Village Gamer

IUGO Mobile Entertainment and Capcom Mobile are proud to launch Lil’ Pirates, a free-to-play social game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This marks both IUGO and Capcom’s entry into the mobile social gaming space. Lil’ Pirates is launching with Facebook Connect, allowing players to invite, hire and interact with their Facebook friends as part of their pirate crew.

“The launch of Lil’ Pirates begins IUGO’s entrance into the dynamic space of mobile social games,” states IUGO’s VP of Business Development, Sarah Thomson. “This space is something we as a company have been thinking about, preparing for and watching for a long time. Lil’ Pirates builds upon what other companies have pioneered in social games for the iPhone. We believe IUGO has evolved the gameplay to create a compelling experience that is uniquely IUGO. Our partnership with Capcom is exciting and we’re thrilled to have Lil’ Pirates published under such a prestigious brand.”

Lil’ Pirates features hundreds of items to customize both users’ ships and avatars. Mini games, gifting, ship battles and jobs for crew members offers a robust experience balanced by a “pick-up-and-play” simplicitiy in game design. Lil’ Pirates was created by IUGO and owned by Capcom Mobile. Lil’ Pirates is available and free to download on the App Store now.

Avast ya scallywags! Drop anchor and prepare to be boarded. There be Lil’ Pirates in these waters!

Amass your perfect crew and craft the finest ship as you set sail for adventure and plunder as the captain of your own pirate vessel. From a modest beginning you’ll transform your ship into an object of fear and envy and amass a fortune fit for a king.

Features:

* Customize your ship as you see fit from a ghostly galleon to a pink gilded princes to a multi-mast ship of destruction.

* Assemble a crew with diverse skills and dress and equip them as you please with more than 100 items.

* Recruit friends to the pirate life through Facebook and share the adventure.

* Exchange volleys of cannon fire in ship-to-ship combat.

* Bury booty on Treasure Island to increase its worth or plunder a friend’s buried loot.

* Direct your crew to go on missions and amass more treasure!

Electronic Arts Inc. and Paramount Digital Entertainment today announced a distribution agreement that will catapult an upcoming Paramount property into the hands of gamers worldwide. Rango The Video Game is an action-adventure title inspired by the upcoming animated feature film starring the voice of Johnny Depp.

In development at Artificial Mind & Movement, Rango The Video Game invites players to continue on Rango’s wild journey through new adventures inspired by the movie. The game is set in the Old West town of ‘Dirt’ where players romp through a gritty, pint-sized, Wild West filled with wild rides, off-color characters and frantic shoot-outs. Rango is Paramount Pictures’ first full-length animated feature film; both the film and the video game will be released in March 2011.

“We are thrilled to be working with Paramount and the upcoming release of the video game version of its first animated feature,” said Sinjin Bain, Vice President of EA Partners at Electronic Arts. “Rango is a one-of-a-kind character that we know kids will love. We’re excited to give families worldwide the opportunity to take the humor and fun from the big screen into their living rooms.”

“We are pleased to team up with EA to deliver an exciting, action-packed adventure game that captures the spirit of the film and puts the fate of Dirt in players’ hands,” said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “We’ve added exciting twists and turns in the video game that will challenge players of all levels on their adventures as Rango.”

Rango The Video Game will be available on console platforms including the PlayStation®3, Xbox 360®, Nintendo Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ in March 2011. Rango The Video Game has not been rated by the ESRB.

Sales of EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer franchise titles has surpassed 100 million units lifetime during the launch of FIFA Soccer 11, according to EA internal sales data. The best-selling sports videogame franchise in the world, now in its 18th year, sold a record-breaking 2.6 million copies in the first five days after launching FIFA Soccer 11 to become the fastest selling sports videogame of all time. Counting the first four weeks of sales, FIFA Soccer 11 sales are up 20% versus last year on a comparable basis with sell-in approaching 8 million units. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow – one day away and so much went on yesterday! Of course, catching up with yesterday has put me behind for today, but I’ll get all caught up eventually – even on all those games I’ve been trying to get to for reviews. I had a non-digital project to complete and ended up in a very demanding crunch time, because my time line for delivery did not match the deadline that my Mother implemented, and we all know that Mom’s always right…

For those who aren’t already aware, Ubisoft has acquired Longtail Studios’ Quebec City location, and will absorb most of its staff into their own studio. Longtail had contributed to Ubisoft’s Michael Jackson: The Experience, and while this means that Longtail Quebec is no longer in operation, both of Longtail’s maritime studios – Charlottetown and Halifax are still open for business. The Halifax studio recently launched its latest title, Dance on Broadway. By the way, the Halifax studio is currently looking to fill four career positions, including that of Game Tester.

EA Mobile put several of its titles on sale for 99 cents yesterday – if you live in the USA. The only exemption to the USA location restriction is Reckless Racing, which was put on sale worldwide. The other titles currently on sale in the US App Store are:

Tiger Woods PGA Tour – Skate It by EA – Command & Conquer Red Alert – Yahtzee Adventures – Trivial Pursuit – Boggle – Clue – Spore Creatures – Boggle for iPad – Snood – EA Sudoku – Spore Origins – Star Trek – Lemonade Tycoon Read the rest of this entry »