double-fine
Latest
Double Fine wants to win back Stacking, Costume Quest rights
Double Fine wants to tie up all of the loose ends within its catalog and is seeking the distribution rights to its games formerly published by THQ, Stacking and Costume Quest. Nordic Games picked up the distribution rights to these games during THQ's bankruptcy auction in April, though Double Fine attempted to secure the rights from THQ as early as February. Double Fine owns the intellectual properties for Stacking and Costume Quest, so if it wants to make new games within each series, it can. "We're still trying to get the rights to Costume Quest and Stacking," Schafer told Game Informer. "We can still make more of those games. We still have the IP, but we'd love to have all of the IP and distribution rights in house." On top of those distribution rights, Double Fine wants to regain the Brutal Legend IP from EA and the Iron Brigade IP from Microsoft, Schafer said. These are difficult positions for Double Fine, but for us, deciding which war to watch is just as hard: Battle of Heavy Metal and Mechs or the Battle of Kids in Costumes Playing with Toys From the Old Country. Decisions, decisions.
Double Fine, Codemasters, former president Rubin, more seeking payment from THQ
THQ may be no more, but several parties have filed claims against the defunct video game publisher. The Kurtzman Carson Consultancy group shows Double Fine, Codemasters and even individual former executives Jason Kay and Jason Rubin are seeking financial compensation for unpaid obligations from THQDouble Fine (PDF link) is looking for $595,000, claiming THQ offered up Stacking and Costume Quest as free PlayStation Plus downloads without Double Fine's knowledge, and that none of the PS Plus revenue was shared. Codemasters (PDF link) is looking for an exact $1,002,714.25, seeking reimbursement for unpaid royalties and storing quantities of Bodycount, Dirt 3 and F1 2011 discs in a warehouse somewhere. Kay (PDF link) and Rubin (PDF link) are seeking $2.1 million each for failed "employment obligations." The two claim unpaid vacation time, sick leave and severance.THQ's final assets were auctioned off for nearly $7 million earlier this week, including Darksiders, Homeworld and the Drawn to Life series. The results of the first auction were posted in January, facilitating the transfer of ownership for Saints Row 4, Homefront, Company of Heroes 2 and more.
Rockstar daily deals, cheap Brutal Legend highlight Steam weekend
Steam will play host to a series of daily Rockstar deals this weekend and first up in the spotlight is LA Noire. The Complete Edition, stock game and DLC bundle – which includes a couple extra outfits and cases – have all been discounted by 75%, down to $7.50, $5 and $2.99, respectively.The Rockstar Hits Collection is also on sale for $29.99. It's a Steam bundle that includes GTA IV and its Episodes from Liberty City expansion, Max Payne 3, and LA Noire. Pretty much every other Rockstar game on Steam right now is also on sale to varying degrees.Recent PC arrival Brutal Legend joins the salesapalooza by slashing its price in half, down to $10 for the weekend starting now; if you want to pick up the soundtrack with the game, that'll be $12.49. Creator Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions has stated he would "love" to revisit the game and add more stuff if the PC version does well.
Bastion is $3.75 today, more deals in GamersGate 'Spring Sale'
The Spring Sale over at Gamersgate continues with a nice daily deal on Bastion, Supergiant Games' wonderful action-RPG, for $3.75. Other deals today include Endless Space for $17.48 and half-off the Double Fine bundle, a collection of Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, Psychonauts and Stacking for $22.50.This sale is bolstered by ongoing weekly deals, such as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Collection for $12, Sine Mora for $4.98, Trine 2 for $3.75, Legend of Grimrock for $5.10 and Sonic Spinball for $1.70 – the full nine-page list is available through the source link below.
Brutal Legend items now available in Team Fortress 2
Double Fine's heavy metal adventure RTS, Brütal Legend, made its way to Steam earlier this year, and those who pre-ordered it were able to grab a few special items for use in Team Fortress 2. Those pieces are no longer exclusive: You can now purchase the Brütal Bouffant headgear (sideburns and mullets included) and the Shred Alert taunt from Double Fine's Steam Workshop stall.Only the pre-order bonuses are of "Genuine" quality, however, so those who participated during the promotional period still have a way to distinguish themselves in Double Fine fandom.
