Grrr!


LATEST NEWS from DIGITAL EEL

December 20, 2007

December 15, 2007

Hot nooz: James Fudge over at GameShark just posted a warm and glowy review of Soup du Jour. In it, he mentions that Soup du Jour boasts "simple match-four gameplay with some fun physics that put the match game genre on its proverbial ass." Well, we might not have put it exactly that way but we sure couldn't say it better! Thanks to Prophet and everyone at GameShark for your support --and appreciation of all things stretchy and rubbery!

Click here to read James' hands-on critique of Soup du Jour.

Ripcord out.


December 1, 2007

November 29, 2007

THE BOX IS OPEN AND THE BLOB IS LOOSE!

Just in time to stuff into your virtual holiday stockings, Digital Eel hereby declares that Big Box of Blox and Dr. Blob's Organism are now FREE! Yep, that's TWO games for the low, low price of $0! How can this be, you ask? Because it's that time of year when everyone should be thinking about sharing, absolutely, and we want to show our gratitude to gamers (you know who you are) for supporting us --but also because free stuff is fun!

The best part is yet to come. This applies to BOTH the Mac and PC versions of these games!

Big Box of Blox is Digital Eel's first attempt to skewer the matching game genre (something we seem to like to do from time to time, ahem), with five different game variants, eye-popping art by Phosphorous and one of Digital Eel's more bizarre sound productions. You don't want to miss this one, especially for free! So, as we say: "Enter the Asylum, visit the Mushroom King and spin the Wheels of Fortune with Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox!" Click here to go get it.

The IGF double award winning Dr. Blob's Organism is a frenetic shoot 'em up based on John Conway's Game of Life. Players blast feisty one-celled organisms as they try to escape from a petri dish. Each level in the game introduces new powerups and more dangerous organisms with special abilities. Playing this game, you will learn to fear the word mitosis even as you get sucked in by the visuals, music (lots of tracks!), lightning-fast gameplay, and moist and squishy sound effects. Okay, no more waiting. Click here to blast blobs.

Enjoy!


November 26, 2007

Quick update: You can watch a Soup du Jour gameplay video here and check out levels 7 and 8. Note: This is the "home movie" version, rated S for soupy!

Ripcord out.


November 22, 2007

Digital Eel Presents

Now available for PC gamers!

Just in time for the holidays, Digital Eel is pleased to invite you to join Le Chef in his kitchen and help him make everyone's favorite treat, candy Soup du Jour!

Soup du Jour is a matching game like no other, with rubbery physics, stretchy sound effects and rule-breaking gameplay. Tug and toss colorful candies. Bring them together and watch them burst! Making candy soup is easy --until Le Chef swaps pans or the Kitchen Gremlin arrives!

Soup du Jour is giddy fun for all ages AND it comes in two delicious flavors for your gaming pleasure: free demo and full version. Click here to go to the Soup du Jour website for more details, screenshots and ordering info. Download the Soup du Jour demo here. --And take a gander at that price. We think you'll like it.

Ripcord out.


November 15, 2007

Quick update: As mentioned in the Shrapnel Games newsletter, the box cover art for Eat Electric Death! is now available as a desktop wallpaper. (Pictured below in the previous post.) One zipfile; 6 sizes included. Click here to download!

Ripcord out.


November 6, 2007

Eat Electric Death! Preorders Begin!
Read the Press Release

Eat Electric Death! is a tactical space combat boardgame based on the alien races and starships from Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space and Strange Adventures In Infinite Space. Two or more players each control a flotilla of capital ships and fighters, and duke it out in the cold, dark arena of Infinite Space.

Remember, in space, no one can hear you scream...except the other guy across the gaming table. Eat Electric Death! combat is brutal and decisive. This is no game for lily-livered space gamers. It's clobberin' time!

Eat Electric Death! is easy to learn. Bookkeeping is kept to a bare minimum. Cool optional and advanced rules are provided, but even so, the overall difficulty of the game is never overwhelming.

