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Celebrate Halloween with Scribblenauts

by JC Fletcher { Oct 30th 2009 at 5:00PM }

If you're planning to visit the London Dungeon this Halloween, you may get a scare of some kind, but more importantly, you can also get an exclusive Scribblenauts level. An exclusive Halloween level will be distributed in line at the Dungeon from 12 to 3pm wirelessly.

If you're not planning to go to the London Dungeon, you can still enjoy some spooky Scribblenauts goodies in the form of this wallpaper (1024x768, 1280x1024, or 1600x1200). It's full of creatures that we haven't seen before, including the Candy Corn Man and whatever that adorable giant eyepatch-wearing cat is. If you know the word that summons the Candy Corn Man, please, please let us know.

Scribblenauts achieves noteworthy 194K sales in September

by JC Fletcher { Oct 20th 2009 at 7:30PM }

In its first two weeks on the market in North America, Scribblenauts sold 194,000 units, making it the third highest-selling DS title in September, behind Mario & Luigi and Kingdom Hearts sequels. That's 105,000 more copies than Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars moved in its first month.

We asked 5TH Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka if it met his expectations. "I didn't have any expectations," he told Joystiq. "I just hoped it'd do well. It's awesome for a completely new, original 3rd party IP on DS to do so well."

Does this strong debut mean a sequel is guaranteed? "Way too early to tell that," Slaczka said. "We've only seen 2.5 weeks of sales." He told us that Drawn to Life, which went on to break a million worldwide, only sold 40,000 copies in its first month, with one more week of sales in that month.

5TH Cell's next: a 'pretty big' XBLA game

by JC Fletcher { Oct 9th 2009 at 6:55PM }

Well, okay, not next next. The actual next game from Scribblenauts developer 5TH Cell is Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter on DS, out October 27. In an interview with Gamasutra, 5TH Cell's creative director Jeremiah Slaczka revealed that the game after that will be the developer's first console game, a "pretty big" game for Xbox Live Arcade. "It's going to be really cool," Slaczka said. "We're very excited about it... it's totally not ready to be announced." Just think of how exciting it will be when it is ready! That's got to be ... more exciting.

The full interview is really interesting stuff, going into the inspiration and early design of Scribblenauts, some discussion of emergent gameplay, and 5TH Cell's somewhat indie-like philosophy.

Mega64 uses Scribblenauts technology to change the internet forever

by David Hinkle { Sep 25th 2009 at 6:47PM }

Being a blog on the internet, we're big believers in the power of commenters. Whether it's the beloved "First!" or the always refreshing "Slow news day, huh?," each and every person who enters a string of text into a comments field and hits submit has undoubtedly changed the course of history ... forever.

Mega64, the comedic troupe with a taste for video games, has finally realized this and, in combination with the item-spawning gameplay of Scribblenauts, has created something that will change the internet forever. We'd go into more detail, but then we'd be taking away from the surprise. So, head past the break and see what's in store for the future of the intertron.

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Scribblenauts Facebook page teases 'special announcement'

by JC Fletcher { Sep 19th 2009 at 5:30PM }

The Facebook page for 5TH Cell's Scribblenauts is teasing ... something. "Get your rooster hats ready!" a message posted on the game's "Wall" reads. "We have a very special announcement coming very soon..." We have no idea what's being announced, or even when, but it seems really early for a sequel announcement. Maybe another platform? Or maybe something outside the game, like a contest. In any case, if you like Scribblenauts, 5TH Cell is going to tell us all something that will probably be delightful.

Speaking of delightful, the pictured object is "Game of the Year" as rendered by the game. That's just adorable.

[Thanks, Josh!]

5TH Cell: Scribblenauts' scandalous-looking 'sambo' item is a misunderstanding

by JC Fletcher { Sep 16th 2009 at 10:30PM }

Reader Zachary spotted a rather unfortunate term in Scribblenauts entirely by accident: "sambo," which summons ... a watermelon. We thought there was no way 5TH Cell would intentionally hide racist, or even racially charged, imagery in its game, so we contacted creative director Jeremiah Slaczka to figure out what happened.

It turns out that like Zachary's discovery, the item was an unfortunate accident. Slaczka explained to Joystiq that "sambo" is used in the game as an alternate term for "fig leaf gourd," an ingredient in the Ecuadorian dish fanesca. "Sambo" is the local term for the gourd. As for the watermelon-like appearance? "We reuse art," he said. "Fig leaf gourd looks a lot like a watermelon. It's just an alternative name in a giant list of tens of thousands of names."

Slaczka noted, offering evidence to the contrary of calls of racism, that many of the human characters in the game, including the fireman, winemaker, and dancer, manifest as black, as does "Brandon," the in-game representation of a 5TH Cell "wordsmith" (one of the employees tasked with finding words for the database), who is of course black in real life. He also mentioned Isaiah, a major character in the developer's last game Lock's Quest.

We must admit, a random, potentially slightly embarrassing art/word pairing in the game seems a lot more likely to us than endemic racism expressed through antiquated epithets. Slaczka told us he didn't even know "sambo" (the slur, not the gourd) until tonight.

5th Cell: Leaked Scribblenauts word list is incomplete

by JC Fletcher { Sep 15th 2009 at 8:13PM }

Of all the criticisms that could fairly be leveled against Scribblenauts, the fact that it only recognizes 22,802 words is not among them. 5TH Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka told Fast Company that the leaked word list was not comprehensive, though he said it much more colorfully than we did:

"That was leaked by a hacker who does not know anything," Slaczka said. "It's more than that." Slaczka also revealed the last word to be added to the game's database: "Low Rider." Presumably this was added at the insistence of his friends, all of whom love a low rider.