Double Fine debuts trailer for Broken Age
Double Fine has shared the first footage of Broken Age, the studio's upcoming adventure game starring a girl who is to be fed to a giant monster, and a boy living on a space station with his only companion, a computer.
Double Fine Adventure unveiled as 'Broken Age'
Double Fine Adventure, the adventure game whose progress has been a secret to all but Kickstarter backers, was revealed as "Broken Age" at a PAX East panel today. The website for the game is now live, offering art and plot information to the rest of us outside of the privileged Kickstarter class."Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure telling the stories of a young boy and girl leading parallel lives," the website explains. "The girl has been chosen by her village to be sacrificed to a terrible monster--but she decides to fight back. Meanwhile, a boy on a spaceship is living a solitary life under the care of a motherly computer, but he wants to break free to lead adventures and do good in the world. Adventures ensue."Pre-orders are still available on the site, and provide access to the backer-only forums, as well as all past and future episodes of the documentary series about Broken Age's development, by 2 Player Productions.
Capy Fine Racing GP is a game on a floppy disk at PAX East
We never believed that in the year 2013 we'd be talking about games found on a floppy disk, but Capybara Games has proven us wrong. The developer is bringing 3.5 inch floppy disks to PAX East housing copies of Capy Fine Racing GP – a new racing game featuring characters from games created by Capy and Double Fine.Capy co-founder Nathan Vella told Edge that both developers teamed up to create the game, which seems like an excellent offering for the two studio sharing booth space in Boston. The game itself is described as an "OutRun-style racer."If you won't be at PAX, the floppy disk will also be included in the 200 retail versions of the Double Fine/Capybara Games Steam collection. Those that get hands on the disks are encouraged to share."It's just something we did for pure fun and loving the idea of doing cool shit with our friends, in the spirit of the Capy Double Fine PAX combo. While it's totally a real game, it's also not at all a real game," Vella said.
Ron Gilbert leaves Double Fine Productions
Veteran designer and The Cave creator Ron Gilbert announced his departure from Double Fine Productions to "plot his next move" in the industry. In a post on his blog, Gilbert profusely thanked his former colleagues and studio founder Tim Schafer, saying it was a "true pleasure to work with every one of them," and simply that it was time to move on.Schafer and Gilbert, who co-wrote The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2, reprised their working relationship in 2010 when Gilbert joined Double Fine Productions. After two years of toil, Gilbert released the literally full-of-junk The Cave earlier this year.Gilbert's short-term plan is to continue working with DeathSpank co-creator Clayton Kauzlaric on an iOS game, which he revealed has the catchy moniker of Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG - the man does like his pirates. But clearly Gilbert has intentions beyond that, with the 49-year-old arbiter of adventure pointedly noting there are "so many games left to be designed."
Double Fine music game, Dungelot 2 and 7th Guest 3 all coming soon to iOS
There was big news this week of three different high-profile games coming to the App Store soon. First up, Tim Schafer's great Double Fine studio is working on a music game called Dropchord, which will be available for Windows, Mac and iOS at launch. The game is set to work with the Leap Motion Controller, which tracks your hand movement in the air above it, and then turns those movements into gestures on a screen. No idea if that means Leap will plug into iOS devices (perhaps via Bluetooth?), but we'll know soon: The game is set for a reveal at SXSW later on next week. Second, the excellent puzzle-esque roguelike Dungelot is getting a sequel called (duh) Dungelot 2, and it features some updated graphics, a few new tiles and lots of other tweaks and improvements. You can see screenshots of this one above, and it looks solid. Developer Red Winter is hoping to have the game done by May. And finally, The 7th Guest 3 is currently in development, according to Trilobyte co-founder Charlie McHenry. Just like The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, the game will feature lots of original puzzles that tie into a mysterious backstory set in a giant, creepy mansion. It sounds like the game should be lots of fun for fans of the series, and it's set to be done in about a year, with the help of a Kickstarter campaign coming soon. So that's a longer wait than the others, but we'll definitely keep an eye out for all three of these.
