Village Gamer

Vancouver – Following IUGO’s massively successful Zombie Attack! games, ZA! and ZA! Second Wave, the indie studio has launched a free version of ZA! Second Wave titled Zombie Attack! Bridge Defense. As the titles suggests, the lite version contains the bridge map for users to sample kill a variety of zombies with cool new weapons. Second Wave features more maps and hordes of challenges in the full version. IUGO also recently unveiled their web site’s nice new design – head on over to check out its shiny awesomeness and all of IUGO’s titles today – and don’t forget to vote for IUGO and other great Canadian games, publishers and studios in our Reader’s Choice Canadian Video Game Awards – only one week left to vote!

At CES: Palm released details about their developer kit for webOS during their 3D gaming announcement at the Expo, where they introduced several graphics-intensive game titles for webOS, from leading game developers EA Mobile™, Gameloft, Glu Mobile and Laminar Research. Demonstrated at Palm’s CES event, the games will be available today in the Palm App Catalog for Palm Pre customers.

“We are very excited about the potential of webOS as a platform for mobile 3D gaming,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “This is a key application category, and we’ve worked closely with some of the leading game developers to deliver a great game experience for our customers.”

“Recent improvements to Palm webOS represent major advancements in enabling world-class mobile gaming,” said Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile. “These innovations have allowed us to quickly bring our best IP to the platform.”

The developers introducing titles today have had early access to the Palm webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK), which extends the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK) with a set of tools, documentation and APIs that let developers write plug-ins for their webOS applications. The PDK lets developers easily integrate C and C++ code into their webOS applications, enabling new functionality, including immersive 3D games. A public beta version of the webOS PDK is scheduled to be available to all developers in March.

“The performance of the platform allowed us to create these great games in a limited timeframe,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, Americas, Gameloft. “webOS allows us to deliver an outstanding gaming experience, and we look forward to bringing our best games to Palm customers worldwide.”“We expect the plug-in model to play an important role in the evolution of the webOS platform, just as plug-ins have with web browsers,” said Mitic. “And with this plug-in, we are making it super-simple for developers to bring the hottest games to webOS.”

The Palm App Catalogue currently offers more than 1,000 webOS applications for download. Palm’s unique over-the-air model also makes it easy for customers to get webOS updates and new features delivered directly to their phones. For example, at CES today, Palm announced that video recording, editing and sharing capabilities will soon be available for users of webOS phones. This new video capability will be delivered automatically to current and future Palm Pre™ and Palm Pixi™ products via an over-the-air update.

Palm also demonstrated Flash content in the browser on a Palm Pre and expects a free Adobe Flash Player 10.1 plug-in to be posted to the Palm App Catalogue in the coming months. Palm expects webOS to be one of the first mobile platforms to support the full Flash Player in the web browser.

Montreal – Meridian4 has signed a digital publishing agreement with German game developer Headup Games to publish two of their action-packed titles,  GREED and Gear Grinder. *Note – Meridian4 is also nominated for a Readers’ Choice Award!

“Knowing Meridian4 for quite a while now, I cannot imagine a better partner to place our titles efficiently in the online field. We are very excited on the upcoming releases of Gear Grinder and GREED in the overseas market and are confident that the expertise knowledge of Meridian4 will support our endeavor to make our games available to ambitious gamers worldwide.” said Dieter Schoeller, Managing Director of Headup Games.

“Meridian4 is really excited to be working with Headup Games. These two titles are adrenaline-fueled, non-stop action and were an instant hit with us. We know that the same quality that Headup Games has shown us in our partnership is also in every one of their games and we are sure that these titles will be a success with gamers.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4.

GREED is a science fiction themed action-RPG, where in the futuristic universe of GREED, the discovery of new interstellar travel possibilities has led to a new age of colonialization. The five largest colonial powers are entangled in a full-scale war over a new element called Ikarium, the recently discovered rare source of nearly unlimited energy. As a former member of an elite military unit, you will fight a battle for your survival not knowing that your actions will lead the fate of all mankind into dramatic consequences…

Features:

• Three entirely different character classes to choose from
• A huge variety of different levels in three unique settings, each playable on 3 difficulties, inhabited by fierce and deadly creatures & screen-filling end bosses
• Upgradeable skills in three categories per character class – the simultaneous use of these categories causes thrilling skill combinations
• Upgradeable character attributes with direct game play effect
• Hundreds of items to collect that upgrade weapons and amour
• Online and local cooperative multiplayer mode for up to three players

In Gear Grinder, players can buckle up and enjoy fully motorized mayhem with GearGrinder, the new incarnation of an underrepresented genre of arcade racing action. Take full control of a powerful truck, mounted with the most devastating weapons available, malicious mines and more nifty gadgets, and complete over 45 versatile and thrilling missions, leaving a trail of devastation wherever you go.

