Last week's game releases introduced a lot of fun games, such as Dr. Mario DX and Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. This week, however, is the week for game ports, with Mac getting its own conversion of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), the Nintendo DS getting the arcade classic Super Dodgeball Brawlers, and many others.

* Article originally posted May 26, 2008 at 12:37AM

What is a dungeon? Is it an ominous treasure vault filled with lonely creatures waiting to be taken down by your trusty sword arm? Or is it a bustling society all its own? That, dear readers, is what Firefly Studios and Gamecock Media Group want you to find out in this new trailer for Dungeon Hero (PC and Xbox 360).

Take a trip into the world behind a dungeon, where the many clans of creatures trying to survive in this rough and tumble world are besieged by a force of darkness beyond their reckoning. Down in the dark, a world much like ours is in need of a hero. Someone like yourself, it seems.

Watch the video, take a trip, and remember: there's more to dungeons than monsters and spoils... though there's plenty of that to go around as well.

GameCock Media Group's Mike Wilson, one of the co-founders of the independent game publishing company, believes that alternative events will eventually replace the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). And in an interview with Joystiq, Wilson believes that it could end really soon - 2007 in fact, if he were any more specific.

 

"I'd say there's a really good chance this is the last E3. Or anything that's even remotely related to E3. In fact, we're planning a funeral service for E3 on the beach Friday night of this event," said Wilson. Invite only doesn't seem to be GameCock's cup of tea, or an effective way of reaching out to the core audience - the gamers - in a fun, interesting, and all-out way. Wilson continues:

There will be alternative [gaming] events popping up and we will be part of those. Hopefully we can help drive creativity and direction of making an event that's more fun and welcoming than the E3 that needed to die or this, sort of, I don't know what to call it ... the business summit, as it were.

Being an independent entity in a industry that grosses revenues in the hundreds of millions may be daunting, but it appears to look different in GameCock's eyes. After jokingly commenting on a funeral soon to be held by GameCock behind Hotel California - one that isn't invite-only (hurray?) - Wilson hinted at why the indies would think E3 Media & Business Summit won't be as stellar as ESA claims it to be:

It'll be a combination funeral for E3 and a wake (celebration) for originality, creativity and independent development. We think there's plenty of stuff to be excited about out there, all original, all from strong independent developers and that's all the tip of the iceberg. I think there's a real movement, the pendulum is swinging back I think.

Click on Full Article to read more on Wilson's opinion of E3 and the new direction of the game industry.

 

Ever dreamed of just digging a bomb shelter and just staying there just to get away from it all? Well, this new video game from Gamecock Media and Firefly Studios will bring us the dungeon dwelling experience in Dungeon Hero.

This new dungeon-based title boasts of realistic dungeon life so expect to see all the perils and norms of subterranean existence. Dungeon Hero will sport HD graphics and immersive gameplay. According to Rick Stults, Console Chief for Gamecock Media Group:

Dungeon Hero sets itself apart from every dungeon game that has come before it. We love the realism that the game portrays, the living breathing dungeon aspect is something unique that hasn’t been done anywhere before and that’s the key to the innovation we’re looking to promote.

Along with all the other fun stuff, players will be able to do different things with the underground creatures. You'll get to meet some troll miners, imps, and even goblin cheese merchants. Dungeon Hero will be going to the PC and Xbox 360 platforms and currently has a tentative release date of early 2009. We'll keep you posted on more info and news about this title. Stay tuned.

It's not that easy to create a game, think of how hard it is to get somebody to publish it. Not everybody would take the risk to publish a game from an unknown developer. A newly formed independent publisher called Gamecock Media Group, from the founders of Gathering of Developers (GoD), have these small devs in mind. Gamespot was able to score an interview with Harry Miller, co-founder of GoD and Gamecock along with Michael Wilson.

According to Miller, they formed the new company under the same principles as the old one (GoD was acquired by Take-Two Interactive). They will focus on fresh ideas and indie devs. With GoD, they were newbies to the industry and enticed developers by offering them stock. Now, Miller says they "hope to be a little smarter and do a better job." They are aiming to be pro-developer in terms of letting the game engineers keep their IP (intellectual property), when other publishers open options to either acquire the company or the IP. According to Miller, in all their deals, the devs get to keep all their IP. They plan to have them keep the IPs to keep the games stay the same.

About the name, Miller explains that it just means that they want to take the backseat when publishing games. He added, that they "do advertising and promotions, but it's their [developers] name in the highlight and we're in the background. And that's how it should be. So our name is silly because it doesn't really matter."

Gamecock is "well funded" and most of the projects are funded by the founders themselves. They aren't film financing anymore, since movies mostly have good solid release dates. Distribution-wise, they are confident that they could get their games on the shelves.

They have already announced their line up for this year: Fury by Auran, Insecticides by Crackpot Entertainment, Mushroom Men by Red Fly Studios, Hail to the Chimp by Wideload Games, and Hero by Firefly Studios.

As pervy as this may sound to some, the truth is, we're really not being silly here. We're going to try to do our best to type this down despite some of us here being worried that we may get complaints related to political correctness.

Wideload Games, has recently announced that they picked Gamecock Media Group to publish their next title Hail to the Chimp, which is a self-proclaimed impossible-to-classify party game based on politics in the animal kingdom. The game is set to be released in spring 2008 for next gen consoles.

More stuff from Gamecock after the Jump!