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Deep Silver taps Southend Interactive for multiplatform game
Sweden-based Southend Interactive is working on a new game for Dead Island publisher Deep Silver, the studio revealed. In a missive on the Southend website, the ilomilo developer announced the new partnership, but didn't really go into any specifics."Southend is responsible for the development of a new multiplatform game, based on one of Deep Silver's already existing and popular brands," the post reads. Not much else is known right now, but expect this new game's official announcement "soon."
HP TouchPad shoots down planes, shows off next-gen Snapdragon's GPU (video)
We're willing to bet Qualcomm's Adreno 220 GPU is an abstract concept to most readers, but we can put it into perspective real quick -- here it is in the HP TouchPad, pumping pixels and mapping textures to a seriously stunning little air combat game. We got our hands on the webOS 3.0 tablet and gave Polarbit's Armageddon Squadron II a whirl at GDC 2011, and the experience felt pretty solid overall, framerate only dipping significantly when unleashing a hefty barrage of rockets upon your foes. What's more, the tablet easily -- and automatically -- paused our game when flexing webOS's multitasking muscle to check a text message that had just come in. What's that you say? You're wondering how the HP TouchPad does text messages? Well, it doesn't quite -- it requires a webOS smartphone paired via Bluetooth to share the cellular modem for texts and calls. But you knew that already, right? Armageddon Squadron wasn't the only title Qualcomm had handy to show off the power of the Adreno 220, though, as SouthEnd Interactive's Desert Winds seems to be the feather in the company's cap. It's a 3D action-adventure title starring some very fancy lighting effects for a mobile game -- not to mention a buxom female swordslinger who dredges up memories of ATI's Ruby. See that after the break! Update: Adreno 220 is actually a single-core GPU, part of the dual-core Snapdragon 8x60 system-on-a-chip.
Xbox 'Games for the Holidays' feature unlockable crossovers
Raskulls, Ilomilo, and A World of Keflings aren't just connected through the shared "Games for the Holidays" promotion. They also each unlock extras in the other games. In Ilomilo, you can get unlockable Keflings and Raskulls costumes for Ilo and Milo by purchasing the other games. Additionally, "You can unlock ilo and Doug as playable characters in Raskulls," says Raskulls dev Halfbrick, "and also unlock Raskulls characters within ilomilo and World of Keflings by purchasing the full range of games." And buyers of Raskulls or Ilomilo can build homes for characters from those games in A World of Keflings, according to a statement posted by Kotaku. Even crazier: you can actually get Raskulls early by buying A World of Keflings. Raskulls can be bought from within that game, a week before its December 29 release. That's two out of the three games available early!
A World of Keflings, Raskulls and ilomilo dated for XBLA
"But Joystiq," you ask, "isn't there already a way to get the absolutely delightful ilomilo for XBLA right now?" Yes, there is -- or you could wait until it's "officially" released on the Xbox Marketplace come January 5 as part of the "Games for the Holidays" promotion. But really, who would do such a silly thing? (Either way, it'll set you back 800 Microsoft Points, or $10.) Of course, since there's no way to secretly procure Ninja Bee's latest, A World of Keflings, or the puzzle/racer mash-up that is Raskulls from Halfbrick Studios, you will have to wait until their official launches on December 22 and 29, respectively, at 800 points ($10) each.
Get early access to ilomilo on Xbox Live ... right now!
Adorable puzzle game ilomilo may already be out (for free, no less) on Windows Phone 7 devices, but did you know you can play it on your Xbox 360 as well, like, right now? A dutiful tipster pointed us to the developer's website, where a "super secret" access page gives out an Xbox Live code that redeems for the trial version of the game. As you probably already put together, downloading the trial version of ilomilo also means that -- if you're willing to shell out the 800 MS Points ($10) it costs -- you can totally buy the full game. More bizarre? The game doesn't have an official release date just yet. So, you can buy it right now and tell your friends you're on that new, new, new ish. That "hasn't even been given a release date" ish, you know? [Thanks blahman!]
Download some of Ilomilo's soundtrack for free (or just enjoy the new trailer)
Along with releasing a new trailer (found after the break) for adorable downloadable title Ilomilo, developer Southend Interactive is giving away tracks featured in the forthcoming game's soundtrack over on its website. Also, it appears that the folks at Southend had a cookout helmed by a "coding mega robot" (as detailed on said website). That just straight up sounds unsafe, folks.
We can't handle the cuteness of ilomilo's 'Summer' trailer
Oh, ilomilo. Even though we still have absolutely no idea what's going on gameplay-wise, after watching this new trailer, we can't help but fall prey to this game's immeasurable charm. It looks like you have to move boxes around to reunite the game's pair of roly-poly protagonists, but we're sure there's more to it than that. Just like we're sure that this trailer is cuter than a bucket of baby sea otters being cuddled by a baby panda bear, which is also being cuddled by a much larger panda bear. The trailer also includes a look at the "ilomilo shuffle" minigame, which, despite its lo-fi visuals, still manages to be irresponsibly adorable. We'll keep an eye on Swedish developer Southend's blog for release details for this pretty, pretty puzzler.
