Take the fight to alien scum in tower offense game for Android 2.2 and higher

It’s been called “[a] fantastically intriguing take on reversing the roles in a Tower Defense game” by AppSpy, “so engaging it’s almost impossible to put down” by Touchgen, and “a perfect challenge for any strategist” by IGN. And now, Anomaly Warzone Earth HD is available on the Android Market for devices running Android 2.2 and higher.

Anomaly Warzone Earth HD turns tower defense games on their head, putting the player in control of the attacking force. Players control a heavily armored squad sent into the teeth of an invading alien horde, fending off foes and smashing towers and turrets with an array of special weapons and powerups.

To succeed in your desperate mission, you’ll need to carefully plan which squad to take, which route to follow and how to upgrade your combat force in order to get through each alien infected zone. Victory requires an agile mind and clever use of your special abilities.

Anomaly Warzone Earth HD features two engrossing gameplay modes: the Story Campaign, taking players through the story of the alien invasion, and Squad Assault mode.

Anomaly Warzone Earth HD is available now on the Android Market here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.elevenbitstudios.AnomalyWarzoneEarthHD.

Players eager for updates can follow 11 bit studios on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/11bitstudios and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/11bitstudios.

Screenshots for the Android version are available here: ftp://press:11anomaly11@ftp.11bitstudios.com/ and the launch trailer for the Android version is available here: http://youtu.be/esLGkWw0HCc

Well Turbo Tape does, and Paradox Interactive is publishing it. Naval War: Arctic Circle is an upcoming game about a hot conflict in the coldest oceans on Earth, as nations compete to control the rich oil reserves buried in the sea floor.

We have a video!

It’s a lot of ocean, and a lot of hardware and I’m very happy to be working with these guys. Full press release after the jump.

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January 12 (Stockholm): The first video developer diary for Turbo Tape Games’ upcoming wargame Naval Warfare: Arctic Circle is now online! The development team shares their vision of a seamless ocean span where modern warships battle for control of precious natural resources.

In the near future, civilization is still reliant on petroleum, but the easily accessible land-based oil reserves are dwindling rapidly. The nations of the far north struggle to harness the rich untapped wells of the Arctic Circle and will go to war to guarantee control of the black gold.

Naval Warfare: Arctic Circle gives you over 36,000,000 square kilometers (14,000,000 square miles) of seascape to navigate, from the Northwest Passage above Canada to the frozen islands of Russian Novaya Zemlya in the east. Listen to the development team explain how this wide geographic expanse guarantees infinite replayability as you take sides in war that is all too easy to imagine.

Prepare for the really cold war.

Tom Ohle, Director

2012 should be a really interesting year. Kinect will continue to success among the mainstream; the big-budget games will still be big-budget hits; studios will close because their big-budget hit wasn’t any good; Steam and GOG and other digital distributors will keep doing great. How’s that for safe predictions? What, you thought I’d go out on a limb? This is a PR blog, not some big fancy editorial site!

We’ll start to see the console life cycles winding down, while web-based and mobile games will enjoy continued success — though it’s rather obvious that developers in those areas will have to start adapting to a changing environment, as well. After all, aren’t we all getting a little sick of being nickel-and-dimed for every little feature via in-app purchases? I really hope to see some new models emerge — at the very least, I expect there to be an increase in dissent around microtransactions for the sake of microtransactions.

But since this is a PR site, I might as well make some predictions about the job we’ll be doing this year. As traditional media spending declines, print will continue to have a really tough time; last year we saw Future lay off a bunch of people and also watched sadly as GamePro folded. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another outlet or two bite the dust in 2012, while online media will face a significant challenge, as well. Oh no! Challenges!

Mainstream games-media haven’t been able to effectively jump into coverage of mobile and social games, leaving a bit of an imbalance in the media landscape. A ton of money is being generated by people who really don’t have many places to read up on upcoming and available games — particularly in the social/browser space, there are only a couple of major outlets, and those still don’t draw the traffic to coincide with a massive potential user base. To that end, watch for PR folks to spend more time with direct consumer outreach via social networks (if they’re smart), while the aforementioned mainstream outlets will likely need to figure out a way of attracting mobile and social gamers. PR reps will have to adapt, as well, as more and more consumers hit social networks to discuss games and make their buying decisions based on word of mouth.

Oh, and BioShock Infinite. Ken Levine is secretly making that game for me. He told me.

