Scribblenauts

[Xiahou]

Scribblenauts seems to be generating a lot of buzz coming out of E3- and from what I've seen it deserves it. Virtually any word you can think of will summon the object into existence once it's written on the DS's touch screen which you can then use to overcome the level's challenge or obstacles.

Here's a hands-on from Joystiq.

One level we played placed us in the desert with a thirsty, thirsty man. A cue appeared as we began the level: "Refresh him!" Of course, writing water would suffice -- but that's not very original, is it? My first time through, I managed to summon an oasis. It appeared, I dropped it into the ground, the man fell in, and the Starite appeared. At the end of the level, the game gave me a score based on how far I went over par (the target number of items you can beat the level with), and awarded me badges -- achievements for clever word usage.

Justin fed the man pomegranates until he fell victim to an overstuffed slumber. He created some lemonade, which the man then poured down his gullet -- level complete! Randy created a coffee shop. It appeared, the man ordered a cup o' joe at the carry-out window, drank it -- level complete!

Read the rest of the preview linked above- it's pretty impressive.

As per Nintendo Power, the game features tens of thousands of words and has very intuitive rules set. Some examples were: Flammable objects burn when exposed to fire; predator animals will chase and kill prey animals, and a villian exposed to moonlight could change into a werewolf! :D

[pevergreen]

Andrew created a teleporter in an attempt to instantly apparate to the Starite -- instead, it took him to a medieval world where he was besieged by shadowy assassins. He tried distracting them with candy -- really, Andrew? -- then created a fairly anachronistic nuke. The nuke didn't detonate, however, so andrew created a laser rifle to take out the assassins. One of his lasers grazed the aforementioned WMD, and blew up the entire level.

Best. Game. Ever.

[Tratorix]

This game sounds so awesome, I'm getting it as soon as it comes out. Also, my first solution to every problem will be "bears".

[Xiahou]

This game sounds so awesome, I'm getting it as soon as it comes out.

Ditto. It almost sounds to good to be true, really. But, if it's half as good as it sounds right now, I'll still probably love it.

[Xiahou]

Ok, I found a video demo of the game that culminates in a god w/shotgun vs Chthulhu throwdown.... if I ever needed emoticons, it was now...

Edit:
Here's another video in trailer form.

[Ja'chyra]

Looks good, I think I'll buy this

[frogbeastegg]

This had better work. I want to see how much of the game I can solve with by writing in a frog reading a book. Then I want to see if I can write in a frog who is writing - talk about meta!

[frogbeastegg]

First review I've seen. Sounds 3/4 pure awesome to 1/4 'bang head against the desk yelling, "Why oh why?!"'

[Xiahou]

It has an 86 metascore thus far. The most common complaint seems to be the controls...

If you hadn't guessed, I'm getting the game regardless. I hear there's an "advanced" mode for the game where you have to beat every puzzle 3x without using the same item more than once. Now that sounds like fun.

I try to give some impressions once I spend some time with it....

[Jolt]

What if you write something stupid like...Roman Legionnaire. Will it spawn a Roman Legionnaire? What if we write Nicol Bolas, will it spawn Nicol Bolas? And what about if we write...Obama? Will it spawn Obama? What about Jumbo Cactuar? And what about Ugh-Zan III? What about D. Afonso Henriques? What about Sasquatch? Ugh...Silverbacks? Hellmouths?

Ok, I think you get the picture.

[CountArach]

And what about if we write...Obama? Will it spawn Obama?

Obama is, unfortunately, not in the game.

I bought a DS yesterday pretty much for the sole reason of wanting to play this game when it is released here... 2 weeks!

[Beskar]

So you have a tree you need to cut down?

What about using "half-moon being thrown like a frisbie by hercules" ?

Ok, that might be too complicated, but what objects are there? I doubt you could summon the USS Enterprize for instance.

[Jolt]

Obama is, unfortunately, not in the game.

I bought a DS yesterday pretty much for the sole reason of wanting to play this game when it is released here... 2 weeks!

HAHAHAHA! Nice one! :D

[pevergreen]

...I see the masses are not informed (and have not been following this game as I have. With a drooling mouth, that is.)

Copyrighted things are not in there. No Star Trek, simpsons, pokemon etc.

Two IGN reviews came out yesterday
http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/102/1024059p1.html (8.7) US IGN
http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/102/1024167p1.html (8.5) AU IGN

All 22 thousand + words: http://au.faqs.ign.com/articles/102/1024222p1.html

I pre-ordered my copy a while back. Since I did it from EB, I get Maxwell's hat as a bonus.

