Posts Tagged ‘gamecock’
Cyan Lays Off Most of Testing Division After Southpeak Bought Gamecock
In more layoff news, Myst developer Cyan Worlds has laid off the majority of its for-hire QA testing division after its main customer Gamecock was acquired by Southpeak.
Company CEO Tony Fryman noted that only seven employees remain, doing “testing for a few other smaller game companies.”
The studio has had a troubled past, as Myst Online: Uru Live, its ambitious online project, was killed by GameTap earlier this year; the studio’s Uru Live was also shut down by Ubisoft the year before.
SouthPeak Buys Gamecock
Publisher SouthPeak Interactive announced that it has acquired independent game publisher Gamecock Media Group for an undisclosed sum. Both company’s CEOs have noted that Gamecock will retain its focus on independent games.
Quite interestingly, this is Gamecock CEO Mike Wilson’s second sell-of of an independent publisher, with the first being Gathering of Developers, which was sold off to Take-Two in 2000.
SouthPeak CEO Melanie Mroz commented that the purchase of Gamecock “supports our strategy of working with independent developers” and that it gives “Gamecock titles a bigger platform to succeed.”
Japanese Psychiatrists Wants Dementium Shelved
The Japanese psychiatrists are going crazy over Dementium: The Ward, a West-made survival horror FPS set in a deranged hospital. They are demanding the game to be taken off not only taken off store shelves, but also to take its website down.
They are being represented by the Japanese Association of Psychiatric Hospitals, which represents almost all psychiatric hospitals in the country, who claims that the game “fosters prejudice and discrimination” and that it “uses the tradition of psychiatry in name but uses imagery of attacking patients.”
Publisher Gamecock replied that the game’s Japanese distributor – Interchannel – will deal with the situation appropriately; he also took the time to note how “this quick bout of paranoia” brought free publicity to the game.
Dementium: The Ward was released last Halloween exclusively on the DS; it was developed by Renegade Kid.
Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball Dated
When was the last time you and your friends dressed up as ninjas and pirates and played dodgeball? While you may never do so in real life, publisher Gamecock announced that gamers can unleash their inner buccaneers and assassins on Xbox Live Arcade with Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball on September 3.
The game also offers zombies for those looking to express their inner undead, as well as robots, our future overlords. It features a traditional dodgeball mode and an enhanced gameplay mode, which allows the use of special moves unique to each team.
Can’t wait to take out your wallet? Well, you’ll have to wait some more because no price point was announced.