Village Gamer

Goldtooth Creative once again proves itself a force to be reckoned with as its cutting edge trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to 2009’s top-selling game from Activision Publishing and Radical Entertainment, PROTOTYPE® 2 debuts today at San Diego Comic-Con International 2011.

The first entry in PROTOTYPE 2’s three-part CG trilogy, which are behind age-gates on the Prototype 2 site, is titled “Homecoming,” displays the slick editing and breathtaking visuals for which the Vancouver-based creative agency and full-service production studio is quickly becoming known.

Director Paul Furminger and the Goldtooth crew worked tirelessly to build a captivating trailer that introduces gamers to the post-outbreak world inhabited by James Heller, PROTOTYPE 2’s all-new protagonist, and it offers a sneak peek at what’s to come as Blackwatch Special Forces continue the struggle to contain and control the outbreak of the Blacklight virus.

Artists at Goldtooth produced all the visuals for the trailer, including animation, lighting, effects, and compositing, and used all the latest technical tools in their arsenal—including motion capture, game capture, facial performance capture, CG and intense live action shoots—to achieve the look and feel of a feature film that hints at the epic showdown looming between Heller and Alex Mercer, the protagonist of the original game.

The sequel to Radical Entertainment’s best-selling open-world action game of 2009, PROTOTYPE 2 takes the unsurpassed carnage of the original PROTOTYPE and continues the experience of becoming the ultimate shape-shifting weapon. PROTOTYPE 2 is currently in development for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

As the latest project in the ongoing collaborative relationship between Goldtooth and Activision, the first trailer for PROTOYPE 2 demonstrates Goldtooth’s continued dedication to captivating story-telling and technical excellence. For the original PROTOTYPE game, Goldtooth created multiple trailers and provided creative direction on story cinematics; Furminger directed the ‘Web of Intrigue’ in-game cinematics for the first game.

Activision and Radical have also confirmed the release date for PROTOTYPE 2. The shape-shifting title will be on stores shelves April 24, 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. You can get your pre-orders in at several retailers – I already have mine in.

“We know our fans have been clamoring to find out when they would be able to get their hands-on PROTOTYPE 2, and the whole studio is excited that we can finally reveal the timing,” said Ken Rosman, Studio Head, Radical Entertainment.  “We’re also thrilled to be at the point where we can show the game directly to our fans.  It’s always rewarding to see those first time reactions to what we’ve been working on for the past couple years, and we can’t wait for them to see some of Sgt. James Heller’s amazing new shape-shifting abilities at San Diego Comic-Con.”

Show goers attending ‘The Con’ will have the opportunity to check out PROTOTYPE 2’s signature crazy, over-the-top, shape-shifting action during 15-minute live stage presentations held throughout each day.  Fans who come by the Activision booth to check out the game can enter a raffle for a chance to win a limited edition, custom leather jacket modeled after the one Sgt. James Heller wears in the game; or a Alex Mercer one of a kind, custom skinned Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.  Additionally, the team from Radical will be on-site handing out assorted PROTOTYPE 2 themed goodies, including t-shirts, posters, giant foam Heller Blade Arms and more! < not fair! 🙁

Supreme Ruler: Cold War from Battlegoat Studios has been released, and the future of the world is at stake. The Korean War looms, the Arms Race intensifies, the Berlin Crisis leads to the formation of NATO, and the world anticipates a new World War. The tension and uncertainty of the Cold War is unbearable.

Now is the time to choose which faction you will control and which strategies you will employ to safeguard your way of life and that of your country’s. As leader of the United States or the Soviet Union, you must make the correct decisions to successfully navigate your country through this dangerous historical era.

Supreme Ruler: Cold War is now available on all major digital download portals with the suggested retail price of $29.99 USD. Take a peek beyond the iron curtain and the wealth of strategy features available to ambitious world leaders, in the release trailer for Supreme Ruler: Cold War.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkJBSyS10WI]

Supreme Ruler: Cold War Features:

• Play as the United States or Soviet Union in Campaign Mode
• Control any Nation in Post-World War II Era in Sandbox Mode
• Use Diplomacy, Trade and Espionage to influence the policies of other nations
• Research new Technologies to give your nation an edge
• Grow and Modernize your Economy
• Control Military production and deployment, or let your Ministers take care of the details
• Experience the redesigned GUI with improved On-Map feedback and streamlined controls
• And when Diplomacy Fails… Sophisticated Real-Time Strategic and Tactical Control of your Military Forces!

