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Infinity Blade: Dungeons gameplay revealed
Our friends at Joystiq have procured the first gameplay footage of Epic's followup to the popular Infinity Blade series, called Infinity Blade: Dungeons, and you can get a look at it below. As you can see, it's set in the same world as the first two games, but features a completely different take on gameplay, using gestures to fight baddies from a top-down view rather than a fixed camera. There are also some interesting crafting mechanics, like rubbing out imperfections on a blade you're making, or tapping dents in metal to clear them off. Infinity Blade: Dungeons was announced at the iPad 3 Apple event, and is supposed to be out later on this year.
Descend into Infinity Blade Dungeons gameplay footage
The first gameplay footage of Infinity Blade: Dungeons reveals a game that is very different from its predecessors. For one thing, all the enemies aren't orc-type club wielders and Voldo guys – there's a dog thing too.Oh, and it's an overhead-view Diablo-style dungeon crawl experience instead of a one-on-one sword fighting game. That's another subtle difference you may have missed.
Apple reveals next-generation apps for the new iPad: Infinity Blade: Dungeons, SketchBook, SkyGamblers (video)
While Apple's ensured all of its home-baked apps are making the most of the new iPad's retina display and new A5X chipset, it also had a handful of third-party app developers ready to show what the new hardware's capable. First up was Namco, who revealed the iOS-exclusive SkyGamblers, an Ace Combat-styled jet combat simulator. There looks to be a whole load of detail crammed into both the plane models and background -- something all those extra pixels can certainly help with and something we'll want to take a closer look at when it lands later this month. Taking a different approach, Autodesk's SketchBook app took the opportunity to show off the level of detail its sketches were now capable of, alongside a new engine for the ink. Now, we're not exactly sure what that entails, but we're sure it's going to make our works of art really zing. The app can even export images larger than 100 megapixels and will be out in April. Finally, Infinity Blade developers Epic Games took to the stage to unveil Dungeons -- the next iteration of the swiping and slashing gladiatorial battler. It appears the battle system has been recast once again and HDR lighting ensures the game will arrive dripping in optical honey. We'll be taking up swords to get a hands-on with these very soon. Update: We've just added the trailer to the next chunk of the Infinity Blade saga. It's right after the break. For more coverage of Apple's iPad event, visit our hub!
Robota: Vengeance pits robots against genetically modified dinosaurs
Robota: Vengeance would be your average CGI robot-warfare game featuring gladiator-style combat with genetically modified dinosaurs, if not for three important factors: The franchise was created by Academy Award winner Doug Chiang, lead designer on Star Wars: Episode 1 and 2, and creative director for Industrial Light and Magic, working on Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Forrest Gump and other titles. Robota will be released for iOS and Android as the first full-scale rival to Infinity Blade. It has genetically modified dinosaurs.Developed by indie studio SiXiTS, Robota: Vengeance has players build their own custom robots, and then battle giant, evil robots and -- did we mention? -- genetically modified dinosaurs, all while discovering the secrets that lie within themselves. SiXiTS is holding a Kickstarter to fund the project, asking for $100,000 from potential fans to bring Robota to mobile devices and the web.Check out the video above and if you're intrigued, head on over to its Kickstarter page, and gauge how much you want to invest in genetically modified dinosaurs. We mean, Robota: Vengeance. Same thing.
