hail-to-the-chimp posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Disney hires Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, acquires Wideload Games

by Justin McElroy { Sep 8th 2009 at 11:00AM }

The story of Alex Seropian is a perfect reminder of why it's a good career move to help make one of the most popular game franchises in history. Because when you co-found Bungie, it's OK if you make Stubbs the Zombie followed by Hail to the Chimp -- you can still be hired to oversee creative development for Disney's video game development arm!

Seropian's company, Wideload Games, which is also being acquired by Disney, had used an interesting model where game programming was contracted out after his team had designed the title. We'll be interested to see if the business plan re-emerges in some way at the House of Mickey.

Get your one-liner in Serious Sam HD by using Twitter

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 15th 2009 at 11:00PM }

(click to Sam-size)

Here's the thing -- we already told you pretty much everything you need to know in the headline up top. Sure, we could expand on it a bit and tell you that the company producing Serious Sam HD, Devolver Digital, will be accepting entries via its Twitter account from July 15 to July 30. We could remind you that the producers are Gamecock and Gathering of Developers veterans Mike Wilson and Harry Miller -- known for storming Ken Levine and spawning Hail to the Chimp.

We could even let you know that the only way to find out if your one-liner is going to be voiced by Serious Sam voice actor John J. Dick is to follow the aforementioned Devolver Twitter account or the game's publisher's account, Majesco, in "early August." But why would we do all that?

... Dammit!

Gallery: Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD

A political Hail to the Chimp demo now on the XBLM

by Dustin Burg { Jul 18th 2008 at 3:15PM }

Stuff your vote in the ballot box and decide on your favorite zoo animal, because it's time to get political with a new Hail to the Chimp demo that just released to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo, which is only available to U.S. and Canadian Live subscribers, features "presidential party game" style shenanigans and enough animal-based jokes to last you a few years. Download if you're interested, ignore this post if you're not ... but we really didn't have to tell you that did we?

[Via Game Stooge]

Shipping this week: OMG Megaton edition

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 23rd 2008 at 3:00PM }

No, it's not a news related OMG Megaton. It's more like a "holy effing crap, look at all these games" kind of megaton. There are ten, ten games hitting the Xbox 360 this week. What's more, a lot of them look decent and, dare we say it, some of them even look good. Just look at all of 'em.

It's enough to give someone googly eyes. Alone in the Dark has our interest piqued (and has thus far fared decently in Europe). Here's hoping it -- and everything else here -- is up to snuff.

[Via Joystiq]

Reminder: Preorder Hail to the Chimp, get $10 of Onion Store credit

by Christopher Grant { Jun 17th 2008 at 3:15PM }

A reminder that Gamecock has offered Joystiq readers an exclusive offer: preorder Hail to the Chimp at GameStop (it comes out a week from today) and get a free $10 gift certificate to the Onion Store, the virtual storefront of the popular fake (and funny!) newspaper. So, to recap: you preorder the $40 PS3 or Xbox 360 politically themed party game before the end of the day, send the Gamecock people a copy of your receipt (details here), and get ten bucks of free Onion Store credit.

Pre-order Hail to the Chimp, get $10 in Onion bucks

by Dustin Burg { Jun 6th 2008 at 4:30PM }

Our fearless leader and overall cool cat Christ Grant, from the widely popular video game news site Joystiq, recently got a chance to chat with the crew working on Hail to the Chimp and, using his finely tuned negotiation skills, was able to setup a special deal for Joystiq network readers. If you pre-order Hail to the Chimp at Gamestop stores before June 15th, Gamecock will send you a FREE $10 gift card to the Onion Store. And we don't have to tell you how awesome the Onion is. Not too shabby of a deal, so make the jump and read all the fine print pre-order details.

[Via Joystiq]

Preorder Hail to the Chimp, get $10 of Onion Store credit

by Christopher Grant { Jun 6th 2008 at 8:00AM }

I had the distinct pleasure of spending some time with the folks from Gamecock while they strolled through Philadelphia in the middle of Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primaries in April, seeing firsthand how the independent publisher was promoting Hail to the Chimp, one of their flagship releases. Oh, did I mention I was wearing a giant, female polar bear suit for part of this? Anywho, more on that later in the month, closer to the game's June 24th release date ...

In the interim, the guys and gals at Gamecock have offered Joystiq readers an exclusive offer: preorder HttC at GameStop and get a free $10 gift certificate to the Onion Store, the virtual storefront of the popular fake (and funny!) newspaper. So, to recap: you preorder the $40 PS3 or Xbox 360 politcally-themed party game before June 15th, send the Gamecock people a copy of your receipt (details here), and get ten bucks of free Onion Store credit. No polar bear suit required!

Hail to the Chimp delayed to end of June

by Terrence Stasse { May 5th 2008 at 8:00PM }

*Sigh* More delays. This time it's Hail to the Chimp, the arena-fighting, politically-charged, animal-filled cel-shaded game from Wideload studios. Originally set for release at the end of this month, Hail to the Chimp has been delayed a month for "polish." As former QA experience tells us, this is likely a good thing, as there was probably a choice between hitting ship with a certain amount of bugs or delaying the game and getting to fix the bugs. When it does finally hit on June 24th, Hail to the Chimp should hopefully be that much better.

