EA, Spielberg break out Boom Blox for Wii, mobile

by Jason Dobson { Feb 6th 2008 at 10:15AM }

Electronic Arts has announced the initial details surrounding Boom Blox, the first collaboration between movie mogul Steven Spielberg and EA Los Angeles. Revealed last December, and expected to be featured during a panel at this month's annual Game Developer's Conference, the "high-energy" family-friendly puzzler is scheduled to debut this May for the Wii, with a version for mobile phones expected to drop sometime in the spring.

While details are light, EA notes that Boom Blox will boast more than 300 levels, a cast of more than 30 "wacky" characters, "full real-time physics model," and an in-game level editor that promises to let players "remix any level," which include Tiki, Haunted, Medieval, and Frontier, themed backdrops. EA also promises that once created, players will be able to share their masterpieces with their friends over the Wii's online service. While we may all have grown weary of the Wii's casual focus, it's hard not to get at least a little excited for this game given Spielberg's involvement. Then again, he did make A.I.

[Update: GameDaily has an interview up with the game's creator at EA, Louis Castle – along with the exclusive trailer embedded just after the break.]

Gallery: Boom Blox

Tags: boom-blox, breakingnews, ea, electronic-arts, steven-spielberg

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

slickestjg @ Feb 6th 2008 10:20AM

Not to be a dick - Edit: Spielberg

paragraph @ Feb 6th 2008 10:25AM

:\

Any game who's two biggest platforms are Wii and Cellphone isn't a game.. sorry, it has to be said.

Though, i do like the idea... however i think they should concider calling the characters "zany" rather than "wacky".

As long as it's $25 or under no-one should be dissapointed.

Grog @ Feb 6th 2008 10:31AM

So far the God of War franchise is to be found on PS2 (the least powerful console in two generations) and cellphones. Does that mean it's not a game either?

paragraph @ Feb 6th 2008 10:40AM

@Grog

It makes the cellphone port not a game... a cellphone is a phone, not a game console. You COULD play Zork on a rotary phone... should you... hell no...

*glare*

either way, the PS2 isn't a shovelware / gimmick platform. The Wii has so much untapped potential... but right not it just isn't a game console... sure, you can play games on it... but do you really want to? Other than Brawl are there any really good games? (NMH is good, Galaxy is good too... but really... can you name another one?) Even then, the ratio of good games to utter crap rules it out as a real console... i'd rather rock my Dreamcast than my Wii...

Before you start hating, i have a Wii, i love it, but it's just not a real game console... it's sure as shit better than a Tamagatchi, but it's not a game console... because game consoles have decent games...

-_-

Nigeria @ Feb 6th 2008 10:42AM

God of War isn't a game.

It's a QTE exercise.

*what is becoming of me

smartguy1600 @ Feb 6th 2008 10:53AM

@paragraph, to add to your list:

Trauma Center: New Blood
Battalion Wars 2
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (I found it fun)
Zack and Wiki
Fire Emblem
Metroid Prime 3
Zelda
SSX Blur
Guitar Hero 3

There are more I assure you. This isn't to say that PS2 is crap, because it's not. I loved God of War, I love alot of games, Wii or otherwise. But part of gaming is having fun. And I had fun playing all of these games on my Wii, so I'm satisfied, thank you.

Dr. Jerk Face @ Feb 6th 2008 10:54AM

@ paragraph

Super Paper Mario
Metroid Prime 3 (So incredibly underrated)

Anni @ Feb 6th 2008 11:25AM

"the PS2 isn't a shovelware / gimmick platform"
"the PS2 isn't a shovelware platform"
"the PS2 isn't shovelware"
"PS2 not shovelware"

Massive, MASSIVE lol straight from me to you, friend.

Anyone who ignores PS2's shovelware library is either blind or twelve.

Ethan @ Feb 6th 2008 11:47AM

Mr Driller on my phone is amazing!

Nigeria @ Feb 6th 2008 10:29AM

"wacky characters" and "full real-time physics" for a game about blocks?

That chicken looks distressed. I worry for it/he/she.

Dr. Jerk Face @ Feb 6th 2008 10:32AM

It seems to involve multiplayer stupidity and blowing things up. It might be okay. *shrug* I won't hate on it yet.

jdeuel @ Feb 6th 2008 10:34AM

"Then again, he did make A.I."

..Out of respect he FINISHED the movie for his then-recently deceased freiend, Stanly Kubrick...

Andy S. @ Feb 6th 2008 10:42AM

Not finished.

Ruined.

jdeuel @ Feb 6th 2008 10:58AM

According to RottenTomatoes, more than 2 out of 3 critics would disagree

And speaking for myself, I thought it was quite an enjoyable movie

FidliousWong @ Feb 6th 2008 11:16AM

Going with Andy on this one. Tahnks to Spielbergs inability to foster tension and dark ovetones of hopelessness, he ruined AI and essentially took Kubricks film and added two sequels within the same movie.