Silicon Sisters Interactive would like to let you know that School 26: Summer of Secrets is now available for iPhone, iPod touch ($2.99), and iPad ($4.99). This is the second installment in the School 26 series of social mastery games designed for teen and tween girls.

In School 26: Summer of Secrets, the gossip is flying faster than ever as high schooler Kate and her friends get ready for the hottest concert of the summer. (Road trip!) Use emotional intelligence and social savvy to draw out your friends’ secrets — then tactfully share what you’ve learned. If you succeed, you’ll help sparring friends make peace, establish love connections, and get the whole crew psyched for the big Battle of the Bands competition. Dish the dirt with the wrong people and you might gain a rep as the school blabbermouth.

“Our first School 26 game was about fitting in at a new school. Now that Kate has a network of friends, Summer of Secrets is more about being yourself and seeing the impact of your choices,” says Silicon Sisters co-founder Kirsten Forbes. “As you play, the game tracks your decisions and presents you with a personality profile based on your playing style. So while you’re helping Kate sort out all of these secrets, you’ll also learn something about yourself.”

To learn more about the School 26 games and become part of the growing fan community, visit School 26 on Facebook or follow along on Twitter.

Sarbakan is ramping upits  efforts to further develop strikingly innovative mobile games in the instant gaming market. Combining sophisticated platform action and casual controls, Sarbakan is trailblazing the path to offering both dedicated and casual gamers premium, freemium, and full-featured games—on a variety of mobile devices, including Android and iOS phones and tablets.

While other developers usually rely on one specific type of feature, Sarbakan offers the unique blend of sophisticated combo moves, true-to-life rag doll physics, and powerful finger-swipe controls for continuously fresh, rich, and deep gameplay experiences.  Sarbakan compacts more technology, more compelling designs, and more complete 3D animations within Android- and iOS-based mobile devices than any “traditional” games currently found on the Android Market or App Store.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhdMVCmxYDE]

Sarbakan’s newest release, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty is available now on iTunes for $4.99 and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 4.0 or later. The game is rated 9+ for Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence.

Rock Hippo Productions Ltd. has released a “Summer Recharge” patch for its popular online cartoon style third-person action shooter, MicroVolts. The latest patch includes a brand new map, new weapons and all new content for the summer season. A new trailer and screenshots revealed today explore the new map and feature the characters sporting the new weapons, parts and accessories that are now available to players. In addition, MicroVolts is celebrating with its first-ever MicroVolts Clan Tournament, “Clan Clash”, from July 15 – August 11.

MicroVolts is celebrating summer in style with a brand new map, Magic Paper Land and all-new weapons such as the Thunder Grenade Launcher and Hornet Rifle. The “Summer Recharge” patch also includes hot summer items such as a Pink Polka Dot Bikini that is sure to heat up the battlefield! For players looking for even more bonuses and special privileges can check out the new rewards available through the Battery Charge Program. Players who complete certain objectives, such as joining a clan or reaching 100 forum posts, can unlock rewards such as a 30-day Rock Hippo Costume Set or the coveted ability to cast polls and post videos in MicroVolts forums.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvvSCvvUsfg]

“MicroVolts continues to be a huge success with its player base and clans reaching new heights. Hundreds of thousands of players and over 2500 clans have already joined the MicroVolts community with thousands more players joining each day,” said Howard He, President and CEO of Rock Hippo Productions. “We don’t want our players to experience any summer boredom, and the MicroVolts team looks forward to bringing the community even more new updates and content in the near future.”

MicroVolts is also hosting the first-ever MicroVolts Clan Tournament, “Clan Clash”, from July 15 – August 11th. Clans will battle it out for a 1st place prize of 18, 000 Rock Tokens and a 7-day Happy Pack accessory item!

MicroVolts will be at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, August 18-21st! Players are invited to meet the Rock Hippo crew, grab some neat giveaways such as an Alienware gaming mouse and participate in the on-site tournaments! MicroVolts will also be at FanExpo in Toronto, Canada, August 25-28!

