CityVille Comes To Life

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There are tons of fans of CityVille out there who have been wishing, in some form or another, that their city could come to life for real. Thanks to the good people at Kre-O Blocks, this might just be a possibility.

With help from a partnership between Hasbro and Zynga, the CityVille blocks allow you to build the city of your dreams with real-world buildings based on ones in the game. In addition, you’ll also have access to other goodies like a scientist’s laboratory and a gorilla trying to climb the side of a skyscraper.

The blocks also utilize Sonic Motion Technology, which allows certain pieces to move around in the area. They’re being offered in conjunction with the CityVille Invasion app, which is now available on Apple’s App Store.

Source: Mashable

‘Saints Row’ Developer Disliked Porn Star Tie-Ins

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When Saints Row: The Third came out a couple of years ago for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, THQ took an interesting approach with its advertising, hiring porn star Tera Patrick and various Penthouse Pets to advertise the game. It was a success at the time, though not everyone was crazy about the campaign.

Associate producer Kate Nelson at developer Volition voiced her displeasure over the advertising angle. “I did not always love how much THQ put an emphasis on porn stars,” she explained while speaking to Edge. “In Saints Row 2 and Saints Row 3, there was an emphasis on the Penthouse girls, and earlier Tera Patrick. I think it’s important in marketing games to make sure that the essence of the game is what’s being marketed, and I think that the porn star angle didn’t really fit with what Saints Row is at heart, which is a parody. We like to poke fun.”

The development team also wasn’t crazy over Patrick being labeled a “special producer” on the game.

“I think our game actually does represent women in a positive way, but the press will focus on, oh hey, there are strippers, or there’s a dildo bat – it’s unfortunate from my perspective that that doesn’t come through,” said Nelson.

Saints Row IV arrives on August 20 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Source: Edge Online

LEGO Simpsons Play Sets Coming

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We’ve seen a lot of LEGO sets make their way to store shelves over the past few years, including countless Star Wars and Batman offerings, as well as recent pieces of coolness like LEGO Back To the Future and Lego Ghostbusters.

Now, the company may have just made its biggest announcement yet with a move into Springfield. LEGO Simpsons playsets have officially been confirmed for release in 2014, though specific play areas and characters haven’t been revealed just yet. You can bet the Simpsons clan will show up, joined by countless Springfield citizens made famous by one of television’s most popular programs of all time.

A few folks in the LEGO community aren’t too pleased with the announcement, starting an online thread in the Lego community to voice their displeasure with concerns over The Simpsons‘ somewhat mature content. However, that’s a small group compared to the large amount of people excited for the toys, waiting to get their hands on characters like Mr. Burns and Dr. Hibbert.

We’ll see what announcements are made in the months ahead. We’ve got our fingers crossed that Itchy and Scratchy will make the cut.

Source: Leg Godt

 

Vikings Attack!

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If you’re a big fan of the PC action game War of the Roses (and who isn’t with its sweet medieval setting ) we’ve got good news for you. The development team at Fatshark is hard at work on the game’s spiritual follow-up, War of the Vikings. This multiplayer-only game takes place in the Viking age, with a whopping amount of bloody close-quarter combat and plenty of weapon upgrades.

War of the Vikings should arrive on PC sometime in 2014. No word yet if any other platforms are being considered.

Source: Polygon

This Week’s [a]list Jobs – August 7

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“You’re not lucky to have this job, they’re lucky to have you. Every day, you invest a little bit of yourself into your work, and one of the biggest choices available to you is where you’ll be making that investment.” –Seth Godin 

Here are this week’s [a]list jobs:

[a]list daily is now your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media. Check here every Wednesday for the latest openings. To see last week’s [a]list jobs click here.

‘Hope Soap’ Creatively Reduces Disease

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Simply washing your hands can be a highly effective disease fighter, but how do you get kids to do it In Blikkiesdorp, South Africa, a creative campaign was introduced to help clean kids up using a special incentive. Hope Soap is a revolutionary soap creation with a toy embedded right in the middle. The more kids wash up, the closer they are to getting the toy that’s deep inside.

This creative solution is saving lives – can we find that sort of life-changing creativity in the game industry?

How To Make Nuclear Trucks

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Command and Conquer, the long-awaited reboot of the popular strategy franchise, is well into development with a beta under way and full release scheduled for later this year. Before you jump in, you’ll want to take a look at the updating of an iconic C&C vehicle, through the latest entry in the Beyond the Battle video series.

In the five-something minute clip, you’ll see how Victory Games, the developer behind the reboot, puts everything together. It’s fun to watch.

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No Grind, New Users Underscore New ‘EverQuest’

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Sony Online Entertainment lifted the hood on its next big game EverQuest Next at SOE Live, its annual fan gathering that took place last week in Las Vegas.  Speaking to GamerHub at the event, SOE president John Smedley called the game a culmination of his company’s many years of experience building MMO games.

“The evolving MMO market impacted this game because we decided that we did not want to continue the current trend,” Smedley told GamerHub.  “We’re bored with it.  We helped create it and too many games have been made with the kind of current, sort of, level grind, get loot mechanic, and we decide we wanted to change that.”

Watch the full interview.

Ubisoft Sees An End To ‘Assassin’s Creed’

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There are some gamers who believe a series wears out its welcome with too many sequels, add-ons and spin-offs that fail to distinguish why it exists in the first place. However, that’s not something Ubisoft is looking to do with its highly popular Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Talking with Eurogamer, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag game director Ashraf Ismail explained that there’s already talk going around in terms of how the folks at Ubisoft want the series to finish.

“We have multiple development teams, then we have the brand team that sits on top and is filled with writers and designers concerned with the series’ overall arc,” Ismail said. “So there is an overall arc, and each iteration has its place inside this.

“We have an idea of where the end is, what the end is. But of course Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft’s overall boss] announced we are a yearly title, we ship one game a year. So depending on the setting, depending on what fans want, we’ve given ourselves room to fit more in this arc. But there is an end.”

A fifth chapter in the series, being headed up by the team at Ubisoft Toronto headed by one of its co-creators, Jade Raymond, is already in development. There’s no word on whether this will be the end, or if we’ll see more beyond that.

Just enjoy it while it lasts, right

Assassin’s Creed IV releases on October 29 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii U, and later in the year for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Source: Eurogamer

 

Bright Spot For Nintendo Sales

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Nintendo’s been facing a mixed 2013 in terms of sales, with its Nintendo 3DS thriving but its Wii U struggling to find an audience. However, the company recently ran across some good news when it came to the four new games just introduced to its StreetPass service.

President Satoru Iwata spoke with Tokyo Keizal Online, stating that the company’s four pack of Mii-supported games – Mii Force, Flower Town, Warrior’s Way and Monster Manor – have really cleaned up in sales.

Since their introduction last month, the quartet has racked up $4 million in sales, making them a bonafide success. More than 200,000 users have picked up on the games, either buying them individually for $4.99, or as a four-pack for $14.99. New hats and outfits have been a huge factor for the pack, as users can unlock them and dress their virtual characters up in them.

No word yet if more StreetPass games are on the way, but we wouldn’t be surprised.

Source: Siliconera