Shannon Drake, Account Coordinator

Social and mobile is where you want to be looking for innovation, since the low barrier to entry, the relatively unified platforms and the rapid development time mean it’s easy to churn out odd ideas with a low investment in both time and money. I suspect 2012 will see a rapidly-growing “bubble” of developers rushing to iPhone and Android, which will be exciting right up until it’s not exciting anymore. On Facebook, we’re starting to see developers take it more and more seriously rather than trying to copy Zynga, and that’s also exciting, especially for multiplayer RPGs. Why take on SWTOR and World of Warcraft’s budgets when you could make a Facebook game that costs much less?

On the press side, I can’t wait for some bright bulb to start the Rock Paper Shotgun of mobile and social titles. On the PR side, we’re still figuring out how to reach people. Email feels passé, Twitter too easily ignored but delightfully informal for building relationships (if you’ve been subjected to my barrage of cat pictures and sports news, you know what I mean), and phone too personal and intrusive. What’s the best way to get in touch with people while being just annoying enough to get noticed without getting too annoying? It’s something we talk about constantly with very spirited typing in our Skype channel.

As a late addition, there are a LOT of really talented games writers suddenly floating around on the market and I am extremely hopeful something cool is brewing.

I’m looking forward to the next installment of MLB: The Show, the Twisted Metal revival, Syndicate, and the Jagged Alliance reboot.

Troy Goodfellow, Account Coordinator

The gaming industry will continue to go through serious contractions as the major consoles end their life cycles and more and more big budget titles fail to meet expected sales. Studios will close, layoffs will continue but the AAA design mentality will linger on – big franchises continue, some sell well, some even makes a profit. But there will be fewer big budget announcements this year as publishers reconcile to the new way of doing things.

And the new way is good. Social networking and entrenched niche communities will continue to help midsize and small studios find their audience. Middle market titles that don’t push the technological envelope will dominate gamer mindshare and new ways of selling games will rise. The PC, tablet and mobile platforms will lead in gaming innovation.

Mass Effect 3 will be the “best” game of 2012.

Looking forward to Mass Effect 3, Crusader Kings 2, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, Torchlight 2, and Bioshock Infinite. And the new X-Com title from Firaxis.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the game for the past few days. Looking at the trailer and screenshots, you might think, “Really? Another Cut the Rope clone?”… but did you call Modern Warfare 2 “another Quake 2 clone”? No, no you didn’t. Well, maybe you did, but that probably made you look reeeeal stupid. Anyway, I’ll touch more on this “clone” perception in a separate post.

For now, here’s the trailer!

Hit the jump for a bit more opinion from me, as well as the full announcement and screenshots we sent out today.

Needless to say, if you like Cut the Rope, I think you should hit us up about Catch the Princess. The visual style is obviously quite different, and the game’s levels are also generally laid out quite differently — you have horizontal levels requiring side-scrolling, for example… and it’s a bit tougher to explain, but it feels like there’s more thinking involved to get all the Crystals on a level, or even just to get the princess to the goal.

Here’s the full announcement we sent out:

CALGARY (December 19): Canadian app developer Robots and Pencils challenges you to save the damsel in distress over and over and over again in its upcoming physics-based puzzle game Catch the Princess HD. Play through more than 60 dungeon levels with a wide variety of challenges, cutting the chains that bind the poor princess to the ceiling. Plan your moves carefully, using bellows, pixie dust and physics to swing the princess’ cage past dangerous obstacles, as you guide her into the waiting arms of a fang-toothed admirer.

Catch the Princess will be released for iPhone and iPod Touch – alongside Catch the Princess HD for iPad – on December 21.

Catch the Princess includes:
- Over 60+ Levels of physics-based princess rescue (and more on the way)
- Hours of gameplay with no loading time
- Beautiful Retina HD graphics
- Over 200 Crystals to collect
- The Advanced Princess-In-Cage-Of-Weeping-Death Physics Engine
- A host of GameCenter Achievements to brag about
- Haunting audio by the renowned Steve Sim, former sound designer at BioWare

The game’s official website features the debut video, and can be found at http://robotsandpencils.com/factory/catch-the-princess.

About Robots and Pencils
We love to make things. We started out as a 2-person husband-and-wife team (one robot, one pencil), inspired by 37signals. Today we have offices (think: small, shanty like structures) throughout the world, including Calgary, Hong Kong & San Francisco. The team is made up of more than 70+ makers, building apps for the consumer and enterprise. We’ve had the #4 top grossing app in North America, two #1 Apps in the UK, and enough Top 10s that listing them would just be uncouth. The Robots are the programmers and the Pencils are the designers, in case you were wondering. More information at http://robotsandpencils.com.