Features:

• Unique combination of breakneck speed racing & furious shooter action
• Adapt to any situation: Transform your truck from racing to combat mode in an instant
• Countless primary and secondary weapons, mines, engines, structures and other tuning options to unlock
• Includes mini games for great stress relief: Slalom, Bowling, Arena and more
• Multiplayer-modes (LAN) for up to 8 players
• Enormous single player content with over 45 missions and different game modes

Longueuil – D-BOX Technologies Inc. has announced that its fifth film with movie studio giant Warner Bros. to feature its motion-enhanced seating with the studio’s latest film will be Book of Eli, which is in theatres this coming January 15.

With 13 movie theatres throughout the U.S. and Canada equipped with D-BOX MFX seating, Book of Eli marks the high-tech company’s tenth movie overall since its world premiere back in April 09. Creating subtle, refined motion sensations, D-BOX Motion Code™ is especially designed for each individual movie, frame by frame, by D-BOX Motion Designers who spend hundreds of hours to develop this completely one-of-a-kind, realistic movie viewing experience.

“The continued support of Warner Bros. with five new releases in just 10 months is an extraordinary accomplishment for us,” said Claude Mc Master, President and Chief Executive Officer of D-BOX Technologies. “It speaks to the industry-wide acceptance D-BOX has earned due to the success experienced in cities throughout North America. So far more than 50,000 moviegoers have experienced D-BOX and continue to come back for new motion picture releases.”

Montreal – Polymamcer® Studios has announced that the latest issue of their game industry newsletter Polyglot, the most recent episodes of DiceCast, and the complete rules of the miniatures wargame PUMMEL! are all available for free download.

The latest issue of Polyglot™, Polymancer Studios’s game industry newsletter is now available. This issue is packed with all the latest news, releases, and other tidbits from companies across the hobby game industry and the computer/console game industry as well. The team at Polymancer would like to remind you that Polyglot is always free to download, free to distribute, and free to post to.  Free Subscriptions are available by sending an e-mail to them and say you want a subscription.

Any company that makes roleplaying games, miniatures, wargames, board games, LARPs, comics, graphic novels, mangas, computer games, console games, or related products can send a press release, product announcement, or other news piece to PolyGlot as well. This is free, and images are both welcomed and encouraged – and another great way to promote your products!

DiceCast™ is Polymancer Studios’s official podcast, and subscriptions are available at the iTunes™ music store and by RSS. The latest episodes include an overview of 2009 and a string of interviews with game industry luminaries. The DiceCast Special Holiday Episode features a discussion about the late Dave Arneson, the recent fragmentation of the D&D™ fan base, the revival of Wizkids™, and other important events from 2009.  DiceCast Episode 7 is an interview with Adam Jury of Catalyst Labs. Mr. Jury offers some great tips about freelancing in the hobby game industry, and what working for a game company is really like. DiceCast Episode 6 is an interview with Jess Hartley, a freelance writer known for her extensive work with White Wolf. Jess Hartley’s anecdotes and musings give some insight into how a successful game writer works, and DiceCast Episode 5 is discussion of making props for a roleplaying game or LARP.

PUMMEL! Is a rules-light, fast-paced, but complete miniatures wargame. The acronym stands for “Pick-Up, Multigenre Miniatures, Easy to Learn.” and you can grab the quickstart rules for PUMMEL!™ from right here.

Further down the line, PolyGlot says that a new issue of Polygraff™ (V1 I#2), an anthology of short fiction in fantasy, sci fi, horror, and other imaginative genres will be in stores soon. This issue includes great new short stories by many undiscovered articles and an exclusive interview with Gor series creator John Norman.

A new issue of Polymancer magazine (V2 I#10) is also scheduled to go into stores soon. This issue contains a full-length anime-style superspies ghost-hunting adventure scenario, as well as articles about super fantastic heroes, deviant roles, and tips on campaign map-drawing.