[Jolt]

All 22 thousand + words: http://au.faqs.ign.com/articles/102/1024222p1.html

LOL WUT PEAR

Best. Item. Ever.

EDIT: Correction, it's the third best item ever, right after these two:

PORTUGUESE IBEX
PORTUGUESE WATER DOG

[Reenk Roink]

I'm skipping school tomorrow to get and play this.

[pevergreen]

That is why I love you Reenk.

That and I dumped Beefy last night. He was going to leave me, so I beat him to it.

[Xiahou]

What if you write something stupid like...Roman Legionnaire. Will it spawn a Roman Legionnaire? What if we write Nicol Bolas, will it spawn Nicol Bolas? And what about if we write...Obama? Will it spawn Obama? What about Jumbo Cactuar? And what about Ugh-Zan III? What about D. Afonso Henriques? What about Sasquatch? Ugh...Silverbacks? Hellmouths?

Ok, I think you get the picture.

Sasquatch is in it, and he owns the Yeti... despite the Yeti's size advantage.

[miotas]

If anything, I would expect Silverback to give you a gorilla.

[Reenk Roink]

That is why I love you Reenk.

That and I dumped Beefy last night. He was going to leave me, so I beat him to it.

Don't break up with Beefy! Let's just

I headed to Best Buy this morning and got the game. But I had to make my morning lectures as well. Other people must have thought I was a dork for playing DS but screw 'em.

Game is great so far, thought some things aren't as I would expect. A "bridge" is really a lot tinier than I thought for example. Ah well, maybe I'm trying to be TOO clever in my solutions...

[frogbeastegg]

Any and all impressions are definitely welcome. Likewise particularly good puzzle solutions; I guess they had better be spoiler tagged though.

I intend to get the game ... when I can find a copy for under £20. Love the concept and definitely want to support it however poor controls are one the two things which I struggle very hard to tolerate in any game.

[Xiahou]

I'm having some trouble interacting with certain items... I can't tell if it's an engine limitation or if I'm just doing it wrong.

For example, if I summon a crane, I can attach it's chain to an item but I can't figure out how to hoist anything with it. All I can do is get in the driver's seat and drag whatever it's attached to... which makes the crane basically a big version of the tow truck. Similarly, I haven't figured out how to do anything useful with items like winches and pulleys- I can summon them, but I can't seem to do much with them.

Anyone else have any luck with things like this? I noticed the crane has a rear seat, which I've managed to sit in, but I still don't know how or if I can operate it.

I've completed both the puzzle and adventure modes for area 1, all of them gold stars (completing each 3x without repeating any items). So far, I'm enjoying puzzle mode alot more than adventure. The main difference is that in puzzle mode, you have to achieve a goal to unlock the starite- whereas in adventure, the starite is already there and you have to figure out how to get at it. Either way, getting to the goal once is pretty easy, but I think it gets a lot more interesting when you have to do it 3x without repeats.

Edit: Aha! You tap the hook of the crane to extend the boom!

[Fragony]

Yet to find a copy, so far the only criticism is the game not having every word, this sounds like a masterpiece.

[pevergreen]

According to a lead dev, the list of 22 thousand words was released by a hacker and does not contain everything...

HOW MANY CAN THERE BE?

[Jolt]

Quite obviously the lead developer lies. I bet my career on how you won't find a word not listed in the list you posted here before (Presuming that is the full list)

[Fragony]

HOW MANY CAN THERE BE?

Beats me but how they managed to squeeze it into a DS cartridge WITH DRAWINGS is beyond me, you would expect that would require a doomsday-device with it's own powerplant, it is simply epic. This is going to be so fun to mess around with. Brilliant idea Hall of Fame for Scribblenauts. I am sure. Prior to having played it.

[pevergreen]

Over the weekend, an enterprising hacker claimed to have used his evil techno-wizardry to extract Scribblenauts’ 22,802-piece soul, which he then put on display for the entire Internet to see. However, speaking with Fast Company, lead designer Jeremiah Slaczka had a few choice words for said hacker:

“That [number] was leaked by a hacker who does not know anything. It’s more than that,” he explained.

http://www.vg247.com/2009/09/15/pfft...ore-than-that/
What I read it off: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/15/5t...is-incomplete/

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.