Wideload's "Hail To The Chimp" Uses Hands, Paws, Flippers And Hooves To Embrace Democracy

The Debate is on as 10 Quirky Candidates Take Center Stage in the Animal Kingdom's Presidential Race

Cockpit, Austin, TX - November 9, 2007 - Today Gamecock announced the entire roster of candidates in Wideload Games upcoming politically charged party title "Hail to the Chimp." The "Hail to the Chimp" ballot now boasts ten candidates, each with their own personality, platforms and style. Just like any political race, mud is being slung, names are being named and the candidates are clawing up the ladder to reach that golden seat.

"Hail to the Chimp" is a fast-paced party game that delivers exciting gameplay, lush interactive environments, and a comic look at politics. It is a bare-knuckled fight to win the crown of President of the animals.

"The story of 'Hail to the Chimp' is delivered through a metaphor of the election process," said Wideload founder Alex Seropian. "The ten candidates in the game have their own back stories, and there are rivalries between the candidates and opportunities to team up and make alliances."

Seropian continued, "It's all there - the flawed electoral system, the political back-stabbing, the self-possessed newscasters and pundits, fundraising with the fat cats and even the inane political ads. There will also be lots of subtle, and not so subtle, political humor."

"Hail to the Chimp" features a wide variety of arenas as well as myriad goal oriented match types. The title is scheduled for release in Spring 2008 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and for the PlayStation®3 Computer Entertainment System.

Below is a brief introduction to the candidates and what their goals are in this political campaign.

Name: Ptolemy
Species: Hippo
Hails from: Egypt
Bio: Ptolemy lives in a world where the 1970's never stopped. With a unique style and charisma by the truckload, this happenin' Hippo wants to return Hippos (more directly, himself) to the top of the Animal Kingdom.

Name: Santo
Species: Armadillo
Hails from: New Mexico, US
Bio: Born in the deserts of New Mexico, Santo was a painter before he joined the campaign. He thinks politicians and artists have a lot in common - prima donnas and shysters, the lot of them - and he's here to keep it real.

Name: Crackers
Species: Monkey
Hails from: Congo
Bio: Crackers was the right-hand monkey to the King Lion before he was ousted from the throne. Rumor has it that Crackers' whole campaign is a ruse designed to restore his old boss to the throne, ensuring a cushy lifestyle for his favorite monkey.

Name: Toshiro
Species: Octopus
Hails from: Japan
Bio: A samurai octopus, Toshiro's logic is simple - most of the world is water and therefore ocean-based animals are the dominant life form. A highly trained warrior and scholar, Toshiro's campaign is as elegant as it is ruthless.

Name: Bean
Species: Sloth
Hails from: Seattle, WA (by way of Bogota, Columbia)
Bio: Bean is your atypical sloth - super caffeinated, uber-motivated and ready to work the kingdom into shape. A coffee addict, she once lived in Bogota but found herself on a coffee shipment to Seattle where she is now an aerobics instructor.

Name: Moxie
Species: Musk Ox
Hails from: Liverpool, England
Bio: Moxie is a self-educated Musk Ox who is sick of the patriarchal nature of politics. Why can't there be a Queendom? Her personal charisma, self-motivation and erudition make her a formidable candidate.

Name: Hedwig
Species: Polar Bear
Hails from: Uppsala, Sweden
Bio: A singing superstar in the disco world, Hedwig is used to the public eye. She's convinced that the animal kingdom would best be served by someone with a celebrity's understanding of looking good, manipulating the press, and product endorsement.

Name: Murgatroyd
Species: Jellyfish
Hails from: Unknown
Bio: Not much is known about Murgatroyd as her garbled pronouncements are completely indecipherable. This is a solid campaign strategy, as many animals assume her views are similar to their own. Mysterious, perplexing and lovable, Murgatroyd could be the underdog of this race.

Name: Daisy
Species: Platypus
Hails from: Sydney, Australia
Bio: An incredibly popular children's TV show host, Daisy is the most adorable platypus ever born. With her cute looks and a tomboyish personality, she is loved by young animals of every species the world over. Capturing the presidency is the only way she can possibly get any bigger.

Name: Floyd
Species: Walrus
Hails from: Manhattan
Bio: Floyd moved to NY to become a dock foreman. But after a blow to the head, he began having some funny ideas about the world. He now sees himself as a guru and soothsayer meant to lead the animal kingdom. After all, he's got a direct line to the cosmic plane.

