The plot of this game is centered around Mr, Demon and he devious plan to steal the secret recipe for the Ninja Star Cookies. It's considered the most powerful recipe in the world and has a 'scrumptious' power, so as you can probably tell, it shouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

I initially had no idea how this game played. Sure, I've seen screenshots, but I still wasn't clear on exactly what I would be doing. Is it a RTS? An Adventure game? A puzzle game? But once I sat down with it, however, it finally answered all my questions.

So, it's a tower defense game. Well, sorta. Each maps as a Point A and Point B (or sometimes, many point A and B's), and the game will send wave after wave of enemies at you. Your job is to stop them by any means.

The game starts you out with standard units you obtain from building huts. The 'money' you use to build huts is replenished by defeating enemies. Yo also get money back from wrecking a hut. It may not seem like it through the first few introductory levels, but as you get further and further along, you'll have to start relying on enemies match ups rather than building as many huts as you can.

For example, the game gives you a heads up on what enemy unites are coming. If you see there is a group of flying enemies, you need ninja's with sling shots to shoot at them. But if you didn't build any sling shot huts and are out of money, then you need to sell some of your unusable huts to build the necessary huts to make it to the next wave and complete the level.

Also, this game boasts an amazing cast of characters. From the Ninja Consultant (who caries around pie charts) to the business ninjas that attack using cellphones. It's all really charming and it goes along great with the cleaver dialogue. Now all they need is a 'Blogger Ninja' that attacks with snarky insults and unsubstantiated rumors.

There was nothing really disappointing with the game during the time I had it. I do wish the graphics were a bit better. Yeah, I know it has a lower budget than the other titles, but I would have liked to have seen some better sprite work top to bottom

Overall, it's a really fun, addictive DS game. It's tough to play it for few hours straight (which it takes about 8 or so to finish). I noticed it's better to play in bursts. If you're into tower defense games, and you need something to play on the DS, this is right up your ally.

So how involved was Shawn Smith in the making of this game? Very, said Brandon Curiel, President of Venan.

"We would have weekly meetings with him to let him know how the game’s going," Brandon said. "When we started development, all the characters that were in the game didn’t exist in Ninjatown yet, so we worked with him to develop new characters that we could use."

"Everything in the game definitely went under his eye to make sure it fit Ninjatown perfectly."

I had asked Jeremy Pope, Producer, if there was any issues with the design possibly going overboard considering some of crazy ideas thought up in this game. He said, thankfully, Shawn knows what he's doing when it comes to making games.

"You deal with that often with a license where someone is coming out of left field, and they just assume that 'Why can’t we just do whatever we feel like doing?' Shawn understands there’s a structure and a framework that we’re working within."

Ninjatown's core gameplay closely resembles that of your typical tower defense game. However, the team says the similarities stop there. They actually call it a type of an action/strategy game, since its more character based and has a much faster pace. Oh, you can also burn enemies with a magnifying glass.

"We played a lot of tower defense games, try to get a feel for what they’re like, why they were fun, what mechanics we wanted to borrow for ours," said Alex Kain, Associate Designer. "I think we ended up making something totally unique,"

Like everyone else, the development team was completely unaware Nintendo had been working on the new DSi model, which was first revealed last week in Japan. And while the new features seem appealing from a design perspective, Venan expects to continue focusing on the current DS Lite for the majority of their upcoming projects.

"For us, it’s about the greatest common denominator. Even though they have this new DS, the vast majority of the market is going to be the old DS," Brandon added. "So, even when it’s out, we’ll be designing for the old one and probably will be for the foreseeable future"

So where does the Ninjatown franchise go from here? I popped the question about a possible release of the game on other platforms, such as PSN or XBLA. It makes perfect sense, after all, what with the apparent success of titles such as Braid, Castle Crashers, and the Pixel Junk series. There's clearly room for a game such as this in the downloadable console space. Right?

