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Rise and Shiny recap: Ashen Empires
Ashen Empires by Pixel Mine is a cute game with plenty to offer. I say cute simply because it runs in a tiny window, with tiny icons, and it's so adorable you just want to pinch its little pixels to death!... ahem. If you've played Ultima Online, you'll know what I am talking about. I was excited to see the option to run the game at a higher resolution, only to be disappointed when finding that the increased size was only for the black space surrounding the main game window. Luckily, I was able to move all the extra UI elements into this area. D'aaaw! Adorable! I suppose that the game is meant to reflect an "older" time, or perhaps it was literally made during those older times, but I'm not sure I care. I've seen handfuls of games that are "Ultima Online-like" and frankly, they were not that impressive from the beginning. I have to say, though, that with a game like Ashen Empires, the surprises are well-hidden, and despite real-life migraines and technical issues (the older PC might be having death fits) that cut into my playtime, I stumbled across several of these surprises. Click past the cut and I'll tell you all about it.
Be a sheep or a wolf in Secondhand Lands
Little Bo Peep and Little Red Riding Hood have had a score to settle for decades, and now you get the chance to help them do it in Callipygian Games's Secondhand Lands. Choose to play as either a sheep for Bo Peep or a wolf for Little Red in this casual MMO designed for "the disillusioned 'Mega-MMO' veteran who wants more interaction with the developers in their gaming experience."This game is in closed beta and is being distributed by Pixel Mine, with a release date of Fall of this year. Check out the site; there's a little webtoy that lets you trick out your wolf or sheep with stylin' gear. That should be enough to tide anyone over until the actual game hits.
Benchmark Capital joins Vivox in 7.8 million USD deal
According to Wagner James Au at GigaOm, Benchmark Capital has joined the board of Vivox. We're not sure how much Benchmark Capital invested directly. The total was $7.8 million US dollars in Series B financing, some of which also came from Canaan Partners and GrandBanks Capital. The man behind the deal was Mitch Lasky, formerly with Eletronic Arts' mobile division, now general partner at Benchmark Capital.
