Kotaku: Hasbro

Bruticus Leads Transformers: Fall of Cybertron's Toy Store Invasion

Mike Fahey — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:01:00 EST

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Only four of the sexy robot designs from Transformers: War for Cybertron ever made it toy store shelves, a tragic missed opportunity. To ensure they don't miss a second time, Hasbro and High Moon Studios are planning a much bigger toy line for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. More »

What? Battleship is Evolving... Into a First-Person Shooter?

Jason Schreier — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:30:00 EST

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Battleship was once a strategic board game in which players had to guess where their opponents had placed their war ships. This summer, it will be an action-packed movie in which ships blow each other up. And this May, publisher Activision said today, it will be a video game in which you shoot people. More »

This is What the Official Transformers MMO Will Look Like (Sort of)

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:00:00 EDT

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We're getting a massively multiplayer Transformers game next year—a free one—and now we finally have a hint of what it'll look like. More »

Video Game Version of Twister Offers Fewer Flirting Opportunities

Mike Fahey — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:20:00 EDT

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In the old days, playing Twister involved a group of (hopefully drunk) friends of mixed sex, a plastic play mat, and a spinner. In November, thanks to the video game magicians at Majesco, all you'll need it a $200 to $300 video game console, a $150 add-on, and a $50 video game. More »

There Are No Words to Describe Cross-Platform Mobile Scrabble

Mike Fahey — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:52:22 EDT

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Scrabble fans might want to sit down before reading this news. During EA's live summer preview event, EA Mobile demonstrated a live round of Scrabble played across four different platforms: iPad, iPhone, Android, and Facebook. You're probably floored right now. Catch your breath and read on. More »

Only In The 80's Would They Put Video Games On A VHS Tape

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Video games have made their home on any number of storage mediums over the years, from compact discs to cassette tapes to plastic cartridges. Someone even, in the 1980s, thought it was a good idea to put them on video tapes. More »

The Creators Of RuneScape Take-On Massively Multiplayer Transformers [Update]

Mike Fahey — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EDT

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Autobots wage their battles to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons online next year, as Hasbro grants the power to create a massively multiplayer online game based on the robots in disguise to Jagex, the folks behind popular free-to-play MMO RuneScape. More »

Become A Millionaire With Facebook Monopoly

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST

The offline social game you play with your friends becomes the online social game you play with your friends with Monopoly Millionaires, the Facebook game where everybody gets their own Monopoly board. More »

I Am Definitely At The Transformers Showcase In New York

Stephen Totilo — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:19:55 EST

There is no doubt I'm at the Hasbro showcase for all of its new Transformers, Marvel, GI Joe and other toys here in New York City. The truck gives it away. More »

The iPhone Will Go 3D Next Year

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:30:00 EST

Your View-Master disks have just been rendered obsolete. Hasbro is planning to release an add-on device for the iPhone and iPod touch next year that will bring stereoscopic 3D visuals to Apple's iOS devices. More »

Star Wars: The Old Republic, Force Unleashed Toys High On Hasbro's Wish List

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:40:00 EDT

Lucasfilm isn't shy about diving deeply into Star Wars lore to churn out plastic toys based on the people, starships and beasts of George Lucas' universe(s). But what about turning those Star Wars video games into action figures? More »

Activision In Talks With Hasbro Over More Transformers Games

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:30:00 EDT

Transformers: War For Cybertron is good enough to deserve a sequel, but that doesn't mean the next non-movie game will be another shooter. More »

Transformers: Robots In My House

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:20:00 EDT

Hours after running this morning's review of Transformers: War for Cybertron, a package showed up on my doorstep featuring the toy versions of two of the game's Autobot stars. More »

Monopoly Gets The Grand Theft Auto III Treatment

Mike Fahey — Thu, 06 May 2010 11:40:00 EDT

After years of top-down and isometric views, EA is taking the Monopoly franchise to the streets, transforming it from board game to a "dynamic, living, 3D world." Will this be Monopoly's Grand Theft Auto III? More »

Transformers: War For Cybertron Gets Its Own Toy Line (Update)

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 EST

Transformers: War For Cybertron is an upcoming video game based on a toy line. There's now going to be a toy line based on the game which is based on a toy line. Ah, cross-promotion. More »

RISK Coming to Xbox Live Arcade Early this Year

Owen Good — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST

Electronic Arts today announced RISK: Factions, an Xbox Live Arcade version of the 53-year-old tactical board game. The game's release will be in "early 2010," according to an EA statement. More »

Hasbro Sues Atari Over D&D License, Atari Responds

Mike Fahey — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:20:00 EST

Hasbro has filed a complaint in the District Court of Rhode Island, seeking to terminate their licensing agreement with Dungeons and Dragons Online publisher Atari due to alleged fraud and five separate breaches of the licensing agreement for Dungeons & Dragons. More »

Littlest Pet Shop Online Has Cutest Hourglass Ever

Mike Fahey — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:40:00 EDT

Why spend your evening waiting in an queue to play Aion when you can watch an hourglass spin around in EA's new MMO, Littlest Pet Shop Online? More »

Soundwave Get!