"We’re not talking about anything else just yet, but I think we can say that we’re all very pleased how the DS game as turned out and we’re excited about exploring other things," said Jeremy.

I'll be posting my impressions of the game later on, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, check out the rest of the gallery from the night below.

It is a top-down RTS based around the cute, chubby ninja characters from Shawnimals. Each Ninja has unique skills that you can bring to bear against hordes of demonic invaders attacking (hey!) Ninjatown.

Here is a taste of the well-rounded Ninja vs Demon action on offer...

Aside from the new Brave title, SouthPeak will be showing off their anime action game X-Blades for the PC and "next-gen consoles", Igor The Game for PC, Wii, and DS, the RTS/FPS hybrid Raven Squad for PC and 360, Big Bang Mini for the DS, and the PS3 version of Monster Madness. The game I am most looking forward to? Going to have to go with Ninjatown for the DS. Have to represent my deadly peeps, yo.

SOUTHPEAK GAMES UNVEILS E3 LINEUP
SouthPeak to Debut Highly-Anticipated Titles at Annual Trade Show

MIDLOTHIAN, VA – July 10, 2008 - SouthPeak Games today announced its lineup for the upcoming E3 Media & Business Summit in Los Angeles July 15-17, 2008. Located at Booth 426, SouthPeak will showcase its Fall titles with extensive hands-on and producer-led demos, including presentations by Ninjatown creator Shawn Smith.

“This year’s products are among the best the company has ever produced,” said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Games. “We are coming to the show with strong momentum and we believe that will translate into a strong Holiday Season.”

The following is a list of titles that will be at the show:

Big Bang Mini (Nintendo DS™ – January 2009)

This addictive fast paced shoot’em up puts a flashy new spin on classic arcade gameplay. Players are challenged to navigate their ship through a brilliant array of highly stylized levels as they launch a bevy of fireworks at waves of dynamic enemies. Players will use the stylus to create their own fireworks displays and combo attacks in order to defeat waves of challenging enemies. Versus play, online rankings, and other gameplay modes only add to the chaos that ensues.

Brave: A Warriors Tale (Wii™, Xbox 360® & PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system – Fall 2008)

Set many, many moons after Shaman’s Challenge, the game plays as a series of flashbacks in which a now elderly Brave describes the events of his life. Between the warrior’s tales of his youth, the player takes control of Courage, a young boy who takes lessons from his elder’s experiences to stop the current threat to their village. The game provides players expansive exploration and in-game interactivity on their quest to defeat the sources of evil, continuously offering a significant challenge to players as they advance through a world of untamed wilderness. Brave is able to transform into various animals, track prey, and battle enemies that stand in his way with bows and arrows, tomahawks and a variety of ancient powers.

Brave: Shaman’s Challenge (Nintendo DS – September 2008)

Taking place in Native American lands of long ago, Brave: Shaman’s Challenge follows a young boy named Brave in his quest to protect everything he holds dear. He alone stands against a group of evil Shaman dead set on reviving their old master; the Wendigo. Brave: Shaman’s Challenge features a cast of intriguing characters, a diverse set of amazing magic spells, a richly developed game world, and more puzzles than you can shake a shaman’s stick at!

Igor The Game (Windows PC, Wii & Nintendo DS – September 2008)

The game is based on the highly anticipated animated movie created by Exodus Film Group in cooperation with The Weinstein Company. In the Wii version of the game, players have the ability to choose one of the main characters (Igor, Eva, Scamper or Brain) and play either simultaneously or cooperatively with up to four people. The Nintendo DS version utilizes the stylus to perform movement combinations, combat enemies and solve puzzles. Players can custom build their own monsters to take on puzzle challenges and battle against other mad scientists.

Monster Madness: Grave Danger (PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system – August 2008)

Taking on the role of four intrepid teenagers, players will set out to save their town from the evil that’s been unleashed. This top-down shooter also features new and improved controls, twenty five new mini-games, tightened camera system and a hundred new weapon upgrades and power-ups, as well as full online co-op adventure mode that allows up to four players to experience all of the gameplay of the story mode.