Double Fine dips back into music with Dropchord
Dropchord is described by developer Double Fine Productions as "a music-driven score challenge game" from the same core team that created Kinect Party. Double Fine will offer a glimpse of the game, which supports the upcoming Leap Motion Controller shipping to Best Buy in May, at this weekend's SXSW show in Austin, Texas. A playable build will be on-hand at PAX East later this month.Dropchord will ship this year on Mac OS X, Windows PC and iOS devices, and it'll be available first in Leap Motion's Airspace app store. %Gallery-181061%
Double Fine trying to get Costume Quest, Stacking IP back from THQ
Double Fine has self-published Costume Quest and Stacking on PC, but THQ still holds some of the rights to those games as publisher of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Those games are among the properties being sold off in THQ's latest auction – however, they're being sold as a bundle with dozens of other properties. Officially, they can't be sold outside of the lot, but Double Fine is hopeful."THQ retained limited distribution rights that we bid on during the previous process to reclaim them prior to their expiration," Justin Bailey, VP of business development, told Polygon. "We are optimistic about regaining these distribution rights, as this process has already demonstrated that when there are parties interested in specific assets, those assets are worth more when sold separately." Double Fine has yet to hear back from THQ about any potential deals.
PSA: Brutal Legend rockin' Steam
Are you ready to rock?I can't hear you! I said, ARE YOU YOU READY TO RAAAAWK!?Good! Double Fine's heavy metal action-adventure Brutal Legend is available now on Steam. The rock epic is a mere $20, and Double Fine founder Tim Schafer has says he'd be open to add more modes, tweaks and content. However, Double Fine is busy with a couple other projects, including its record-breaking Kickstarter-funded adventure game.
Schafer would 'love' more Brutal Legend content on PC
If Brütal Legend takes off on Steam after its launch on February 26, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer would love to add more modes, tweaks and multiplayer content to the game, he told RPS."It's actually been fun to continue work on it," Schafer said. "I mean, we have a wishlist from when we made this version. But since we are a small developer publishing it ourselves, we have to go with the best version we can make and then hope it's successful so we can add more."Schafer mentioned a few specifics he would like to see in Brütal Legend, such as alternate game modes in multiplayer, new playable factions, updates to the current unit feedback system and an advanced mode featuring traditional RTS-style controls. He didn't see any singleplayer updates or sequels in Brütal Legend's future, since those tended to be more expensive and expansive.A sequel to Psychonauts, for example, would probably be cheaper than one for Brütal Legend, considering the cost of music licensing, Schafer said."I mean, it's been longer since Psychonauts and we wouldn't have to do any music licensing," he said. "So we could probably afford to do it more if we got some funding. I feel like a Brütal sequel would cost twice as much as Psychonauts. It's easier to imagine Double Fine doing a sequel to Psychonauts. But for creative reasons, there's no preference of one over the other."
The Cave review: Seven spelunkers, none decent
The Cave is an adventure game, obviously. It's littered with puzzles and pieces of junk destined to become the only objects in the world worth having. The cave itself is a sentient, subterranean narrator, enveloping seven different explorers in a patchwork of dream-like environments that not only pertain to them, but contain the kind of contorted contexts in which a femur and a parrot are essential parts of progress.Those are all signs of the classic adventure, tinged with the incongruous vending machines, gift shops and eternally stranded island hermits you expect from a Ron Gilbert game. But there's something else inside The Cave, a familiar cynicism and cleverness that gradually emerges as each spelunker hits rock bottom. These people – even the monk and the chivalrous knight – are egotistical, unpleasant kleptomaniacs, and you're one of them.%Gallery-164293%
Kickstarter game projects earn $83 million in 2012
Most recall Double Fine's conquest of Kickstarter in 2012. It's the drive that initiated "The Year of the Game," a year where some of the biggest and most successful Kickstarter campaigns were attached to video game projects. In a 2012 retrospective post, Kickstarter reveals a total of $83 million was earned for video games through successful Kickstarter drives, the most out of any category on the crowd-funding website.A total of 2,796 video game projects asked for funding on Kickstarter in 2012; 911 projects successfully reached goal thanks to 561,574 backers. Compared to the stats found in other categories last year (we're looking at you, Dance!), it's difficult to argue against 2012 truly being "The Year of the Game" on Kickstarter.