[Via Joystiq]

Hail to the Chimp delayed to June 24 [update]

by James Ransom-Wiley { May 5th 2008 at 12:25PM }

Wideload's Hail to the Chimp party game has been pushed back from a scheduled May 27 release date into "mid-June," a Gamecock representative told us this morning. [Update: Gamecock has clarified that the new release date has been set for June 24.] The publisher attributed the short delay to a need for "polish" (working with animals can get dirty, after all), though we wonder if the extra weeks aren't equally necessary to generate some excitement for a campaign, which to date, has received little coverage. Ape or not, a politician's success relies on the strength of a savvy marketing team.

For further analysis of the issues at hand, check out our Hail to the Chimp impressions from GDC and EIEIO.

Gallery: Hail to the Chimp

Joystiq interviews Hail to the Chimp producer Jon Krusell

by JC Fletcher { Mar 16th 2008 at 2:30PM }

Wideload Games' Hail to the Chimp consistently delivered laughs to its audience of journalists at EIEIO. Being that the event was a large party, it was the perfect venue to try out a party game. The crowd got almost as boisterous during the gameplay sessions as they did later that evening, when the event metamorphosed from a video game press event into a concert.

The "concert" portion of the event was also the first chance I had to talk about the game with Wideload's Senior Producer Jon Krusell. He was kind enough to yell over the din in order to discuss the thought process that led naturally into a party combat game about animal presidential elections, his theories about the lack of comedy in games, and his revolutionary Robot Jox-based political platform.

Gallery: Hail to the Chimp

Continued →

Joystiq EIEIO coverage wrap-up

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 13th 2008 at 5:30PM }

It looks like the crew over at Joystiq has been spending some time at GameCock's EIEIO show in Texas this week. Rather than bring you bits and pieces of their coverage, we thought we'd round up everything we could in a single post for your clicking convenience. They've got the latest on Dungeon Hero, Velvet Assassin, Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball and more. Check out Joystiq's cavalcade of coverage below:

EIEIO 08: Hail to the Chimp impressions

by JC Fletcher { Mar 13th 2008 at 1:27AM }

click to embiggen

Not being much of a "next-gen" follower (sorry!) I had a vague belief that Wideload's Hail to the Chimp was a downloadable game. I was, then, surprised to find it a full-sized (but budget-priced) release. Developer Wideload Games used the retail-game budget to create not only a unique party game, but also a hilarious audiovisual experience that doesn't really have an analogue on modern systems.

Hail to the Chimp's menu interface is the GRR News Network, with pompous anchor Woodchuck Chumley (seen above enjoying some... hot coffee ... with Bean the Sloth) onscreen authoritatively intoning ridiculous stories, while the menu options take the place of all the ubiquitous TV news infoboxes and text clutter. Wrapping the game inside this TV-station premise allows Hail to the Chimp to have something resembling a storyline, and also provides the opportunity for the funniest aspect of the game, which I'll get to shortly.

Gallery: Hail to the Chimp

Continued →

GDC08: Opposable thumbs-on with Hail to the Chimp

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 25th 2008 at 10:00PM }

Developed by Wideload (Stubbs the Zombie), Hail to the Chimp is a party game infused with political humor. As the story goes, various animals -- ranging from an octopus to an armadillo -- are competing to be elected as president of the animal kingdom. To do this, players engage in a series of arena fighting games with various goals. The game plays more or less like a simplified version of Power Stone with objectives thrown into the mix. The gameplay is simple with few nuances, as one might expect of a party game. The real question is whether or not the gameplay is too simple to maintain the attention of discerning gamers. Strange as it may seem, the satirical humor that frames Hail to the Chimp may be more endearing than the game itself.

Gallery: Hail to the Chimp

Continued →

GDC08: Wideload's Hail to the Chimp bus

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 22nd 2008 at 1:00PM }

When we first heard that the Gamecock published Hail to the Chimp would be showcased on a bus rather than in a booth, we assumed the worst. Even now, given our previous evidence, we aren't ashamed of that assumption. We imagined a bus of debauchery and decadence. A place of foolhardy revelry. Immediately we began to guess just what the bus would be called. After a long and passionate discussion, we settled on Shuttlecock as the most likely moniker. Alas, no wacky transpirations took place, and we are left with an empty feeling. That is, until we saw just how nice the bus was on the inside. As the gallery below will no doubt prove, the folks at Wideload really know how to travel in style.

Gallery: GDC08: Wideload's Hail to the Chimp bus

GDC08: Hail to these things

by JC Fletcher { Feb 21st 2008 at 12:30AM }

Walking outside of the Moscone Center's West Hall, we were accosted by some costumed monsters -- of course it was Gamecock. That's what they do!

This time, the foolishness was taken to the streets in promotion of Hail to the Chimp, Wideload Games's political animal-mascot fighting game. These particular characters didn't look like chimps, but we hailed to them anyway, mostly out of a sense of duty. We didn't want to make waves or anything ...