Kotaku
It's been 25 long years since the Rubik's cube graced a game console, and 1983's Rubik's Cube for the Atari 2600 hardly did the little puzzle justice. Now the Game Factory and developer Two Tribes is getting a chance at solving the Rubik's video game puzzle with Rubik's World for the Nintendo DS and Wii. The game will invite players to step inside the cube to experience a collection of puzzle games based around Cube concepts, with both versions containing their own unique lineup of mini-games, from assembling 3D objects to navigating mazes. The Wii version will support four players at once and features an online message board, while the DS version will utilize the wireless connection to connect to a community for the game. I'd assume that somewhere in there they'll include an actual Rubik's cube for you to solve, hopefully allowing for my two favorite solving methods - sticker swapping and violent disassembly. We'll find out this Fall!
The Game Factory Snatches Rubik's Cube for the Nintendo DS™ and Wii™ Systems and Secures Licensing Agreement with Seven Towns LimitedNew 3D Puzzle Games Allow Players to Step 'Inside' the Iconic Rubik's Cube
SANTA MONICA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The Game Factory, an international publisher of family-friendly and casual videogames, today announced it has signed a licensing agreement with Seven Towns Limited to publish Rubik's World, a 3D puzzle game experience for the Nintendo Wii™ and DS™ systems, both inspired by the Rubik's Cube.
"The Rubik's Cube is one of the most well known icons in the gaming and entertainment industry," said Henrik Mathiasen, president of the Game Factory. "We're honored that Seven Towns Limited has chosen us to take the Rubik's experience to the next level with Rubik's World. We feel confident that we have created a concept for the whole family that is innovative, challenging and addictive, offering a new twist in the puzzle genre while keeping the Rubik's Cube core values alive."
"We're pleased to be working with the Game Factory to enhance the Rubik's brand with Rubik's World," said David Hedley Jones, for Seven Towns Limited, a London-based company that has introduced hundreds of successful original games and toys throughout the world in the past 35 years. "We're confident that everybody will enjoy this video game experience."
Step Inside the Cube' with Rubik's World
For those who have always wondered what the inside of a Rubik's Cube looks like, the Game Factory will deliver Rubik's World in the Fall of 2008. Designed for players aged eight and older, this otherworldly game will look and play like no other game on the market. A collection of extremely addictive, easy-to-play puzzle games will increase in difficulty as the player delves deeper into this 3D world. Each version of Rubik's World will host its own unique and original series of games. Players will test their brainpower by constructing 3D shapes and objects, navigating through mazes and even creating their own soundtracks. The DS™ version will allow players to connect to a community of Rubik's World enthusiasts through the platform's wireless connection. The Wii™ version accommodates up to four players and will feature an online message board.
Comments
Following stories of crummy Wii games and poor online, a story about Rubik's Cube for the Wii is not going to settle well with a lot of people.
That image is going to give me nightmares... Well, more nightmares than usual...
Mover over Carnival Games! Theres a new king in town!!
I know I've seen that image in its original form. I just wish I could remember what it was.
Whoever pitched that game idea has like 99 Charisma.
I bet there's a troll that lives inside every rubiks cube.
Please tell me the source of that horrifying picture. If it wasn't box-art or a commercial and instead it was a full-length cartoon, then I'm going to travel back in time and kill the Eighties. It will go: 1978, 1979, 1990, 1991.
Will it involve slathering cube lube onto your wii-stick?
How many time has the Rubik's Cube returned from Oblivion?
I never know when it's cool and when it's retro.
Are there going to be fatalities in this game??
@Fulgurator: Its cool but your not supposed to say its cool, like your never supposed to actually mention it
They went from Worms Open Warfare 2 to...this?
@Ghede: "Rubik the Amazing Cube". Yes, from the Eighties. Yes, it is as terrible as you might think.
@Rectangle: [en.wikipedia.org]
+ Watch video
I never did find the courage necessary to watch an episode of the Rubik's Cube cartoon. I always imagined it would be something akin to watching a show about a talking Coca-Cola can.
