Vicious Engine, a game development solution developed by Vicious Cycle Software, has been selected by talented new development team Epicenter Studios to power their recently released WiiWare title Critter Round-Up. The only western-developed title featured in the Japanese launch of WiiWare, Critter Round-Up is a colorful puzzle game where players erect fences to corral animals and the first WiiWare title to utilize the Vicious Engine.
"The flexibility and power of the Vicious Engine made it easy to work within the framework of WiiWare, allowing us to focus on creating a bright and entertaining game," said Bryan Jury, chief creative officer of Epicenter Studios. "The engine's straightforward translation process made localizing the game for Japan quick and easy."
"Critter Round-Up had the distinction of participating in launch of WiiWare in Japan, and the team at Epicenter Studios had limited time to create a polished game," said Eric Peterson, president and CEO of Vicious Cycle Software. "Because the Vicious Engine allows teams to prototype titles quickly and under deadline, it is an ideal choice for development on platforms with short turnaround times."
Critter Round-Up represents the latest entry in a growing list of diverse, genre-crossing titles powered by Vicious Engine. The adaptable, easy-to-learn middleware has been used to design games of various styles, including adventure/platformer titles like Dead Head Fred and deeply addictive casual fare like Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for Wii home videogame system , PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, and PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, and even instructional/educational titles like Discover Babylon and INNOV8.
About Vicious Cycle Software
Vicious Cycle Software, Inc., based in Morrisville, NC, is a premier developer of interactive entertainment software across all platforms. Founded in 2000, the company blazed onto the gaming scene with its debut title Robotech: Battlecry and continues to create compelling titles for all age groups based on licensed and original content. Vicious Cycle is the developer and licensor of the Vicious Engine, a comprehensive and fully portable middleware solution for personal computers, consoles, and handheld systems. Recently, the company announced Vicious Engine 2 (Ve2) which offers a suite of new and improved game development features on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. For more information, please visit the company's web sites at www.viciouscycleinc.com and www.viciousengine.com. Vicious Cycle is a D3Publisher development studio.
About Epicenter Studios
Based in Los Angeles, CA, Epicenter Studios was founded in March 2007 by talent from, among other titles, the commercially successful, critically acclaimed Call of Duty franchise. In June of 2007, the company announced its development of Real Heroes: Firefighter (working title) for the Wii from Nintendo. Epicenter recently completed development for Critter Round-Up for WiiWare. More information about Epicenter Studios is available at www.epicenter-studios.com.