Ninjatown (Nintendo DS – October 2008)

A diverse group of fun-loving Ninjas populate the vibrant yet peaceful place known as Ninjatown. However, after the eruption of a nearby volcano, Ninjatown is attacked by hordes of sinister enemies lead by Mr. Demon, who, for reasons unknown, is bent on destruction. The game is played from the top down, where the player uses the stylus to strategically place Ninjas to defend each area. The action is non-stop!

Raven Squad (Xbox 360 & Windows PC – Fall 2008)

Raven Squad is a tactical action game set in the Amazonian jungles, and blends a first person shooter (FPS) experience with the command and overview advantages of a real-time strategy (RTS) game. Players can solve each mission situation using a combination of the two genres on their own or cooperatively with a friend. Also, they always have the ability to switch between eight different characters with their own unique background, personalities, behaviors, weapons and skills.

X-Blades (Windows PC & Next-Gen Consoles – Fall 2008)

Ayumi, the main character, is an adventurous relic hunter in search of an artifact believed to hold the fate of the world in its grasp. Featuring anime noir, film-quality animation and high-speed gameplay, players can upgrade magic abilities to fight off elemental beasts and design their own control scheme, mapping magic attacks to the buttons they want.

SouthPeak's apparently betting big on Ninjatown, X-Blades, Edge of Twilight and the rest of its lineup, which will include follow-ups to Two Worlds, hoping for big hits. According to Takahashi, SouthPeak is hoping to ride Two Worlds, which it considers its biggest to-date success, to fiscal year revenues of $30 million.

The publisher just went public in April, through a semi-complicated "reverse merger" situation it recently went through in April with Global Services Acquisition Corp - the quick story on that deal is the merger let SouthPeak go public without an IPO.

SouthPeak Interactive raises $12.9 million for indie games [VentureBeat]

I got a chance to give it a try, and I had a hard time putting it down.

Ninjatown, the home of "Old Master Ninja," "Consultant Ninja," "Anti-Ninja" and yeah, a ninja that looks like a turd, among others, suffers a mysterious volcanic eruption, and now little red demons are marching on the town.

To defend it, you play top-down style on a plot of land, with a smaller mini-map in the top screen showing you where your forces are laid out and where the enemy's coming from. Basically, you pick a plot of land and decide what type of ninja hut to place down there.

There are two kinds of melee ninjas and three types of ranged ninjas, each with different strengths and weaknesses, and you strategize - y'know, 'cause it's a strategy game - who to put where based on what direction the little demons are marching in from, seen on your map. Once placed, the ninjas will attack on their own once the demons come in range, and your objective is to keep the devils from following their path all the way off of the screen into the town.

Each time the ninjas defeat an invader, you get points that can be used to buy more huts and plant more defenders. You can also upgrade your existing huts, increasing the strength of the ninjas fighting there. My first strategy of putting a lot of huts all over the place without upgrading the ones I had didn't work very well, as you can probably imagine - stronger ninjas equals a better front line.

One cool feature is that Old Master Ninja accompanies you - defeating demons also accumulates his power, and in the demo I played he could do two different types of attacks when I'd saved up enough. Tapping the picture of Old Master Ninja's staff let me choose between attacking physically and blowing some enemies back. With the physical "Hickory Lunge" attack, you touch as many enemies as you can within the time limit to have Old Master Ninja hit them all. With the blow-away attack, you choose a wind direction with the D-pad and blow into the microphone to push the advancing demons back away from your overwhelmed front lines.

Strategy titles tend not to be my favorite sort of game, personally, but I was surprised at how engaged I got with Ninjatown. The cute art style and the simple gameplay made it a lot more accessible than what one might normally think of in real-time strategy.

Cute Ninjas Okay [Dtoid]