Infinity Blade franchise pulls in $30 million in 2011
Angry Birds isn't the only iOS brand that did well over the holiday season: Chair Entertainment reports that Infinity Blade also raked in the money this past holiday season (and the year previous). The franchise as a whole has picked up a whopping $30 million so far. That includes both the original Infinity Blade game and the great Infinity Blade 2, but it also includes a digital novel based in the game's setting, an original soundtrack release, and even Infinity Blade FX, which is an arcade version of the touchscreen game at places like Dave and Buster's. That's a solid franchise, and a solid chunk of money the company has picked up so far. More important than the total, however, is what all of this money means: That you can build a successful and solid high-definition franchise on iOS. Lots of traditional and mainstream companies (like Chair, and Epic, which owns them) have been looking at iOS as a platform, and many of them have dismissed it as a smaller environment for more casual or low-profile games. That may be true (Infinity Blade could be called more casual than, say, Chair's own Shadow Complex on the Xbox 360), but Chair's also proven here that iOS gamers do want (and are willing to pay for) more in-depth, well-produced titles also. There's no question that we'll see more next-gen studios dipping their production toes in iOS in the future as well, going after exactly this kind of money. Show full PR text EPIC GAMES AND CHAIR ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE EARNINGS FROM INFINITY BLADE FRANCHISE EXCEED $30 MILLION Accolades, Strong Sales of Infinity Blade II Further Propel Blockbuster Game Franchise CARY, N.C. and SALT LAKE CITY (January 5, 2012) – Epic Games, Inc. and its award-winning Salt Lake City-based development studio, ChAIR Entertainment, today announced that earnings from ChAIR's blockbuster Infinity Blade video game franchise have eclipsed $30 million in just one year since the introduction of the original game. One of the most popular gaming franchises to be launched on the App Store, the award-winning series has also created significant licensing interest in the underlying Unreal Engine 3 technology from developers worldwide. Further fueling franchise momentum is the recent release of Infinity Blade II, which has seen net earnings in excess of $5 million in just one month since release on Dec. 1, 2011, a mark which took the original title three months to achieve. Infinity Blade II is on pace to exceed the record success of the original Infinity Blade game, which has grossed more than $23 million to date. Additional franchise extensions include Infinity Blade: Awakening, a digital novella from best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack, which features original music from the games, and Infinity Blade FX, a big screen, coin-op version of Infinity Blade now featured in arcades nationwide. Infinity Blade II was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2011 and received dozens of accolades, including several perfect scores and Editors Choice awards. IGN scored the game a "Perfect 10" and named it their 2011 Mobile Game of the Year. USA Today awarded Infinity Blade II another perfect score, calling it "A Masterful Mobile Epic." Infinity Blade II was crowned Game of the Year by Slide to Play and Touch Gen, and named Mobile Game of the Year by GameSpot and G4TV, among others. Infinity Blade II was also named among E! Online's 'Top 10 Games of 2011,' one of the 'Best Apps of 2011' by Entertainment Weekly, and was cited by Mashable in its '5 Major Trends that Changed Digital Entertainment in 2011' feature. "The success of the Infinity Blade franchise is testament to our talented team who is devoted to making games we want to play, all while using Unreal Engine technology to redefine what is expected from games on iOS devices," Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps said. "We have so much more in store for players, and will continue to make great content for Apple's evolving platforms." Infinity Blade II is available for download from the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore) for $6.99 and is a universal app. The game is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3 (16GB+) and iPod touch 4. To learn more about the Infinity Blade games and novella, follow @InfinityBlade on Twitter, 'Like' "Infinity Blade" on Facebook at www.facebook.com/InfinityBladeGame or visit the official website at www.InfinityBladeGame.com.
Infinity Blade franchise surpasses $30 million in revenue
Epic Games announced today that its Infinity Blade franchise has earned over $30 million since the original game launched in December 2010. Infinity Blade 2, available for $7 on the iOS App Store, has generated over $5 million for the developer since its December 1, 2011, launch. "The success of the Infinity Blade franchise is testament to our talented team who is devoted to making games we want to play, all while using Unreal Engine technology to redefine what is expected from games on iOS devices," Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps said in the company's announcement. "We have so much more in store for players, and will continue to make great content for Apple's evolving platforms." The original Infinity Blade took three months to reach the $5 million mark in sales, reaching the $10 million milestone this past June, having grossed over $23 million to date. Assisting Epic's franchise math beyond the core iOS titles are digital novella Infinity Blade: Awakening, Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack and Infinity Blade FX. Update: Financial details tweaked after further clarification.
