What is it?
It’s all about plants versus machines in Eden to GREEEEN. With a strong dislike for clean, renewable energy sources and an unquenchable thirst for Euphoria, Eden’s natural energy, alien machines have invaded the once lush world – and it’ll be up to you to stop them with some strategic flower power.

Who is the developer?
Co-founded by Yano, developer iNiS struck a strong chord with rhythm game fans with the release of Gitaroo Man and Elite Beat Agents – and has stayed true to its musical roots with the Lips series and The Black Eyed Peas Experience. You’ve probably also heard of the excellent iOS title Infinity Blade Cross, which was co-developed by iNiS in collaboration with DeNA and ChAIR entertainment.

“Music is in our DNA,” explained Keiichi Yano, who expressed interest in working on more music and rhythm games in the future.

How does it look?
Inspired by the Firebird Suite segment in Fantasia 2000, Eden to GREEEEN’s art style is both bright and gloomy – depending on whether a given area of the map is controlled by your army of plants or the enemy alien machines.

The game’s cute character design may not be appealing to some. But take a closer look, and you’ll see that there’s a high level of detail in the textures on the maps and the visual effects that take place during battles. Built with the Unreal Engine, Eden to GREEEEN looks like a step up from most other games we’ve seen on Android devices and tablets.

How does it play?

Billed as a “tower offense” game, Eden to GREEEEN is a turn-based strategy game that will be free-to-play. Like a traditional tower defense title, you spend your turn placing units to defend your base against enemies that will attack you on the following turn. You can also place special units that will increase your area of control, which will cover the machines’ territory with verdant fields of grass, allowing you to place units over a wider area.

But as the turns progress, you’ll have to think more offensively, placing attacking units to take out enemy spawning grounds as you press forward to take over the enemy base, clearing the map.

A three-player co-op mode that pits you and a few friends against a triple threat of machines will also be available. Eden to GREEEEN will launch first for Tegra 3 Android mobile devices. But as it becomes available on other platforms, including iOS and PC, you’ll be able to join games with friends no matter what they’re using to run it.

Eden to GREEEEN will feature 3 world areas with 20 maps in each area. These will be free at launch and iNiS plans to release additional maps, areas, and enemies for free in future updates. In some maps, certain units will have a slight element of advantage over your other units, and these specialized units will be available to purchase. But in the spirit of rewarding players who take the time to truly master the game, these special units can also be acquired by collecting in-game currency by playing.

When is it out?
Expect to find Eden to GREEEEN on Android mobile devices powered by Tegra 3 first when it launches sometime in late July this year. iNiS also has plans to make Eden to GREEEEN available on iOS, PC, and Mac.

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The complete list of award recipients is as follows:

GDC Hall of Fame: EverQuest (SOE)
Best Live Game/ Best Community Relations: Minecraft (Mojang)
Best Online Technology/Best New Online Game: Rift (Trion Worlds)
Best Online Game Design : Spiral Knights (Three Rings Design/Sega)
Best Online Visual Arts: DC Universe Online (SOE)
Audience Award Winner: Wizard 101 (KingsIsle Entertainment)
Online Innovation Award : Shadow Cities (Grey Area)
Best Audio for an Online Game: Clone Wars Adventures (SOE)
Best Social Network Game: Gardens of Time (Playdom)

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Everquest’s Hall of Fame inclusion was one of the highlights of the night. Presenting the honor was Richard “Lord British” Garriott, creator of last year’s inductee, Ultima Online, who said: “While Ultima Online is often credited with breaking the MMO open, there is no doubt that Everquest perfected it.”

Adding his two cents about SOE’s 12-year-old MMO, SOE President John Smedley added: “We are incredibly proud of its impact on the industry and the community we have built. Tonight’s honor is a testament to the hard working individuals who have contributed to EverQuest — both past and present.”

Accepting Mojang’s multiple awards was Lydia Winters, the studio’s Director of Fun, who said Notch and the team were proud of Minecraft’s accomplishments, noting, “We’re really excited for the release that will be coming out at MineCon, for the actual game to be released.”

GDC also honored both Kelton Flinn and John Taylor, co-founders of one of the groundbreaking Kesmai Corporation in 1981, with its coveted Online Game Legend Award.

Source: GDC Online Awards, Gamasutra

Oct 13, 2011

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Capps explains that %26ldquo;midway through development we decided to shift the entire team into working alongside our engine guys on an iOS title which went on to release as Infinity Blade.%26rdquo; Though, at the time, the decision was considered %26ldquo;completely crazy%26rdquo; he%26rsquo;s satisfied that, %26ldquo;Looking back on that decision today it seems like an exceptionally smart one.%26rdquo;

The unusual choice came from Capps experience with %26mdash; of all things %26mdash; developing Gears of War with Microsoft. He says, %26ldquo;Through Gears we knew that the story of our company was all about finding a platform vendor who is looking of a stand out, triple-A style title and allocate our full resources there. Knowing that [Apple] was that kind of company, we were empowered to make the decision to switch from developing Shadow Complex 2 to taking this %26lsquo;bet%26rsquo; on an iOS title, while keeping the same values across both.%26rdquo;

So while we still don%26rsquo;t have Shadow Complex 2, you can thank the team for putting a bit of extra polish on Infinity Blade. As for weather you should worry that the eventual release of Shadow Complex 2 might abandon its console roots to follow Infinity Blade%26rsquo;s iOS success, Mustard has promised that he%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;not a fan of trying to shoehorn console controls into touch screens. They don%26rsquo;t feel right. You just lose so much precision.%26rdquo;

Aug 16, 2011

Source:Gamasutra (opens in new tab)

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Now, because we’re all experts in the gamer psyche, it’s a safe bet that a contingent of you are rolling your eyes and tut-tutting vigorously and shaking your fists abjectly at the screen, vainly attempting to will this thing out of existence: how dare games get made of an Internet meme? Is this what the world’s come to?

But remember that in the 90s, there was a best-selling videogame about a soda mascot (opens in new tab) and the SNES nearly had a game about the President’s cat (opens in new tab); and that the only reason Capcom scrapped its game about an incredibly racist team of cartoon raisins (opens in new tab) was that in those days, the time it took to develop and release a game meant the buzz had died before you could get the box-art mocked up. We live in a brave new age, when the weight of an idea is enough to turn it from %26ldquo;bizarre video beloved by fwd-happy aunts%26rdquo; to %26ldquo;Internet-hipster music-video%26rdquo; to %26ldquo;99 cent iPhone game%26rdquo; in no time at all. We’re but pre-evolved passengers clinging to the back of avaricious, relentlessly-galloping progress %26ndash; and while we can only see what’s behind us, all we can do now is hold on and enjoy the ride.

Today, friends, we are all baby monkey riding on a pig.

Aug 9, 2011

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