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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Past week in Scribblenautics: August 16th to August 22nd

This was a busy one largely in part due to GamesCom. We have lots of news, lots of impressions, and a RIDICULOUS amount of screenshots and videos. It's only going to get crazier as the release date nears closer and closer. We're now under a month until release. Getting excited yet?

Today is August 22nd. There 23 days left before the release of Scribblenauts in North America.

Here's what you may have missed...

News

--Scribblenauts absolutely demolishes preorder sales among DS and console games alike. Is anyone really surprised?

--Seems Europe has had their release date pushed back to October. Still up in the air on this one, doesn't seem like we've see much in the way of official confirmation.

--Wanna win some Scribblenauts swag? Of course you do!


Previews, Interviews, and Impressions

--The Flick Cast releases a hands-on and video, though nothing really new was learned.

--Game Trailers interviews Jeremiah, and it makes for a very entertaining video to watch

--Could 5TH Cell actually be done developing for the DS after Scribblenauts?

--Kotaku asks for "the pitch"

--The Scribblenauts website received a MASSIVE update. Check it out, as well as my "impressions" on it, on this page right here.


Media

--Check out the new trailer/commercial for Scribblenauts...especially if you like to hear about all the rewards it has won

--Ten new screenshots chock full of references and other cool stuff

--Check out a bunch of pictures from GamesCom thanks to Twitter user @krystman. Part 1 here, and part 2 here

--With the website revamp we also were treated to 19 brand new screenshots

--You in the mood for some weird German videos from GamesCom? Well...here's one, and then here's two more

--IGN, as usual, had the 4th edition of the Friday Feature, this time covering various creatures duking it out

--Finally, check out these two videos from GamesCom. One shows us a bunch of animal breeds, the other shows people playing some levels

Here, have a couple more GamesCom videos!

Seems like that's all I've been slinging at you guys lately, eh? Well, that's ok, as I'm sure nobody minds!

Today I have a couple of decently long videos to share. One shows some various creatures and critters, while the other

As usual, you can find both the videos and my highlights below.






Seems like Artic Wolf ignores the adjective and spawns just a wolf. And "Fennec" seems to be in reference to a "Fennec Fox", though it doesn't come up.

This video made me wonder what would happen if you spawned multiples of the same animal. Would some, like wolves, travel in packs? Would others fight each other?

I was impressed as hell in this next section by the sheer number of dog breeds that spawned out very recognizable dogs. The husky especially looked cute. Malamute also spawns a husky model, but even a brief image search shows the two breeds look almost identical. Anyways, it was hilarious when he spawned a fire hydrant and all the dogs looked and barked at it. So cute!

Next up we see some felines, and yet again I can't help but be blown away by the attention to detail for all these big cats. It would have been easy to just reskin existing models, but they elected to literally give them different models as well. Unlike the domesticated dogs, these wild cats kill everything in sight.




This is a very entertaining video (in German) of a couple of guys just going through the levels. Unfortunately I have to go somewhere right now and can't give my own impressions. Not like you need them anyways, it's a 10 minute video full of some pretty cool things, so check it out!

Friday, August 21, 2009

IGN's Random Thoughts, round 4

Alright, the 4th edition of IGN's Random Thoughts on Scribblenauts is up, so go check it out. Thankfully we got videos again this week. This time they decided to just mess around with the "x vs. y" template, facing off some animals against each other for our entertainment.

Let's check them out.



Here we see the IGN previewer showing his great hatred towards marsupials. The T-Rex, of course, eats them all. We also see that both kangaroo and wallaby both spawn the same thing. You know who is really angry at that revelation?



Better watch out, 5TH Cell!



Alright, so here we see Disney's "Jungle Book" gone horribly wrong. All the animals very much hate each other and the fight is over pretty soon with the tiger making it on top. Maxwell then sheds the cloak and ends up running for his life. I liked how distinct the tiger and panther were, and how well the "brawl" ended up going down.




Next up we see three people getting their just desserts. A lawyer, a celebrity, and a...clown? Well, regardless, these three are fed to a hungry group of wild animals. The celebrity makes a mad dash for it and keeps on running long after the carnage is over. Everyone else? Well, not so lucky. Only the bear remains standing.