Infinity Blade 2 tips from Chair Entertainment
There are a ton of great games to buy and play from the App Store today if you happen to have found an iOS device under your tree this past weekend. Infinity Blade 2 is one of the best you'll find, with high-end graphics, tight gameplay, and a whole bunch of fun features that really build on the last popular game in the series. Whether you're a Blade newbie or a veteran, Chair Entertainment has released some tips for the game that will really help you roll through the generations. Some of them are very straightforward (no kidding -- you need to parry in the same direction for it to work?) but some of the tips are things you might not have picked up otherwise. I didn't know that parrying with Heavy weapons gives a block charge back, or that a parry in general will open up more combo moves than just a standard dodge or block against an attack. It's also worth looking through the rest of the official Infinity Blade blog. There are some cool developer interviews, some other solid gameplay tips, and more Infinity Blade news to read. This is definitely one of the best games on the platform, and having tips like this will really help you explore all that it has to offer. [via App Advice]
Cliff B talks Fortnite: 'There's no dudebros in it'
We cornered Epic lead Cliff Bleszinski on the VGAs red carpet yesterday to talk about the newly announced Fortnite, and he says that it'll be very different fare from the popular Gears of War series. "There's no dudebros in it," he told us outright. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, right? But creatively for the team, Gears has been amazing for us. But it's fun to kind of stretch our wings and do something that's a little different from the usual." Epic's Lee Perry is the project lead on this one, but Bleszinski says that he definitely is involved in playing the game and giving feedback on development. "It was a project that was pitched internally. I was a staunch supporter of the idea, because the game is just like a no-brainer -- I was like yes." So Epic is hard at work on Fortnite, Chair Entertainment is doing Infinity Blade on iOS, and we're curious as to what Bleszinski is up to lately. "I just hang out at the beach these days," he joked. "No, trust me, I have plenty to work on, it's just a lot of unannounced stuff. Trying to figure out where a lot of things are going in the next five years." Given the success of Chair's iOS offerings, is that platform something that Epic's main branch would consider making games for? Bleszinski says no. "If we were to do that, which we're not, we'd probably make like six or seven iOS games. Our bread and butter is still with triple A and it's still largely with console, but it remains to be seen what happens."
App review: Infinity Blade 2 (iOS)
The 3D duel-fest is back, and attempting to answer some of the questions left over from its first installment (and a few major updates). Infinity Blade has had a huge effect on promoting the iPad and iPhone as valid gaming options, with high quality visuals and intuitive touchscreen controls. Well, Epic hasn't tampered with the formula too much, but has tried to instill some considered expansions and pour even more eye-honey all over it. Will it stretch gamers beyond the original? We've now spent a fair bit of time slashing away at those pesky immortals and their underlings -- see what we thought of this little big adventure after the break. %Gallery-141444%
Mustard: Infinity Blade success didn't stall Shadow Complex 2
Chair creative director Donald Mustard was nice enough to sit for a few moments with us to talk Infinity Blade 2 so, naturally, we took advantage of his generosity to grill him about the long-discussed (and apparently "largely designed") Shadow Complex 2. We asked if the runaway success of Infinity Blade is what's kept the follow-up to the side-scrolling action-adventure off of Chair's radar. "No, I think that's a complete misnomer," Mustard said. "When we sat down to figure out what we wanted to do after Infinity Blade, and we started to wonder 'Do we want to do Infinity Blade 2?', it wasn't about 'Do we want to make more money?' it was about 'Do we have more to say in this genre?' 'Can we push this gameplay somewhere meaningful?' Those are the questions we ask ourselves. "Now that we've made the first Shadow Complex we kind of know what we're doing and we feel like we can really bring a lot to the Metroidvania genre and Shadow Complex franchise. We want it to be amazing, we want it to be perfect, and we want it to be delivered on the right platforms. It's really about finding the right opportunity for Shadow Complex, not that we've been diverted in any way. "Everyone on our team at Chair will be dead long before we run out of games we want to make. So we try to be very careful about where we spend our time." That's right, that's the answer: Mustard is choosy about projects because he's worried about his own mortality. We may not know when Shadow Complex 2 will arrive, but at least we know the source of the shadows: Donald Mustard's gloomy bummer clouds.
