Super-Scribblenauts
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Scribblenauts' Maxwell now available for pre-order in toy form
The adorable Scribblenaut himself, Maxwell, is heading to toy stores this June. First, he's an action figure, complete with a pencil and notebook used to create anything you can dream of. Then while you're dreaming, you can hug a little plush Maxwell, available for $10 plus shipping.
5th Cell reveals sales for Scribblenauts, Drawn to Life
5th Cell's focus on original IP has worked out quite well for the independent developer, selling millions of copies of its innovative titles. During a DICE 2011 presentation on the studio's development strategy, general manager and COO Joseph Tringali shared that it has sold 3.5 million units in the Drawn to Life series and 2.5 million of Scribblenauts games. We'd known previously that the original Scribblenauts was the fifth best-selling DS title of 2009. The developer is currently working on Hybrid, its XBLA title expected to launch sometime this year. 5th Cell has been incredibly cagey on details, but creative director Jeremiah Slaczka told Joystiq that it'll have its big reveal at GDC next month.
Best of the Rest: JC's picks of 2010
Dragon Quest IX DQIX is secretly two games: when you're playing through the main quest, it's a traditional JRPG with a light but interesting story populated by unexpectedly engaging characters and perfectly brisk pacing; then as you approach the end, it becomes a dungeon crawler driven by a dungeon map trading mechanic using the passive communication of the DS. How compelling is that "tag mode" mechanic? I can't think of any other game for which I would go hang out at a GameStop and then a Best Buy, but that's exactly what I did when Nintendo held DQIX events this summer. I needed those maps. That's how I know this is my favorite game of 2010.
Go deep into Super Scribblenauts with 5th Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka
Looking for deep level Super Scribblenauts gameplay ideas but tired of all those crazy walkthroughs? 5th Cell creative lead Jeremiah Slaczka's got you covered, recently starring in a video on just that subject. Grab your thesaurus, your DS, and a notepad -- things are about to get crazy.
Super Scribblenauts review: Everyday I write the book
Forget the Scribblenauts you knew. Usually, when people say things like that, it's because the new thing is so different, that trying to compare it to the old thing is just going to leave you confused. That's not the case with Super Scribblenauts, which is tonally, graphically and sonically almost identical to its predecessor. No, I mention it only because Super Scribblenauts, which fixes practically every problem with the series' debut, is viewed most favorably in an alternate dimension where said debut never existed. %Gallery-95592%
Super Scribblenauts-branded eggs coming soon to the UK
Thanks to Super Scribblenauts, we've learned all about this delightful little caste of words known as "adjectives," which can be used to describe things. With this knowledge, we now have the ability to talk about Warner Bros. bizarre, inscrutable, unprecedented and delicious new promotion for the wordy puzzle title: A partnership with UK's Stonegate Eggs, to include Scribblenauts branding on cartons of the company's "Intelligent Eating Eggs." The promotion will have an accompanying website, where egg consumers can solve puzzles for a chance to win a DSi and a copy of the vocabulary-expanding sequel. We guess we can see the correlation, but we still wish the game had a more direct impact on the foodstuff. Imagine if you will: Super Scramblenauts, a foil pouch with pre-made scrambled eggs inside, for on-the-go oh man that would be disgusting.
Super Scribblenauts trailer pits 5TH Cell against Cowthulu
In this Super Scribblenauts trailer, 5TH Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka makes a personal, Scribblenaut-ized appearance to outline the new adjective feature. And then proceeds to upstage himself by making a "cuddlesome cowlike Cthulu." And a "brave milkmaid." To milk it. So ... yeah.
Grab Super Scribblenauts early at LA launch party
After holding the first Scribblenauts launch event in New York, Warner Bros. Interactive has decided to modify the party for Super Scribblenauts with a couple of adjectives, like "sunny" and "smoggy." The launch party for the DS puzzle-adventure sequel will be held at the GameStop on Sunset and Vine in Los Angeles on October 10. There, you'll be able to buy the game early, of course, and also participate in a Super Scribblenauts costume contest, solve puzzles on a magnetic wall and meet the 5TH Cell team responsible for the game. The celebration is only going on from 11AM–2PM -- if you're late, you'll have to buy the game on its regular October 12 date, like everyone else in America. Update: See the invitation after the break.
Super Scribblenauts preview: Maxwell's house
From what we've seen, it seems safe to say that if you liked Scribblenauts, you'll love the sequel. It's got a refined and updated version of the original's wordplay, along with plenty of fun extras like a level editor with deep scripting capability, and a "merit" achievements system that keeps the gameplay moving even after you've beaten the 100-plus levels the first time. But what if you didn't like Scribblenauts? What if, like me, you were charmed by the premise, but were overwhelmed by the execution, by the option to create anything in order to solve a series of often nebulous puzzles? %Gallery-99780%
Super Scribblenauts features a reprogrammed Maxwell
Upon playing Super Scribblenauts, it becomes readily apparent why you'd want to use the D-pad to manipulate the game's hero, Maxwell. So why wasn't that an option in the first game? Joystiq asked 5TH Cell Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka, and were told that the original touch-screen input didn't draw any complaints -- at least not from casual players. "We haven't gotten any emails from casual users," he told us this week, "that are like, 'Hey, I don't like the controls.' It's the hardcore users that are like, 'I play Mario all of the time, and I'm a hardcore gamer, and I'm used to these kinds of controls, and what's what I want." Though controlling Maxwell directly with the D-pad may seem an obvious choice, it wasn't the first time around. "Maxwell's actually an AI," Slaczka said. "So it wasn't just like throw the D-pad controls in." Maxwell was programmed to respond to the rest of the game's systems rather than just follow button directions, and so it didn't occur to the developers to control him directly. "You'd have to overwrite all of the code that we'd built up for him. So in the second one, we basically did that." The team "stripped out" all of the behaviors and responses that had been coded, and created the option for "one-to-one player control." For his own part, Slaczka says he doesn't care which option players use, but he'll stick with the stylus. "This isn't a platforming game," he said. "This is a puzzle game. Unfortunately, it has a platforming-type feel to it. So we said for the second one, that's fine, we'll address it, we'll give you both. And we actually fixed up the stylus controls, too, so Maxwell doesn't run away as you tap -- when you let go he stops. So we made it way better."
