Battle Keep is My Next Game

I’ve been holding Battle Keep’s website in a browser tab for nearly 3 weeks. I love the way this game looks and I’m really excited to throw my money at Last 17.

IndieGames.com’s Cassandra Khaw:

I’m not really sure how we missed this the first time around. However, it looks like Last 17, who were previously responsible for the excellent Populous-inspired Reprisal, have been hard at work developing Battle Keep.

If you’re interested in seeing more screenshots, Battle Keep has a development Tumblr and a thread on TIGForums.

New Canadian Indie Game Incubator Fills Void Created by Joystick Labs

Looks like it won’t be so hard for indie game developers to find money after all.

Mike Rose of Gamasutra:

The Montreal-based Execution Labs has raised $1.4 million through venture capital funding, and is headed up by Jason Della Rocca, a former director of the International Game Developers Association, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, most recently head of deployment at Gameloft, and Keith Katz, previously VP of monetization at OpenFeint.

The start-up is offering what it describes as a “first-of-its-kind hybrid game incubator and go-to-market accelerator,” as it looks to make the process of funding and creating games much more manageable for indie teams.

How Wii U & Nintendo Changed Scribblenauts

In this interview by Polygon, Jeremiah Slaczka takes readers through 5th Cell’s game development process and discusses the challenges of designing a launch title. Scribblenauts Unlimited may be one of the most exciting games for the Wii U.

Wesley Fenlon:

For 5th Cell, this is new. Though the studio has been developing games for nearly 10 years, Scribblenauts Unlimited represents a trio of intimidating milestones. It’s the first launch title 5th Cell has created, meaning it’s the first time it’s dealt with the headaches and unknowns of pre-release hardware. It’s 5th Cell’s first major console release, in fact: the developer has never shipped a game on a disc. Scariest of all, Scribblenauts Unlimited isn’t just a Wii U game — it’s launching simultaneously on Wii U and 3DS and hitting PC a mere week later.

Listening to Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka describe the development process, though, those milestones sound more exciting than frightening. And if the Wii U hadn’t come along, Scribblenauts Unlimited may have been a dramatically different game. If it existed at all.

Hotline Miami May Be Coming to PSN & Smartphones

Everyone keeps telling me to play this game, and I just might if it gets ported to the PS VITA.

From BeefJack:

Creator Jonatan Söderström spoke to Pocket Gamer, said he’s “been talking to Sony” about a releasing the PC game on PS3 and Vita. “We would need someone to port it for us,” Jonatan added.

Söderström also said he would consider porting a version onto smartphones, saying: “it would be interesting to see if it was possible to get it to play well on a touchscreen device.”

Nintendo’s Deluxe Digital Promotion Detailed

From the official press release:

All Wii U Deluxe Set owners who purchase digital content for Wii U, including downloadable games in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U and download codes sold at select retail stores, will earn points with a value equivalent to approximately 10 percent of the Nintendo eShop list price of each purchase. For example, a game priced at $59.99, such as New Super Mario Bros. U, would earn 599 points. For every 500 points they earn, participants will receive a code worth $5 in credit to be used in the Nintendo eShop for either Wii U or Nintendo 3DS.

This essentially amounts to a 10% discount on eShop purchases. Not bad, Nintendo. Note that rewards can be claimed on the eShop for the Wii U and the 3DS. Does this point to Nintendo finally adopting unified accounts across all services, or will we claim 3DS content through the usual convoluted and confusing method we’ve come to know and love from Nintendo?

The wording on the press release suggests we’ll have a unified account:

Consumers who purchase the Wii U Deluxe Set can use the Deluxe Digital Promotion with a Nintendo Network Account.

This is Nintendo though, so we won’t know for sure until the system launches.