The Cave on Wii U uses GamePad for camera and character switching
The Cave will be Double Fine's first foray on a Nintendo system, believe it or not. At a demo event last week, I spoke with Double Fine's Chris Remo and got our first glimpse at The Cave on Wii U.Above, you can see how the WiiPad plays into the game. It's essentially a glorified character selector and camera controller – by tapping on a character, you'll jump to them; by tapping on a character twice, you can switch the camera focus to them. In The Cave, characters cannot move independently off-screen."So other than that, it pretty much plays like all the other versions," Double Fine's Remo told me. "We did work really hard to ensure that visually everything you're seeing is identical to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, so there's no downscaling, there's nothing going on that is not up to par with the other next-gen systems. There's nothing super wacky going on, but it's a completely full-featured version of the game."The Cave launches on Wii U next year.
Middle Manager of Justice actioned for free acquisition, for reals this time
Middle Manager of Justice is now available in the US for free, and this time it's the real deal. An incomplete version of Double Fine's iOS game accidentally slipped onto the App Store back in September, with the developer taking advantage of the gaffe by turning it into an impromptu beta test. However, this morning's launch is 100 percent deliberate.As Touch Arcade reports, this time a more careful approach saw the strategy sim first arrive on the Canadian App Store last week. It seems like our friends in the Great White North are getting a few things ahead of everyone else these days.As for the game itself, it sits somewhere between the worlds of Dilbert and The Incredibles. Taking on the position of middle manager at Justice Corp's newest branch, you'll have to keep a team of superheroes in check by organizing training, requisitioning facilities, and upgrading equipment, all while maintaining a superheroic level of efficiency.
Double Fine discounts: Psychonauts, Iron Brigade, Stacking and more
No matter where you like to purchase your games, odds are you'll find a Double Fine game on discount right now. The developer has announced its entire catalogue is on sale across Steam, Xbox 360, Amazon and its own shop.Discounts include Stacking and its DLC on Xbox Live Arcade, and both signed and stock copies of Brutal Legend on PS3 and Xbox 360 through the Double Fine Shop. Iron Brigade (formerly Trenched) is cheap on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade right now, and even Psychonauts is half-off through Steam and the Mac App store, and the soundtrack too.We'd never tell you how to spend those hard-earned duckets you covet so much, but at least we can rest easy knowing you're not spending as much as you normally would.
Middle Manager of Justice's accidental launch becomes beta test
Double Fine's free-to-play iOS game Middle Manager of Justice accidentally launched on the App Store on September 5, as an incomplete, buggy version of the final game. Double Fine pulled it quickly, but not before potential players caught wind and downloaded it. Lead developer Kee Chi explains to Gamasutra how this all went down, and why it's not so bad in the end."Yeah, it was totally my fault," Chi says. "With the way you submit things on the App Store, you have to specify what the release date is, and a while back we had set the date to September, but at the time we didn't know if that would be final or not."Once we submitted the game, we realized we had a lot of things we still needed to tweak and fix, but at the same time, we didn't want to remove it from the [submission] process in case Apple catches other things we need to take care of, and we didn't want to do a double submission."Chi's tech director called him on his way to work last week, saying Middle Manager was live in every territory. It appears Apple took that September release window to heart. "I just went 'What?'" Chi recalls. "At Double Fine, we pride ourselves on putting a solid product out there, so having something out there that was buggy and not quite ready yet was really frustrating."This is Double Fine's first foray into full-on mobile gaming and it anticipated surprises. Chi and Double Fine decided to turn these accidental players into beta testers, reaching out on various forums to encourage feedback."I guess it kind of just turned into a beta test," Chi says. "I mean, if people find bugs that we haven't found internally, I'd love to know about them so I can fix them."