Rope Raider for iPhone released

10tons has launched Rope Raider for iPhone and iPod touch today. If you are wondering just what the hell a “Rope Raider” is, apparently it involves swinging through a cityscape like Batman or Spiderman. Rope Raider challenges players to swing through an atmospheric cityscape. Players shoot a rope and then swing forward from building to building. The game features 3 game modes: Free Swingin’, Coin Rush, and Speed Frenzy.

In Free Swingin’ the goal is to travel as far as possible while picking up any coin bonuses on the way. In Coin Rush the player has to collect as many coins as possible within a limited time. In the Speed Frenzy mode the player has to travel as far as possible within a limited time. All the modes come with 3 different difficulty levels. The difficulty level affects the placement and height of the buildings and also the time limits. The game also offers online leaderboards.

Rope Raider is now available from Apple’s App Store on iPhone or iPod touch. The game will be available for $0.99 until Nov. 15th when the price jumps to $1.99. For more info check out www.roperaider.com.

Splosion Man gets Avatar Rewards

Twisted Pixel Games announced this week plans to extend, expand and improve its Xbox Live Arcade game, Splosion Man. In the next few weeks free avatar awards, free meats, and improved online multiplayer will be rolled out and into the game. Twisted Pixel CEO Michael Wilford says that this is the biggest update the company has deployed to an existing game.

Avatar Awards for the game were launched earlier this week on Xbox Live Arcade. Splosion Man is the first game to provide this feature to players free of charge. Players who have already performed the achievement will be awarded their accessories at the main menu, while new players will get to see a preview of what their avatar looks like wearing the accessory. Players can win two male and two female accessories for free by playing through Splosion Man.

Twisted Pixel and Omaha Steaks have teamed up to deliver hundreds of top-quality steak filets to players. Register by downloading the special Splosion Man gamerpic on the Dashboard or on Xbox.com, and then receive one entry each time (up to 5 times) Splosion Man is played in an online multiplayer session before November 22nd.

Finally, some online multiplayer fixes are in place. Since the game’s launch, some players have encountered laggy online game sessions in certain network scenarios, including connections that frequently drop data packets. In the latest title update to the game, those issues have been fixed.

Find out more at www.twistedpixelgames.com.

Konami remaking Rocket Knight

Konami Digital Entertainment announced that Rocket Knight is currently in development for the Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network and for PC download via Steam. The popular 2D side-scrolling title first released on the 16-bit SEGA Genesis and later on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Rocket Knight debuts on next generation consoles fifteen years later with updated graphics and all new environments, while maintaining much of the core gameplay of the original.

In Rocket Knight, players take on the role of a fiery opossum named Sparkster who returns home to the Kingdom of Zephyrus after 15 years to find it in ruin. Using a rocket pack, players must steer clear and overcome a hostile wolf army looming to take the lives of the Zephyrus people. A 2.5D action adventure title, Rocket Knight brings new worlds, each with massive platform levels and a rocket flying level.

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Bonk is back in 2010

Hudson is bringing back the classics with a new downloadable version of the TurboGradx-16 game starring that crazy caveman Bonk called Bonk: Brink of Extinction. After 15 years of seclusion Bonk returns to Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare in early 2010. The updated side scrolling adventure features next generation graphics infused with a retro gameplay style. With classic 2D platforming in a 3D world, Bonk: Brink of Extinction combines new enemies, collectables, downloadable content and online play for the first time in the series.

Bonk: Brink of Extinction also features a story mode with co-op play for those that want to team up and experience their primitive natures.. The loveable caveman Bonk and his huge skull returns to save the world from a doomsday comet on a collision course with Earth. Meanwhile the comet’s magnetic field is driving the planet’s creatures crazy and smaller bits of debris are smashing into the jungle near Bonk’s home. Bonk must swim, bite, climb, jump, run and headbutt his way through jungles, deserts and volcanic caverns while earning power ups, reaching check points and gaining extra health on a perilous journey to the very center of the planet. Bonk: Brink of Extinction also features new transformations as Bonk morphs into eight different forms by eating meat or encountering Primordial Ooze.

Look for the game in early 2010. Welcome back you crazy caveman!

Lost In Shadow announced

Hudson Entertainment announced a new game exclusive to the Wii called Lost In Shadow today. The game follows the shadow of a boy as he attempts to climb around and up a mystical tower. Along the way, he’ll have to solve mysteries, puzzles and fight off enemies that try to impede his progress using his wits and the Wii remote.

This mysterious Tower an alternative world is filled with moving shadows and casts a large shadow on everything beneath it. With the help of a winged sylph known as Spangle, players can move lights in the foreground to create new shadowy walkways to previously inaccessible areas. Unaffected by gravity while traveling through this medieval landscape, the shadow boy solves mysteries and fights off enemies who stand in his way. The game’s combination of light, shadow, background and foreground creates a unique blend of gameplay features, morphing landscapes and artistic visuals.

Lost In Shadow is scheduled for release sometime in 2010.

Mini Ninjas demo this week

Along with the release of Shadow Complex on Wednesday, Xbox Live Arcade fans can take the demo of Eidos and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s cute action platformer Mini Ninjas for a dry run. The Mini Ninjas demo will also be made available for PC and PS3 if that’s your cup of tea.
The PC demo will be available for download from the official website www.minininjas.com at 1 am PST, August 19th. The Xbox 360 demo will be available on the same day via Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PS3 demo will be available through PlayStation Network on Thursday, August 20th.

Mini Ninjas will be released from September 8th across North America, September 11th in the United Kingdom and PAL territories and October 9th in France and Germany. The game will be available on Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and PS3.

What is Warren Spector’s secret Disney project?

Epic Mickey. That’s what the media is calling Warren Spector’s super secret project for Disney. Back in 2007 Warren Spector’s Junction Point studio was bought by Disney and the man behind Dues Ex has been busy working on something ever since. But let’s start at the beginning.

At the end of 2008 Gamasutra talked about a secret project they’d seen concept art for that indicated a title codenamed “Epic Mickey.” The concept art featured “pencil sketches of cities assembled from junk” and “a surreal seashore invasion scene, in which machines wearing the faces of the Seven Dwarfs deposit old-fashioned renditions of Disney characters onto the beach with mechanical hands.”

An even earlier report from 1Up offered this small tidbit of information on the project:

Ever since Disney bought his studio, thus crushing our dreams for Ninja Gold, we’ve wanted to know just what the heck ace developer Warren Spector is working on. Hints were dropped on GFW Radio, but Quartermann claims to have the skinny. Word is that Spector’s new Disney project will be a platformer looking to compete with a certain pesky plumber. And who’s big enough to take on Nintendo’s star? Only the mouse himself!

And so, here we are today, with some new information: new artwork uncovered by Neogaf, and details unearthed by Superannuation point to Epic Mickey featuring familiar Disney characters and locations with a steampunk setting.

The Neogaf art shows a robotic scorpion with a bear head, a spider-like robot with mouse ears, a steam punk style cityscape, a castle, a giant jug of paint thinner with Mickey Mouse on the label on a beach and a number of other conceptual sketches. The artwork was found on the web site of artist Gary Glover, who worked for Junction Point as a concept artist from 2007 - 2008.

Further proof comes from Superannuation who uncovered a mention of “Epic Mickey” in the resume of current Junction Point Studios concept artist Tony Puhlham - including the fact that the game is being developed for the Wii.

Of course “Epic Mickey” is probably a codename for something else, but at least we now have a general sense of what it is Warren Spector has been working on for almost two years.

More details when we have them.