NBC Universal's Syfy (formerly known as the Sci Fi Channel) announced a new partnership with video game publisher THQ, with the goal of creating and delivering new content across "all major media platforms." The effort will focus on enhancing THQ's existing video game franchises and new co-developed intellectual properties by expanding their reach into other types of media.

The press release reveals that THQ's paint-crazy platformer 'de Blob' will be the first of the company's existing franchises to benefit from the alliance. Read more »

Publisher THQ has provided an updated glimpse of its release schedule across the next two years, revealing new release dates for some previously announced sequels.

In particular, the latest Red Faction and Saints Row have swapped released windows--destruction-centric shooter Red Faction 4 is now due before April 2011, while the open-world gangbuster Saints Row 3 is due to arrive before April 2012. Read more »

Blue Tongue's colorful platformer de Blob has sold over 700,000 units worldwide on the Wii, according to THQ.

The game--originally developed by design students before being purchased by THQ and further developed by Blue Tongue--has held its $49.99 price-point since its release in September of last year.

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Publisher THQ today released new gameplay footage of Blue Tongue Entertainment's upcoming Wii title de Blob.

Katamari Damacy meets Jet Set Radio, de Blob tasks players with bouncing from level to level in an otherwise-open world, staining skyscrapers with appropriately bright shades of color in order to defeat the evil policemen. It's a little hard to explain here, so just check out the trailer below. Read more »

I had a chance to check out de Blob at this year's GDC--the then-PC title was nominated at the Independent Games Festival for best student game--and remembered it as "that PC track-ball thing with the fat guys." Now the modest school project by Dutch students is hitting the big time on both Wii and DS, and the resultant Wii port by developer Blue Tongue is a fun, if relatively aimless, title. The basic objective of de Blob is to spread color to a drab, achromatic town by slamming your amorphous character into building after building, like a game of first-person paintball. You get more points for painting certain structures one color as compared to another, so changing the Blob's primary color becomes necessary--an act which requires you to consume a color-coded citizen of the town. The colors mix and morph corresponding to the color wheel--combining a red Blob with a yellow citizen will turn the Blob a bright orange, and so on. Every level is timed, adding a sense of urgency to the player's otherwise carefree coloring. Control of the Blob is mainly handled through the analog stick, allowing you to spin in circles at will, as if Mario had eaten too much pasta and was forced to roll his way through levels. Jumping is achieved with a quick flick of the Wii Remote, and most moves are derived therein--bouncing off walls, attacking enemies, and other acrobatic moves are all relegated to variations of Wii Remote jostling. If this basic experience wasn't solidly enjoyable, de Blob would be in trouble, as the gameplay doesn't get much more complicated--thankfully, as we learned in childhood, it's a lot of fun making a mess. Careening through the municipal obstacle course and spattering paint onto every available surface is a relaxing operation. Chaining combinations of wall jumps and leaping over multiple buildings in a single blobby bound earns you more points, and after earning a certain amount, the next level is opened. Every time the Blob absorbs a new color it gets larger in size, which is denoted by a sort of Grinch-like fatness chart in the bottom right corner of the screen. When a police patrol hits the Blob, it not only shrinks, but is infected with a black paint, which trails behind it, scarring the once-colorful urban portrait. The player must roll the round character into a pool of water, washing away the inky substance before continuing on. These little touches were charming, but I found myself wanting more of them. For instance, music also plays a role in de Blob, but not to the extent that I wanted. When the Blob enters an oppressive courthouse and matches to a corresponding color, the building transforms into a giant symphonic horn section, earning the player some extra points. Different colored buildings also produce different changes to the musical score as the Blob squishes and squashes to and fro. However, these musical touches weren't immediately apparent. After only a few buildings, the track's simple beats were unchanged for the duration of the level, leaving the score feeling as bland as the once-gray buildings. Every city in de Blob has a theme, with the one I played being based around a bridge that lead to the next area. In all, the developers at Blue Tongue are planning 12-16 full levels, each taking an estimated 20-25 minutes to complete. In addition to gaining access to new levels, unspecified unlockables will be part of the incentive to gain high scores and fully explore the world. A full multiplayer mode is planned, with multiple Blobs causing kaleidoscopic havoc. Ultimately, there really is no finish line in de Blob. You move on to new areas, and you gain more points, and you get fatter. It's hard to imagine being intensely motivated to move from level to level, although the simplistic story and gameplay aren't engrossing to the point of necessitating a satisfying reward. A THQ representative likened de Blob to the act of popping bubblewrap, and I would agree. Like bubblewrap, de Blob is a mindless, yet oddly satisfying distraction at heart. If you are a goal-oriented gamer, you'll probably find the game a rather boring experience. If you find yourself easily endeared to quirky, open-ended titles, then de Blob might hold your interest--provided Blue Tongue can add a little more depth before its release in 2008. Using the same assets as the Wii title, THQ developer Helixe will be bringing de Blob to the DS sometime next year.

Another Independent Games Festival award nominee has been absorbed into the retail world. De Blob, originally developed by Utrecht School of Arts students in the Netherlands, was today announced by THQ for release on the Wii and Nintendo DS. De Blob puts players in control of a Katamari-esque sphere, which rolls through highly-stylized cityscapes while spreading a trail of paint in its wake. The primary objective is to color buildings by slamming the blob into them, thus returning the drab city to its cheerful nature. Different paints are acquired and mixed by consuming citizens with variably colored shirts. The Wii version is being developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment, with the DS game being handled by Helixe. Both versions will take advantage of their respective systems' control mechanics to enable movement of the blob. "In the spirit of some of Nintendo's most innovative properties, de Blob's simple game mechanic will be fun and easy for core and casual gamers to learn and reveal unbelievably addicting levels of depth and complexity as they progress through the game," said THQ executive Kelly Flock. De Blob was a finalist in this year's IGF student competition. Fellow IGF nominee NinjaBee recently had its strategy title Band of Bugs published on Xbox Live Arcade. More information on de Blob will be released at next week's E3. In the meantime, the original PC game can be downloaded here.