Eat Electric Death! features 20 different starships and fighters, including cloakers, carriers, teleporters and a special, very powerful super-destroyer. The game also includes an assortment of challenging scenarios, asteroids, wormholes, a Terran battlestation, the infamous Particle Vortex Cannon and 7 alien races from Weird Worlds: Terran, Garthan, Tan Ru, Zorg, Urluquai, Klakar and, of course, the dreaded Yellow Kawangi.

If you want to be the first in your space sector to own and play Eat Electric Death! warp speed over to Shrapnel Games for more information, to see game component examples and to preorder your copy. Also note the pre-release special that Shrapnel is offering: Save $7.00 until December 31. Sweet!

Ripcord out.


October 1, 2007

Weird Worlds v1.22 Patch for Mac & PC

Hot off the Hyperwire: The Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space v1.22 patch has been released for both the PC & Mac versions of the game --which brings the version numbers together at last. Smooch! A small update for Windows; a giant leap for Mac! Read more about it and grab the patch here.

Ripcord out.


September 23, 2007

Hot off the Hyperwire: Digital Eel's very first game, Plasmaworm (quite possibly the coolest Snake game in the Five Galaxies), is now absolutely FREE! You get the FULL GAME plus level passwords with no strings attached. Check it out: 360 degree movement; in-game level, music and plasma editors; solo or 2-player co-op or deathmatch modes; guns; bosses; cosmic ducks; the works! CLICK HERE to download the 2MB installer. Click here to view system requirements. Time to get plasmangled!


August 11, 2007

MORE FUN THAN HUMANS...

Click here to go to Shrapnel's Weird Worlds site.

Click here to get the Mac OS X Boiler Plate Special.

Click here to go to the Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox website.

Click here to go to the Dr. Blob's Organism website.

Click here to go to the Strange Adventures in Infinite Space website.

Click here to go to the Plasmaworm website.

...SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAVE

July 9, 2007

Congrats and Happy Birthday to Shrapnel Games! Nine years ago, Shrapnel was but a gleam in Tim Brooks' eye. Eight years ago Shrapnel was born. Cute in its sleeper and booties, Shrapnel googooed, then crawled, then walked, then grew up. Now fully matured (eight game development years equals 56 human years --just ask any game developer!) Shrapnel Games has become the most successful niche publisher of strategy games. This is no mean feat. Just try starting up a game company sometime and you'll soon learn that it is not all fun and games. Well, actually it is mostly fun and games. I fibbed just then.

To Annette, Tim, Mindi, Richard, Scott and all involved, may the HMS Shrapnel (?) sail for eight more and then some, and thanks for having Digital Eel aboard!

Meanwhile, Shrapnel has a little party going on in celebration. You can read the eighth anniversary press release here, the developer comments page here and the website news page here. We hope you'll stop by and check out Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space too, and buy whole bunches of them --because Shrapnel also has a groovy sale happening until July 22. Who can resist?


June 11, 2007


Weird Worlds stuff, T-shirt Central, Mousepadville and Iikka's Mystery
Zone, all in one handy location. Click here and enter at your own risk!

May 16, 2007

Coming Soon from Shrapnel Games and Digital Eel

Tactical starship combat in your living room!

April 1, 2007

Aliens Abduct Digital Eel Staff!

Update: 12:05pm PST: Approximately three weeks ago while vacationing at the already infamous Digital Eel Electric Eel Ranch located in a remote area of southwestern Idaho Bill, Iikka and Rich were (it is alleged) confronted by aliens from another world and then "taken up" into a large "flying saucer." Various witnesses describe the craft as being shaped like "a floating shoehorn," a "fishing lure" or even a "large inverted Wok with vegetables falling out of it."

Needless to say, these accounts were mostly ignored by local authorities, yet the complete disappearance of the trio of gamemakers was noted by police and FBI officials as being "a bit strange since most game developers never leave their subterranean caves."

