kalypso-media-usa posts

Free games are always good in that you don't have to pay money to play them (of course the game itself could be bad but at least your wallet's safe). This week publisher Kalypso Media announced that folks who pre-order the upcoming fantasy strategy-RPG game Dungeons via the Steam service will get immediate downloadable access to a free title.

That game is M.U.D. TV, the sim-style game where you have to run a television studio. Kalypso released the game about a year or so ago. This is in addition to the extra content in the Steam version of Dungeons which includes an extra mission, exclusive in-game items and new maps in the game's sandbox mode. The game is due out on February 10.

Update: Impulse is also taking pre-orders for Dungeons and is offering a free copy of the adventure game Ceville to those pre-orders.

It will soon be time to see how good of a bad guy you can be. Publisher Kalypso Media sent over word that its fantasy strategy-sim game Dungeons, where you play as a evil dungeon lord trying to trap heroes, has gone gold. The game is scheduled to be released in retail stores and via download on February 8.

To celebrate the game's completion by developer RealmForge, Kalypso has sent over the official theme song to Dungeons. It's not exactly the theme to The Brady Bunch. In fact think about the music for the movie The Omen before listening to it.

Download the Dungeons theme song at Big Download

When publisher Kalypso Media bought the rights to the Tropico game franchise from Take Two Interactive, some were skeptical that the long dormant "island dictator sim" game series could be revived. However in 2009, Kalypso and developer Haemimont Games proved the naysayers wrong with the release of Tropico 3.

The game got solid reviews along with an expansion pack, Absolute Power, in 2010. Later this year Haemimont Games and Kalypso bring us a new stand alone title, Tropico 4, where you will once again rule the Caribbean island nation as its "El Presidente." Big Download got a chance to chat with Boian Spasov, the lead designer of Tropico 4, as he tells us more about the game and how Chuck Norris figures into it.

About a year ago it was announced that developer Lesta Studio was working on an RTS game called Elements of War. Not much has been heard of that game since then but today publisher Kalypso Media announced that it would be publishing the game sometime in March 2011.

Just a reminder: This game's biggest twist on the standard RTS game is the introduction of weapons that can create and manipulate weather and other natural events on the battlefield. That includes creating earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. The game, set in the near future, will feature three different factions, over 40 different units, and a 12 mission campaign.

[Via email press release]

First released back in 1983, the original Boulder Dash is considered a classic in the arcade platform action genre. Now publisher Kalypso Media is handling a revival of the game for the PC that will be released sometime in 2011 called Boulder Dash XL.

Developed by Catnip Games and First Star Software, this new version retains the original's premise. Your goal is still to collect diamonds while trying to not be hit by falling boulders while at the same time avoiding traps and fight off enemies. There will be four gameplay modes in the new version plus a "retro" mode for going old school. Over 150 levels across four different worlds will also be featured along with online leaderboards, rankings and achievements.

[Via email press release]

Ready for yet another alpha/beta test announcement today? Sure you are. Today Kalypso Media launched a web site to take applications for the upcoming beta for Dungeons, the Dungeon Keeper-like strategy-RPG game where you get to play an evil Dungeon Lord who is trying to try and kill heroes inside his chambers.

There's no word on what kind of content will be involved in the beta from developer Realmforge. However folks who are picked for participating in the test will begin playing in the beta on November 4. Dungeons is still schedule for its full retail release in early 2011.

What's it like being a bad guy? What's it's like trying to trap or kill one of those goody-goody fantasy heroes inside dungeons filled with traps and monsters? That was the main premise behind Dungeon Keeper and that's also the idea behind Dungeons, an upcoming PC title from developer Realmforge Studios and publisher Kalypso Media.

Big Download got to ask some questions to Christian Wolfertstetter, the creative director at Realmforge, about its plans for Dungeons, including the comparisons to Dungeon Keeper, trying to keep your hero victims happy before you kill them for their soul energy and more.

Publisher Kalypso Media has just announced that it has started yet another internal game development team. Noumena Studios is the third such team for the company and was formed in part from former members of Silver Style Entertainment, the studio formed by the now defunct game publisher The Games Company.

Kalypso Media has also acquired a number of IP from The Games Company including the distribution rights to titles like Simon the Sorcerer 5, Goin' Downtown and Everlight. Additionally the newly launched Noumena Studios has taken over the development from Silver Style of the upcoming fantasy action-RPG Demonicon. The game is expected to be released in early 2012.

[Via email press release]

By far one of the best and most loved PC games is Dungeon Keeper where you played an evil fantasy villain trying to protect his lair from pesky heroes. While we may never get a true continuation of that series, publisher Kalypso Media has just announced plans to release a game, titled simply Dungeons, that bears more than a little resemblence to Dungeon Keeper.

Due out in the first quarter of 2011 by developer Realmforge, Dungeons has you playing, natch, a fantasy villain who wants to lure pesky heroes into traps. You will be able to build your perfect Dungeon with the help of your goblin workers. You can then capture the heroes' soul energy for your own uses and you may need it to rise up (or down as the case may be) to defeat the three Dungeon Lords that oppose you in the game.

Games set in the Middle Ages are nothing new, of course, but the folks at developer Haemimont Games hope they have a new way of handling such games in their recently announced title The First Templar. Due for release in 2011 by publisher Kalypso Media, the title is a co-op themed game with a Templar knight and a lady teaming up to fight the bad guys.

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to Nikola Ikonomov, the game's designer, and he gave us some new details on the title's background, development and why they are making an action game after so many strategy-sim titles.