The 2024 Halloween event is packed full of treats, no trick! We've got the return of Screamin' Jack, new Halloween Challenge and a special Halloween crate full of goodies.
Working late tonight getting ready for our DLC pre-certification build later this week. Ralf and I both in the office, cranking away, testing...all of a sudden we hear a SNAP!
Sure 'nuff: One more mouse, fresh caught.
Sigh, that's life in the ghetto. I bet the hallways of big shiny companies like Zynga aren't crawling with rats ... Oh, wait ....
SNAP!
Great competitive late-night online HTH session with a couple of guys on LIVE last night. The host had been online for a while -- his score in the lobby was up over 400 points when I joined, so he must've been playing for at least a hour already, and we played for another hour and a half or so. He was a solid host, too -- changed up the map every race and kicked any new player who wasn't on task.
I love playing online with people who don't know I work for the developer -- it's great fun talking about the game and hearing people's unfiltered comments. Plus it's just really gratifying to watch fans having fun with it. Makes all those late nights feel worthwhile.
The host was playing consistently with Razorback. My favorite quote of the evening:
"Any douchebag can win with Rad Hazard."
Last week I was in the office early plugging away on the DLC, and out of the corner of my eye I saw this quick movement across the floor. I looked over and saw a good-sized mouse booking it across the carpet; he ran behind a bookshelf and disappeared.
So last Friday afternoon we put out some traps around the baseboards of the office. You know, the traditional wood and metal snap-traps. I know people are always trying to reinvent the mouse trap but the word on the street (OK, the word on Google) is that the old skool kind still work best.
When I came in after the weekend, guess what? I found not one -- not two -- but THREE trapped mice. I felt a little bad about it, but trust me, mice are cute in pictures but having them use your office for a romper room is...well, kind of nasty.
The thing is, we don't have little mouse holes in our baseboards or anything. It looks like they're probably coming in under the front door -- there's a little gap about 1/2 inch high leading out into the hallway. I guess this is the downside of having two restaurants downstairs (Chinese and Mexican). The upside is sometimes the hallway smells like Taco Chow Mein.
Vector Unit is pleased to announce the winners of the Hydro Thunder Hurricane Design-A-Skin Video Contest: Adam DeLoach and Brian Atkinson.
Adam's entry won with the most views on YouTube at the contest close. He really went the extra mile by cannonballing into a swimming pool with his HTH shout-out. His striped-eel skin design will appear as an option for Rad Hazard in the upcoming DLC pack.
For our hand-picked winner, the choice was difficult. We received a lot of creative and enthusiastic entries, but we particularly liked the one-two punch of Brian's echo-chamber shout-out and his cool sounding skin idea. We'll be adding his winged dragon design for Banshee in the DLC.
We are truly impressed with the time and energy Hydro Thunder fans put into this, and to show our appreciation we are extending the bonus prize and awarding a free copy of the upcoming DLC to every one of you who submitted an entry.
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who entered! We'll see you on the water!
San Rafael, CA – August 16, 2010. Vector Unit, the developer of Hydro Thunder Hurricane announces the Hydro Thunder Hurricane Design-A-Skin Contest: two winners will each art-direct their own custom boat skin for inclusion in the hit game’s upcoming downloadable expansion pack.
To enter, contestants simply upload a video of themselves to YouTube yelling out the name of the game in the classic Hydro Thunder announcer’s voice, “Hydroooo Thunnnnderrrr HURRICAAANE!”, and describe the skin they’d like to see for their favorite boat.
On August 23, two winners will be selected to make their mark on Hydro Thunder history by having their custom skin idea created for the boat of their choice. Each winner will also receive a code for a free copy of the downloadable content pack when it becomes available early this fall.
“Every Hydro Thunder fan has his or her favorite boat,” says Vector Unit’s Creative Director Matt Small. “We’ve received such enthusiastic feedback from players about the online game, including tons of ideas for new skins -- how they’d love to have an all-platinum Razorback, or an old timey wooden Damn the Torpedoes. We figured, why not make it a contest and see what people come up with?”
“The best part is, you don’t have to be an artist to enter this contest. Just describe what you want, and if you win we make it. Then you get to play against friends and online in your very own boat skin. All you need is some love for the game and a little imagination.”
A full description of the contest and rules about how to enter is available on Vector Unit's website atwww.vectorunit.com/hth-contest. A video announcement of the contest is also available on Vector Unit's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/vectorunit.
Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the official sequel to the classic Midway hit Hydro Thunder, and is a Summer of Arcade selection available for download exclusively on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade. In addition to single player game modes like Race, Ring Master, and Championship, the game supports a thriving multiplayer community with 8 player online matches, 4 player split screen, and support for local split-screen plus online in combination.
Members of the Vector Unit team will be playing Hydro Thunder Hurricane on Xbox LIVE on Sunday, August 15, from 5-8pm ET (2-5pm PT).
Come join us for some boostalicious fun! Try your hand against the makers of the game in Races and Rubber Ducky games. Hook up your headset for good natured smack talk, or to ask questions about the making of the game and strategy hints!
Details below:
Hydro Thunder Hurricane -- the sequel to Midways' classic arcade racer Hydro Thunder -- releases today for download on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
Blast through 8 all new over-the-top environments in boost-powered speedboats. Test your skills in Races and all new Ring Master and Gauntlet game modes. Compete for bragging rights against up to 8 players online or with up to 4 friends in local split screen matches.
Download the free multiplayer-enabled trial version today!
Make a splash on your dash with the official Hydro Thunder Hurricane Premium Theme, featuring desktop backgrounds rendered straight from the game, as well as custom friends channels showcasing HTH's rocket-powered speedboats and epic environments!
Download it today on Xbox LIVE Marketplace
J2Games has an in-depth interview with Hydro Thunder Hurricane's Creative Director Matt Small, featuring tons of behind the scenes info about the making of the game.
Link: Making Waves.