The debate rages on at www.chimplove.com.

By: Brian Crecente

First things first: Mike Wilson wants you to know that he didn't take the money and run.

When he helped found Gathering of Developers back in 1998 he did it with money that came with some significant strings attached and those strings, he says, choked the life out of the company.

"We sold to Take-Two with a gun to our heads," he said in a recent phone chat. " It was more of a foreclosure."
While the absorption of Gathering of Developers by Take-Two and its slow death may seem like a footnote to the history of the game industry, it's important to note because Wilson promises that this time around that's not going to happen.

Gathering of Developers was founded with the idea of bucking the big name publishers, he said. The idea was to create a truly indie publishing system and leave the creative process and a good chunk of the money in the hands of the developers that made the games.

But that never really happened, instead of igniting a revolution in game publishing, they were more a flash in the pan, publishing a handful of notable new titles before vanishing.

Now with secret investors, a larger bankroll and a handful of developers backing him, Miller and Wilson are back to give it another go, this time as the head of the Gamecock Media Group.

"The industry is totally creatively starved right now and it we also have a bit of unfinished business," Wilson said. GOD president "Harry (Miller) and I felt we failed on that great crusade. It was heartbreaking to sell the company to Take-2 and we tried to make it work, but there was no way it was going to. We didn't have enough money to do it right and we didn't have the experience."

Wilson shrugs off the fact that so many gamers have forgotten who first published games like Max Payne and Serious Sam.

"Part of the reason we are calling this company Gamecock, other than to amuse me, is because I don't think gamers care who the publisher is, I don't think they should care," he said. "People don't have favorite record labels or book publishers."

Earlier this week Wilson and Miller announced that Gamecock is backing five games from a variety of developers, most notably Wideload, headed up by Bungie Founder Alexander Seropian.

"Wideload's business model centers around creating and owning new IP," Seropian told me today. "That's something pretty fundamental and that's part of Gamecock's strategy as well."

Seropian says it also helped that Wideload and Gathering of Developers were "bastard step-brothers", a bond forged from similar distribution deals Bungie and GOD had with Take-Two.

"That's how I know Mike," Seropian says.

Wilson says a big part of how he was able to land the likes of Wideload and Firefly Studios, the team behind Stronghold, was by asking them to work on their dream projects instead of sequels or safe bets.

"With several of these guys, the unifying thing was that they are working on the games that the developers really wanted to work on," he said. "They're their babies

"The Stronghold guys, those guys made megabucks and then heard we were back in business and came to us. They said we could do Stronghold 3 for us or they could do this original game they've been dying to do. I told them to do the one they want to do."

The developers are coming to Gamecock, Wilson says, because they industry is becoming increasingly risk averse. Many publishers would rather have a developer squeeze out a sequel then work on an original title.

"Even guys like Alex have to fight to get their games published."

Wilson says Seropian knew that Gamecock was coming and sat on his game, Hail to the Chimp, for about a year so he could sign it with them.

"They have a very similar model to us," Seropian says.

Both companies do the core work themselves but outsource the "dirty work."

Seropian points to Wideload's Hail to the Chimp, which Gamecock will be publishing, as a good example. They still only have a core team of 16 people working on it, but outside groups are doing some of the heavy lifting for them.

The same was true with their last game, Stubbs the Zombie.

In the press release Hail to the Chimp is described as a next-gen party game set in the animal world. Seropian declined to further detail it saying only that it will be easy to understand, be very funny and have broad appeal.

While he declined to say what console or consoles it might hit, he did say that he isn't adverse to distributing games through the Xbox 360's Live Arcade or Playstation 3's online store.

"I think we will digitally distribute stuff at some point," he said. "XBLA, and even look at something like iTunes, they are just these mammoth distribution channels."

Episodic content is also something Seropian is looking at. He says he likes the idea of being able to deliver a gaming experience that ends with a cliffhanger and then follows up quickly with the next episode.

And yes, Seropian says, there is a good chance Gamecock will be involved in future Wideload games.
While Gathering of Developers published computer games, Gamecock will focus mostly on console titles, Wilson said.

"The PC business, while we think it's going to enjoy a little resurgence, is clearly a shrinking business," he said. "Clearly console is where the market is. The pc is still a better platform and a richer experience, but it's just not as big a market anymore."

