Glu reveals mobile games line-up for 2008
Brain Genius gets a sequel, Cooking Mama gets a copy
In San Francisco right now, the great and good of the mobile industry are announcing their new products while networking like loud, excitable rhinos at the CTIA show. Although US-focused, there's still some mobile games news coming out that's relevant to us Europeans.
Such as? Well, Glu Mobile has been talking about some of its plans for 2008, with a bunch of new games based on its own IP, rather than brands, announced.
Taking them in turn:
The big news is Brain Genius 2, the sequel to Glu's mighty fine grey matter trainer. Due out next autumn, it'll have new memory, calculation, logic and visual challenges, as well as community features. We're excited about that last part, because we're still waiting for a connected brain trainer on mobile.
Space Monkey involves, well, helping Space Monkey navigate the galaxy while avoiding hazards and taking out enemies. We're hoping that means an all-action simian-space based shooter. There aren't enough of those on mobile. It's due out early next year.
More animal fun should be provided by Poppin' Panda, which sadly doesn't involve breakdancing rare-bears, but instead is yet another coloured ball matching puzzler. It's due out in the spring.
Get Cookin' seems like a shameless copy of the Cooking Mama games, seeing as it "challenges players to create cuisine by perfecting a wide variety of methods, ingredients, seasonings and recipes". It's out next summer.
CrossPix sounds intriguing: you have to use your puzzle-solving logic skills to create your own art collection. Meanwhile, Super Slam Ping Pong! is table tennis with crazy characters to play against (we're hoping that means it's Super KO Boxing with bats and balls). Both are due out in summer.
Finally, Vegas Hustler is a play-for-fun casino game that gets you playing blackjack, roulette and craps, and is due out next autumn.
All of those dates are US, so it's possible we may see some of these games before then in Europe. You can bet they'll be complemented by some games based on big brands, too, but Glu is keeping those under its hat for the moment.
