Make-a-Wish sees “Wade The Supermaster” feature in upcoming game “Echo Prime”
Today Robot Entertainment posted the fantastic story about a Make-a-Wish request that was brought to their office from the North Texas Make-a-Wish foundation For those who might not be familiar the Make-a-Wish foundation enables children diagnosed with life-threatening medical condition a chance to live their dreams by liaising with organisations to fulfil their wishes.
On this occasion a request from Wade Sharp landed at Robot HQ. Upon reading about Wade’s struggle with brittle bone disease (Osteogenesis Imperfecta). The studio was touched and greeted Wade by inviting him to the studio. Wade’s condition makes it very difficult to engage in physical activities which makes videogames a very important part of his life. To be given a chance to learn about the development of video games and take part in the design of his own in-game character and back-story was a dream. A wish that the fine folks at Robot Entertainment have made true over the last few weeks. Read more
Zynga closes Dallas studios (Formerly Bonfire Studios and NewToy)
Yesterday Zynga announced the shocking news that it was closing its Zynga Dallas and Zynga With Friends studios. Prior to Zynga’s acquisition of these teams they were known as Bonfire Studios and NewToy respectively. It was not long ago back in February 2013 that Zynga’s Chief Operating Officer, David Ko announced that it was merging all of its Texas operations under a single office as part of cost cutting moves for the struggling company. Now it seems those cost cutting measures have gone even deeper resulting in the layoff of all staff from the studios formed by Ex Ensemble Studios members. Read more
PeopleFun launches “MixTwo” on Android and iOS
PeopleFun the studio founded by Tony Goodman has launched its second mobile game to the masses. Aptly titled “MixTwo” the latest game shows players two pictures and when combined the pictures reveal a linked word. For example match a cat and stripes and what do you get? Tiger, of course! Read more
Age of Empires 2 HD announced!
Microsoft Studios have today announced that an HD edition of Age of Empires 2 is in the works. This may not come as a surprise to many who noticed that the Age of Empires Online website has featured articles and blogs about Age of Empires 2 recently *cough* Retro Sunday *cough*. With Ensemble Studios sadly closed many fans will be wondering who is developing this title. Perhaps one of the studios to form out of Ensemble? Well, no, not so I’m afraid. Microsoft Studios are working with Hidden Path Entertainment (developers of Counter Strike). That said, there is at least one Ensemble staffer on board – Mark Terrano was Lead Game Designer at Ensemble Studios during Age 2’s development. He now works as Design Director and Chief Creative Office at Hidden Path. Read more
Hero Academy wins DICE 2013 “Best Mobile Game”
Congratulations to all the team at Robot Entertainment as Hero Academy wins the “Best Mobile Game” at the 16th annual DICE awards. This is a prestigious awards for developers and Robot Entertainment was up against 3 other games in the mobile category including Fairway Solitaire, Horn and Rayman Jungle Run. Its fantastic to see Robot’s hard work recognised with this brilliant award. Read more
Development of Age of Empires Online draws to a close
Since its release in August 2011 a vast amount of content has been released for Age of Empires Online. Firstly the Greek and Egyptians civilisations were (along with the core game) largely developed by Robot Entertainment until production shifted to Gas Powered Games as part of a planned transition in February 2011. Post-release Gas Powered Games have released various content packs including Skirmish Hall, Defence of Crete along with 4 additional civilisations – Norse, Persians, Celts and Babylonians. However today it was announced on the official website that content production and development of the game is now ceasing. Read more
Robot Fans want your top six questions for SixOkay
Robot Fans are running a community Q&A with Robot Entertainment’s Community Manager Justin “SixOkay” Korthof. This offers the perfect chance for the community to get their burning questions answered. The top 6 most demanded questions from the community will go forward to Robot Entertainment for review. If you have a question that you want to get off your chest why not add your question into the mix – it might get chosen!
Questions can be posted here: http://www.robotentertainmentfans.com/2012/12/21/6-questions-for-sixokay
Monster Crew now live for Android! – Interview with Dave Pottinger
Looks like Christmas has come early from BonusXP who have today released the Android version of “Monster Crew”. There are many great games on iOS that never make it to Android, its great to see that BonusXP have taken the time to enable the millions of Android users to enjoy the spooky platforming game. If you havn’t been able to play the game yet here is a quick low down. Monster Crew is an “endless” platformer that sees you play the role as Frankie, a boy who had his precious card collection taken at a yard sale. Frankie travels to a frightening castle to try and get them back but is turned into Frankenstein. Its now up to you to help Frankie recover his cards from within the ghostly castle. Read more
Hero Academy now available on Mac!
Good news for Mac users, thanks to Steam Play it is now possible to play Hero Academy on both PC and Mac! All you need to do is open Steam on your Mac and you should find the option to download Hero Academy. When you sign in with your existing Hero Academy username all your teams will unlock on the Mac version – like magic!
If you’re not familiar with Steam Play you can find out more about the service here:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9439-QHKN-1308
Remember ES interviews Sandy Petersen on Cthulhu World Combat
Many Ensemble fans will remember the name Sandy Petersen from the famous Ask Sandy threads on the Age of Empires Heaven website. Sandy often took part in many forum Q&A discussions on the Age of Empires Heaven website and was certainly engaged with the community. Most notably the final Ask Sandy thread gave fans an insight onto the closure of Ensemble. Sandy is an Ensemble Studios veteran having been with the company since its early days and became the lead designer on the Rise of Rome expansion pack for Age of Empires. After the closure of Ensemble in 2009, Sandy went on to teach at the The Guildhall at SMU inspiring budding game designers. Read more
Kenny Newell's Sandy Petersen interview on Cthulhu World Combat [ 43:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download