Vivendi acquires Wanako Games

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Feb 20th 2007 at 12:25PM }

Vivendi Games has announced its acquisition of the largest game development studio in Latin America, Wanako Games. Best known for its Xbox Live Arcade title, Assault Heroes, Wanako is expected to bolster Vivendi's Sierra Online division and expand its presence in the exceedingly colorful world of digitially distributed games. Wanako is currently working on 3-D Ultra Minigolf Adventures for Xbox Live Arcade.

Wanako founder, Esteban Sosnik, seems pleased as punch by Vivendi's decision. "In working with Sierra Online on Assault Heroes it quickly became clear that our companies shared the same core values in game development and by joining together we could develop and deliver amazing products," he says. Indeed, this enhanced collaboration might just grant Wanako and Sierra Online the ability to develop and deliver an amazing patch for Assault Heroes, which has suffered from broken online multiplayer since its release over two months ago.

Tags: 3-D Ultra Minigolf Adventures, 3-dUltraMinigolfAdventures, Assault Heroes, AssaultHeroes, Sierra Online, SierraOnline, Vivendi Games, VivendiGames, Wanako Games, WanakoGames, XBLA, Xbox Live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Blue_Falcon @ Feb 20th 2007 1:15PM

I remember buying the games the day it was released, but I never tried the online until...well I never attempted to try the online until this past weekend, and I never got a single match in. All I got up to was a loading screen...every single time.

It pains me to see an XBLA title this good be stuck with this kind of problem for well over 2 months.

rei @ Feb 20th 2007 1:34PM

While Wanako did rework the game, it's a shame all original credit for the Dynamix team was excised.

"The game while 99% finished, went unreleased for 5 years until Wanako finished the game with Sierra Online in 2006. The majority of the original game still exists in Minigolf Adventures, with graphical tweaks to the existing holes, removal of characters with human players, and other hole additions."

"All original game credits from the Dynamix team have been removed from the Wanako version despite the majority of the game being created by Dynamix 5 years ago."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Ultra_Minigolf_Adventures

GolfDude @ Feb 20th 2007 5:47PM

thanks for the credit REI :) i was the one who worked with the dynamix team on the game, and the one who posted that blurb on wikipedia :D

us who worked on it have been following this shame by sierra.. we knew something was up,, and i guess this merger was it..