Entertainment Electronics Blog

A new Dungeons & Dragons game will be coming to downloadable formats early next year, Atari and Bedlam Games announced today.
Titled Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale, it pits players against the forces of evil as they attempt to conquer the Dalelands. It looks to be an action multiplayer title, though it’s not clear how much in the way of RPG elements it will include.

This is the second D&D game to be announced this year, the other being the revival of Neverwinter. The latter is also a multiplayer title being developed in conjunction with Cryptic.

Daggerdale is currently being developed for XBLA, PSN and PC. Look for it in spring 2011.

One of the most ambitious games of the late 1970s is getting new life on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC (via GameSpot).

The Star Raiders brand is being revived by former THQ subsidiary Incinerator Studios, which formerly focused on licensed titles such as Cars. It will include many elements from the original game, including the dogfights and navigation via the galactica chart.

Star Raiders began life on Atari’s 8-bit computers in 1979, and was later ported to various other platforms. It was one of the earliest “space combat simulators,” and helped to inspire Elite, which in turn inspired the seminal Wing Commander: Privateer and other titles.

The revival will be a full update with online multiplayer and customizable starships, including competitive team play and online co-op.

Look for it next year.

Peter Molyneux’s been busy the last few years making Fable and working on Milo and Kate for Kinect. But the one series we wanted to hear most about is Lionhead Studios’ Black & White.

The last Black & White title, Black & White 2, was released in 2005 for the PC and Mac.

“The Black & White series is really interesting,” Molyneux told UGO during a Microsoft event at E3 last week. “Maybe it is something I should re-visit, but that’s just me thinking, here now.”

When asked if he saw Black & White working with Kinect, Molyneux thought the god game’s mechanics would work well with the upcoming hands-free motion control system.

“The original Black & White — with the hand, reaching in and touching and stroking, you can really factor that with Kinect, and it could be really super cool,” he said. “It’s purely me just thinking about it, and thinking about what Black & White means. I love the idea of that connection the hand gave you into the world, the feeling of power, the feeling of nuturing.”

However, Molyneux was quick to state that he’s not currently working on Black & White right now. “The trouble with being a designer now is that there are way too many ideas than there is time to develop those ideas,” he said. “I would love to do something like a Black & White again. I would love to do a Fable 4. I would love to carry on doing Milo, but there is only a certain amount of resources and a certain amount of time.”

MDK 2 will be the latest classic to be remade as a downloadable release, Interplay announced today.

A WiiWare version of the venerable third-person shooter is being developed for the Nintendo Wii. A high-definition version is also planned for the PC.

“MDK 2 was a great title to work on and we’re happy to have some of the original team working on these new versions,” Beamdog co-founder Trent Oster said in the official release.

The original game was developed by Bioware, and stars the janitor Kurt Hectic, the eccentric scientist Fluke Hawkins and the mechanical six-legged dog Max. It’s fondly remembered as much for its sense of humor as its action.

The Wii version will be out this winter. The PC version wasn’t given a timeframe, but it will be available through Beamdog’s digital distribution platform.