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Revamped Mushroom Men site cultivated, launched
If, inspired by too many episodes of Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, you've yearned to adventure the world as a miniaturized figure, fighting pygmy creatures with Lilliputian weapons, you really should look into Mushroom Men! To assist interested gamers who refuse to put their memories of 80s cartoons behind them, publisher Gamecock has updated its official site for the platformer, providing previews of Mushroom Men's playable characters, jury-rigged arms, and misshapen enemies.Gamecock has also announced that Primus's Les Claypool is lending his talents to the soundtrack for both the DS and Wii Mushroom Men games. According to the renown bassist, like many parents hoping to win their children's favor, he took on the job at the urging of his fantasy-gaming-obsessed son. You can treat your ears to one of Les's songs for Mushroom Men at the relaunched site right now!See also: EIEIO 08: Brief Mushroom Men impressions%Gallery-15252%[Via press release]
Rocky and Bullwinkle set for April 16th release
If you're a nostalgic Rocky and Bullwinkle fanboy who has been waiting to get your hands on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Xbox Live Arcade game, then you'll be pleased to know that your wait will only last a few more weeks.According to the fellas over at 360sync, they've talked with Zen Studios and have been informed that Rocky and Bullwinkle is scheduled for an XBLA release on Wednesday, April 16th. Which is roughly a thirteen day wait. Of course, things can change (and with XBLA release dates, they often do), but for now we'd be confident in going with an April 16th release. You silly squirrels.%Gallery-18612%
EIEIO 08: Brief Mushroom Men impressions
I was only able to see a couple of minutes of Red Fly Studio's Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi, but I learned some interesting details about the game. Rise of the Fungi on the DS, codeveloped with Zen Studios, is designed as a prequel to the Wii game, telling two stories in the same world. In both games, a meteor has somehow caused mushrooms to gain awareness and intelligence, along with other organisms. In Rise of the Fungi, one tribe of mushrooms must drive interloping insects out of their village.Mushroom Men is a (really nice-looking) 2.5D platformer set in a world that looks very big to a mushroom. Multiple characters are available: "heavy" characters with good melee combat skills, "sages" with excellent spore powers (special magic-type abilities) and "scouts" with ranged combat abilities. These characters will traverse 10 levels, each divided into two scenes, solving environmental puzzles and, well, collecting garbage. In fact, garbage is kind of important to the game.The environmental puzzle we were shown involved using items found in the stage to reach a higher platform. The player had to knock a soda can into a buzzsaw, which turned the buzzsaw on, causing it to fall down. It could then be used to climb up to that platform.As for the garbage: both the DS and Wii games feature the "scav" system, which allows you to pick up junk and combine it into weapons. And there are a lot of choices -- a quick look at the menu screen showed at least 20 available weapons. A 2D platformer with a lot of weapons? Yes. Yes.I was very impressed overall with the demo, except for the part in which I didn't play the game. Luckily, Red Fly expects to release Rise of the Fungi late this year, with The Spore Wars to follow soon after. Hit the gallery for new screens and even more delightful concept art!%Gallery-15252%
Pinball FX gets spooky Nightmare Mansion DLC
Today, Zen Studios released a new pinball table for XBLA game Pinball FX ever so fittingly named Nightmare Mansion and we're sure it's a spooky pinball treat. Not only did they release a new table, but Zen also created a new "Monster Hunter" achievement worth 20 gamerscore as well. But before thoughts of new pinball and achievement fun dance in your head, you should know that the Nightmare Mansion DLC will cost you 200 Microsoft points. A price that may be too spooky for some.And now that we think about it some more, wouldn't it have been a little more seasonal to have released this Nightmare Mansion table back during Halloween and reserved the free Buccaneer Table for use now? It's just a crazy (and very logical) idea we had. But we guess Zen Studios doesn't mind the fact that Halloween was nearly three months ago. Their inspiration knows no boundaries or holidays.
DS Ghostbusters to have more sim elements
We all know that the Ghostbusters will be returning to consoles with a new action game soon. But what about those who are less interested in the busting of phantasms than the ins-and-outs of running their own small business? For (both of) them, there's the DS version of the game, which NGamer reports will have more management elements, requiring players to run their own ghost-busting branch. With the Ghostbusters' return still a year off, details are obviously still pretty skimpy. But, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, we're actually kind of intrigued by the business-focused concept. If we may be so bold, may we suggest the hit title of Ghostbusting Tycoon?
