Aspyr
December 10th, 2009 at 05:50pm
Under Xbox 360
In what’s apparently the latest game industry victim of a down economy, Big Download reports that, according to its sources, Austin, Texas-based publisher Aspyr has laid off more than 50 percent of its employees. Though you likely recognize the Aspyr name from its PC-to-Mac ports, the company recently published the Call of Duty Classic port on XBLA and PSN, as well as Fighting Fantasy and Treasure World on DS.
We’ve been in contact with Aspyr in attempt to clarify the situation over there. We’ll keep you posted.
Report: Aspyr lays off majority of staff originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Continue Reading Report: Aspyr lays off majority of staff
Tags: Aspyr, call-of-duty-classic, layoffs, mac
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Report: Aspyr lays off majority of staff
August 6th, 2009 at 01:30pm
Under DS
click to Firetop Mountain-sizeAspyr kindly sent us some exclusive screens and artwork for Big Blue Bubble’s Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the action-RPG based on the classic roleplaying book. Looking over the screenshots, we get a very mid-’90s PC RPG vibe, which is totally cool with us. Stuff like Etrian Odyssey and The Dark Spire satisfies our nostalgia for even older first-person role-playing, but these high-detail 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds hit a different era of nostalgia.
Also in the gallery, two panoramic pieces of environment concept art like the “Dwarven Room” above. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is expected to reach the Fortress of Retail this holiday season.
First look in first-person: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Continue Reading First look in first-person: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Tags: Aspyr, big-blue-bubble, fighting-fantasy, warlock-of-firetop-mountain
By Mister-X
Continue Reading First look in first-person: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:00pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
Big Blue Bubble had difficulty finding a publisher for The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, its newly announced DS adaptation of the Fighting Fantasy book series, before finally discovering Aspyr Media. Damir Slogar, the developer’s CEO, told CVG (who also has the first screens of the game) that other publishers expressed a lack of interest in the game based on its platform.
“Everyone we showed the game loved it but the ‘big guys’ like EA, Ubi or Activision were not interested in DS only titles,” Slogar said. That attitude is no surprise from the massively multiplatform EA and Activision, but it’s unusual coming from Ubisoft, which has the DS-exclusive COP: The Recruit on the way and has made a pile of money from the infamous, primarily DS-based Petz and Imagine lines.
Warlock of Firetop Mountain dev: ‘big guys’ not interested in DS-exclusive games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Continue Reading Warlock of Firetop Mountain dev: ‘big guys’ not interested in DS-exclusive games
Tags: Aspyr, big-blue-bubble, warlock-of-firetop-mountain, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Warlock of Firetop Mountain dev: ‘big guys’ not interested in DS-exclusive games
July 8th, 2009 at 05:50pm
Under DS
Treasure World is such an innovative, potentially important game that I felt like it needed to be highlighted with a review, if only to get the word out about one of the most clever ideas to hit the DS (a system overrun with clever ideas). However, time constraints and Wi-Fi issues prevented me from obtaining what I would consider an exhaustive enough experience for an authoritative review. Hence, Snap Judgment.
Continue reading Snap Judgment: Treasure World (DS)
Snap Judgment: Treasure World (DS) originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Continue Reading Snap Judgment: Treasure World (DS)
Tags: Aspyr, aspyr-media, snap-judgment, treasure-world, wi-fi
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Snap Judgment: Treasure World (DS)
June 30th, 2009 at 09:30pm
Under Xbox 360
click to PROBE THE INSIDIOUS DEPTHS OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS (ie: peep the gallery)
What is Dreamkiller? It’s like Psychonauts and Painkiller had a baby, and that baby has grown into an angry teenager who then scratched the design doc for the game on the outside of his notebook. Mindware Studios – the developers behind Painkiller Overdose – are back to “probe the insidious depths of the subconscious” with Dreamkiller for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms, available this fall.
Ever wanted to go “inside the dark and twisted nightmares of tortured souls possessed by unknown forces”? Yeah, us neither … but that’s just what you’ll do in the “role of Alice Drake, a psychologist with the extraordinary ability to enter the minds of her patients and combat the ravenous foes haunting their dreams.” So, 12 “mega-bloodbath” single-player levels and “numerous multiplayer modes” are what they’re offering.
The bad news: that same design doc was already used for some levels in Psychotoxic, where you also play a female protagonist who can enter people’s dreams and do battle with their subconscious. Our own Ludwig Kietzmann, in a previous life, wrote, “Setting yourself on fire and then diving into a pool of broken glass is more fun than playing this absolute disaster of a game.” So, the good news: it couldn’t possibly be any worse than Psychotoxic.
Dreamkiller: It’s like Psychonauts and Painkiller had a baby originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Continue Reading Dreamkiller: It’s like Psychonauts and Painkiller had a baby
Tags: Aspyr, Dreamkiller, Mindware-Studios
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Dreamkiller: It’s like Psychonauts and Painkiller had a baby