Nevertheless, their sudden reappearance last night at a Starbucks in Bellevue Washington ("they just popped into view," said one observer) wearing inflatable shoes and animatronic fedoras (which tipped their hats automatically at strangers), was greeted with surprise and, in some cases, fits of derisive laughter, even as the trio attempted, in vain perhaps, to calm several over-caffinated customers by chanting "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog" over and over. This would explain the prominent bruises on their heads noted by medical professionals early this morning.

A leaked transcript of official testimonies gathered by law enforcement officials was published today in local Seattle papers. Bill "Phosphorous" Sears described the "aliens" as "sluglike and smelly...but friendly and obviously very advanced." Iikka added "they exude a scintillating slime trail that beckons you to follow it...that's how we ended up on their ship." Yet Rich's responses seemed to contradict these statements. "All I remember was dancing on a cloud of fresh pork with a strange creature shaped like a giant potato," he said, obviously perplexing everyone.

Also, Digital Eel flatly denied the use of "probes" as recounted by so many others who have made similar claims of alien abduction.

"We're glad to be back though" Bill added. "I missed my family but I did manage to bring back some souvenirs. Check out this weird pulsating pentakisdodecahedron. It receives radio broadcasts from the past. Also, if you add water, it makes its own sauce."

Clearly, whatever happened, the game developers were seriously affected. "I feel violated...by a giant potato," Rich complained. "You don't just recover from that overnight." Iikka was concerned as well. "I don't think this is over. In fact, I was handed a bill --I have it right here-- demanding 47,252 tons of nickel as payment for services rendered, or else the earth will be destroyed."

Still, undaunted, the Digital Eel crew have returned to the Mystery Kitchen to resume work on their latest projects. "I think we we're affected," Bill stated. "I'm sure we were. But we were always weird so it shouldn't be a big deal."

While this case may be classified for some time as "unsolved" or even "a hoax," plans are in the works, according to Digital Eel, for a film version of their recent misadventure. Planned as a musical farce, Digital Eel claims that it will be "the first all-singing all-dancing alien abduction movie."

'Nuff said. Meanwhile, all we can do is wait with baited breath, whatever that means.

Ripcord out.


March 12, 2007

Something new from Digital Eel? Yes, so stay tuned! The top secret Eelworks X-Project, a joint effort by The Mystery Kitchen and Shrapnel Games, will be revealed very soon. (Tip: The clues are everywhere.)

GDC news: Congratulations to the Independent Games Festival finalists and winners! We couldn't be there this year, darn it, but we send positive waves of good luck and good gaming to all of you. Way to go!

Also, congrats to Greg Costikyan of Manifesto Games for winning the International Game Developer's Association Maverick Award! As one of the first indie and alternative game boosters, and as one who bravely decided to walk the walk, Greg certainly deserves this recognition. And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Ripcord out.


February 8, 2007

We're happy to annouce a brand new print run for Weird Worlds and the new hybrid Mac/PC disk now available from Shrapnel Games which combines both the PC version and the Mac version on one CD. Read the press release here. Get the free Weird Worlds demo here!

And remember, happiness is a warm particle vortex cannon. So, "Eat electric death, alien scum!"

Ripcord out.


January 17, 2007

Digital Eel gets Wired! Thanks to an article about Greg Costikyan and Manifesto Games, Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, the game that inspired Weird Worlds, is featured --along with a quick selection of other neato indie games available at Manifesto-- in the January issue of Wired magazine. How cool is that? Now we feel like real cyber hepcats. Well... Actually, we feel like ourselves, but we can pretend, can't we? A big Digital Eel hug (Ewww... Tentacles.) to Greg and all at Manifesto (and Wired!) for the spotlight!

Ripcord out.


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All content and images copyright 2001-2007 R. Carlson, I. Keranen and Phosphorous
"The Universe Is Expanding" is copyright 2004 by Digital Eel and Cheapass Games