Smash Bros. dev pounding out new TMNT

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
Ubisoft signs on Game Arts for new turtles-in-a-half-shell fighter for release on unspecified platforms this fall.

Fighters aren't typically known for topping the sales charts, but Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a rare exception. The well-reviewed game mopped the floor with the competition in 2008, placing just behind Wii Fit as the US's fourth best-selling title with 4.17 million units.

Undoubtedly hoping lightning will strike twice, Ubisoft revealed today that it had scooped up Super Smash Bros. Brawl's developer to work on a similar fighter themed around its top kids' brand, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A marked departure from other TMNT games, TMNT Smash Up will be an all-new property that isn't rooted in a movie, TV show, or comic book.

Aside from naming Game Arts as developer, Ubisoft did not offer much by way of details for TMNT Smash Up, aside from saying it would be a four-player fighter. The publisher did release a pair of screenshots for the game, though. The TMNT shots show two Brawl-like arenas--one a dank sewer, the other a dark rooftop--where two turtles are battling. Players will apparently be able to toss their weapons, and the screenshots appear to indicate a strong aerial component.

Ubisoft expects to launch TMNT Smash Up as part of the franchise's 25th anniversary later this fall.


HanbitSoft To Continue Hellgate: London - No Really

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Despite news to the contrary back in November, Korean publisher and developer HanbitSoft still plans to maintain Hellgate: London as a free-to-play title on a global scale after Namco Bandai's January 31st server shutdown.

HanbitSoft first announced plans to relaunch the game back in early November of last year, after Namco Bandai announced that servers would close on January 31st, 2009. Namco Bandai then dismissed the announcement, claiming the company did not own the IP for the US and Europe.

Now HanbitSoft is once again asserting that they own the worldwide rights to the Flagship Studios title, and will be maintaining it as a free-to-play game, with a large-scale patch coming soon, combining Hellgate's two play modes and unifying the community.

The question we should really be asking ourselves at this point, is does anyone really still care? I suppose we'll find out come February 1st.


Hmm....thats good I suppose. I may actually think of getting the game now that its probably really cheap. I hope the community for the game is still alive though

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Article is too long for me to post, but its a pretty good read.