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Disney hires Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, acquires Wideload Games
The story of Alex Seropian is a perfect reminder of why it's a good career move to help make one of the most popular game franchises in history. Because when you co-found Bungie, it's OK if you make Stubbs the Zombie followed by Hail to the Chimp -- you can still be hired to oversee creative development for Disney's video game development arm! Seropian's company, Wideload Games, which is also being acquired by Disney, had used an interesting model where game programming was contracted out after his team had designed the title. We'll be interested to see if the business plan re-emerges in some way at the House of Mickey.
Get your one-liner in Serious Sam HD by using Twitter
(click to Sam-size) Here's the thing -- we already told you pretty much everything you need to know in the headline up top. Sure, we could expand on it a bit and tell you that the company producing Serious Sam HD, Devolver Digital, will be accepting entries via its Twitter account from July 15 to July 30. We could remind you that the producers are Gamecock and Gathering of Developers veterans Mike Wilson and Harry Miller -- known for storming Ken Levine and spawning Hail to the Chimp. We could even let you know that the only way to find out if your one-liner is going to be voiced by Serious Sam voice actor John J. Dick is to follow the aforementioned Devolver Twitter account or the game's publisher's account, Majesco, in "early August." But why would we do all that?... Dammit!%Gallery-66818%
A political Hail to the Chimp demo now on the XBLM
Stuff your vote in the ballot box and decide on your favorite zoo animal, because it's time to get political with a new Hail to the Chimp demo that just released to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo, which is only available to U.S. and Canadian Live subscribers, features "presidential party game" style shenanigans and enough animal-based jokes to last you a few years. Download if you're interested, ignore this post if you're not ... but we really didn't have to tell you that did we?[Via Game Stooge]
Shipping this week: OMG Megaton edition
No, it's not a news related OMG Megaton. It's more like a "holy effing crap, look at all these games" kind of megaton. There are ten, ten games hitting the Xbox 360 this week. What's more, a lot of them look decent and, dare we say it, some of them even look good. Just look at all of 'em. Battlefield: Bad Company Top Spin 3 Supreme Commander Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath Alone in the Dark Hellboy: Science of Evil Hail to the Chimp Wall-E Operation Darkness Gears of War Refresh (2-Disc Edition) It's enough to give someone googly eyes. Alone in the Dark has our interest piqued (and has thus far fared decently in Europe). Here's hoping it -- and everything else here -- is up to snuff.[Via Joystiq]
Reminder: Preorder Hail to the Chimp, get $10 of Onion Store credit
A reminder that Gamecock has offered Joystiq readers an exclusive offer: preorder Hail to the Chimp at GameStop (it comes out a week from today) and get a free $10 gift certificate to the Onion Store, the virtual storefront of the popular fake (and funny!) newspaper. So, to recap: you preorder the $40 PS3 or Xbox 360 politically themed party game before the end of the day, send the Gamecock people a copy of your receipt (details here), and get ten bucks of free Onion Store credit.
Pre-order Hail to the Chimp, get $10 in Onion bucks
Our fearless leader and overall cool cat Christ Grant, from the widely popular video game news site Joystiq, recently got a chance to chat with the crew working on Hail to the Chimp and, using his finely tuned negotiation skills, was able to setup a special deal for Joystiq network readers. If you pre-order Hail to the Chimp at Gamestop stores before June 15th, Gamecock will send you a FREE $10 gift card to the Onion Store. And we don't have to tell you how awesome the Onion is. Not too shabby of a deal, so make the jump and read all the fine print pre-order details.[Via Joystiq]
Preorder Hail to the Chimp, get $10 of Onion Store credit
I had the distinct pleasure of spending some time with the folks from Gamecock while they strolled through Philadelphia in the middle of Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primaries in April, seeing firsthand how the independent publisher was promoting Hail to the Chimp, one of their flagship releases. Oh, did I mention I was wearing a giant, female polar bear suit for part of this? Anywho, more on that later in the month, closer to the game's June 24th release date ...In the interim, the guys and gals at Gamecock have offered Joystiq readers an exclusive offer: preorder HttC at GameStop and get a free $10 gift certificate to the Onion Store, the virtual storefront of the popular fake (and funny!) newspaper. So, to recap: you preorder the $40 PS3 or Xbox 360 politcally-themed party game before June 15th, send the Gamecock people a copy of your receipt (details here), and get ten bucks of free Onion Store credit. No polar bear suit required!