Wilson says he expects there will be a lot more interest in Gamecock and its indie approach to game publishing after the first games start to hit.

" I think more money will follow when we prove out this model," he said. "There is this perception out there that games cost $20 to $30 million to make, you can do that, but you don't have to."

"We believe indie developers out there will bring the most innovative stuff to the industry and we want to be the path of least resistance for those guys."

Yes, I'm a child, just ask my wife.

Anywho, Alexander Seropian is beside himself at the thought of having recently unveiled publisher Gamecock putting out his studio's latest pride and joy: Hail to the Chimp.

"We're as happy as a hippo in a henhouse to be a key part of Gamecock's launch," said Wideload founder and CEO Alexander Seropian. "We're working hard to craft an original, fun game, and retaining ownership of the IP is a huge benefit of this partnership. The Gamecock guys have a stellar record in publishing games and treating developers right, and are poised to give the video game business a much-needed kick in the pants."

"Alex and his team have proven that original titles have an impact in this marketplace," said Harry Miller, President and Head of Development for Gamecock Media Group. "This group is not afraid to take a risk or push the limit on originality and humor. Hail to the Chimp is set to carry on their benchmark humorous legacy established by Stubbs the Zombie."

Seropian describes HTC as a party game with players duking it out to become the leader of the Animal Kingdom. See, if it were me I'd say King of the Jungle, but I loves the cliches.

The game supports up to four players either in the same room or online. On the Wideload site the developers promise the game will deliver fun, politics and debauchery, though maybe I'm taking them too literally.

Here at Wideload, we believe that the the only proper response to obsessive existential dread is cheerful indifference - and, in extreme cases, a product announcement. And so we bring you Hail to the Chimp, the game that puts the party back in party politics for the first time since the Caligula Administration. It's coming next year to a next-gen console proximate to you, and the sheer joy it will bring into your life is so unspeakably profound that you may find yourself casting off the shackles of despair and spontaneously evolving into a new life form composed of pure, blinding euphoria. Or you might just find it very entertaining. It's really up to you.

Any game announcement that references Caligula and doesn't mention a horse is all good in my book. Brian Crecente

Critically Acclaimed Developer to Bring Original Party Game to Next-Gen Consoles

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 12, 2007 - Wideload Games, creator of the award-winning Stubbs the Zombie, announced today they have picked Gamecock Media Group to publish their next title - Hail to the Chimp. The title is expected to ship in Spring 2008.

"We're as happy as a hippo in a henhouse to be a key part of Gamecock's launch," said Wideload founder and CEO Alexander Seropian. "We're working hard to craft an original, fun game, and retaining ownership of the IP is a huge benefit of this partnership. The Gamecock guys have a stellar record in publishing games and treating developers right, and are poised to give the video game business a much-needed kick in the pants."

"Alex and his team have proven that original titles have an impact in this marketplace," said Harry Miller, President and Head of Development for Gamecock Media Group. "This group is not afraid to take a risk or push the limit on originality and humor. Hail to the Chimp is set to carry on their benchmark humorous legacy established by Stubbs the Zombie."

Hail to the Chimp is a party game where players battle one another to become the new leader of the Animal Kingdom. Players use the game's unique team-up mechanic, balancing cooperation with competition, to claw their way to victory. The game supports up to four players on one console or online, bringing Wideload's trademark blend of action and comedy to gamers of all ages.

Hail to the Chimp can be found online at www.chimplove.com.

Since video game detractors are starting to treat cannibalism as a real problem, the enablers over at Wideload games, maker of Stubbs the Zombie weighed in via their official site. The clarification should be pretty helpful to the haters.

Cannibalism IS a Threat to America's Youth
WideLoad's Response [Wideload Games]

One of the few bright spots at the 2005 E3 was Wideload studios debut game Stubbs the Zombie in 'Rebel Without a Pulse.' The comical zombie game's future just got even brighter. Wideload Studios announced a co-op campaign for the late-October release.

Co-Op will pit you and another flesh-eating, walking undead side by side building an army of brain-chewing corpses. Sure, it sounds all gloom and doom, but when you play the game the violence is tongue-in-cheek (so chill the fuck out, legislators). With what we know so far, we can't even say for certain that Stubbs is an antihero, he's just a simple zombie trying to make his way in the world.

FileCloud has a clip of Stubbs' co-op available for download.