Chair on Infinity Blade 2 development crunch: It sucked
Chair co-founder Donald Mustard recently talked to Gamasutra about the trying circumstances under which Infinity Blade 2 was developed. The whole kit-and-caboodle was created in a six-month crunch; Mustard explained, "We don't look at that like that's a good thing at all. We only did it because we definitely, passionately wanted to get the game done, and we wanted a little more in there." Mustard added, exhausted, "I think in retrospect, having done it twice, that our development cycles are a little too short." He tiredly explained his team had to "death march kill ourselves" for the last two or three months, which is detrimental to the studio's longevity. "And so we definitely won't do that again," Mustard added, with great fatigue. "It's not worth the cost." We totally agree. Now, we're thinking Shadow Complex 2 by early April. Let's get cracking, okay?
Daily iPhone App: Infinity Blade 2
Yes, it's out. Go get it right now. Oh, you're still here? Well then I guess I'll tell you that Infinity Blade is even bigger and better than before. There are now multiple classes and play styles, including dual wield and two-handed in addition to the standard sword-and-board hack and slash gameplay. You can now forge your own weapons and upgrade them with gems, explore a much bigger and more exciting world, and see a little bit of story along the way. Combat itself has been tweaked and fixed up, so parries are much smoother to pull off, which is good, because there are new enemies and attacks, too. In other words, Infinity Blade demonstrated how to make a brilliant iOS game, and Infinity Blade 2 is the idea expanded and writ large. There's even more to come, as Chair has promised more updates. Since first title eventually got free content, level cap raises and a multiplayer update, it's a good bet this game will get the same post-release attention. In short, Infinity Blade 2 is as triple-A as iOS games get. Consider that top-shelf console games sell around US$59.99, and it's quite nice that iOS gamers can get ours at just $6.99. Chair and Epic are still setting the bar for major studio gaming on the iPhone, and this time they knocked it up there pretty darn high.
Infinity Blade 2 launches tonight, into world of Deathless tyrants and legion of Titans (video)
In the realm of brutal hand-to-hand combat, Infinity Blade 2 promises to be without peer. The game will launch tonight on the App Store, and while its said to run just fine on the original iPad, iPhone 3GS / 4, it packs special optimizations for the A5 chip found in every iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, which allows the enhanced lighting and shading effects to fully shine. A follow-up to the original Infinity Blade, battle-hardened warriors will discover 40 new locations, along with added weapons, spells and fighting styles. Priced at $9.99, the 941MB download is expected to hit around 11PM Eastern time. A full preview video follows the break, and for those unfamiliar with Infinity Blade, the original game will soon be available for a limited-time promotional price of $2.99. Game on, everyone.
The Verge goes hands-on with Infinity Blade 2
The Verge has been hands-on with Infinity Blade 2 and has provided a first look at Chair's upcoming sequel to its blockbuster iOS game. The site's review can essentially be boiled down to this: Infinity Blade 2 is exactly the same as the original Infinity Blade, but with some added features and improvements. Gameplay in Infinity Blade 2 will be mostly unchanged compared to the original. You still can't freely roam through the environments, combat is still kind of rock-paper-scissors, and if you didn't like grinding for three hours to afford that $2,500,000 sword in the first game, things are apparently worse in Infinity Blade 2: "the sequel is a little stingier with doling out cash," according to The Verge. On the other hand, weapon customization options have been expanded, and you'll now have the opportunity to dual-wield swords, which should help spice up the gameplay a bit. Chair has amped up the graphics in Infinity Blade 2, and it's easier than ever to mistake screenshots of the game as coming from a full-fledged HD console like the PlayStation 3. That extra graphical detail will only be available on the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, as they're the only iOS devices with the graphical horsepower necessary to push the game to its limits. Infinity Blade 2 will hit the App Store on December 1 and will cost US$6.99. We'll have a review of the game when it comes out; meanwhile, you can check out The Verge's first look at the link above or watch the video embedded below.
Infinity Blade: The Soundtrack now available
Epic Games and Chair Entertainment have released Infinity Blade: The Soundtrack ahead of Infinity Blade 2's December 1 launch. Despite containing a finite number of songs, the soundtrack features orchestral scoring from both Infinity Blades 1 and 2, bringing the track listing to a rather sizable 25 jams. Composed by Josh Aker (Undertow, Shadow Complex) the collection of chronologically recursive music is available on iTunes, Amazon (both regular and On Demand) and Zune for $9.99. You can also purchase each song individually for 99¢ if that's your style, but we can't figure out why anyone would be inclined to do so. It's not like high-fantasy soundtracks usually have singles, after all.