MicroVolts features fast paced, third person shooter action and pits players against each other in a secret battle that has been waged and going unnoticed right in our own backyard for years. No one knows for sure when or where the first toy declared war but rumor has it that the uprising began with four original limited edition figures, code-named MicroVolts. Battle lines were drawn when Naomi, Knox, Pandora, and C.H.I.P.-the prototypes-were soon joined by an endless number of modified versions. Now, toy figures around the world are engaged in an all-out war for valuable battery resources and supremacy of the Micro World. All we can do now is stay out of their way and wait for a champion to be declared! Featuring a ton of weapons, inventive character designs, and a huge list of customization features, MicroVolts is destined to invigorate and re-energize the Free2play space.

Game modes include Free for All, Team Deathmatch, Item Match, Capture the Battery, and many more featuring various maps designed by toy concept.

Vancouver indie Games developer Hothead Games has released some exciting character details and screenshots from the anticipated summer title that fans have been salivating over. The Baconing, where the endearingly egotistical DeathSpank faces an assortment of terrifying new enemies will be released on PC, Mac, and other platforms this summer.

Fortunately for our naively intrepid hero, he finds help in the Forest of Tomorrow from an unlikely group of adventuring scientists. The Nuclear Family is a group of rather socially dysfunctional mad geniuses who push the boundaries of science within their laboratory-esque arboretum. Truly – what other type of scientists could one expect to find in DeathSpank’s wonderful world of whackiness?

Motherly Betty Nuclear stays home and has perfected the science of cooking and cleaning while her husband, Dick Nuclear, spends his time at the “Pleasuretorium” creating robots to help cure the ills of society through full body sensual massage.  Meanwhile, their brilliant son Elroy keeps busy with his attempts to clone a two-headed dog to call his own, and his sister Chastity entertains herself by constructing a boyfriend out of ‘spare parts’ dug up from a graveyard.

In order to gain access to the Fire of Bacon, DeathSpank must reunite this frenetic family.  Of course, it’s never as simple as that: each family member has a tendency to explode when agitated, and that tendency grows when in the vicinity of their fellow Nuclears.  But if he ever wishes to get one step closer to facing off against the villainous AntiSpank, whose very presence threatens everything he stands for, DeathSpank must find a way.

Toronto’s XMG Studio has been very busy lately. The studio recently joined forces with toy manufacturer Spin Master Ltd. to deliver innovative mobile gaming to the newly announced App Blaster. The collaboration is bringing a new dimension of realism to shooter games everywhere, giving users a truly unique way to interact with their favourite XMG sniper game, Marine Sharpshooter, which is currently being optimized for the App Blaster. With over 5 million unique downloads, Sharpshooter has become one of the most popular sniping games, making it a perfect fit for the peripheral.

“Working with Spin Master on this has been really exciting”, says Ray Sharma, Founder and CEO of XMG Studio. “It’s a great opportunity to really expand the expectations of what people consider to be traditional mobile gaming.”

This partnership marks a major strategic alliance of these leaders in their respective industries. The concept of combining an out-of-game experience with an in-game effect and using an interactive, real world object is extremely cutting-edge. The App Blaster will revolutionize the way future first person shooter games for mobile devices are played – less button mashing, more strategic aiming. Now, with the innovative toy-making and consumer expertise of Spin Master, coupled with the mobile gaming savvy of XMG Studio, sniper-fans everywhere can have something incredible to look forward to with a far more intense game-play experience, bringing them closer than ever to the skill and precision of the real thing.

“What we have here with App Blaster is very cool and very innovative,” says Dave Colebrook, VP Marketing at Spin Master.  “Gamers haven’t yet seen this type of gaming, so we’re glad to be working with such a company as XMG to bring this to concept to life.  This is just the beginning of this kind of interactive gaming.”

In addition to some awesome updates to one my favourite game titles, Cow vs Aliens, XMG Studio has also recently two great new games in Apple’s App Store that you might be interested in checking out.

Degrassi: A story-driven game based on the hit TV series, it has already reached a #1 ranking in the App Store’s “Role Playing” category. As their first days of school unfold, players make important decisions, engage in meaningful conversations and play their way through classes, all in the ever-familiar locations of Degrassi. The player is free to forge his or her own pathway through the game, ultimately resulting in a different ending depending on which choices were made. Degrassi is the most watched drama on MuchMusic in Canada, and highly rated on TeenNick in the U.S. It’s an interactive role playing game that allows the user to build and maintain relationships with familiar characters from the popular TV series.