Hail to the Chimp delayed to end of June
*Sigh* More delays. This time it's Hail to the Chimp, the arena-fighting, politically-charged, animal-filled cel-shaded game from Wideload studios. Originally set for release at the end of this month, Hail to the Chimp has been delayed a month for "polish." As former QA experience tells us, this is likely a good thing, as there was probably a choice between hitting ship with a certain amount of bugs or delaying the game and getting to fix the bugs. When it does finally hit on June 24th, Hail to the Chimp should hopefully be that much better.[Via Joystiq]
Hail to the Chimp delayed to June 24 [update]
Wideload's Hail to the Chimp party game has been pushed back from a scheduled May 27 release date into "mid-June," a Gamecock representative told us this morning. [Update: Gamecock has clarified that the new release date has been set for June 24.] The publisher attributed the short delay to a need for "polish" (working with animals can get dirty, after all), though we wonder if the extra weeks aren't equally necessary to generate some excitement for a campaign, which to date, has received little coverage. Ape or not, a politician's success relies on the strength of a savvy marketing team.For further analysis of the issues at hand, check out our Hail to the Chimp impressions from GDC and EIEIO. %Gallery-4895%
Joystiq interviews Hail to the Chimp producer Jon Krusell
Wideload Games' Hail to the Chimp consistently delivered laughs to its audience of journalists at EIEIO. Being that the event was a large party, it was the perfect venue to try out a party game. The crowd got almost as boisterous during the gameplay sessions as they did later that evening, when the event metamorphosed from a video game press event into a concert.The "concert" portion of the event was also the first chance I had to talk about the game with Wideload's Senior Producer Jon Krusell. He was kind enough to yell over the din in order to discuss the thought process that led naturally into a party combat game about animal presidential elections, his theories about the lack of comedy in games, and his revolutionary Robot Jox-based political platform.%Gallery-4895%
Joystiq EIEIO coverage wrap-up
It looks like the crew over at Joystiq has been spending some time at GameCock's EIEIO show in Texas this week. Rather than bring you bits and pieces of their coverage, we thought we'd round up everything we could in a single post for your clicking convenience. They've got the latest on Dungeon Hero, Velvet Assassin, Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball and more. Check out Joystiq's cavalcade of coverage below: Dungeon Hero inverts the dungeon genre Hands-on with Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball Hail to the Chimp impressions Velvet Assassin actually dressed in leather Section 8 details fall from the sky Hands-on with Legendary
EIEIO 08: Hail to the Chimp impressions
click to embiggen Not being much of a "next-gen" follower (sorry!) I had a vague belief that Wideload's Hail to the Chimp was a downloadable game. I was, then, surprised to find it a full-sized (but budget-priced) release. Developer Wideload Games used the retail-game budget to create not only a unique party game, but also a hilarious audiovisual experience that doesn't really have an analogue on modern systems.Hail to the Chimp's menu interface is the GRR News Network, with pompous anchor Woodchuck Chumley (seen above enjoying some... hot coffee ... with Bean the Sloth) onscreen authoritatively intoning ridiculous stories, while the menu options take the place of all the ubiquitous TV news infoboxes and text clutter. Wrapping the game inside this TV-station premise allows Hail to the Chimp to have something resembling a storyline, and also provides the opportunity for the funniest aspect of the game, which I'll get to shortly.%Gallery-4895%
GDC08: Opposable thumbs-on with Hail to the Chimp
Developed by Wideload (Stubbs the Zombie), Hail to the Chimp is a party game infused with political humor. As the story goes, various animals -- ranging from an octopus to an armadillo -- are competing to be elected as president of the animal kingdom. To do this, players engage in a series of arena fighting games with various goals. The game plays more or less like a simplified version of Power Stone with objectives thrown into the mix. The gameplay is simple with few nuances, as one might expect of a party game. The real question is whether or not the gameplay is too simple to maintain the attention of discerning gamers. Strange as it may seem, the satirical humor that frames Hail to the Chimp may be more endearing than the game itself.%Gallery-4895%
GDC08: Wideload's Hail to the Chimp bus
When we first heard that the Gamecock published Hail to the Chimp would be showcased on a bus rather than in a booth, we assumed the worst. Even now, given our previous evidence, we aren't ashamed of that assumption. We imagined a bus of debauchery and decadence. A place of foolhardy revelry. Immediately we began to guess just what the bus would be called. After a long and passionate discussion, we settled on Shuttlecock as the most likely moniker. Alas, no wacky transpirations took place, and we are left with an empty feeling. That is, until we saw just how nice the bus was on the inside. As the gallery below will no doubt prove, the folks at Wideload really know how to travel in style.%Gallery-16678%
GDC08: Hail to these things
Walking outside of the Moscone Center's West Hall, we were accosted by some costumed monsters -- of course it was Gamecock. That's what they do! This time, the foolishness was taken to the streets in promotion of Hail to the Chimp, Wideload Games's political animal-mascot fighting game. These particular characters didn't look like chimps, but we hailed to them anyway, mostly out of a sense of duty. We didn't want to make waves or anything ...%Gallery-16562%
New Hail to the Chimp trailer curiously familiar
Despite what some may say to the contrary, we can't help but see Hail to the Chimp as anything other than a combination of the Dreamcast's Fur Fighters and Power Stone. However, that's not a bad thing at all since they happen to be two of our favorite DC games. But instead of trying to defeat evil General Viggo or collect the mighty Power Stones, you're fighting against your friends in the animal kingdom to win the crown and be the new king. Interestingly enough, you'll be able to choose from a wide variety of combatants ranging from Toshiro the octopus to Santo the armadillo. Oh my, how the racial stereotypes abound! Hail to the Chimp is set to hit the PS3 sometime in mid-2008.
