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TMNT: Out of the Shadows review: Soft-shelled
By all rights, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles should be holding down responsible office jobs by now. It's been nearly thirty years since their debut, after all, and they should all be well into their 40s. And yet, here they are, still scarfing pizza, fighting crime and appearing in questionable video game adaptations of their adventures. TMNT: Out of the Shadows is the latest such adaptation, and it's definitely questionable. The game is rife with bugs. It has loading issues, oft-repeated one-liners and even an ill-advised hacking mini-game. Yes, someone wedged hacking into a game about beating the stuffing out of bad guys. The one bright spot is the combat, which is largely an improvement over the frantic button-mashing that composes most of TMNT's video game legacy. Even that, however, wears thin after a few hours.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows this summer
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will shell shock digital distribution networks this summer. DigitalSpy posted the trailer for the downloadable game coming to PC, PSN and XBLA in several months. The game will offer four-player online co-op where players can become any of the heroes in a half shell.TMNT: Out of the Shadows appears to be the first in a three-game deal between Activision and Nickelodeon. The turtles used to be in the hands of Ubisoft, but that relationship seems to have splintered.%Gallery-180672%
Daily iPhone App: Elenints matches Triple Town's planning with a few new tricks
Red Fly Studio is the group behind last year's great Inertia: Escape Velocity. Its latest title, Elenints, is more abstract. The name "Elenints" might come from a combination of the words "elements" and "integers". It's is a puzzle game where you place pieces on a board, trying to match up three of a kind and combine those into increasingly complex elements. The gameplay is similar to Triple Town, which I love. Both games require you to carefully plan how you'll place pieces to make combos. But while Triple Town simply blocks off space the more you play, Elenints is more dynamic. As "creepers" spawn, you can block them with an Elenint, which means that if you can change up your plan in time, you can prevent bears from ever showing up. That innovation alone makes Elenints worth a look, and there's also a sort of tutorial/puzzle mode that offers a nice twist on Triple Town's gameplay. Elenints is available for free on the App Store right now.
Red Fly Studio layoffs result of canned Star Wars title, resume suggests
After laying off 30 developers, Red Fly Studio CEO Dan Borth told GameSpot, "The reduction of staff was a response to a large high-profile project that was, to our surprise, reevaluated and then canceled." While the identity of that project wasn't known at the time, a resume uncovered by internet uncoverer Superannuation points to development of a "next-gen Star Wars title." Patrick Doran's LinkedIn profile includes Red Fly Studio under "past" experiences, where the artist worked from April 2008 to this month, as both an artist and environment artist. In addition to work on games like Mushroom Men, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 for Wii, and Thor for both Wii and 3DS, Doran worked as an environment artist from January of this year through June on the aforementioned "next-gen Star Wars title." With a list of shipped games exclusive to Nintendo's consoles, it's not clear what "next-gen" means in this case. The studio's first HD game for Xbox 360 and/or PlayStation 3 using the high-profile Star Wars license? We've reached out to both Red Fly Studio and LucasArts for comment on the project.
Wii developer Red Fly Studio lays off 30
Sad news from Austin developer Red Fly Studio, which confirmed to GameSpot that it unexpectedly had to terminate approximately 30 employees on June 22. CEO Dan Borth explained, "The reduction of staff was a response to a large high-profile project that was, to our surprise, reevaluated and then canceled." Red Fly is perhaps best known for its Wii versions of licensed games that are often as well -- if not better -- received than their 360 and PS3 counterparts (as was the case with the recent Thor). Here's hoping those affected land on their feet.
Ghostbusters among GameStop's top five games this quarter
GameStop's quarterly earnings report for its second quarter (May through August 1) included a list of the five best-selling games for that time period. Four of the five – UFC 2009 Undisputed, Prototype, Fight Night Round 4, and NCAA Football 2010 – are safe bets; however, the last game on that list is a surprise: Ghostbusters. Atari's movie adaptation was successful, but its no-show on the last two month's NPD charts suggested it wasn't selling that well. In fact, the NPD tells us that across all six platforms, it has sold just 560,000 copies in North America. The best-selling version, in case you were curious, was the Xbox 360 release, at 225,000. We're contacting Atari about the discrepancy between the NPD numbers and Atari's announced one million sales, but its inclusion on GameStop's top seller list seems to imply that Atari's number is closer to the truth. Which would mean that Ghostbusters is something of a stealth hit!
