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Tron: Evolution release date and Collector's Edition revealed
Disney seems to have gotten the message that you guys like collector's editions. With toys in them. One day after the reveal of the Epic Mickey Collector's Edition, Disney Interactive has announced the Collector's Edition release of Tron: Evolution for PS3 and Xbox 360. The package contains the game (obviously), along with a toy model Light Cycle by Sideshow Collectibles and a display case with a drawer for the game -- all for $130. We spent too long thinking about this and realized that since "real" light cycles are only supposed to exist in a virtual computer world, these toys are more tangible than the genuine article! Disney has also announced a December 7 release date for the Collector's Edition and, of course, all other versions of Tron: Evolution game, including those for Wii, PSP, DS and PC. %Gallery-100718%
Epic Mickey Collector's Edition will cover your belongings in paint
Does your plain white Wii look like a blank canvas in your mind's eye, just waiting to be mussed up by a few splashes of darkish blue paint? Your bizarre outlook can be brought to life by purchasing the Epic Mickey Collector's Edition, which was recently revealed by Toys 'R Us' online storefront. The $69.99 bundle includes everything seen in the image above: A copy of the game, a pair of skins for the Wii, a faceplate for your Wiimote, a DVD containing behind-the-scenes videos and other marketing materials, some special packaging and a five-inch vinyl figurine modeled after the game's falsetto protagonist. See, here we would have settled for a 25 cent paintbrush and a set of Crayola watercolors. Thanks for not taking the easy way out, Disney!
Black Rock Studio opening its doors to Disney XD viewers
As part of a mentorship campaign initiated by Disney's XD channel, England-based developer Black Rock Studio will welcome some young viewers into the exciting world of game development. Kids will get to see what's under the bonnet of Split/Second, the studio's disaster-driven racer that debuted in May. Black Rock audio director Steve Rockett values the positive message and "inspirational format" of Disney's campaign, telling Develop, "I think this idea is comparable to what has been going on in the music industry in the past few years in that it shows we are becoming much more accessible, and now people see it for what it is – a great place to work." Rockett will be showing his informal pupils how engine sounds are recorded and implemented in the game (it's just a guy going "VRROOM!" into a microphone, right?), while lead designer Ian Hudson will delve into Split/Second's unique track creation. Cars go here, explosions go there. This bit collapses. Got it! According to Hudson, allowing players to participate in this manner will help sell them on game development as a viable and fun career. "When they see their ideas appearing in those games, well that's just thrilling, and it definitely gives them the idea that this isn't that hard to do and they have the ability to do it," he said. "I think it will attract a lot of people. The kids will get to say 'oh that's how you do it, I understand it now'." But remember, kids: don't release anything alongside Rockstar's latest game.
Split/Second online lobbies updated, Black Rock surveying for future plans
Yesterday, Split/Second developer Black Rock Studios patched its highly volatile racer, adding a feature that's frequently been requested by its loyal players: The ability to filter multiplayer lobbies, only allowing players to drive certain classes of cars. Having solved the "monster trucks vs. high performance Formula One racers" dilemma, the developer turned its eyes towards the future, and recently issued a survey inquiring what players would like to see introduced in future updates and DLC packs. We'd participate in the survey, but we're not sure Black Rock would appreciate our answers, which would pretty much boil down to "we'd like to see a space ship crash into a nuclear meltdown site which is also an aircraft carrier made of dynamite and fire." That's not too much to ask, is it?
Split/Second getting three DLC packs in August, 'major DLC pack' in September
If you're still racing around the structurally unsound tracks in Split/Second, you'll be pleased to note that developer Black Rock Studios plans to release three DLC packs "in the next couple of weeks," as well as a fourth in September. The first three packs will introduce new cars, while the pack coming next month is said to be "major" and will come packed with an entirely new environment (we're hoping that means new powerplays as well). No pricing has been offered for any of the packs, but the game's Facebook page (where all of this was announced) says that the third DLC pack will be free "as a way of saying thanks to our awesome community," and will contain a "special edition vehicle based on the original classic Ryback Cyclone." Solid launch dates weren't given either, and nothing's showing up on XBLM or PSN just yet, but we do have this one screenshot above from the second DLC pack of a "High Octane Supercar." Don't say we never gave you nothin'!
