14 DAY TRIAL // Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced that its Scribblenauts title for the Nintendo DS has managed to sell more than 1 million units worldwide. The game was created by 5th Cell and is based around the idea of allowing gamers to actually write down words on the touch screen of the DS in order to permit the game to create content. It was launched in 2009 and reviewers were initially pretty amazed by the mechanics around which Scribblenauts was built.
Martin Tremblay, who is the president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, stated that “We are extremely pleased with the sales of Scribblenauts and credit the game's innovation and wide appeal in making it a hit with gamers of all skill levels. Scribblenauts is one of our strong original brands, and we look forward to bringing consumers more quality gaming experiences as part of our portfolio game strategy.”
In addition to some very good sales numbers, Scribblenauts has also picked up a few industry awards, including Best Original Game and Best Handheld Game from the videogame critics who saw it at E3 in 2009, and has appeared on Best of 2009 lists in the media.
The main character of Scribblenauts is Maxwell and his main goal is to collect tokens called Starites. The player needs to guide him around the levels and offer him the tools to solve every puzzle. This involves summoning various objects and creatures by writing their names on the screen.
Scribblenauts is based around an engine called Objectnaut and a lot of work went into actually cataloging a variety of nouns in order to be able to translate their input into gameplay. With the game breaking through the 1 million sales barrier, Warner Bros. must be actively thinking about creating a sequel based around the same mechanics and the expansion of the puzzle element of the game.