'Ghostbusters' credits neglect artist crucial to game's style, dev responds
The artist who helped inspire the graphic style of the Wii and PS2 versions of Ghostbusters is angry for being omitted from the game's credits. According to a blog post by artist Dan Schoening, Sony and Sierra -- the original publisher of the game before it was picked up by Atari, following the Activision/Blizzard merger -- "100% guaranteed" he would be credited for his help in shaping the final look of the two versions of the recently released title. "For a game that in many ways is heavily influenced by my work, is it too much to ask for some acknowledgment?," Schoening wrote over the weekend.Yesterday, Red Fly Studio (the team behind the Wii/PS2 versions) CEO Dan Borth defended his company's position to Kombo. According to Borth, many people responsible for the game were omitted for the simple reason that there wasn't enough room. "After Sony, Vivendi, Atari all got their credits we had few spaces for ourselves and the others who worked on the games with us -- Zen Studios, War Drum studios, etc," Borth said. "Many people didn't make it and they worked many, many more hours on this game than Mr. Dan I can assure you. Does that make it right? No it doesn't. That's just how it played out.Borth admits that Schoening's name was omitted, but is adamant that it was not done intentionally. While not having "space" for the artist's credit is one of the saddest attempts at an excuse we've ever heard, Borth apologized to Schoening for the omission and thanked him for his work on the dev's official blog.[Via TrueGameHeadz. Image credit: Dan Schoening]
The DS Ghostbusters game is Ecto-cooler
We know very little about Red Fly Studio's DS Ghostbusters game. It'll have more of a business-management component, much like the classic David Crane Ghostbusters, and it'll use an exaggerated graphical style like the Wii game, but we haven't heard much about the experience of playing the game. We now know from a Co-Optimus interview that it'll be awesome in a way no other version of the new Ghostbusters game is."Driving the Ecto-1 is an exclusive feature for the Nintendo DS version of the game," Red Fly's Dustin Dobson said, "although it will certainly play a big part in all of the games." Sadly for the Wii version, there are no plans as yet for a proton pack attachment, as far as Dobson knows. "But whether or not an official pack accessory is made, I am sure custom ones built by fans of the movies and games are going to pop up! I am excited to see what people come up with." Somebody buy one of the movie props and mod it. You guys have money. You can do this.%Gallery-49171%[Via GoNintendo]
Ghostbusters confirmed for June 16 release on all platforms [update]
[Update: Atari just sent out a press release announcing that the game is coming out across all platforms on Jun 16!]Terminal Reality, the developer behind the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the upcoming Ghostbusters game, said the game is indeed slated for release during the week of June 16th, to coincide with the release of Ghostbusters on Blu-ray. But, what about the Wii version of the game?It's being developed by Red Fly and, while we'd like to think the game will release alongside the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, nothing has been confirmed. Stay tuned for more info as it's made available.%Gallery-27664%
Joystiq busts some ghosts, says Wii game plays best
The lucky folks over at Joystiq managed to get their hands dirty with all of the different versions of the Ghostbusters game recently. Now that it's confirmed to, y'know, actually exist, we're wondering if the game is as good as it seems to be on paper. Also, how does the Wii version stack up against the other versions of the game? Well, we're glad to say that Joystiq said the Wii version was their favorite. That makes two now!As for the rest of it, head on over and check out the piece here.%Gallery-27664%
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Exploding Canisters
The final installment in our look at the hacked-together weapons in Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi on the DS brings some more second-generation weapons -- items that a Mushroom Man thought was okay at killing other mushrooms, but could be better. And then in come the compressed air canisters and electric motors. It takes a big brain to come up with this kind of stuff, and luckily Mushroom Men happen to have enormous, umbrella-shaped canopies in which to hold said brains.Have a look around our Mushroom Men weapons gallery to learn the "recipes" behind the game's hand-crafted mini-disasterpieces. In addition, two new screenshots from the DS game can be found in our main Mushroom Men gallery.%Gallery-34889%%Gallery-15252%
Mushroom Men: The Tools of the Spore Wars -- Part 2: Slashing
Our second set of weapons from Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars shows how a resourceful mushroom can turn everyday items into slashing weapons. There was always potential for extreme pain in items like bottle caps and pull tabs; it just took the right amount of good old alien-ray-enhanced ingenuity to realize that potential in the form of weaponry. Yes, pretty much the first thing these mushrooms have done after gaining intelligence is to learn how to kill each other. Oh, well, it works out for us, because we'll get to play a game with all these cool weapons in it.In addition to the seven new items in our weapons gallery, our main Mushroom Men gallery has two new screenshots. %Gallery-34378%%Gallery-18243%
Mushroom Men: Improvised Arsenal of the Fungi