Joystiq hands-on: Hail to the Chimp
Since our first glance of Hail to the Chimp we've been intrigued. The party game for Xbox 360 and PS3 can be best described as "monkeying" the Pixar philosophy, the game looks like it'd be for kids, but there's a bunch of sly jokes in there that adults will get and the gameplay is simple but deep. The game revolves around 10 animals vying for control over the Animal Kingdom through a bunch of Power Stone-type levels where you need to collect clams in order to fund the campaign. Meanwhile, an anchor for a cable television station style network will give briefs after each battle, along with doing voice-overs during bouts. The anchor isn't your cheap kind of recap character either, this beaver has over 5000 lines of dialog speaking specifically to the action which has occurred.Playing Hail to the Chimp against three of the developers, it was tough to put up any kind of fight, but we got an idea of how the game might play when it releases next year in time for the U.S. presidential election. Each character has special attacks and if players are failing they can even team up for different combo attacks. For example, the hippo and armadillo can join forces and the hippo will kick the armadillo like a soccer ball at opponents. There are also various traps, warps and environmental incidents that occur during any given stage. After about three rounds you get a solid idea of what's going on. Once again, playing against three of the game's developers you'll have your jackass handed to you, but we did win an elimination round fair and square, where a cloud chases the character with the lowest number of clams to kick them out of the game.Hail to the Chimp still has a while to go, but the basics are there and so far it's fun. The depth is involved in learning the animal combinations and what the 10 characters offer, but you can hardly learn that in 20 minutes. The great thing about the game is that it is clearly designed to utilize Xbox Live and PSN so battles will be easily played online -- which is more than we can say about a more famous "party" game. What Hail to the Chimp does truly have working for it is a colorful cast of characters who will supposedly have backstory attached to them and a wit in mocking the political system.%Gallery-4895%
Hail to the Chimp wants to prove politics are fun
Wideload Games has released the first trailer and bits of information for their new PS3/360 party game, Hail to the Chimp. Dubbed an "over-the-top party game" with "biting political satire," the title appears to be a cross between brawlers like Powerstone and the political comics like Doonesbury. Sporting a cartoony look with subtle cel-shading, the game looks bright and colorful but fairly unremarkable. You have a mixture of political/racial stereotypes done up in animal form smacking each other around, with 'hilarious' and 'topical' newspaper headlines tossed in. Gameplay looks extremely generic and uninspired, but it's hard to tell from the short trailer. What do you guys think? Does this game have any promise? Do our brawlers really need second-tier political comedy to make them more entertaining?
You there, Hail to the Chimp ... now!
If there's one thing we can say with absolute certainty, it's that the Xbox 360 is desperately short on games in the animals-fighting-for-political-power genre. Thank goodness for Gamecock and Wideload (of Stubbs the Zombie fame) and their upcoming title, Hail to the Chimp. 1UP recently scored a sneak peek at the game. Here's the story: the lion has been ousted, and now all the animals are competing to become the new king of the jungle. Thus, politics factor into the game, though the gameplay itself revolves around paw-to-paw combat. The game is laced with subtle satirical humor. For instance, clams play a big part in the game, though we're talking about actual clams here. Several of the gametypes award victory to the "candidate" with the most clams. We'll let you puzzle that one out for yourselves.Wideload hopes the game will be available in time for the U.S. elections in 2008.[Via Joystiq]
Gamecock details EIEIO party
In case you missed the information in our interview with co-founder Mike Wilson, the GameCock EIEIO party will be held at Hotel California, coinciding with Min-E3, at the following times: Wednesday, 11 July: noon until 6 p.m. Thursday, 12 July: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 13 July: noon until 4 p.m. According to the press release, Gamecock suckers, accessible developers and food and drink will be available. Expected playable games include Fury (PC), Insecticide (PC, DS), Dementium: The Ward (DS) Hail to the Chimp, Mushroom Men (DS, Wii) and Dungeon Hero (PC, Xbox 360). If Wilson gets his way, there may also be a New Orleans- or Vikings-style funeral for E3. No word on if Old McDonald will host the event.[Update: corrected the months]