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:20:00 EDT

After two days of misery, the 25th Anniversary Transformers Soundwave is mine. I can now go home, leaving McWhertor to cover the remainder of Comic-Con on his own. More »

EA Re-NERFs The Wii

Mike Fahey — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:20:00 EDT

Packaging a video game with a NERF gun worked so well the first time that EA's doing it again, adding secret decoder functions to the arsenal in NERF 2: "N-Strike" Elite for the Nintendo Wii. More »

PSAs You Won't Be Seeing in GI Joe Game

Brian Crecente — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Corny early 80s public service announcements will be rearing their kitschy head in the modern GI Joe video game, but not the ones you really want to see. More »

Trivial Pursuit Invades All Gaming Consoles

Brian Crecente — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:40:00 EDT

Because there apparently aren't enough trivia video games out there, Electronic Arts just released one based on Trivial Pursuit for all major gaming consoles. More »

G.I. Joe Game Detailed Now, Unveiled Next Week

Brian Crecente — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:30:00 EST

Electronic Arts' take on toy-turned-cartoon-turned-movie, G.I. Joe, will be unveiled during next week's Toy Fair in New York. More »

More Littlest Pet Shop On The Way, Still Just For Girls

Mike Fahey — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:20:00 EST

EA continues to capitalize on its lucrative agreement with Hasbro, with Littlest Pet Shop Spring for the DS bringing even more adorable big-headed animals that boys aren't allowed to play with to Nintendo's handheld. More »

EA Applauds Their Hasbro Family Lineup

Mike Fahey — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:40:00 EST

EA dropped a press release today to announce the overwhelming success of the family games resulting from their long-term agreement with Hasbro, with 2 million titles sold globally since launch. More »

Hasbro Drops Scrabulous Lawsuit

Mike Fahey — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:20:00 EST

RJ Softwares, the creators of the popular Facebook game Scrabulous, can now rest easy as Hasbro drops the copyright infringement lawsuit they filed in order to protect their precious Scrabble. More »

EA Rides Pogo To Austin

Mike Fahey — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:20:00 EDT

EA casually makes it's way into Austin, Texas, with the announcement of the opening of a brand new studio formed to create games for Pogo.com. Pogo Austin's tiny initial team of 12 are tasked with developing family-friendly games based on popular Hasbro properties. Their first game will be Pictureka! Museum Mayhem, due out on Pogo.com in November with a retail release to follow in early winter. More »

EA Readies Trivial Pursuit Assault On All Gaming Fronts

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:40:00 EDT

It's the 25th anniversary of Trivial Pursuit, which means I've been playing this stupid game with my parents since I was 10-years-old, and if EA has anything to say about it, I'll be playing it for a long time to come. They've just announced plans to release Trivial Pursuit games on every possible platform they can cram them on, from digital platforms like Pogo.com, where you can already play, to consoles both new and not-so-new. They've got mobile phone versions on the way, and if I know EA, I wouldn't be surprised if handhelds got a little bit of the action as well. Certainly the iPhone needs Trivial Pursuit. Certainly I need more reasons to drop everything I am doing to compulsively answer ridiculous trivia questions. More »

Scrabulous Triumphantly Returns As Wordscraper

Mike Fahey — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Facebook word game fans rejoice! Scrabulous, pulled from Facebook only two days ago due to a lawsuit from Scrabble creators Hasbro, is now back up in the form of Wordscraper. The makers of Scrabulous have given the game some graphics and mechanics tweaking to help differentiate it from the Hasbro original. This is when we get to see if Hasbro's lawsuit had any real merits. Will people stick with the reincarnated Scrabulous, or will they hop on over to Hasbro's official Scrabble Facebook application, currently being enjoyed by over 50,000 players? More »

Hasbro Sues Over Scrabulous Facebook Game

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Hasbro is suing the creators of the popular Scrabulous Facebook game, after a request the toy company made to the social network earlier this year to pull the game went unanswered. More »

EA Announces Operation Mania

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:20:00 EDT

The next title to come out of the partnership between Electronic Arts and Hasbro is Operation Mania, a reworking of that surgery game we all used to play when we were kids — remember the poor patient with the light-up nose? More »

EA's Monopoly Coming to 360, PS2, Wii

Brian Crecente — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EDT

EA's Casual Label today announced new details on their upcoming Monopoly title. The game will be coming to Mobile phones, PC, PS2, Wii and Xbox 360 and will include the ability for four people to play simultaneously in a party mode. It will support both offline single player and multiplayer modes. More »

Hasbro Signs Film Deal - Monopoly The Movie?