Infinity Blade coming to an arcade near you
If you like Infinity Blade on your iPhone or iPad, then you'll probably love Infinity Blade FX. That's the arcade version, which is apparently being introduced to arcades across the country very soon. You can see video of the game in action, and it looks -- well, like Infinity Blade. Though it's obviously on a bigger screen, the gameplay is essentially the same, even extending into multiplayer across two different machines. The whole concept of bringing an iOS game (designed for a platform that's very private and portable), and turning it into an installed arcade game (a platform that's very public and not portable at all) is a weird one, but in this case it might work. That touchscreen is 46 inches, by the way, so it's not a cheap endeavor, even if we haven't yet heard how many tokens it'll take to play this thing. If you want to give it a shot, apparently it'll start appearing at Dave and Buster's round about the end of this month. That, or you could just go buy it on iOS right now.
'Infinity Blade FX' brings the iOS hit to arcades
For those looking to while away entire generations at their local Dave & Busters, Epic Games and Adrenaline Amusements are teaming up to put a big-screen version of Infinity Blade in the arcade/fried food chain, in either single-screen or two-player, two-screen configurations. Infinity Blade FX uses the same cabinet as the arcade Fruit Ninja and Flight Control machines, all of which feature big-ass 46" touchscreens. It'll be in all 57 Dave & Busters locations by October 28, with other arcade and amusement park locations to be added later ... as those places buy machines, we suppose.
Infinity Blade update with content pack #4 available now
Following the announcement of Infinity Blade II at Apple's media event, Epic Games has released content pack #4 in an update to the the original Infinity Blade game. The new pack comes with "new magic rings, swords, shields, and helmets" as well as a "fierce and deadly RookBane!" On top of that, the update comes with a sneak preview of Infinity Blade II and Infinity Blade: Awakening, a book written by Brandon Sanderson (which coincidentally is now available on the iBook Store and the Kindle Store). The update is free (and waiting for you now in the updates section of the App Store) if you've purchased the game.
Epic Games announces Infinity Blade 2, coming 12/1 on iPhone 4S
Mike Capp from Epic Games has taken the stage at Apple's iPhone event in Cupertino today to show off Infinity Blade 2, the upcoming sequel to one of the most popular games on iOS (a game, incidentally, that Epic says it's made $20 million from already). The new game will reportedly take full advantage of the newly announced iPhone 4S' A5 graphics chip, and even implement "some graphics techniques that aren't even available on home gaming consoles." The demo shown was of course beautiful, featuring lots of reflections and shadows, and even in-world details like koi swimming in a pond and fireflies in the air. The game is essentially the same kind of swordfight gameplay, though in this version, the player will be going after the creator of the Infinity Blade itself. Dual wielding, with one sword in each hand, will be possible as well. No price yet, but Infinity Blade 2 is set to come out on December 1. There's no word whether it will require an iPhone 4S to run (hope not), but Apple did say that it would only run at its best on the new version of the iPhone.
Epic Games shares tips on playing Infinity Blade
Just in case you haven't mastered the great Infinity Blade game for iOS, Epic Games has posted some (spoilery, but the game's been out for quite a while now) tips over on its official blog. They start off with the best damage you can do for each kind of hit, and then move on to tips on specific enemies and how and when to block at just the right times. You may have figured some of this out in your normal playthroughs, but even if you're an amazing Infinity Blade player, there's probably something in here you'll find useful. If you haven't picked up this Epic (literally) game yet, it's available in the App Store right now for $5.99 as a universal app. I would say you might as well keep waiting a bit longer, though -- it seems like there are sales on this one all the time, so odds are that if you're patient, you can get it for a little cheaper. That said, it's an excellent title that's well worth the money anyway, so if these tips intrigue you enough to want to play it, you might as well pick it up.
