getting Dementium together in about a year from scratch. With any luck, gamers will find Dementium and we can see more solid off-the-beaten-path DS titles from the company.[Via Press Release]%Gallery-3636%
Dementium set to scare up sales on Halloween
The survival horror title from Gamecock and new developer Renegade Kid, Dementium: The Ward, is set for release on Halloween. Spooky! We just hope the game follows up. From the impressions and this spiffy boxart, however, it looks like we may be nightsticking monsters while mowing through the holiday haul this year. If there's two things the DS needs more of, it's violence and horror. The website has been updated with the new date, which was confirmed via press release this morning.
Gamecock's E3 video roundup
Most people who spent time at the Hotel California with independent publisher Gamecock walked away with two major realizations. Gamecock actually figured out how to do this newly formatted E3 absolutely right, even though they technically weren't part of it. The Hotel California was an open door oasis with developers showing their games in casual living rooms as a breeze from the Pacific kept things cool -- the smell of BBQ also helped (which we didn't actually get to eat in all the running around). The other realization, the more important one, is that the games didn't look half bad -- actually, in many cases, they impressed us more than non-indie games we saw. Yes, the Gamecock name still confuses people and the two pseudo-NSFW videos we have after the break add to the things that turn some people off to the company's marketing -- but once those people understand Gamecock doesn't care, it'll start to roll off their backs and make more sense. As long as their games featured in the video above are fun and sell well, that's probably the only thing Gamecock really does care about. We're definitely curious to see how their first published titles like Dementium: The Ward and Fury, which goes into beta very soon, do at retail. And we really want more info on Pandora Legendary: The Box as soon as possible.
All-new video from Dementium: The Ward
At this point, we're about ready to offer Gamecock our firstborn child, because they are really rolling out the hotness for the DS. On the tails of recent good impressions of the upcoming Dementium: The Ward comes this new trailer, which features -- are you ready? -- nightstick beatdowns. Even if the rest of the game looked awful, we might sign up just for that. Of course, now we fully expect Renegade Kid's second DS game to be Touch! Police Brutality or something along those lines.Did we mention we have an unhealthy appreciation for video game violence? Just go watch the trailer already. %Gallery-4929%
DS Daily: On shooters
Shooters are rare on the DS, but not unheard of, though they often debut to mixed reactions. Metroid Prime Hunters is one of the system's most polarizing titles, and the same seems true of the more recent Touch the Dead. Yesterday's impressions of Dementium: The Ward seemed promising, and of course, IGN's Matt Casamassina continues to insist that someday, we're going to see Halo DS, maybe, kinda, probably -- not really. But do shooters really belong on the system? The touchscreen and other controls manage to do a lot of things really well, including some things that are really off the wall, such as acting as a full-fledged guitar. But is the DS suited to shooters? Considering the smaller screen size, some system limitations, and the unique control system, we can't help but wonder if we really need shooters, or if they're suited to the system.Don't get us wrong -- we love a good FPS. But that doesn't mean we necessarily have to have one on every available system, so we think it's a fair question. On the other hand, is there any reason not to have any FPS titles on the DS? Where do you stand?
Good news from The Ward
Can there ever be good news from the insane asylum? Only if it's coupled with news of a worthwhile gaming experience, and it looks like that just might be the case with Renegade Kid's Dementium: The Ward. Our evil masters at Joystiq got a little facetime with the shooter at E3, and they only had good things to say on the subject. The controls are smooth, says Alexander Silwinski, and certainly reminiscent of Metroid Prime Hunters, but since Dementium's pacing is a little slower, the game is easier to handle. Item selection is apparently a breeze, with the exception of a shortcut to the oft-needed flashlight, and puzzles make sense. The only downside is that the game apparently only takes about seven hours to complete, but maybe the story -- on which we have very few details at this time -- will make up for it.%Gallery-4929%
Joystiq hands-on: Dementium: The Ward
Pleasant surprises end up being more than pleasant because pleasant surprises are so few and far between -- Dementium: The Ward is a pleasant surprise. The first-person survival horror game for the Nintendo DS does the best it can with the hardware's technology and could, at a minimum, be a serious break-out sleeper hit. When you find out Renegade Kid will have finished this game with a development cycle of 11 months, with only three internal guys and five external guys working on it, you'll be surprised. The reason they could pull this off is because these developers are all veterans of the N64 and were "firing on all cylinders out of discipline" knowing how to work with the development software, for them the trick was how to incorporate the stylus, but it all came out just fine.The most shocking thing you'll notice about Dementium is how smooth it runs. It uses the Metroid Prime Hunters control scheme, but because the pacing is slower than MPH, the concept feels better. Left hand stays on the control pad with one finger on the left bumper for action, right hand uses stylus on the bottom screen. The top screen is uncluttered standard FPS fare. The bottom screen has a heart monitor which gives a standard thud-thud when you are at normal health and gets more rapid as you take damage. Currently the heart beat can't be turned down or silenced, the developers said that will put that option into the final game -- listening to a heart beat for that long would drive you Edgar Allen Poe telltale crazy. There is a simple action button when you need to open doors (loading times are nil) and an easily accessible notepad when you need to remember codes or keep notes to figure out puzzles. Items are easily selected by tapping them on an inventory tray which runs along the bottom of the screen. The only thing is that the flashlight is so important to seeing more than a few feet in front of you that a quick hotkey on the bottom menu would be nice -- especially because you can't use the flashlight as a melee weapon (hello Doom 3 irritation all over again). The map is great showing you where you've been and which doors are locked and unlocked. The game takes approximately 7 hours to complete, so figure a few extra hours if you take your time. Puzzles include stuff like finding a code written in blood that you'll need to input into a door and searching around a room for notes to play on a toy piano. Dementium looks like it'll be a great unflinching M rated addition to the DS library. The story is still under wraps, but if the story is as tight as the controls, this'll be a winner for the independent games movement.%Gallery-3636%
Full trailer for Dementium: The Ward
We've seen the tiniest of teasers, but now we can enjoy the full trailer for the upcoming title Dementium: The Ward. From this short video, the debut from developer Renegade Kid looks a little like the recent Touch the Dead, but with a few more character models. And should we be surprised? The games have a similar basic premise -- guy awakens in hospital and finds he must fight for his life -- but Dementium is more than just a shooter ... and it seems to have a few more character models to boot. Publisher Gamecock has really been all over the DS lately, and from the looks of these releases, we hope they decide to stay.