Gran Turismo 5 wins 'best of' Gamescom awards 2010
The Gamescom awards have been handed out by an "expert jury" from the publishing and media sector, with Gran Turismo 5 taking the "Best of Gamescom" award. Unlike the E3 Game Critics Awards, which is a collaborative effort by outlets you've heard of, the Gamescom accolades appear to come from six folks whose names we don't quite (be polite, be polite!) ... recognize. The short list of winners selected by the brotzeit club were: Best of Gamescom: Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH) Hardware accessories: PlayStation Move (Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH) Console games: Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH) Mobile games: Super Scribblenauts (Warner Bros. Games) Online games: Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft West) PC games: Crysis 2 (Crytek GmbH) Best of Family Entertainment: Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo of Europe GmbH) Those are certainly some adequate choices, but considering the international presence and size of the show, it would seem prudent that the Gamescom awards seek out a better mix and quantity of judges for future shows. %Gallery-99887%
Super Scribblenauts screenshots are really, really (adjective)
You guys already know the drill: 5TH Cell has released a new batch of screenshots for Super Scribblenauts, one which follows the format of all the developer's previous asset blasts for the series. That is to say: There's a lovely, illustrated desktop background, followed by: A handful of clever solutions to a few in-game puzzles, which leads into: A couple of screens showing the puzzle creation tools, and finally: A screen showing that, yes, the game is capable of discerning between cerulean, sunlit, cow-like, centaurian, tricolor and cotton elementals. This screen is commonly referred to as "5TH Cell's really just showing off now." %Gallery-99780%
Super Scribblenauts gets a powerful, angry, vampiric Gamescom trailer
If the expansive dictionary found at the center of Scribblenauts left you bewildered, we're curious about what you'll think of the trailer for Super Scribblenauts posted below. It the game's noun recognition was indeed powered by black magic, its adjectives must be the work of Cthulhu.
Listen to Super Scribblenauts in style with GameStop's pre-order bonus
They're "fuzzy." They're "camouflage" -- or "polka-dot" or "grey," depending on which you happen to pick up. According to WB, they're "chic," "colorful" and "plush." We would argue that they are "loud" in two different ways. And they're also "free." Appropriately, there are plenty of adjectives to describe the Super Scribblenauts pre-order bonus, the Adjectivized Headphones. Unless you pre-order your copy of the game from GameStop, they're also "inaccessible." The headphones will be handed out (in the three aforementioned color schemes, randomly selected) with pre-orders of the game on its October 12 release date. And they'll totally look "awesome" worn over a Rooster Hat.
Super Scribblenauts ESRB description confirms mermaid-murdering computers
Were you concerned about whether or not you'd be able to create a man-eating bicycle in Super Scribblenauts? Parents, do you have a strict "no homicidal houses" policy for your kids' entertainment media? The ESRB has stepped in to offer a few (extremely) random examples of what's possible.
See and save on Super Scribblenauts at Comic-Con
Comic-Con is turning out to be pretty worthwhile simply for DS-related reasons. In addition to the exclusive Dragon Quest IX content, you'll have a chance to try out Super Scribblenauts, and save $5 on the game for your trouble. Warner Bros. Interactive will have demo stations for the adjective-enhanced adventure in its booth (#4545). Those who go to check it out will get an adjective of their own, thanks to a $5 Best Buy coupon to turn their own copies of Super Scribblenauts into cheap copies. The publisher released this charming artwork today as well, depicting some adjectivized objects found within the game. A plaid kappa! A wooden cat, in a furry cup, maybe? A tiny, striped, winged elephant! These are things that you can use in a video game to solve puzzles!%Gallery-97769%
Preview: Super Scribblenauts
Last year at E3, the game press lost its collective cool over Scribblenauts. We suspect we're headed for another collective freakout with Super Scribblenauts. Last year, it was the audacious, impossible-sounding concept of thinking of any noun and summoning it to solve a puzzle. This year, we've all had time to become familiar with the concept -- but the fact that the sequel has been refined to fix the one problem the original game had might be worth the renewed enthusiasm.%Gallery-95592%
Super Scribblenauts unpacking adjectives this Fall on DS
Start flexing those ... whatever muscles you would use to exercise your imagination. Warner Bros. Interactive today announced Super Scribblenauts, the sequel to last year's similarly titled puzzle-platformer. The DS game will hit store shelves sometime this fall. Check out the first three (tiny, tiny) screenshots from the game in the gallery below. As hinted at by the April issue of Nintendo Power, players will be able to modify the game's catalog of summonable items using adjectives, leading to complex creations such as "gentlemanly, flaming, flying zombies and purple, obese, winged elephants." That sounds wonderful, but we're more excited by the announcement's surreptitious reference to "upgraded controls." Does that mean we'll actually be able to walk to said lavender pachyderm without accidentally jumping into that adjacent pit of lava? We can only hope! %Gallery-93161%
