AWoK Video Preview up on GameSpot

This last week GameSpot featured A World of Keflings in an episode of it's video podcast "On The Spot!" The video gives a preview of the new dynamic split-screen local co-op feature as well as a couple other new features.

Check it out here: A World of Keflings GameSpot Video Preview

The Keflings action starts about the 19 minute mark.

Enjoy!

A World of Keflings Trailer!!!

Be warned: This is not your same old Keflings game.

A World of Keflings will also be making it's big debut at PAX. If you're coming come and find us! NinjaBee won't be exhibiting, but the game will be available to play at Microsoft's booth!

The Digital Future is Near

Game Disc Supporters Still Clinging to False Hope

I recently read an article online that demonstrates how those who believe that that the main method of distribution of games will be on a disc that is sold in retail store, may just not be making a sound evaluation of the facts.

Here is a link to the article: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/report-debunks-disc-is-dead-claims

Article Summary

The headline on this article reads …Report debunks “disc is dead”. This conclusion is drawn because of results of a study. The article also claims that “80 to 90 percent of videogames bought in 2009 were on physical media” The key statement that everything in this article appears to be centered around is “According to the Entertainment Merchants Association, combined DVD and Blu-ray disc sales totalled $17.9 billion in 2009, nine times the revenue generated by digital distribution.”

Future not the Past

My first question is has anyone ever claimed that the disc is already dead? My belief is that digital distribution will overtake disc distribution soon. The disc won't even “die” soon it will just be overshadowed by digital. This report covers 2009 and not it’s about this year, or even more important, it has little to do with the next couple of years. Even more interesting is that the decision to put effort and money into the digital games released in 2009 most likely was made in 2008 and in some cases in 2007. I’m more interested in how much effort is going into digital games now and next year than I am about decision made two years ago.

Number of Games VS. Gross Revenue

It also appears that the study results didn’t compare the number of games purchased but instead compared gross revenue. This actually makes the claim that 80% to 90% of the video games purchased were bought on physical media inaccurate. Instead the real fact is that 80% to 90% of the gross revenue came from retail games. If only 90% of the revenue came from retail games that can cost 6 times as much as a $10 downloadable game, the actual percentage of digital games purchased would be much higher than this article suggests. A real percentage of digital games sold might paint a very different picture of the state of the industry.

Profitability is the Key

Of course revenue is important and in some ways reveals more important information than the number of games sold. But again, I also wonder how this article would change if the study revealed profitability instead of just gross revenue. Some important questions need to be answered to give a clear picture. How much more money was spent on the retail titles compared to digital in 2009? How much smaller is the percentage, of that gross number, that publisher earns on a retail game compared to a digital game? How much of the money included in gross earnings for a retail game goes to the retail stores, making the disc, shipping, returns, etc.? Profitability is what will really drive the market not gross revenue.

Missing Information

I’m also not sure what they included in the research study. Did they count all of the iPhone games, Facebook games, MMo subscription fees or money earned from in-game advertising of digital games? Did the study only count full game sales or did they also count DLC and all of the other extras that often accompany a digitally distributed game?

Current Example

I read the other day that over 20 million copies of DLC have been sold for the latest Call of Duty game alone. At an average of $10-$15 that provides some huge numbers. This fact alone makes it appear that digital game downloads are a lot bigger right now than this article implies. What does this mean for the next couple of years?

More Evidence

This article has a link to another article that seems to discredit the assumption made in the title. The second article claims “US PC game digital downloads are reaching parity with in-store purchases”. The study that the second article focuses on seems to count the number of games sold and not necessarily the gross revenue. However, no matter how you look at those numbers, it seems like digital distribution in the PC market is huge. Did the author just ignore this information or does the new research study somehow cancel out this previous information.

Don’t be fooled by the unbelievers. The digital gaming future is very close.

New Keflings coming in A World of Keflings

Meet Doug.

Doug is not your average Kefling.

You'll meet a new type of Kefling when A World of Keflings releases later this year - the builders. For the first time, certain Keflings will actually be able to help you carry building pieces and, in some cases, build buildings for you. Not bad for a guy who would trouble reaching the light switches in your house.

Also, Doug is addicted to Facebook. If you friend him you just might see him hinting stuff about the upcoming game from time to time.

Become Doug Kefling's friend here!

Even blogs need vacations... sometimes

A little blog goes a long way...

You've probably wondered what happened to this blog, or asked yourself, "What's gives NinjaBee? Don't you love us anymore?" Well, our poor little blog was pooped and needed a vacation to recharge. But great news, the blog is back!

Lucky for you, being its inter-web savvy bloggy self, it took some pictures to share it's holiday with you! Isn't it a cyute widdle foughtful bloggy woggy?