Disney acquires social game dev Playdom for $563.2m
Disney Interactive today announced its acquisition of social game developer Playdom. Rumor of the deal surfaced late last week, when it was suggested that Disney was ready to pay in excess of $600 million for the company. The final handshake was over a much more reasonable sum of $563.2 million (plus a "performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million"). And now, our expert analysis of the transaction: "Sweet baby Jesus, that's so much money." Playdom, which has only been in operation for two-and-a-half-years, has created a number of successful social gaming properties that you've ... probably never heard of, including Social City, Sorority Life and Market Street. It's properties have about 42 million active players every month, which gives some indication as to why Disney was so eager to bring Playdom into its magic kingdom. Then again, maybe Ole D didn't want to be the only publisher that missed out on the recent craze over social game developers. Haven't you heard? They're all the rage.
Rumor: Disney eyeing Playdom acquisition
TechCrunch and VentureBeat both have sources claiming Disney is ready to purchase social gaming developer Playdom for over $600 million. There are currently obscene amounts of money being invested in the social gaming arena; just last year EA purchased Playfish, another big player in the space, for $300 million. Disney Interactive Media, which continues to have annual losses, has been working on making or buying a mega-money maker. Split/Second obviously isn't panning out, but Club Penguin seems to be doing fine. There's also the question of how the company will eventually incorporate the Marvel properties, unless it opts to continue licensing those out. The Playdom purchase, if true, would give the company access to a demographic that its current mouse house of studios doesn't directly service.
Meet the detectives of Disney Guilty Party
They're not exactly an intimidating bunch -- we've got a masked brat, a soft-spoken granny and a let-himself-go gumshoe in here -- but the investigative attendees of Disney Guilty Party look like they can crack a case and hook some crooks with flair on August 31. See the new trailer after the break.
Split/Second 'sploding on PSP this holiday
Disney Interactive has announced that its havoc-wreaking racer, Split/Second, is drifting onto the PSP in time for the holiday. The basic structure of the game will remain intact -- players drive across booby trap-infused tracks, attempting to take out the competition by setting off hazards at opportune times. Online multiplayer is a no-show, but up to four players will be able to engage in ad-hoc races. We're awfully curious about how Disney plans on porting Split/Second's big, blockbuster feel to a much smaller device. More than that, though, we're looking forward to the game's first commercial, where a kid is playing his PSP in the back of his mom's minivan, and oh no, the road's blowing up in real life! And the mom's swerving out of the way, like, why is this happening? And the kid smiles, knowingly. %Gallery-97064%
ModNation Racers' top 15 finish sets slow pace for May racing game sales
Despite three high-profile launches in May, the racing genre got lapped that month, according to NPD sales data. Sony's PS3-exclusive ModNation Racers, Activision's Bizarre-developed Blur and Disney's excellent Split/Second all fared poorly on the retail circuit with ModNation squeezing its way into the top 15 (on just one platform, mind you), while the other two multiplatform titles didn't crack the top 30. Analyst Michael Pachter told IGN that he "thought the ModNation number was respectable, since the game came out only on May 25." Blur came out on the same day, so, relatively, its sales were disappointing. While sales figures weren't provided for any of the above games, Pachter writes in his monthly NPD analysis that Blur "sold well below our estimate of 100,000 units," giving us some insight into how both it and Split/Second performed. However, Split/Second was released a week earlier than ModNation and Blur. With two much higher-profile racing games coming out this fall, in Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, it remains to be seen if the racing genre itself is toxic at the checkout counter or if gamers have simply passed over May's hybrid concepts, content to wait for the new models of their favorite makes.
Tapulous acquired by Disney
Disney has bought Tapulous outright, according to Techcrunch. The iPhone gaming company was one of the first on the App Store, and has been extremely successful with its Tap Tap Radiation and Tap Tap Revenge music titles. There's no word yet on how much money was involved in the deal, but Disney has been interested in both gaming and the iDevices for a while, and obviously Tapulous proved that it could meet the Mouse House's needs. Bart Decrem, Tapulous' CEO, will reportedly become a VP at Disney. Very impressive on Tapulous' part. There are more details coming, according to Techcrunch, so we'll update this post when we see any other news on the deal.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep trailer features fighting, floating PSPs
Just past the break, we've got a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which highlights the PSP title's trio of protagonists: Aqua, Ventus and Terra. As you'd imagine, their keyswordthingy skills are without equal -- except when directly compared to each other, we guess. So where were we? Oh, right, the trailer -- you can see it yourself just past the break. And if you're wondering what all of the hubbub is about, you probably haven't read our E3 preview yet. Don't worry, we won't hold it against you ... for now.