Louisville Slugger Homerun Challenge: There are plenty of baseball games, and even some home run derby apps, but Louisville Slugger distinguishes itself in a few ways in that it’s extremely accessible with simple, responsive swipe controls. The game has crisp hand-drawn artwork, multiple game modes, stadiums, and Louisville Slugger bats modeled after original Louisville Slugger models. (published by our partner mLamb Productions)

Frima Studios has been traced as the source of this cryptic message that has been transmitted across the gaming universe today:

“Attention people of Earth! It is I, Commander P Jefferson, sending this message from the future to alert you that the galaxy is finally safe from alien scum. How did it become safe, you ask? Well, because I kicked their ugly alien butts!

On July 28, you will be able to recreate my epic battles with the forces of evil (a.k.a. anything that isn’t human) by downloading A Space Shooter for Free!, an exciting shooter that takes place in—wait for it—space! I bet you humans from the past are neither smart nor handsome enough to grasp that concept. A Space Shooter for Free! costs nothing to try and features an infinite supply of aliens to obliterate. The big ASS version, with more special weapons, more bosses and more power-ups can be unlocked in-game for only $0.99.

Within this epic and critically acclaimed game, previously available for the PSP, yours truly will yet again demonstrate how to kill aliens dead by blowing up their ships, earning loot to upgrade the USS Eradicator, and blasting even more aliens dead.”

Hothead Games has unleashed strategy card game Kard Combat upon the world of iOS devices, complete with a Launch Special. Players can download the game for free from iTunes and join this ancient tournament of cards and magic. Entrants into the tournament grow powers and their Kard collections by battling their way up the Black Tower. On every floor there is a new opponent to fight using the cards at hand. There are rewards to earn to help defeat the Arch Mage, Harkus, and the many other magi to be encountered online.

From now through to July 20th, Kard Combat will be featured as OpenFeint’s Free Game of The Day. Players who download Kard Combat during this first week will receive Catastrophe, one of the most powerful cards in the game, and a +1 Life Crystal Shard.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wa2Z1Fesk0&hd=1]

The free download includes:

* All 4 mage classes, each with unique strategies: Holy, Death, Machine and Dominator
* Over 40 Kards to use in battle
* Unlimited, turn-based multiplayer battles
* 5 Tower battles, complete with rewards
* 3 Single Duels
* 3 Difficulty levels to match any player’s skill
* OpenFeint and Game Center enabled, with achievements and leaderboards

For the minimum in-app purchase price of $0.99, players will also receive:

* The full, 33 battle Tower campaign
* Unlimited Single Duels
* Access to over 100 incredible, hand-crafted cards
* The ability to run up to 20 simultaneous multiplayer games

Lending his vision to co-design the game, Richard Garfield, creator of the wildly popular card game, Magic: The Gathering, stated “for years I’ve wanted to create a Magic-like experience for people who play video games. Kard Combat on iPhone and iPad does this and is simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, but with plenty of depth for the hard core player. Hothead has created a truly magical game.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcjfDJvq-Vc]

Kard Combat is rated 12+ for the following:

Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes

Device Requirements:

Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later

One of the most original new titles that has taken the game industry by storm is now available for your iPad. Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure by newcomer Cassie Creighton (and her Dad) was released earlier today on the iTunes Store for $2.99 and compatible with iPads running iOS 4.0 or later.

Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure began as a father-daughter project at TOJam, a Toronto-area Game Jam held in May. The game was designed in Flash and was originally released for play in web browsers, but the overwhelming success of Cassie’s game, for which she created the artwork and voice-overs, has led to additional releases for PlayBook and now the iPad. You can read the full story behind the game’s journey on Ryan’s blog over at Untold Entertainment.

All of the proceeds raised from the sale of Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure are going to pay for Cassie’s education once she is old enough to attend a post-secondary school. Since launch, Cassie’s game empire has also grown to encompass Ponycorn merchandising and appearances on TV and radio, as well as in mainstream print media.

For those who would like to chat first hand with Cassie’s Dad about his young game designer phenom or about Ponycorns, rainbow portals and evil lemons, Ryan will be attending Casual Connect next week in Seattle. Of course, Ryan does have his own projects he may want to discuss – but that’s outside the scope of this article, which is to send all of you iPad and PlayBook owners to the appropriate marketplaces and online stores to purchase Cassie’s game and support her education.