A Kingdom for Keflings arrives on PC with sale of Kelfing-tine proportions

Limited-time 50% off sale kicks off today’s PC release of A Kingdom for Keflings

Whoever said bigger was better? Today Independent video games developer NinjaBee announced it has released its award-winning game, A Kingdom for Keflings, with a fitting promotion - for a limited time you can start building a kingdom for those half-sized Keflings for half the price.

NinjaBee President and co-owner Steve Taylor had the following comments about the new game:

“Keflings with a mouse?

Snow falling on tiny hats,

On my home PC!”

A Kingdom for Keflings became available to purchase for today exclusively on NinjaBee.com for the discounted price of $9.99 USD. The special 50% off offer will last for just more than two weeks through April 7, 2010. Following the sale the game will return to its full price of $19.95 USD. At that time A Kingdom for Keflings will also be made available through other video game distribution portals.

The PC version includes four new playable giants not included in the Xbox LIVE® Arcade version, bringing the total number to eight characters players can choose from to help build up and customize kingdoms for the tiny Keflings. Featuring a light-hearted, play-at-your-own-pace style of gameplay with beautiful visuals and catchy, frolicsome music, A Kingdom for Keflings offers players a relaxing, fun experience that is unexpectedly addictive.

The popular, innovative city-building title originally arrived on Xbox LIVE Arcade on Nov. 19, 2008 and more than a year later remains among the downloadable service’s most downloaded titles. A Kingdom for Keflings was voted the 2008 Xbox LIVE Arcade Award-winner for Best Family Game.

The PC version does not include the option to play as your customizable Xbox avatar.

Download the free trial here: http://www.ninjabee.com/a-kingdom-for-keflings-pc/.

We love St. Patrick's Day SOOO much! Have free iPhone games!

Scaireanna NinjaBee réir bhrí an fíor Lá Fhéile Pádraig

OREM, Utah – March 17, 2010 – Nothing says “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” like free games for your iPhone™, right? Maybe? Okay… so it’s just a blatant excuse for a sale. But as luck would have it, independent video games developer NinjaBee is making the most of the Irish holiday by giving away all of its games for iPhone and iPod touch for free!

“Why are we doing it? We just really like Irish people,” said Brent O’Fox, Art Director at NinjaBee. “And it’s not just the people; it’s the other stuff too. We’re big fans of corned beef, Lucky Charms, shamrocks, leprechauns and the color green. Oh, and Tom Cruise’s accent from Far and Away.”

For a short period of time NinjaBee’s three iPhone games, Kaloki Adventure, Kaloki Love and Kaloki War, will be available for free on the iTunes App Store. Together the three games contain the full content (including DLC) from NinjaBee’s Xbox LIVE® Arcade title, Outpost Kaloki X, which was among the original games released when the downloadable service’s debut in 2005.

“I trace the inspiration for these games back to my Irish roots,” said NinjaBee CFO Lane McKiriyama. “Why, when I was a kid back in Dublin it seemed like the only thing anyone ever talked about was growing up to become space station managers.”

So what does this mean for the average St. Patrick’s Day celebrant? They too can fulfill their Irish childhood dream of building up centers of commerce in deep space, falling in love with strange robot women and defending their customers from onslaughts of hostile attacking ships.

The free Kaloki space station tycoon games for iPhone can be found by clicking these links to the iTunes App Store.

Kaloki Adventure: http://linktoapp.com/kaloki+adventure

Kaloki Love: http://linktoapp.com/kaloki+love

Kaloki War: http://linktoapp.com/kaloki+war

The three apps regularly sell for $1.99, $0.99 and $1.99 USD respectively. Interested iPhone users should act quickly, or like those wee leprechauns, this opportunity will disappear.

Short delay

Earlier this week we hinted via Twitter that the PC version of A Kingdom for Keflings would be released this week. We weren't able to make this happen and have to postpone the release temporarily. We're sorry for the delay and especially sorry for the disappointment. It's only fair that we let you know why.

NinjaBee.com is pretty outdated and has been in need of an update for a while. We've redesigned the site and were getting ready to launch it this week but ran into some technical problems that delayed the transfer to the new site. Since A Kingdom for Keflings PC will initially only be available for download at NinjaBee.com we wanted to ensure the site works without any problems first.

Again, we're sorry! We'll have some news soon about the release.

Ancients of Ooga - First Screenshots

It’s time for a first look at NinjaBee’s next Xbox LIVE® Arcade original title, Ancients of Ooga, the upcoming action-adventure platformer from development team J. Kenworthy Entertainment, the team that created Cloning Clyde.