Mike Fahey — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:40:19 EST

Hasbro and Universal pictures today annouced the formation of a six-year strategic partnership to produce movies based on the toy company's most popular brands. You know what? Just read it yourself. It's pretty short. More »

Electronic Arts Taking On G.I. Joe

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:20:59 EST

If you're still left wanting from today's earlier announcement that EA has struck a deal with Hasbro to bring Littlest Pet Shop and Nerf N-Strike to the Wii, perhaps you'll perk up for news on a game you actually want to play. Say, G.I. Joe, for example, which Variety says is part of the EA-Hasbro alliance and should ship alongside the film adaptation of the cartoon in Summer 2009. Details are scarce, but in the EA fashion, we expect it come to every platform under the sun. We certainly hope for it to be better than EA's Catwoman. More »

EA Announces First Hasbro Games

Brian Crecente — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:00:32 EST

Electronic Arts today announced nine Hasbro games that will be hitting a variety of platforms over the next year. More »

Hasbro Readies Risk: Black Ops

Mike Fahey — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:20:26 EST

The last time I played Risk was New Year's Eve, 1999, which I spent with some folks from the local Renaissance Faire, figuring if the world were catapulted back into the Dark Ages, they would be the people to hang with. It went like many Risk games do...two hours of engrossing play followed by people wandering away from the table for various reasons, eventually forgetting we were playing. The game is just too damn long, and manufacturer Hasbro knows this. Their answer to the problem? Risk: Black Ops. It's the Risk you've come to know and love in short bursts, redesigned with a sleek and sexy new look, a new resource system that rewards possession of territorial capitols, and the big change - an objective system. Objectives are tasks such as "Control Europe" that reward a player for completing them. The game starts with four major and four minor objectives from a pool of twelve, and completing any three is considered a win. This changes the face of the game completely! More »

Facebook Asked to Pull Scrabble Game

Brian Crecente — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:00:08 EST

Hasbro, the makers of the word game Scrabble, have asked Facebook to remove its popular online take on the game, Scrabulous because of copyright infringement. More »

Lesbo In Scrabble DS? You Ain't Seen Nothing...

Mark Wilson — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:40:38 EDT

Our own Luke Plunkett recently pointed out that the word "lesbo" is in the list of Scrabble DS suggested words, and elaborated that if he'd known that the Scrabble dictionary were so naughty, he'd have "played a lot more Scrabble." More »

EA And Hasbro Go Casual

Mike Fahey — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:40:42 EDT

A couple weeks back Hasbro worked a deal to buy back their casual game licenses from Atari, leaving me wondering what big plans they had in store for their classic board game titles like Scrabble, Monopoly, and Yahtzee. Well now we know. Hasbro has now entered into a licensing agreement with EA, granting them the exclusive rights to develop titles based on several of the company's intellectual properties for consoles, mobile, handheld and PC platforms. Not limited to board games, the agreement also includes popular children's properties like Nerf, Tonka, and the Littlest Pet Shop.

"Our toy and game brands have been family-favorites for decades, and aligning ourselves with EA will result in broadening the reach of our brands through the 're-imagining' of these beloved entertainment icons in all key digital categories," said Brian Goldner, Hasbro's Chief Operating Officer.

There's a scary word. Re-imagining. "What if the Monopoly pieces had guns?" No re-imagining please! More »

Ten More Years Of Atari D&D

Mike Fahey — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:40:13 EDT

Neverwinter Nights fans rejoice! Atari parent company Infogrames and Hasbro signed a new agreement that extends property rights for the Dungeons & Dragons universe for ten more years, up until the year 2017. Atari has been doing a lovely job with Neverwinter Nights as well as the Baldur's Gate series, crafting some of the best D&D video games since the glory days of the SSI gold box titles. The agreement also sees Hasbro buying back the rights to several of their popular board games, including Scrabble, Risk, Battleship, Boggle, and Simon...perhaps fearing Atari would pull a Jenga on them. More »