Preview: Tron Evolution: The Video Game
A new Tron movie signals the arrival of a new Tron video game. Unfortunately, this one could fall into the trap of licensed games -- substandard gameplay leaning heavily on an anticipated license. And the team at Propaganda Games has a big hurdle to overcome, as they're not only expecting to get this prequel out the door by the time the movie releases, but before. That said, even though the game borrows a lot of ideas from action/platforming games like Prince of Persia, what's there is nicely polished and makes good use of both the license's history and the new movie's aesthetic. If nothing else, Tron Evolution: The Video Game might end up being a fun way for fans of the Tron setting to further explore the mythos.
Preview: Disney Epic Mickey
I've actually been lucky enough to see Epic Mickey twice now, once at a pre-E3 event a few weeks ago and then again this week at E3. And while my first reaction to the game was twinged with disappointment (which I'll explain in just a minute), after seeing it a second time, and talking with Warren Spector himself, I think the game will turn out to be something really special. What changed in between then and now? Honestly, I don't think they're showing the right demo. The Epic Mickey you can see on the floor of E3 this week shows a middling-to-above-average platformer, with few simple stages and a paint/thinner mechanic that allows you to draw and erase various walls and platforms. But I am convinced anyway (perhaps wrongly, I'll admit) that there's a lot more to this game than that.%Gallery-95374%
Disney Guilty Party flees into August
A new video for Disney Guilty Party offers some insight from Wideload Games staff about the flow of gameplay in the mystery-solving title. It includes footage of several of the activities, including fingerprint analysis, lockpicking, and ... suspect tickling ... as well as a bit of information about some of the personalities involved, including our first look at the villainous Mr. Valentine. It also serves as the vehicle for an announcement of a delay. Along with this trailer, Disney revealed that the release date has been bumped from July 27 to August 31, where it "now kicks off the holiday season on August 31st, 2010." We've got our first mystery to solve: finding the person who moved the holiday season to August.
Split/Second down to $40 on Amazon today
How would you like to feel like Lando Calrissian all of the time? It's pretty easy -- and you don't even need to betray your friends or star in a Colt 45 commercial, either. Simply head on over to Amazon and pick up Split/Second at a reduced price of $40. Feeling lost? Well, then you didn't read our review. Don't worry, we won't hold it against you, so long as you promise you'll read it right now. Please, don't make us turn this into a thing. Thaaaaaanks!
Toy Story 3: The Video Game: The Developer Diary
You probably don't want to write off Toy Story 3 just because it's a licensed title. We actually had a lot of fun with it and the latest dev diary above shows that Disney and Avalanche are committed to putting out a quality product. It's not simply a slapped together title attempting to cash in on the movie. There's an actual deep experience here, from the promising platforming shown in the video above, down to the unique character abilities and meticulously recreated environments. And let's not forget that "Toy Box" mode our inner child yearns for. Toy Story 3 launches on June 15 for pretty much everything.
Split/Second is $40 at Best Buy next week
Click image for more potential savings If you've been thinking about picking up Black Rock's fresh-out-of-the-garage racer, Split/Second, then you may want to keep Best Buy in mind. A tipster sent in a shot of next week's circular, which highlights the game's $20 savings. On top of the savings, you'll also net three Best Buy-exclusive cars -- not a bad deal, if we may say so. The sale runs from May 30 until June 5. Click the image above for a shot of the full page ad.
Red Dead Redemption, Split/Second debut on UK charts
Rockstar's dusty western, Red Dead Redemption, has taken the top spot on the UK software sales charts -- Take-Two's first multiplatform title to do so since Bioshock 2, according to Chart-Track. it's also the first top multiplatform title for Rockstar since the debut of GTA IV way back in 2008. That's not to say there weren't other highlights in this week's dog and pony show. Coming in second was 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, while Ubisoft's Just Dance managed to move to the beat of third. Black Rock Studios' Split/Second also managed to make an appearance at the fifth spot, while European developer Remedy Entertainment's psychological thriller, Alan Wake, was pushed back into the shadows down to the eighth spot -- a major drop from its previous second place spot last week. Source - Red Dead Redemption takes top spot on GFK Chart-Track Source - GFK Chart-Track's top-selling titles for the week ending May 22
Split Second PC demo available for download
Want to get a taste of Black Rock and Disney Interactive's frequently exploding racer, Split/Second? Provided you've got a beefy enough PC gaming rig, you can now download a demo for the game directly through our sister site, Big Download. The 1GB download includes the game's tutorial, and a race event in the Airport Terminal track, which doesn't seem particularly legal. Apparently, the world of Split/Second is as lawless as it is combustible. Download: Split/Second demo (1.01 GB)