These screenshots from an early beta version of the game reveal a first look into the Oogani world where this new action-adventure platformer takes place.

Though not a sequel to Cloning Clyde, developers of the title consider Ancients of Ooga to be the classic XLA game’s spiritual successor. The game was heavily influenced by Cloning Clyde, taking on characteristics like extremely unique gameplay, a distinct artistic style, a cast of characters bursting with personality, and a dose of random, silly humor.

“The Ooganis aren’t your typical heroes,” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s art director. “But that’s what makes this game so fun to play. They’re quirky, bizarre, and at times borderline foul. An Oogani’s world is centered around eating. You have to eat, chant, dance and even puke your way through the primeval land of Ooga. This is definitely the most gluttonous game you’ll play in 2010 – it’s gonna be out of this world!”

Ancients of Ooga is set in a bizarre, tribal universe where, to the Ooganis, it’s customary to eat anything you can get your hands on. Meet, befriend, and finally acquire several other zany Oogani tribes. Uncover their lost, ancient powers and exploit their abilities to lead them in a revolt against the tyrannical Boolis. There are over 50 amazing levels, great replay, plus, narcotic slugs that make you loopy!

This 2 1/2D-side-scrolling adventure is packed with puzzle solving, bad-guy fighting, ladder-climbing, catapulting, strange-object eating, puking enjoyment. Nearly anything is edible: dried wormies, charcoal, peppers, and yes, even your Oogani brothers. But be careful what you eat – while some objects can give your Oogani special powers, others won’t have such a pleasant effect.

A World of Keflings Coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade

NinjaBee announces sequel to hugely popular XLA title, A Kingdom for Keflings

OREM, Utah – Feb. 2, 2010 – It’s official. Those oddly cute, yet addictively sweet Keflings are back… in a big way. Independent video games developer NinjaBee has confirmed that A World of Keflings, a sequel to the enormously popular A Kingdom for Keflings, is coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade in 2010.

“A World of Keflings is much more than a sequel,” said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. “It's a new game with a ton of new features, including some innovative ideas that stand out from both Live Arcade and full retail games. A World of Keflings also has a new story focus, with new exotic lands, characters, quests, buildings, customization options, and a lot more.”

A World of Keflings is the bigger, more complete chronicle of the Kefling world where players can play as their Xbox LIVE® avatar and explore and build in the different Kefling lands. Each new kingdom has its own climate and Kefling culture. In addition, each kingdom contains its own unique resources, buildings and tech tree.

“When we set out to make a second Keflings game we decided that we were going to do it right and make it a whole new experience that clearly was bigger and better than the first,” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s Art Director. “A World of Keflings captures all the charm and casual-style of play of the first game, but adds more depth, humor and a ton of features players have requested.”

One of the most asked-for features included in the Keflings sequel is local multiplayer. Players will be able to build an entire world for the Keflings together with their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, kids, friends or whomever on the same console.

NinjaBee has been teasing concept art for the new game each week this month. To see the revealed artwork visit www.NinjaBee.com/blog/. NinjaBee plans to release A World of Keflings later this year, though a specific release date has not yet been established.

A World of Keflings is NinjaBee’s third XLA title to support playable avatars and is the second title NinjaBee has announced it is bringing to XLA in 2010. The other, Ancients of Ooga, was announced last fall.

And the new game is...!

We're sorry... but our game announcement is in another castle.



Exclusive reveal at IGN.com: http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/106/1064967p1.html

XBLA Game Announcement Coming Thursday!

You may have noticed, there's no new art today:( That's because this week's new art will be included with the game's official announcement.

Sorry to keep you waiting, but check back on Thursday for the big announcement about our next XBLA avatar game!

New Avatar Game Concept Art - Week 3

Here's some more art from our next XBLA game with playable avatars to hold you over till next week's official announcement! If you have a guess as to what the game is, weigh in with a comment!

New Concept Art for Upcoming XBLA Game w/Avatars - Week 2

As promised, here's another installment of concept art from our next new Xbox Live Arcade game with playable avatars. Check back next Tuesday for more new art from the game!

Another New XBLA Game with Avatars!

It's time for another big announcement: NinjaBee is working on another game for Xbox Live Arcade with playable avatars!

The Project
We're going to make the official announcement with more details about the game at the end of the month, but every week in January we're going to give you a look at what we're working on.

Just check back each Tuesday and you can get a first look at concept art of what we've got in production. (Note: This game is NOT Ancients of Ooga, another new game we're bringing to Live Arcade in 2010.)

Can you figure out what this game is all about?

More Concept Art

A Kingdom for Keflings - Deal of the Week!

Happy New Year everyone! A Kingdom for Keflings is this week's Deal of the Week on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Gold members can pick it up for just 400 Microsoft Points! http://bit.ly/4LAPdU

It's a New Years Miracle!