Zombie Invasion Strikes Gunshine.net And Changes The World Forever

The First Real-Time Multiplayer RPG for Facebook Announces First Expansion

The undead walk and the Resistance braces for new threats as Supercell announced the launch of Gunshine.net‘s first expansion, Zombies Online today. Zombies have taken over the Dawnbreak island after a huge explosion in an underground research institute. As the virus keeps on spreading, people unite their forces and fight for their lives. And for lives of everybody in Dawnbreak.

Zombies Online completely overhauls the game’s visuals–some areas will never be the same–and adds new enemies, new areas, new quests, and a whole new story. New players will adventure through a completely revamped starting area.

“With Gunshine.net we wanted to introduce something totally new on Facebook, a real-time multiplayer game with highly evolved social features that make it possible for our users to make new friends via the game. Now that Gunshine.net has been out of beta for 1,5 months, it’s time to take the next strategic step – we are launching a full blown expansion like never seen on a Facebook game before” states Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell.

“We have seen some amazing things happening in Gunshine.net. People are organizing in-game parties, they form alliances and we have even seen an in-game strike! Most of these people don’t know each other outside the game, it’s the shared interest that brings them together. Real time interaction between the users is really the key: the new connections they make in the game are the main reason why they keep coming back to it. Facebook as a gaming platform enables this rich social gaming experience, and that is the reason why we think Facebook is going to be the biggest gaming platform in the world.”

Gunshine.net pairs the social features of a Facebook game with the rich, deep gameplay of traditional gaming titles. In addition to real-time multiplayer, Gunshine.net features an open gameworld for players to explore as well as social game features including hiring friends on as mercenaries, PvP arena, global in-game chat and a team-finding feature allowing players to group up and take down powerful bosses.

To play Gunshine.net and the Zombies Online storyline, players can visit http://www.gunshine.net/ and sign up today.

For information and game assets, visit http://www.supercell.net/media/ or contact Marika Appel  marika.appel@supercell.net (+358 50 324 2498)

Hit the jump for the first screenshots of Anomaly Warzone Earth on XBLA, as well as the full announcement, including details about the Xbox-exclusive content.

Anomaly Warzone Earth Coming to XBLA in 2012
11 bit studios’ Celebrated Tower Offense Game Attacks Consoles This Spring

In Spring 2012, 11 bit studios will bring their award-winning Anomaly Warzone Earth to Xbox 360 on Xbox LIVE Arcade, with exclusive XBLA content – all new Tactical Trials levels that will test your puzzle-solving skills in the Anomaly world.The ultimate Tower Offense strategy game tasks you with saving near-future Earth from an alien onslaught. The unwelcome invaders have captured the world’s major cities, building huge turrets that destroy everything in their path. It’s up to you to lead an armored squad through the streets of cities like Baghdad and Tokyo. By putting you on the attack, Anomaly Warzone Earth turns tower defense on its head and presents an extraordinary mixture of action and real-time strategy perfectly suited to the Xbox 360.Earlier this year, Anomaly Warzone Earth was released for PC, Mac and iOS to rave reviews, with the latter earning a Metacritic score of 94! Reviewers and players alike hailed Anomaly’s slick appearance, intuitive interface and original approach to a popular strategy game genre. Now Xbox gamers will have the chance to experience what IGN called “a perfect challenge for any strategist” and what Destructoid considers “a fresh and exhilaratingly fun strategy experience that only few titles can match.”

What are the critics so excited about?

- Enjoy innovative Tower Offense gameplay – you’re the attacking side!
- Experience a new approach to strategy games on consoles – a strategy game designed to be played with a gamepad.
- Dive into six Xbox-exclusive Tactical Trials levels that will test your puzzle-solving skills in the Anomaly world.
- Play for hours on end in the engaging story campaign, as well as the two exciting Squad Assault Modes.
- Immerse yourself in the game with great visuals and atmospheric audio.

For more information, visit http://anomalythegame.com.

About 11 bit studios
We’re a game development company based in Warsaw, Poland. Guided by experienced management, our goal is to create exciting games for all kinds of gamers – hardcore players, as well as those who play on occasion – and to make the games easily available through digital distribution. The core concept behind development is to devise unique and pioneering gameplay ideas, and to implement and deliver them to all main gaming platforms. Find out more at http://11bitstudios.com.