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Rumor: Worms HD wriggles out after CES
Our friends at XBLArcade have informed us that Worms HD -- an Xbox Live Arcade version of the classic series -- is near completion, according to a forum post on the Team17 website (registration required). The post declares that the game is already on Partnernet (a debug and press only version of Xbox Live) and has only one more bug to be worked out. Furthermore, the game should be available "hot on the heels" of CES, which ends January 11. Worms HD will be officially announced during the show. XBLArcade also reports that Team17 is already working on downloadable content -- free and premium -- and that the game is supposedly easier to "pick up and play" than previous iterations. We share their sentiment that this may or may not be a good thing for Worms, as one of the best parts of the series is its depth of strategy. Hopefully, this will remain intact in the Arcade release. At any rate, we can't wait to get a crack at Worms HD in all its 2D glory. With any luck, it may wash out the sour taste of the recent 3D iterations. Anyone else excited to pick this up?
Worms confirmed and unconfirmed for XBLA
File this one under "They took it down so it must be true." According to 1UP, a 2D version of Team17's Worms series is coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Furthermore, it's actually complete and awaiting certification from Microsoft. To prove their assertions, 1UP posted a link to the Team17 forums, supposedly confirming the game's existence. It went a little something like this: "Plans for announcements are being discussed with MS next week, hold tight. The game is in final certification stages btw, yes it's pretty much all finished apart from any last bugs they find. MS has a schedule of releases and we'll soon find out how we fit into that" It looks like someone spoke too soon (and presumably outside of NDA), as the post has since been, ahem, altered. It now reads, "Tom has a small todger." So, is Worms coming to XBLA? Probably. Will it come out this year? We don't know for sure, but we'd say not, considering MS has a pretty solid lineup, um, lined up. Worms would definitely fit on XBLA. The gameplay is simple yet addictive, and it's turn based, so you won't have to deal with nasty lag. Anybody else up for some Worms on XBLA? [Via Joystiq]
Worms 2D confirmed for Xbox Live Arcade
Team17 has completed a version of Worms for Xbox Live Arcade, returning the multiplayer strategy franchise to its 2D roots. In a recent forum post, creative and studio director Martyn Brown confirmed that the game has entered the final stage of certification and plans for announcing its launch will be discussed with Microsoft next week. But don't hold your breath for a holiday release; XBLA's lineup is firmly in place. Team17's first downloadable title, Lemmings 2, will be available on PlayStation 3's service later this month. [Via 1UP]
Worms: Open Warfare interview
IGN recently conducted a nice Q & A session with Team 17, the studio behind those little gun-toting worms. Since the game is due to hit your local retailer any day now, they aimed to get some final tidbits of information out of them before getting their hands on a final copy and slapping up a review. Team 17 goes on to say that they indeed did have plans to take the game online via Nintendo's WiFi service, yet the development time did not allow for it. They do, however, confirm that they've already begun work on another Worms title, so let's hope they've decided that it will utilize the service.
New Worms Open Warfare Screens
After discussing just how gross worms are earlier today, we have to admit that we've been somewhat swayed by these new screenshots of Worms Open Warfare, the vertebrae-less crew's portable outing coming soon on the DS and PSP. As you can see, the backgrounds are 3D, but the destructible foregrounds are slightly lesser-D. After the so-so reception the 3D incarnation of the series received and the DS' less than stellar proficiency at churning out polygons, this approach is definitely the way to go. [Thanks neil!]
Worms wage war on DS
Worms are gross. They wriggle in unnatural ways, crawl around in your intestinal tract and in some cases, burst forth from gigantic sand dunes and devour your Fremen troops. I may be confusing my fictional and non-fictional worms here, but the fact of the matter is that worms are one of the lesser adored creepy creatures on the planet, slotting in somewhere between tarantulas and Anne Heche. With that in mind, it's rather miraculous that developer Team 17 have made such a success out of their hilarious strategic combat series, Worms. Now under the THQ umbrella, Worms Open Warfare is set to debut on both the DS and PSP, continuing the long-running franchise's wacky traditions that mainly revolve around squeaky smacktalking and exploding sheep. The graphics promise to go with a "2.5D" approach, only rendering the backgrounds in 3D whilst constricting movement to the 2D plane. The DS version will happily support multiplayer combat (which is what the games have always trumpeted) with up to 4 players playing from a single cart...or pak, if we must to use that word. No information on online Wi-Fi capabilities yet, but we'd be very angry indeed if such an opportunity was wasted.