Rocky and Bullwinkle bound for Xbox Live Arcade
In the spirit of Thanksgiving... okay, so this is in no way relevant to the American holiday, but we're posting it anyway. Who remembers Rocky and Bullwinkle? No one? Well, the classic cartoon characters are getting their very own mini-game compilation, coming soon to Xbox Live Arcade.At the very least, this will be an opportunity for the franchise to redeem its former sins; the duo starred in atrocious platformers on the Game Boy and NES back in 1992. The new title, The Bullwinkle Show (what, no Rocky?) is being developed by Zen Studios, and will include Live Vision Camera support in its plethora of party games.So, is this even news? By all means, let us know in the comments.[Via X3F]
Rocky and Bullwinkle headed to XBLA
Of all the franchises we expected to hit Xbox Live Arcade (or video games in general, for that matter), Rocky and Bullwinkle was pretty far down the list. Don't get us wrong, Rocky and Bullwinkle fills many of our childhood memories with joy, but it's unexpected to say the least. Shock and surprise aside, the news is that The Bullwinkle Show is headed to Xbox Live Arcade this holiday season. We don't know much more about it, other than that it is being developed by Zen Studios (Pinball FX) and that it is a party game filled with "tons and tons of fun microgames." We'll see about that.[Via XBLArcade]
See what seems to be first footage of Ghostbusters game
So we're not sure what to tell you about this supposed clip of the recently-announced Ghostbusters game from Dutch site Game1. It looks really good to us, but so did the Zootfly version we saw a few months ago, and that turned out to be a side project some company was putting together for laughs, so it's hard to say. Speaking of which, this video has a similarity to those first YouTube clips we saw of the Zootfly game, though this is way more polished. So, we present the above video to you as is, with no guarantees as to its authenticity, other than logic and our own gut instinct. Of course, it would probably be easier to tell what was going on if, you know, the whole thing wasn't in Dutch. Side note: If you want to see something that we know is official, check out this teaser for the game.
Variety details new Ghostbusters game
Game Informer may have the cover for December, but Variety is dropping the details now about the new Ghostbusters game. Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd are teaming up to write the game's script, which will act as sequel to the movies. Ramis, Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray will reprise their roles as the Ghostbusters by providing their voice and likeness on the project and, most importantly, Annie Potts will provide the voice of the secretary, Janine Melnitz. It's also worth mentioning that this game has nothing to do with the impressive looking Zootfly Ghostbusters game from earlier this year, which has since been erased from the intertubes. The game will be created by Vivendi's Sierra label. Vivendi's videogame adaptation of Scarface has apparently sold over 2.5 million units and grossed $125 million for the company, which now claims that Scarface and Ghostbusters were in the top five movie franchises that gamers asked to see turned into video games -- wouldn't we love to know what the other three are now? Estimates have it that Vivendi spent "tens of millions" for the Ghostbusters license from Sony Pictures. Mark Caplan, VP of Sony's consumer products division said, "This brand is a very important asset for the studio, and we feel it's prime time for it to be rediscovered through videogames," Almost every console and handheld will be supported, and release is expected by fall of '08, which is awfully quick in current-gen game development time.
Dan Aykroyd busts out Ghostbusters info
The Ghostbusters drama just keeps on coming as Dan Aykroyd himself (who starred in and wrote the original film) has revealed just what is going on with our favorite revived franchise. From Dr. Raymond Stantz himself: "Universal purchased the rights from Sony for a game. I'm actually going to have to perform and do some motion capture for them. That will be next year." So now we know exactly why Sony had to drop the hammer on ZootFly and their Ghostbusters prototype. But why the sudden amount of interest in such an obscure property? It should be obvious by now that this is no mere coincidence. The moment the theme song itself resurfaced in a soon to be released Beatmania title, we knew something had to be up. And that something is a new feature film. In yet another interview, Aykroyd reveals that not only is Ghostbusters III in production, but it's a computer animated film in which he lends his voice. All that's left for this resurrection is some new toys and Ecto Cooler, because in 2007 Ghostbusters is all up in our grills, and we're loving it.
