Love the quirky and sometimes crazy television series The Office? Well, the NBC comedy series is coming to the PlayStation Portable, the Nintendo DS, and the PC. The port was announced by casual game developer, MumboJumbo who has just signed with Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group.

The tag team combination will get the crew of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch as bobblehead dolls. Players will get the chance to pull pranks and complete tasks in this upcoming video game. Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group's Bill Kispert, vice president and general manager (Interactive) expressed enthusiasm over the project:

The cast and creators of 'The Office' have done a fantastic job delivering a show with a personality all its own. MumboJumbo is an innovator in the casual games space, and developing a game with them that combines the quirky characters and humor of the show with a proven, addictive game mechanic we think will be welcomed by fans and casual game players alike.

Reportedly, The Office video game will be available for download online for PSP, DS, and PC around fall of this year.

   

After the casual games developer MumboJumbo acquired FPS-oriented Ritual Entertainment, it roles were assigned,and priorities were set. But, despite this promising new team-up, some projects which are close to a lot of people's hearts will have to be set aside indefinitely.

Sadly, one such project is Ritual's classic FPS, SiN.

Taking on the role of a studio director, Relic's former CEO Ken Harward confirmed with GamesIndustry.biz that SiN and its spin-offs, SiN Episodes, will have to be put on hold as they shift their focus towards casual games. This was the reason why MumboJumbo acquired Relic in the first place, and as Harward explained, "We need to put all of our energy towards the new games."

First published in 1998, SiN is an FPS which made use of the Quake II engine. Then, in April of 2006, it once again saw the light of day via Valve's Steam Platform, and it was shortly followed by the first in a planned series of nine episodic spin-offs, SiN Episodes: Emergence. Unfortunately, the second installment in the series, which was scheduled for a Q4 release, was cancelled January 31, 2006.

However, Harward remains positive. He noted that it may not be the absolute end for SiN. He added that "if there was a business opportunity, appropriate consideration would be given."

On the other hand, he addressed comments which consider Ritual's involvement in the casual games market to be a tad out of character, as well as a surprising departure from the genre for which they are most known for. Harward clarified that it's all just part of the business:

The community just never sees it. Instead, they see the games that a publisher finally chooses to ship. And while we've worked hard on those games and are proud of the work, it doesn't mean that those were always Ritual's favourite choices, or that those games always represented what we really wanted to make ... Those were the titles that we had a contract to build at the time. It is as simple as that.

Just yesterday, we told you that Ritual Entertainment, the development house responsible for CounterStrike and Quake 4, was acquired by casual game developer, MumboJumbo.

In a related report, it seems that Ritual's CEO, Ken Harward will see this development as something shocking as he had been telling weeks ago that Ritual would remain independent in spite of the shake-up in the management.

Harward mentioned to GamesIndustry.biz that "the owners, Richard Gray and Rob Atkins, have always stressed the company's independence. So I expect it to continue to be independent. We're not going anywhere. We've got multiple teams running, as usual."

As mentioned in our report, this development is quite weird as it is unusual for a mainstream game developer to be a part of a casual game publisher. But MumboJumbo founder Ron Dimant believes that the acquisition is in line with their plans, he continued by saying that:

The combination of Ritual's high-end, multi-platform expertise and our own industry-leading publishing model will set the bar for quality and sophistication in casual games and create a major industry powerhouse.

Out of curiosity, we can't wait to see just what kind of games they would produce.

Ritual Entertainment, a development house famous for mainstream hits such as CounterStrike, Painkiller, Quake 4, and 25 To Life, has been acquired by casual game developer MumboJumbo. Robert Atkins of Ritual Entertainment had this to say about the merge:

The disciplined structure of high end game development requires an in depth understanding of sophisticated tools and design techniques, Ritual’s expertise in these areas complements MumboJumbo’s mass market approach to casual game development and gives us a true competitive advantage.

This acquisition is unique and significant to casual gaming because this is a rare situation wherein a mainstream game development house has migrated to a casual game publisher.

Eidos Interactive has recently announced that it has made a distribution deal with casual game developer and publisher MumboJumbo to release six PC game franchises to European retail on February 9 2007. The MumboJumbo casual game titles to be released include: Jewel Quest, Luxor: Amin Rising, Super Collapse! 3, Cubis 2, Chainz 2: Relinked, and 7 Wonders of the Ancient world.

Larry Sparks, Global Head of Brands Management for Eidos had this to say about the deal:

These titles are a perfect entry into the premium casual games market for Eidos. MumboJumbo has a reputation as the premier publisher of premium casual games with numerous bestselling releases. We look forward to sharing the success in providing the perfect purchase for the rapidly growing casual games market.

Yeah, yeah, we know, the casual gamer is probably our mother, or so says all those PopCap games surveys. Anyway, on the brighter side of the European gaming scene, if violent video games do get banned or become illegal, at least they'd have Super Collapse! 3 to occupy themselves with.

For the casual gaming kiddies, we have news. Nickelodeon is announcing their partnership with game developer MumboJumbo to publish games later in the year. MumboJumbo, famous for casual games like Luxor, will be releasing three titles: Charlotte’s Web, Neopets, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The first game, Charlotte’s Web: Word Rescue, is a word puzzle game that's currently downloadable at the MumboJumbo main site. It is not to be confused with the Charlotte’s Web title for the DS. Avatar (not to be confused with the earlier PS2 title)  and Neopets-based casual games are still in development, and are expected to launch within the year.

“We are excited to enter into a partnership with a company like MumboJumbo, one of the most trusted and well-respected publishers of family-friendly, casual games and online PC titles, and to continue to enhance Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group’s casual gaming offerings,” said Paul Jelinek, Vice President of Digital Media Products for Nickelodeon. “We’re excited to add branded content on some of our top properties to our audience’s casual gaming experience.”

In October, 2005 Sugar Games introduced a game called Rainbow Web. Set in the heart of Rainbow Kingdom surrounded by crystal clear lakes, mighty stone, and age-old forests but terrorized by a powerful, wicked wizard. The game was both a commercial and critical hit. It sold over 55,000 copies and received numerous user and industry awards from around the globe.

What's the secret behind the game's runaway success? Sugar Games CEO Michael Tretyakov credits "the combination of two main factors of evolution: heredity and change." Before becoming a game, Rainbow Web was already a widely popular game. But rather than merely relying on its popularity, the company added its own innovations to the genre players have never seen before. These novelties make Rainbow Web appealing, with something new and fresh to offer, but remaining faithful to its origin.

Proof that Rainbow Web continues to spin its spell, Sugar Games will make Rainbow Web available to even more casual gamers form around the world via retail channel and with the help of MumboJumbo. Rainbow Web is scheduled to release in retail by the end of 2006 and will be available in both PC and Mac formats.

Rainbow Web features:

• Two game modes: Classic and Relax
• 60 mind-challenging levels
  
• 12 beautiful background landscapes
• Webs of various kinds
• Juicy graphics and amazing visual effects
• Author's music and special effects
• Full-screen display available

System Requirements:

• Pentium 800 MHz or better
• Windows 98/ME/2000/2003/XP
• DirectX 7.0 or better
• 20 Mb free hard drive space
• mouse