Seriously, AI felt like three different movies and Kubricks work on that film stands out as the ONLY reason to tolerate that film's existance.

Blue_Falcon @ Feb 6th 2008 10:37AM

I saw some video of it a couple months (maybe a year?) ago, and I liked the idea.

I'll be checking this out.

Evan @ Feb 6th 2008 10:48AM

Physics... Level editor... sounds like LittleBigPlanet. And with LittleBigPlanet's release pushed back to the fall, the Wii may beat the PS3 to the punch.

Amir @ Feb 6th 2008 10:49AM

A.I. is my favourite film of all time.

Anam @ Feb 6th 2008 1:41PM

I'm going to jump on the pro-A.I. bandwagon. It was one of my favorite films by Spielberg and despite popular opinion, the "happy" ending was Kubrick's idea in the first place. It wasn't added in by Spielberg. Granted, the movie would have been better without it, but blame it on Kubrick, not Spielberg.

Finally, why bash A.I. when Spielberg has made movies much worse than that?

Eric @ Feb 6th 2008 10:53AM

A.I. Is fantastic, Come the only reason people give it a bad rap is the ending. Everyone knows that the rest of that film is freaking brilliant. You just wait and see 30 years from now it will be toted as a masterpiece in Sci Fiction.

Evan @ Feb 6th 2008 11:43AM

Yeah, the parts by Kubrick were brilliant. All the problems are in the parts done by Spielberg.

Marty @ Feb 6th 2008 10:56AM

At the very least, it looks a helluva lot better now than the preliminary screens made it look.

student @ Feb 6th 2008 11:10AM

Didn't spielberg make Jenga for Wii? This looks a bit similar. Kind of weird.

FidliousWong @ Feb 6th 2008 11:18AM

His studio recently bought Photoshop. They were all like "Hey, look, now we can PAINT the Jenga blocks..."

By his third game, I expect them to go beyond Blender and discover Bryce....

Marty @ Feb 6th 2008 11:29AM

People still use Bryce...?

If you want the Photoshop of modeling programs, you're looking at either 3D Studio or Maya.

FidliousWong @ Feb 6th 2008 11:53AM

Boy did that joke fizzle....

Blender = Open Source 3D package = Free
Bryce = Quick terrain and 3D editor with basic functions = really cheap
3DSM and Maya = Hardcore modeling aspects (however, Bryce can lay out Terrain much easier) = Thousands of dollars

Essenitally I was jabbing this studio for how much money they are willing to invest in these jobs.

WiNG @ Feb 6th 2008 11:28AM

He made AI, but then again, he also made Jurassic Park.

So all is forgiven. If it wasn't for Spielberg nobody on the Internet would know the love and compassion of Raptor Jesus.

Dr. Jerk Face @ Feb 6th 2008 11:32AM

God damn do I love Jurassic Park.

And uppercutting your head off.

Worst Review Ever @ Feb 6th 2008 3:49PM

I used to like Jurassic Park and then I read the book. Holy crap was I disappointed.

Leilock @ Feb 6th 2008 11:31AM

It's interesting. It seems like he's coming to the industry to satisfy his own fun concept ideas, rather than trying to tack his rep on some corporate project. I like that, and hope that he has some fresh stuff.

The game reminds me alot of a student project i saw on here called Toblo...

http://toblo.csnation.net/

If this ends up being as fun as Toblo, I'll buy it day one!

Jack @ Feb 6th 2008 11:48AM

Sounds like the most generic puzzle game ever. Awesome! When will Hollywood realize that a decent director thinking he could do well in games does not a good game make?

I'm looking at you, Enter The Matrix.

marke @ Feb 6th 2008 12:01PM

did anyone play toblo? doesn't this look a LOT like it?

Mr Khan @ Feb 6th 2008 4:00PM

Despite what Wii fanboy says about it, I like what i'm seeing. It seems like a more strictly puzzle-based (than platforming based) version of LittleBigPlanet, sans the adorable character customization and awesome CELL power

Looks mediocre on the surface, but there seems to be a bit of meat on those bones

SovietSpartan @ Feb 6th 2008 7:51PM

This does look like Toblo which is an awesome indie game.

However, I get a feeling that Spielberg is to games what Uwe Boll is to movies. Spielberg is making cliche puzzle games and Uwe Boll is making cliche puzzling movies.

I hope Peter Jackson can do better with his "Halo" project.

SovietSpartan @ Feb 6th 2008 7:54PM

Crap I left out of thing.

He "MIGHT" have messed up AI.

But he's brought back both Indiana Jones and the Transformers. (While proof reading this I realized it looks like the title of a new movie. Perhaps the Crystal Skull is actually an Energon cube!)

Anyways, just for those two things he can be the Uwe Boll of videogames.