Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in stores

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs from Activision Publishing is in stores. You know, for the kids. Based on a deal with the cats at Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising, the game puts players into the fuzzy little boots of the characters from the 3D animated feature from Twentieth Century Fox, which makes its big screen debut worldwide on July 1.

Players command various characters from the movie including Sid, Manny, Diego, Scrat and the one-eyed Dino hunting weasel, Buck. Whoever you use, you’ll find yourself in the mysterious underground world of dinosaurs as depicted in the film, solving puzzles and platforming through more than 15 levels.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was developed for the console and PC platforms by Eurocom and for Nintendo DS by Artificial Mind & Movement.

The game is available for the Xbox 360, Wii and the PS3 for a suggested retail price of $49.99; the PS2 and Nintendo DS for the suggested retail price of $29.99 and Games for Windows for a suggested retail price of $19.99. The console and Games for Windows versions are rated “E10+” (Cartoon Violence) and DS is rated “E” (Mild Cartoon Violence) by the ESRB.

Robot Chicken Invades Spore Galactic Adventures

The writers of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken TV show and Spore Galactic Adventures Maxis have teamed up to create a special adventure that will be available at the product’s launch. The Adventures created by writers from this outrageously funny TV show will be available as free downloadable content when the game launches June 23.

The concept for this campaign was the work of Robot Chicken co-creators Seth Green and Matt Senreich and executed by the writing team including Matt Beans, Doug Goldstein, Mike Fasolo, Breckin Meyer, Dan Milano, Tom Root, Kevin Shinick, Hugh Sterbakov and Zeb Wells. Maxis says that players can expect to experience missions with exploding feces, angry yetis, ruler yielding librarians and more. Check out Robot Chicken’s exploits as they create Adventures at www.spore.com/wtf.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes Announced

LucasArts announced this morning that it has tapped Australian game development studio Krome to create the next game based on the popular Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series that airs on Cartoon Network. Based on the Cartoon Network series and working with the folks helped create it - Lucasfilm Animation, the new game from Krome will be called Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes and will allows players to take up arms on behalf of the Galactic Republic, while pursuing the mysterious bounty hunter Cad Bane and combating the all-new Skakoan super villain Kul Teska.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes allows players to fight as both Jedi Knights and Clone Troopers through over 30 missions, using the same visual style from the TV series. The game will feature a brand-new storyline that puts players into the key events that lead directly into the second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Jedi characters will be to wield their hallmark lightsabers, commandeer droids and drive in a variety of vehicles. Clone Troopers fire will use their heavy weapons and devices - just like in the TV show - including rocket launchers, thermal detonators and jet packs in levels built specifically for run-and-gun gameplay. according to LucasArts.

The Lucasfilm Animation Singapore games will develop the DS version, which LucasArts promises will offer an expanded storyline, touch-screen controls for movement, attacks and puzzle solving and other DS specific features to be announced.

LucasArts also confirmed that the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game will support drop-in/drop-out, on the fly two-player online and offline co-op play. Obviously given that the show centers around Anakin’s team, this makes sense. 

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes will be released this September for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS and PC.

Editor’s Note: story edited to include info on cooperative play.

THQ Goes ‘Up’ in May

In a bit of non-shocker, THQ announced this morning that it will release “globally” a series of video games based on the upcoming Disney-Pixar animated film, “Up.” The seven games that are apparently in development games will be released on various platforms including Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Games for Windows and Mac. That’s right, no one will be left unscathed.. Wholly owned development house Heavy Iron Studios will handle the lion’s share of the development work, says THQ.

Disney-Pixar comes Up is a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman named Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But Carl soon discovers that his biggest nightmare - an over-active 8-year-old named Russell - has stowed away in his house. The film is being directed by Peter Docter (Monsters, Inc.), Up will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D in select theatres on May 29, 2009. The games should be ready for prime-time right around the release of the film.

Activision to Develop Bakugan Games

It’s a formula that’s been around forever. Company releases toy/card game/etc. line. Toy line gets developed into an animated series. Animated series gets popular. Game company picks up video game rights. Everyone cashes in. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and countless other properties. The latest to follow this formula? 2008 Toy Industry Association Toy of the Year, Bakugan.

Activision announced today that it has reached an agreement with Corus Entertainment Inc.’s Nelvana Enterprises to develop and distribute video games based on the toy line and the popular action animated television series based on the Bakugan line. According to the announcement, the first Bakugan game will be released for Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2, all due out sometime this Fall. The games are currently in development at veteran Japanese studio NOW Production, and will feature “intense battles, the ability to create your own Brawler, cartoon quality graphics, and multiplayer combat.”

“Ever since Bakugan exploded in popularity, players have been clamoring for a video game version,” said Doug Murphy, President, Nelvana and GM, Corus Kids. “We share our fans’ excitement in doing battle in an interactive Bakugan world!”

The Bakugan series airs on Cartoon Network in the United States and internationally, and on TELETOON in Canada. The toy line, developed by Spin Master Ltd., brings action to the genre of collectible trading card games with marble-like Bakugan spheres that transform into “battle brawling” action figures when rolled onto special game cards.

“Bakugan’s success in 2008 speaks for itself and we’re confident it will be even bigger in 2009,” said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. “It is our goal to expand this proven property in a way that both fans and gamers will love.”

Dead Space Film Oct. 28

Anchor Bay Entertainment’s animated film based on EA’s upcoming horror survival action game, Dead Space, will be hitting retail at the end of this month. The film was directed by Chuck Patton, and features the voices of Bruce Boxleitner, Kelly Hu, Keith Szarabajka, Jim Cummings and Kevin Michael Richardson. The film was animated and produced by Film Roman, (The Simpsons, King of the Hill). More important than all the name recognition (mind you your exposure to that is limited considering the big star of this film is the aging Bruce Boxleitner), is how the movie ties into the comic book and the game on which it is based. Dead Space: Downfall attempts to bridge the gap in the narrative between the Dead Space comic series and the game.

In the film, a deep-space mining ship called the USG Ishimura has recovered an ancient religious artifact. Unfortunately this object ,which would seem to prove the existence of a higher power, should not have been removed from its resting place. Once aboard the ship, the object unleashes a dangerous alien race that is hell-bent on possessing every crew member, turning them into indescribable monstrosities until no one is left to resist. The ship takes on a whole new atmosphere as the remaining crew members struggle to stay alive and keep their insanity as the alien menace twists and mutate once familiar faces into monsters..

Find out more about the film by visiting Amazon.com. The animated straight-to-DVD-and-Blu-ray release will hit stores on October 28. The game will be released on October 14 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Resident Evil: Degeneration Debuts at TGS

Resident Evil: Degeneration, Sony Pictures’ and Capcom’s CG-animated film, will make its public debut October 10th at Tokyo Game Show. The animated film follows the continuing exploits Leon and Claire as they battle an army of zombies in a Midwestern airport. The film is set approximately seven years after the destruction of Raccoon City. For those of us not lucky enough to make it to TGS this year, have no fear. the film will also be shown New York City Horror Film Festival on November 13th and at a screening in Los Angeles on November 18th hosted by Fangoria.

The film is produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi (associate producer of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and video game producer of Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry 4) and directed by Makoto Kamiya (special effects director of L: Change The World, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack).

For a tease of the film, check out www.sonypictures.com.