Well then, these battles just don't seem fair now do they? This raptor just sits around and gets free seafood...that is, until a blob comes in and eats him alive. Eesh. Also, notice that "shark tank" brings up a tank, though it seems to be a different color than I remember. Hmm.




Alright, last level, and this one is definitely a Pokemon battle if I've ever seen one.

Rhydon faces off against Dragonair and totally wrecks him. Dragonair then evolves into Dragonite...and gets his ass kicked again! Rhinos are pretty tough. To be fair, though, the dragon was simply trying to eat leftover komodo dragon...who could blame him?


Anyways, the article concludes with the following paragraph, which I found pretty funny.

This experience has been enlightening, and I played around with it a lot more and discovered a few other things. T-rexes fall asleep after eating bunnies. That same dragon that got killed by a rhino was able to defeat god. And your character can outrun a cheetah somehow.

Two of the strangest videos I've ever seen

What is it about GamesCom and weird videos? Hmm...maybe there's something in the water.



So...here's...a sofa. And an Egyption god. And a bunch of other words in German. Not much more to say!

Now if you thought THAT was exciting, wait until you see...



A boat! And a...plow...thing?

...

Yep!

Well, normally I'd ignore these. But I'm committed to bringing you guys ALL the news and media I can get my hands on. So...here you go!

Lots of pictures and videos courtesy of @krystman


Like yesterday, @krystman was kind enough to bring a camera on his journey in Scribblenauts, and he has chosen to share the pictures and videos he was able to capture. Let's have a look...



So first up we have the infamous steakbaby in video form. This one is "done correctly", as opposed to the version Joystiq did which involved rope and a baby. As mentioned by the previewer, though, the ESRB simply added an unnesecary step. The lion would eat the baby even without the steak. Thus, it seems the ESRB is twisted simply for the sake of being twisted.




Now we have something even MORE crazy and twisted. Vegetarians like meat! This seems to have been overlooked by the members of 5TH Cell, or, alternatively, every piece of meat is the "fake" variety. Tofuburgers and soysteak?


Now onto the pictures.


Someone suggested a fruit and a juicer to see if you could combine the two. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to do so that we know of. I do wonder if perhaps there's an option he missed? Like perhaps holding the fruit first then interacting with the blender?


Here someone wanted death in a bikini. Death was apparently having none of that, so Maxwell donned the red bathing suit. Sexy ;)


Black hole.


Like the above picture, someone wanted to combine poprocks and coke. It unfortunately did not work.


Longcat, his rival Tacgnol, and Ceiling Cat. Surprisingly, the 3 cats don't fight


A shillelagh (Irish: sail éille, a cudgel with a strap), commonly pronounced /ʃɪˈleɪli/ "shi-LAY-lee" or "shi-LAY-la", IPA: [ɕaˈleːlə]) is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel, typically made from a stout knotty stick with a large knob at the top, that is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore Alright, thanks Wikipedia.


Bwahaha! An ornithopter, and apparently it works!


An aurora, just like we've seen before. It's a background prop.


Lich, also like we've seen before. Pretty cool looking.


"Space" and, like aurora and others, it's considered a background prop

An Entomologist.


If you're thinking to yourself, "Man, that sure looks like a wombat", then you, sir, are correct!


Now, if you're thinking to yourself, "Man, that looks like Indiana Jones", then you, sir, are ALMOST correct! That's what comes up for Archeologist. A nice throwback to Dr. Jones.


This is a disco. When you interact with it one of these people pops out and starts dancing. This is true to life as well, btw.


Someone wanted a bundt pan, but the game only recognized "pan".

Some people tried to suggest words like "Love". He instead gave them "Cupid"


This is wind, which is basically a few clouds that disappear after a bit.


"Mountain". I wonder if that's a background item or if you can climb it.


A pretty neat way to represent "Hole". It's a cross section, and I assume you can put it in the ground like oasis or ocean.


This comes up when you try a supernova. It's just a star. Kinda lame, eh?


Swine flu, believe it or not. I do think the game ignores "Swine" and simply gives us a droplet of flu, though.


Jupiter. We've seen from other videos this is used as a background prop. Thus the size, hehe.


