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Signal working on next-gen Toy Soldiers, acquires IP from Microsoft
Signal Studios has acquired the rights to its original intellectual property, Toy Soldiers, from Microsoft. "That was our first game, it was our baby," said Signal Community Manager Becky Taylor. "We are working on a future game in the franchise, we have a large publisher interested who we haven't announced yet," she told Joystiq today at GDC. Taylor tells us the next game is planned for next-gen systems. She continued, "Since we acquired the rights back, we've put out Toy Soldiers Complete, which includes the original game, Cold War and four DLCs... and it's 10 bucks through 'early access'." The original tower defense shooter hybrid Toy Soldiers and its sequel, Toy Soldiers: Cold War, have sold a combined total of 2.5 million units.
Toy Soldiers Complete advances onto Steam Early Access
Signal Studios is on standby for a full Steam release of Toy Soldiers Complete after launching it on Early Access over the weekend. The bundle includes tower defense/shooter mash-up Toy Soldiers, follow-up Toy Soldiers: Cold War, and the two games' downloadable expansions. The Early Access price is $10 in North America, and £7/10 euros in Europe. While both games launched on Xbox Live Arcade, you can already find the little plastic paratroopers on PC; Toy Soldiers is available as a Steam standalone, while Toy Soldiers: Cold War is on Windows 8. So it's a bit curious to see Signal taking the Early Access route, but the Ascend: Hand of Kul studio says it's looking for players to "help us find bugs, give feedback and most of all – help us shape the game before its full release!" [Image: Signal Studios]
Toy Soldiers: Cold War, Dead Island free for Xbox Live Gold members in February
Microsoft's Major Nelson has announced next month's lineup of free games for Xbox Live Gold members, revealing that subscribers can expect to receive free copies of Toy Soldiers: Cold War and Dead Island in February. Signal Studios' Xbox Live Arcade strategy game Toy Soldiers: Cold War includes a series of tower defense-styled battles featuring miniature foot soldiers and combat vehicles. Dead Island, a 2011 retail release from Techland, is a first-person action game that challenges players to survive a zombie invasion at an island resort, with help from friends via online cooperative play. As with previous Games With Gold program releases, both Dead Island and Toy Soldiers: Cold War are free for users to keep once they are downloaded, even after associated Xbox Live Gold memberships expire. New games are added to the service on the 1st and 16th of each month.
Toy Soldiers storm PC today, DLC for XBLA's Toy Soldiers: Cold War tomorrow
Signal Studios dropped several information bombs today about its Toy Soldiers series, with the first volley announcing that the original Toy Soldiers will be available on Steam and Games for Windows Live Marketplace today for $9.99. The Steam version will be 25 percent off during launch week.Wait a minute, but Toy Soldiers on XBLA is $15! Not anymore. The XBLA version is receiving a permanent price drop to 800 MSP ($10).Signal Studios, which notes the Toy Soldiers franchise has had over 1 million paid downloads, also announced DLC for last year's excellent co-op XBLA sequel, Toy Soldiers: Cold War. The "Evil Empire" and "Napalm" packs will expand the single-player and co-op campaigns, having players take on the role of the USSR or Americans."As a thank you to our fans, we are releasing a Multiplayer DLC compatibility pack for free," said Toy Soldiers: Cold War Game Director Jason Ilano. "This will give them a chance to join matches hosted by players that have the new content, play it, and decide if it is for them."The dueling side expansions will be 400 MSP ($5) apiece and the launch codes are set to execute tomorrow, April 25.
Best of the Rest: Arthur's picks of 2011
Battlefield 3 I love Battlefield 3. I love it almost as much as it seems to hate its players. At least, that's the way it feels sometimes, trying to get into a game, trying to get correctly squaded up, trying to find a server with room, having to use a server browser on consoles in 2011, downloading 2 GIGABYTE patches ... y u no luv me, BF3? But when it does love me, it loves me so well ... and there I go, into that cycle of abuse again.
Halo: Reach DLC 50% off this week, Toy Soldiers DLC and more next week
If all the talk of Halo Anniversary has put you in the mood for more modern fare, the Reach map packs are down to five bucks each this week. Alternately, if the release of Dead Rising 2: Off the Record gave you a hankerin' for Dead Rising 2 spinoffs, you'll find those half off next week, starting October 25. Dead Rising the first will also be On Demand for 25% off. There's currently a "Shocktober" sale happening, including Castlevania Harmony of Despair for 600 Points ($7.50), and Alan Wake On Demand for just $10 more than retail. What a deal. Racing fans can get a rolling staaaaaaaaaaaaaaart on Daytona USA on October 26, and check out the Toy Soldiers: Cold War "Napalm Pack" and A World of Keflings DLC on the same day. And in Avatar accessory news, it's finally happening on October 20. KISS Avatar clothing.
