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Most Recent: Mobile
Warner Bros. is making a Minecraft movie
What kind of film could you create out of a video game with no characters, no plot, and no consistent world from player to player? I don’t know, but when you’re talking about the most popular game in the world, Warner Bros. is willing to give it a try. Deadline is reporting that the movie studio has reached a deal with Mojang to create a movie based on Minecraft.
The Minecraft movie will be produced by Roy Lee, who is one of the masterminds behind this year’s massively popular The Lego Movie. Jill Messick, a producer on Mean Girls, will also help bring Minecraft to the silver screen. It is much too early to discuss writers, directors, or actors, but might I suggest Quentin Tarantino for all three? Nah, I’m only joking… I think.
Warner Bros. is no stranger to the world of video games. In addition to producing the next Mortal Kombat movie, the company is one of the few to find success in game publishing thanks to its WB Games label.
The Walking Dead Season 2: A House Divided will be released next week
Telltale Games has announced that the second episode of The Walking Dead Season 2, “A House Divided,” will be available to download for the PC and the PS3 (from the PlayStation Store) next Tuesday, March 4. The game’s Xbox Live Arcade and iOS App Store release date will be confirmed “at a later date.” But I’d bet good money that both versions will be available sometime around March 4.
For “A House Divided,” Telltale has tapped Michael Madsen to play the mysterious Carver. What does Carver want? You’ll have to play the game to find out. Like the previous episodic editions, The Walking Dead Season 2’s second episode has been priced at $4.99. All five episodes from Season 2 can also be pre-purchased through the $19.99 Season Pass. If you plan to follow the entire story of Clementine’s survival, it’s a good deal.
Vita owners will be happy to learn that Telltale also confirmed that The Walking Dead Season 2 will be released for Sony’s handheld. The first two episodes will be available to download in late March.
Beatbuddy will be swimming onto consoles and tablets soon
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, one of our favorite games from 2013, won’t be confined to the PC for much longer. The game’s developer, Threaks, has exclusively told us that Beatbuddy will soon be swimming onto “tablets and consoles.” Which tablets? Which consoles? Threaks’ Wolf Lang wouldn’t say, but I’m hoping the answer will eventually be “all of them.”
Lang would go on to say that the tablet version will appear first as development on the console edition continues. Threaks is very proud of the touch controls they’ve developed for Beatbuddy as he also said, “The touch controls we developed almost play better then the game pad!”
If you want to see what all the fuss is about right now, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians was recently added to Humble Indie Bundle 11 and it can be yours if you pay more than the average (currently $4.64). In addition to Beatbuddy, the bundle includes a ridiculous number of great games including Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, Monaco, Guacamelee, and many others.
More details on the tablet edition of Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians will be released ahead of this year’s GDC conference.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, GDC 2014
Candy Crush creators King officially abandon their “Candy” trademark
In a move that makes all the sense in the world, King, creators of the massive mobile hit Candy Crush Saga, withdrew their trademark for the word “Candy,” per the US Patent and Trademark Office. When word got out last month that the developer had filed a trademark application for the word, it sparked a furor in the gaming community. Is this sudden change of heart due to all the bad press King has received due to their actions? They aren’t willing to say, but they did release this statement to Kotaku:
King has withdrawn its trademark application for Candy in the U.S., which we applied for in February 2013 before we acquired the early rights to Candy Crusher. Each market that King operates in is different with regard to IP. We feel that having the rights to Candy Crusher is the best option for protecting Candy Crush in the U.S. market. This does not affect our E.U. trademark for Candy and we continue to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP.
Our long national nightmare is over (for now).
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged candy crush saga
PAX East 2014 Indie Showcase selections announced
It’s almost time for one of our favorite events of the year: PAX East! They’ve announced their selections for the Indie Showcase, which has six “of the best indie games you’ve never heard of available on mobile platforms.”
The games are Crowman & Wolfboy (which has “an unlikely pair of shadow creatures on a bizarre journey to escape their own nature and find the mysterious ‘humans'”), Duet (no, not Cypher Prime’s Duet – “a hypnotic new ‘hex-like’ mobile action arcade game with a mesmerizingly beautiful soundtrack by Melbourne composer and Gotye multi-instrumentalist Tim Shiel”), Framed (“an award winning narrative-puzzle game that plays like an animated comic book”), The Spookening (“a 3D scare ‘em up game à la Tim Burton, where you die every night and spawn as a ghost trying to resurrect”), Tiny Dice Dungeon (a game that “brings RPGs back to their roots… no more mysterious battle stats, instead you directly control what happens by rolling the virtual dice”), and Wayward Souls (“an action-adventure dungeon crawler with randomized levels and permanent death”).
For a full description of the games, head to the PAX East Indie Showcase page.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged PAX East 2014
IndieCade East 2014 After-Report: Day 3 – I’m Out of Cliches
Sunday was the third and final day of IndieCade East 2014 and, like all great events, it was bittersweet to see it end. There were plenty of great talks and workshops, another full day of Show & Tell games, and an amazing event called the GameSlam in which developers had three minutes to pitch their games quickly and succinctly. We spent most of our time at the GameSlam and checking out some of the talks before heading back home to Philadelphia. (more…)
The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 2 will be available in March
For those anxiously awaiting the second of Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season 2, you’re in luck. The developer has confirmed that the story will continue in a few weeks:
NEW SCREEN – #TheWalkingDead S2 Ep 2 to arrive in early March. Stay tuned for trailer and official release dates! pic.twitter.com/i5fB1Hmx1I
— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) February 20, 2014
As you can see, there’s also a new screenshot to gawk at as well. The currently untitled The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 2 will be available in early March through a variety of PC digital download shops as well as the PlayStation Store (PS3), Xbox Live Arcade, and iOS App Store.
IndieCade East 2014 After-Report: Day 2 – The Belly of the Beast
Day two of IndieCade 2014 was nonstop action and fun. There was an area sectioned off from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM for “Show & Tells,” where developers could show off unreleased games and conference-goers could playtest prototypes. There were dozens of amazing games to check out, and that’s just what we did. (more…)