Some various organs...namely, a liver, heart, and lungs. Apparently "dung" works as well, though it gives us fertilizer.

Phew, alright, that about wraps it up. Yet again a huge thank to you @krystman for grabbing all of this footage for us!

New German video confuses more than it educates

If you've ever really wanted to see a German man play an English game where the whole point is being able to spell out words...well...have I the video for you!



It seems weird the demo wouldn't be in Germany, given this is at GamesCom and, indeed, in Germany. I would say the language barrier really hindered the guy playing it, as well as a general lack of knowledge of the rules.

"Ocean", which I didn't really expect to be in, spawns the same object used by "Oasis". The guy doesn't seem to know you have to put it in the ground, so it ends up unused. I did like his rather obscure solution of "apple juice", though.

The bee level was interesting due to us being able to see the net. It operates much in the same way as a rope or chain. I'm sure he was expecting a typical bugcatcher's net, but even in his panicking the net actually did its job and trapped the bee. It actually looked pretty damn cool.

I can't help but think the level with the lumberjack is really just repeating itself. I mean we already have a level where the whole point is to cut down a tree. Why do we need two? I'm finding it hard to think of a unique solution that would work on one but not the other.

19 new pictures that'll make your head spin

Yesterday we saw a COMPLETE revamp of the Scribblenauts website. With it we were rewarded with 19 brand new screenshots. Most are these are from actual levels in the game, and those that aren't are pretty hilarious situations. I invite you to look at all of these incredibly cool screenshots.

Hype level? Oh yes. It's into overdrive.

This is what looks like a murder mystery of sorts. We have a corpse, some clues, a cop, and of course a maid/butler/etc. which are all clearly suspects. It's hard to tell if this is a level, and if it is, how do you make it a level worth repeating? Still, it's pretty awesome to see this Scribblenauts version of Clue. My bet? The Maid. Look at her, staring down coldly at the people below her. She's about the strike again!


There's nothing funnier than trailer trash. Trailer? Check. Satalite dish that costs more than their home? Check. Lawn gnome/Rottweiler combo guarding the door? Double check. Just another day in paradise.


Speaking of paradise, here we see Maxwell part of a pretty cool fairgrounds. I'm going to assume this is a level where you have to find a way to ring the bell. A hammer, of course, is boring. Perhaps dropping an anvil on it? I also really like the rollercoaster in the background. It looks really cool.


A giant is attacking Maxwell as a knight charges forward to save him. Maxwell doesn't seem too concerned his head is about to be beaten in. Seems to be taking it in stride, in fact.


Maxwell does his best Sam Fisher impersonation as he tosses on a pair of nightvision goggles. Unfortunately all this does is help him better see the snake that's about to attack them both. I get the idea this is a level. Perhaps you have to escort the person out of the cave?


Little known fact: back in the late 1980s the FBI set up "Project Firebreather", a program to resurect dragons to be used in the Cold War. The program, as you might expect, was a failure, and they had to send their top agents to fight back the now chaos driven zombie dragons.

This is a scene from that fateful day.


I believe this is a level, though the objective is anyone's guess. It reminds me of a Shakespear play. What's up with the little statue? And the mysterious chair? And what what is Maxwell holding? The mystery shall remained unsolved.


I can't help but think this is a murder in progress. Maxwell is pretending to simply blow the snow in front of this little boy, but I think we all know said little boy will soon find his mangled body in that snowblower

Also, this looks like a level to me


We know for a fact this IS a level. You have to dress a mannequin. Here we see a cowboy version of him.


This is also a level, the "Refresh him!" level. I couldn't even begin to guess what that structure is. Waterfall, I guess? It looks really weird, whatever it is.


Again, this seems like a level given the lever up top. I imagine swimming through jellyfish infested waters is a good way to die. You can't spawn toasters fast enough to kill these suckers!


This...does not look safe...


Oh wow, is he digging through the snow? What a cool idea!


So we have a zombie mutant surrounded by a gas station and more explosives than anyone would need in their lifetime. I really...really want to see this scene blow up.


I wonder what the objective here is? I assume those sticks of TNT are rigged to blow, destroy the starite. I wonder what causes them to explode?


If there's one thing more dangerous than a jellyfish, it's a god damn shark. Thankfully Maxwell is armed with a harpoon and plans on taking down the beast. Better act quickly.