Irritating Stick, for the Wii - please!
Wasn't this billed with Pac-Man? Like "The Pac-Man Rubik's Adventure Hour" or somesuch.
@moose_pants: Oh my god, a flood of memories just slammed back into my head. One neuron connection in my brain just brought that cartoon back to me. I remember the cube falling and just getting knocked out of kilter, and his amazing powers were gone.
Between that and the "Pole Position" cartoon I remembered a couple months ago (and sent into Kotaku, but never made it to the site), my childhood video game cartoon memories are now re-established.
@excel_excel:
Ohhhh... Thanks, it's much clearer now.
This is probably gonna be like the Lego construction games. Alot of fun, but the real experience can't be replaced.
@Fulgurator:
Don't mention it!...seriously don't
@Spoony Bard:
NOOOOOOOOOOO! You've doomed us all! Bleargh!
Next, I want a Pogo stick simulation (with a Pogo stick peripheral), then Twister (with a Wii Twister Mat peripheral), and Cup & Ball Final Showdown Somewhat-Online (with - you guessed it - a cup and ball peripheral).
Damn, which way to the patents office? I've got to get that shit registered ASAP, its bound to come along at some point. My genius intimidates even myself.
@Ghede: Any room in that time machine of yours? I'll be your assistant, I can do the laundry and the dishes, clean up around the Tardis, take out the trash -- anything to kill the 1980s!
(Oh, the shame to have been born in 1980... It's almost though as my coming into the world was too much goodness, and balance had to be restored with a decade of shittiness.)
While a lot of these comments are along the same lines that I think (Nintendo, this isn't a real game and I won't care about it, etc etc), I know that some people are really, really into Rubik's cube and similar puzzles, because of the algorithms involved in solving such puzzles. So there definitely could be a (albeit small) market that actually, truly wants this game.
@Antiterra: *it's bound, damnit!
Now, please excuse me while my inner grammar Nazi sentences my inner proofreader to death for incompetence.
New image reminds me of the health bar from No More Heroes.
Rubik's Cube is all well and good, but what about the CLOCK... Anyone ever have one of those?
Talk about evil. My Dad bought me one after I stumbled across and solved his old cube when I was a kid, probably 7 or 8, and almost 20 years later I still haven't solved the damn thing after despite picking it up basically every time I move and rediscover it ever since, with a CS degree and the algorithms that come with it in between. -_-
Of course I'm sure I could google or probably even wiki it these days, but I'm a big cheat/walkthrough/FAQ hater since forever and never quite got desperate enough...
Anyone else ever have/solve one? Would love to hear about it.
@Fahey:
Sticker swapping is for chumps. You can always tell when someone resorted to sticker swapping because they never go on quite the same as they came off. They're always crooked and the edges lift up. I would never stoop that low when it comes to solving a Rubik's Cube. I did, however, get quite skilled at popping the mini-Cubes apart without resorting to use of tools.
That hearth looks like the one in No More Heroes
There is already one on the DS but it never was localized, the tutorials were pretty cool.
[www.play-asia.com]
*pre-orders*
I am SO buying this game, and I wouldn't doubt it if Tyson Mao buys it to have it up during all his cubing tournaments.
With all the talk of "Rubik, the Amazing Cube" at the top of the comments, I'm surprised that nobody mentioned that the theme song was performed by Ricky Martin's old crew, Menudo.
If this game turns out to be like a 3D version of Picross, I will so be all over it!
You nailed it; sticker swapping and violent disassembly were the only two methods used at my house to solve the Rubik's Cube. My sister and I got one each for Christmas and I am not sure that either one was ever solved honestly.
a good idea. except the problem is, is that since its for the wii they'll try to reach little kids, meaning there will be no challenge to the small market of people(such as myself) who love these kinds of puzzles. just another attempt at capitalizing on a trend, like the rubik's revolution.
goddamn rubik's revolution.
and if anyone else cubes, my 3x3 best is 0:27.42. yeah.
My sister is totally going to love that game. She never goes anywhere withour her little Rubiks cube.
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