A Kingdom for Keflings DLC Preview

Take a look at the new DLC for a Kingdom for Keflilngs. This video has a sneak peak at a feature from an upcoming game we haven't announced yet.

As for the price of the DLC, each of the two Kingdom Packs will cost 160 Microsoft Points.

More Kingdoms for your Keflings

NinjaBee announces first DLC for A Kingdom for Keflings

OREM, Utah – Worsening conditions due to overpopulation in Kefling Kingdoms has prompted drastic action by independent video games developer NinjaBee, announcing today it would act quickly and decisively to resolve the problem by providing four new kingdoms as downloadable content for its popular Xbox LIVE® Arcade title, A Kingdom for Keflings.

NinjaBee has also set a date, promising the new Kingdoms would be available for Keflings and avatars alike on Dec. 9, 2009.

“To be honest, it’s about time!” said one giant avatar who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s gotten to the point where you can’t even turn around without kicking one of those little guys. It’s getting out of hand, I mean, they’re like rabbits!”

The new DLC is the first to be released for the avatar-based XBLA title and will be released separately as Kingdom Pack 1 and Kingdom Pack 2, each containing two new playable kingdoms.

Kingdom Pack 1

This Kingdom Pack brings a fresh perspective to the original game with brand new Kingdom layouts. The Orchard Kingdom puts some new and interesting twists on the Classic Kingdom, and Kingdom Crossroads gives a new pace to your game. Luckily, the Keflings are still just as nice in both Kingdoms.

Kingdom Pack 2

The new layouts in this Kingdom Pack are not for the faint Giant at heart. The mysterious Relic Kingdom will force you to explore every inch of the map to find your way around, and the challenging Central Kingdom is definitely meant for the more advanced player. Previous Kefling management experience is a plus.

Screenshots
Take a look at just a few images taken from the new Kingdoms.

A recent update to A Kingdom for Keflings made the new DLC possible adding a new menu where players choose the map they wish to play. The update also made Keflings stronger, allowing transporters to carry three resources instead of one, and protected online games from griefers, making hosts and their friends the only players who can destroy buildings.

Vote for 'Sposion Man!

We've got a quick plug for some of our good friends and fellow indie developers, Twisted Pixel:

Have you played 'Splosion Man yet on Xbox LIVE Arcade? If you haven't you should check it out, we highly recommend it. It's a really cool, fun game and it's been selected in the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards as a nominee for Best Indie Game.

This year the winners will largely be decided from the public vote, so if you're a 'Splosion Man fan you should go show your support for 'Splosion Man and Twisted Pixel by giving it your vote on Spike TV's Web site. You can vote now by clicking here!

A Kingdom for Keflings coming to PC

Beta testers wanted

Orem, Utah – Nov. 13, 2009 – NinjaBee, a division of Wahoo Studios and a leading independent video games developer, has announced its award-winning Xbox LIVE® Arcade title, A Kingdom for Keflings, is coming to PC.

“Bringing A Kingdom for Keflings to the PC audience has been a priority for us.” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s Art Director. “It’s been a runaway hit on XLA and we are offering the same, high-quality game on the PC. We are proud and we’re excited to finally make it available to so many of those who haven’t been able to play before.”

The popular, innovative city-building game originally arrived on Xbox LIVE Arcade on Nov. 19, 2008 and a year later remains among the downloadable service’s most downloaded titles. Featuring a light-hearted, play-at-your-own-pace style of gameplay with beautiful visuals and catchy, frolicsome music, A Kingdom for Keflings offers players a relaxing, fun experience that is unexpectedly addictive. A Kingdom for Keflings was voted the 2008 Xbox LIVE Arcade Award-winner for Best Family Game.

No official release date has been announced, but NinjaBee is beginning beta testing and is accepting applications for beta testers. Interested persons should visit NinjaBee’s forums (http://ninjabee.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17969) for details on how to apply. Testers will receive a free copy of the game in exchange for their feedback.

For more information about A Kingdom For Keflings visit http://ninjabee.com/akfk/index.html.

About NinjaBee

NinjaBee, located in Orem, Utah, began developing games in 2004. With every game they make, NinjaBee’s goal is to create a unique, top-quality, fun experience for people of all ages. Their popular titles include Outpost Kaloki X, Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs, Boingz, Doritos Dash of Destruction and A Kingdom for Keflings.

For more information, please contact the numbers above or visit http://www.NinjaBee.com.

Wahoo Studios and NinjaBee are registered trademarks of Wahoo Studios, Inc. All other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2009 Wahoo Studios, Inc., All Rights Reserved.