Report: August XBLA sales favor Fruit Ninja, Toy Soldiers
Specific Xbox Live Arcade sales data remains elusive, so we turn to Gamasutra's analysis of leaderboard information to gain a rough idea of how August's new games performed. Diminutive soldiers proved to be the most popular icons, followed by the ingenious pearing of Kinect and ninjas. Tower defense and shooter mash-up Toy Soldiers: Cold War appears to have sold 160,734 units by August's end, earning 115,448 players during its first week at the conclusion of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion. Gamasutra notes that this rate is actually slower than the original game's launch, which was paired with last year's "Block Party" lineup. Fruit Ninja Kinect had 148,507 players for the month -- impressive in the context of Kinect-only downloadable games. And while it might not be as financially lucrative, the game's sure to expand its total player base in September while it's offered as a free bonus to owners of The Gunstringer. From Dust and Bastion continued to do well in August, while Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet registered 48,389 players by the end of the month. Microsoft announced a DLC add-on called "Shadow Hunters" earlier this month, but it appears to have missed its (tentative) release date.
Toy Soldiers: Cold War review: Back in the USSR
When I was a kid, I loved playing with LEGOs. I didn't have many of my own, but my best friend, Matt, had tons of them, what seemed like dozens of huge plastic tubs brimming with building blocks. Together, we would build jets, tanks, spaceships and more than a few robots. Our elaborate army bases would take up entire rooms. Naturally, half the fun of playing with our creations was pitting them against one another.The epic battles, complete with sound effects -- including what I still believe to be an incredible vocal impression of a machine gun -- would rage for hours, until we had to go to bed or I had to go home. Of course, the explosions, glorious victories and bitter defeats weren't actually real. All of it was in our heads.Had we the ability to project our imagination into something real, I think the end result would have looked something like Toy Soldiers: Cold War. Though our version probably would have had more pirates.%Gallery-118731%
XBLA Summer of Arcade releases dated, buy them all for free Crimson Alliance
We knew which games were going to be part of this year's XBLA "Summer of Arcade" -- but not when. Today, Microsoft shared that information, allowing you to plan your season around buying video games. The Summer kicks off with the isometric action-adventure Bastion on July 20, for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15.) Eric Chahi's volcanic god game, From Dust, follows on July 27 for the same price. On August 3, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet will be available, also for 1200 MSP. August 10 brings a refreshing virtual fruit salad in the form of Fruit Ninja Kinect, for 800 Points. Finally, Toy Soldiers: Cold War arrives on August 17 for 1200 Points. Like previous years, there's a bonus for buying all five Summer of Arcade titles, and this year it's a free copy of Crimson Alliance when it's released on September 7 (for 1200 Points). Fruit Ninja Kinect's inclusion in the promotion means that you must have a Kinect in order to take advantage of the free bonus. That's a bummer of Arcade for those who haven't picked up Microsoft's camera yet.
Xbox Live Summer of Arcade 2011 kicks off July 20
Can't have summer without hot new Xbox Live games, right? Microsoft has announced its line-up for the warmer months, kicking off July 20 -- strangely, in an email and not, you know, during its E3 2011 press conference. Regardless, a total of five games will be on offer. No exact time table for the games was announced nor prices but, hey, at least we know what's coming. The first game listed is Toy Soldiers: Cold War, a sequel to one of 2010's most lucrative Xbox Live Arcade games. The next game listed is Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Fuelcell's stylish UFO simulator, followed by Fruit Ninja Kinect, a flail-tastic port of Halfbrick's darling mobile (and soon, Facebook!) title. Next we have Bastion, a game we suggest you all should keep an eye on. Finally, rounding out the list of games is From Dust, Eric Chahi's god game. An impressive list, to say the least. It's important to know that this is simply how Microsoft listed the games in its press email and not indicative of when each title will launch throughout the promotion.
Toy Soldiers: Cold War revealed, coming to PAX East [update: now with video!]
Remember that XBLA game Toy Soldiers? With the ... umm ... toy soldiers? Well, apparently it's getting a sequel set in the 1980s. As revealed in an email missive from Microsoft regarding the publisher's PAX East showing, "Toy Soldiers: Cold War" features the same blend of first-person action and strategy of the first game, albeit with a new '80s angle. A press release that we received this afternoon further detailed the upcoming sequel, specifically noting that it'll feature co-op and new minigun-based mingames. The publisher also revealed that Toy Soldiers: Cold War will be included among other playable titles at PAX East this coming weekend. Which is when PAX East goes down, in case you didn't know. To date, the original Toy Soldiers has moved over 500K units, meaning that it'll make the jump to PC at some point in "late spring/early summer." Update: We've added the game's trailer after the break and some more info to the post above.%Gallery-118731%
