We're all about weird games here at Gamezebo, because more often than not, the games that end up being the weirdest and taking the most chances also wind up being the most innovative and the most fun to play. I think the same could definitely be said for the latest puzzle game from Bullseye Studio, simian.interface.Described as "an abstract spatial puzzle game for simian participants of all ages and ability levels," simian.interface promises to bring a completely unique gameplay experience to the App Store without the use of timers or even any rules! Supposedly this thing is so simple that even a monkey could play it, and that's exactly what the game's trippy debut trailer focuses on: an ominous monkey playing the game in space as gameplay footage rolls across the screen to a wonderfully space-time soundtrack.I'm still not entirely sure what the heck this game is actually about, but I'm more than a little intrigued now. Luckily we won't have to wait very long to find out, as simian.interface is currently slated for an iOS release this coming Thursday, January 9. We're also not sure if you get a complementary live monkey with your digital download or not.
Talk about an unfortunate pattern! It was just a few short days ago when we learned that CEO of the Electronic Arts-owned PopCap Games Dave Roberts would be stepping down from the company alongside chief game designer Jason Kapalka. Well now EA has confirmed to GamesIndustry International today that Chillingo founders Chris Byatte and Joe Wee have both left Chillingo, which was acquired by EA for a cool $20 million in 2010.In the years since its creation, the Chillingo name has risen to be one of the most prominent publishers of mobile games in the world. The company first helped mobile powerhouse games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope get off the ground way back in the day, and they continuously help to release wonderful new game experiences on the platform each and every week. Odds are you've probably played more Chillingo-published games than you even realized."There's no word yet on what ultimately prompted the decision for Byatte and Wee to leave the company they started back in 2005, but it certainly doesn't reflect too well on EA to have so many creative founders jump ship after their respective high-stakes acquisitions. This will certainly be a big blow to EA's mobile business, but we'll just have to wait and see what the future for Chillingo holds now.
There's good news and bad news for Hitman fans today, and since I'm more of a "bad news first" kind of guy, let's get that out of the way right now: it looks like the upcoming next-gen Hitman game from Square Enix Montreal has officially been cancelled (insert sad face here). But the good news? The studio is reportedly hard at work on a mobile Hitman game for iOS and Android instead!The news was first relayed from VideoGamer after they noticed a Square Enix Montreal employee's LinkedIn page all but confirmed the cancellation of the next-gen Hitman game. While the same employee's LinkedIn page also mentioned his current work on games for "Tablet devices," another fellow employee's account seems to be much more specific towards the full-fledged mobile Hitman game."As someone who's plugged countless hours into Hitman: Blood Money, I'm just excited to see whatever comes next for Agent 47, whether on mobile or console. In any case, we'll be sure to keep you posted when Square Enix makes an official confirmation on when we might get to take control of the silent mobile assassin.
High Moon is an upcoming turn-based dueling game from QuantumCohort. The game combines science fiction elements into an American Old West setting and has players dueling one another using various magic spells.High Moon has been in development since late last summer. Having originally been planned as a minimalist game using a text interface, QuantumCohort evolved the game to become much more aesthetically pleasing. Inspired by Sword & Sworcery, QuantumCohort emulated the game's visual style, when renovating High Moon's artistic direction.Once High Moon's graphics were set, the game continued to naturally evolve from there.
In July of last year, mystery game, Detective Grimoire, launched its Kickstarter campaign. A month later, the game had collected nearly $30,000, safely above its established goal. Now, SBF Games has launched the game on PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The game's soundtrack is also available for $4.Detective Grimoire is out to solve the murder mystery of a tourist attraction owner, who is rumored to have been slain by the very creature his tourist trap is based upon. Detective Grimoire is a point-and-click game, and SFB Games has integrated that for touchscreen devices.
January 2nd saw the launch of 2014's first Humble Weekly Sale, featuring games from Amanita Design, Might and Delight, Vectorpark Inc., and State of Play Games. All of the games come DRM-free for Windows and Mac, and all of the games (except Samorost 2) come with Steam keys. Paying $6 or more gets buyers Samorost 2, Machinarium, Lume, Windosill, Shelter, and Botanicula. Paying less than the pre-determined price point, gets buyers all of the previously mentioned games, except the latter two. Currently, the sale has generated over $76,000, with the average purchase price being $3.41.
The latest Alpha build of Introversion Software's prison simulator, Prison Architect, is available now. The Alpha 16 build introduces the game's modding community to Steam Workshop support, allowing players to upload and share their custom mods with other Steam users. Previously Workshop support allowed for Steam users to upload and share prison layouts.Currently, one of the most popular mods is Imperial Architect, a fan-made Star Wars-themed mod which transforms the prison into an Imperial prison base. The mod page has over 25,000 unique visitors.The Alpha 16 build also allows for segregation of prisoners based on certain criteria. With increased AI functionality and the ability to task prisoners to work within their segregated areas, prison staffers are more efficient than ever in performing their duties.
Now that the craziness of the holidays has finally started to settle down (and by default, the craziness of enormous holiday gaming sales all around the web), we can finally take a breather and get to playing all of those great titles we managed to scoop up at next-to-nothing prices over the last couple of days.But don't worry, even though it's a bit slow this week in terms of free games and sales, we've still got you covered with a sweet bundle or two. From indie game bundles galore, to the last remaining hours of a waning winter sale, you still have a chance to build up those holiday backlogs with a few more games on the dollar this weekend."And as always, if you happened to find another deal peeking out from the snow that we may have missed, you can let us all know about it down in the replies below!