[Via VG247]

Review: Scribblenauts

by Justin McElroy { Sep 15th 2009 at 12:31PM }

There's this part I love in the movie Ratatouille where a critic says, "The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends." It's something I always try to keep in mind and it's moved me to first, before we do anything else, celebrate what a staggering accomplishment Scribblenauts is.

It's a game where you solve simple puzzles with almost any object you can dream up (as long as it's not libations, licensed or lascivious) and every item acts the way you'd expect: bears chase honey and dogs chase cats. It's a game where you can spend hours just messing around to see what creatures can beat God in a fight (zombies: no; vampires: yes). As a technical achievement and as a toy, it's really brilliant. Scribblenauts is a thing of wonder.

Gallery: Scribblenauts (7/24/09)

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This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Behind the scribble with Scribblenauts

by David Hinkle { Sep 14th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Sure, the Nintendo Channel may have received quite the facelift today, adding a host of new features and tossing a much needed fresh coat of paint on top of it all, but the best and brightest of the new content on offer is undoubtedly the behind the scenes look at Scribblenauts. We say this because, well, everything Scribblenauts wins. Sorry, interesting and informative Dead Space Extraction video! You picked the wrong week to be new.

Anywho, if you've got a Wii, check out the Nintendo Channel for a bunch of new content. Or, if you're lazy and want to know what's there before booting up the system, head past the break where we've got you covered, baby!

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Reminder: Early Scribblenauts launch today at Nintendo World NYC

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 13th 2009 at 9:30AM }

Friendly reminder for Scribble-natics in the tri-state region: the Nintendo World store will begin selling Scribblenauts today at 11AM as part of a special early launch. For those who don't want to wait until their retailer of choice gets the game sometime this week, now is the time to get on the LIRR, Metro-North, MTA, ferry or paddle boat and head on over to Rockefeller Plaza.

The 5th Cell team should be on hand for autographs (hopefully for longer than an hour) and demos of the game. Scribblenauts will allegedly only be sold between 11AM-2PM, so take that into consideration. If you're reading this post from the line at Nintendo World, feel free to let us know how long the queue is in the comments.

There are 22,802 words in Scribblenauts

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 12th 2009 at 2:30PM }

Some scurrilous vagabond somehow managed to get their hands on the supposed complete dictionary from 5th Cell's upcoming everything generator, Scribblenauts. We sincerely urge you not to go through the illicitly obtained list, looking for particular nouns of interest and internet memes -- why not save that fun for the actual game? However, everyone should absorb the final tally of words present in the final build of the game: 22,802.

Also, if the list is legit, then "Plumbob" finally made it into the game -- as per our suggestion from E3. As we see it, we're owed around 0.00005 percent of Scribblenauts' total profits. We'll be waiting on the check, 5th Cell.

Watch this Scribblenauts ad with your pterodactyl

by JC Fletcher { Sep 11th 2009 at 6:15PM }

How often does a company get TV advertising for games absolutely right? There's usually some aspect of a game's presentation to the general audience that is groan-worthy or embarrassing -- and potentially damaging to the game's perception. That's not the case with the Scribblenauts ad!

This live-action ad does a great job of getting the gameplay across, and presenting it in an appealing way. In fact, the events of this commercial would work as a real Scribblenauts level. Bonus points for using the real Scribblenauts art style for the summoned objects.

Toys R Us writes in $15 launch day savings on Scribblenauts

by JC Fletcher { Sep 9th 2009 at 6:29PM }

If you missed out on GameStop's rooster hat offer, or you decided against filling your home with pre-order novelties, you should consider Toys R Us for all your Scribblenauts needs. This Tuesday (and only Tuesday), according to CAG's NeoStrider, in-store purchases of Scribblenauts will be rewarded instantly with $15 gift cards, effectively dropping the price of one of the most promising video games of 2009 to $14.99.

There you go. If you live near a TRU and you've been on the fence (for some reason) about this game, consider your decision made.

[Via GoNintendo]

Scribblenauts UK release date erased, 'October 9' written over it

by JC Fletcher { Sep 2nd 2009 at 1:00PM }

WB has announced a new UK release date for 5TH Cell's Scribblenauts: October 9. The company previously planned to release the title on September 25, then "October" (according to GamesCom press materials). Somehow, we doubt localization concerns are to blame. The North American version is still on track for September 15, which is so soon! So soon, in fact, that you could probably order one from the US and get it shipped to the UK before October 9. Just throwing that out there.

In other Scribblenews, a bunch of fun downloadables are available at the website now. Your wallpaper could have more panda-riding on it.

GamesCom Scribblenauts booth is wide, wide-ruled

by JC Fletcher { Aug 21st 2009 at 5:00PM }

5TH Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka pointed out this picture, taken by Krystian Majewski, of the GamesCom 2009 Scribblenauts booth. It's ... a bit bigger than the E3 booth, which consisted of two demo DS stations in the back of the largely Batman-themed WB enclosure. Like, behind it. "It's awesome WB is embracing it so much," Slaczka told us about the increased presence, "and really supporting the game."

Majewski's Flickr gallery also contains images of items summoned in Scribblenauts, including stuff we hadn't seen before like "river," "echidna" and "lich." Hey, topical! For more Scribblenauts fun, check out the newly redesigned US site, which now shows a Flash simulation of gameplay in the background!