Last week on Wii Fanboy, we featured some of the crazy weapons that can be cobbled together in Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars. Its side-scrolling DS cohort, Rise of the Fungi, features the same SCAV system for building an artillery out of garbage and found items, and this week we'll have a look at some of the options your sentient mushroom pal can use to defend himself from other mushroom tribes, environmental hazards, and mutant insects. There's also a new screen from Rise of the Fungi.Some of the weapons in this week's gallery are second-generation SCAV items -- two items crammed together to make one weapon, then augmented with extra junk added to remake them into something more deadly. %Gallery-34889%
Kicking over some Mushroom Men
The latest screens from the quirky Mushroom Men have forced us to ponder a number of alternate titles for the forthcoming title from Red Fly Studio. Les Claypool's Mushroom Men would work, or Trash Men, Pool Floaty Men or Sumo Men, or -- no, actually, Mushroom Men works best. This entire post goes a long way toward explaining why we write about video games rather than writing actual video games. Just go look at the screens.And yes, JC, that does appear to be a jackalope.%Gallery-18243%
The Visible Mushroom Man
This new Mushroom Men screen demonstrates the intuitive and slightly gross "life meter" used in the game. Rather than displaying some life bar, Mushroom Men alerts you to reduced health in a slightly more "natural" manner, namely loss of cap. Pax's mushroom cap is divided into chunks, and a section disappears with each hit taken, revealing more of the brain underneath. No, mushrooms don't normally have brains, but they don't usually have spiked clubs either! Neither do fungi usually have ... adventures.Both the club and the brain would seem to come in handy in a pitched battle against ... is that a jackalope?%Gallery-18243%
Mushroom Men uncapped, examined
IGN was lucky enough (or IGN enough) to get the opportunity to do a hands-on preview of Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars. During their playthrough, they got a bit more information about the "scav" system that allows your tiny, fungal hero to create weapons out of junk.Items come in one of three categories: stems, caps, and parts, and weapons are composed of one piece of trash out of each category. Once you've successfully built a weapon, it will show a rating (in stars) that gauges its strength. You can break these weapons down and recombine them. Another detail that hasn't been discussed much: the metronome system. Environmental elements move and chime in time to the music -- in IGN's demo, floorboards bounced and pipes shook as the music played.While you're in a Mushroom Mood, enjoy some new gameplay videos as well!%Gallery-18243%
The best Mushroom Men trailer you'll see today
This latest trailer for Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars may be one of the all-around best trailers for anything we've seen in a while. The bombastic, B-movie-style narration and big "ADVENTURE!!" titles lend the trailer a sort of goofy excitement, and the gameplay footage is visible for once. The Les Claypool music sounds ... kind of bouncily psychotic, as usual.We don't want to let our enthusiasm for the trailer get in the way of the main point: the game looks really great. We hope that the more people actually see it in action, the less likely it is to be overlooked.%Gallery-18243%
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Screens
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi is on the way in October, and we've got a few new screens in our gallery that show how the game is coming along. The 2.5D platformer uses somewhat simple polygons (a smart decision) but gives off the same kind of atmosphere as the rocking concept art due to very interesting lighting effects!Mushroom Men on the DS is planned as a prequel to the Wii game -- another smart decision, we think. It helps position the DS game as less of a spinoff item and more a part of the real game series. It would be a shame if a cool sidescroller like this got overlooked because of the 3D game. That is, of course, assuming that the Wii game isn't also overlooked.%Gallery-15252%[Via press release]
There is no Ghostbusters Wii/DS connectivity, only Zuul
Apparently the report yesterday that Ghostbusters on the Wii would allow you to use your DS as a simulated PKE meter was in error. Terminal Reality's Mark Randel (who is kind of a strange authority on this game since Red Fly Studio is developing the Wii and DS games, but who no doubt knows more about it than us) told videogaming247 that no such feature was implemented. "It would have been really cool though."It has yet to be confirmed if either the Wiimote or DS will be able to interface with the Statue of Liberty. Hopefully some clever homebrewer/sorcerer/Scourge of Carpathia/Sorrow of Moldavia can come up with a slime that uses the Twilight Hack.[Via GoNintendo]
Wii Fanboy interview: Red Fly Studio (Mushroom Men)
Red Fly Studio has big goals. In the words of the company's CEO, Dan Borth, they want to be "the world's premiere third-party Wii developer." They're aiming high on the DS, as well. It may sound a little presumptuous, but their inaugural effort, Mushroom Men, shows significant promise on both the Wii and DS, with a unique, detailed visual style, bizarre challenges and an expansive junk-based inventory. At the EIEIO event, I spoke with Chad Barron, external producer for the DS side-scroller, and Dan Borth, CEO and creative director, about both games, as well as the experience of working for a big publisher on a big license. %Gallery-18243%