Bwaha, what a funny situation to be in. I'm guessing you have to figure out a way to get the starite out from the tight space. His solution is rather unique.


Speaking of unique solutions, when is the last time you glued a saw (I think?) to a van and drove it into a tree?


Finally, we have a costume party, though I'm not entirely sure these guys are in costumes. If they are, though, where can I buy an invisible man suit?!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Scribblenauts website gets a MASSIVE makeover. Seriously, it's insane

http://games.kidswb.com/scribblenauts/index2.html#/?cc=en&page=home

Go there, and if your mind isn't blown within 10 seconds of looking at it then you clearly aren't at the same website I'm at.

Wow.

Scribblenauts' old website was fairly bland and even contained a couple of typos. Not cool, and definitely not impressive. This juggernaut of a website, however, changes that handedly.

Of special note is the fact we see 4 levels (one of which is new?) on the backgrounds of the various pages. On the first page we see the famous 1-1 level with the tree. We also get a glimpse of a couple of new solutions, such as a woodchipper and a woodpecker, two very obvious solutions I never even thought of.

The "About" page shows us the "Rescue the Cat" level, and loops two solutions. The info available on this page is basically a carbon copy of the press release, so nothing new is learned.

The "Screenshots" section brings us, unsurprisingly, screenshots. There's a lot of them (and protected via Flash, so I'll have to "steal" them) and I'll cover them in a new post, perhaps tonight or tomorrow. Anyways, of REAL importance is a really cool new level we haven't seen yet. I do hope this is in the game, as the premise is really cool. Remember how everyone is obsessed with X vs. Y scenarios? This level really plays off of it. Maxwell is confined in a section of the level and can't do anything. He is, however, able to summon monsters to fight 3 other monsters in an arena-esque fight. He's then freed to grab the starite.

A VERY cool concept.

"Downloads" is empty, for now, yet remains intriguing. What could we be seeing? Wallpapers? Music? God, the music that plays in this level is so beautiful. I love the Scribblenauts music. Alas, no levels are playing in this section.

Finally, we have "Videos", which show off the GamesCom and ComicCon trailers we've already seen. The level playing in the background is ALSO one we've seen, and like the cat level we see a solution looped twice.

At the bottom we can see some other new and interesting things. First up we see a "Scribblenauts Fansite", which is very interesting. If that doesn't redirect to this blog I'll be sorely disappointed! Then we can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. All three of these things, however, are simply "Coming Soon".

I am definitely in love with this re-imagining of the website. It's insanely entertaining and awesome to interact with. It's chock full of cool shit that any gamer, even those who have never heard of the game before, will find amazing. I never thought I'd actually praise an official website, but here I am, praising an official website.

Wanna win a Scribblenauts notebook?


Only Scribblenauts can get away with this sort of swag. It seems they were giving out Scribblenauts notebooks at GamesCom, and at least one website wants you to win it. If you ARE interesting in winning it, it seems all you have to do is listen to Gamespot's UK podcast. I have no idea what else you have to do, but I guess listening to it first is a good place to start.

Pictures from GamesCom, courtesy of Twitter user

Twitter user @krystman knew enough to bring a camera to his play session with Scribblenauts. He was able to snap a few photos of items people suggested to him via Twitter. Let's take a look.


Library. Simple enough, eh? Nice looking building, though.



River, believe it or not. Kind of a unique way to interpret the word I think. It's basically a cross-section of a river. I imagine this is largely due to the limitations of the DS. Flowing water must be tough.



Echidna, apparently, which wikipedia tells me is an anteater of sorts.



Invisibility cloak in action of the right hand side. Only how do we prove it's really working?!



This is what apparently spawns with "Slacker". Weird. I remember this model used elsewhere. Perhaps as "Thief" or something?



cough cough. We get confirmation that not all animals can wield weapons or items. It makes sense, given a penguin has fins, not arms. Still sad...



And of course, obligatory longcat + keyboard cat.

You can find all of his pictures of GamesCom right here in his Picasa album. He plans on staying there for at least one more day and perhaps two, so feel free to drop him a line via twitter (link to is profile is at the top of this post) and suggest some words or situations to use.