Darwinia + Multiplayer = Multiwinia

Anticipated by some, prayed for by others, and simply unexpected for the rest of us, Multiwinia was just announced today by the self-proclaimed "last of the bedroom programmers" from Introversion Software. Shortly put, this will be a multiplayer enabled version of Darwinia, with both co-operative and competitive game modes, as well as some new single-player challenges and upgraded graphics - enough to justify Multiwinia as a standalone product, currently estimated for release during 2008.

The news was given right on Introversion's website, though the press release itself is actually dated for tomorrow, February 28. Well, no matter, it's kind of them to let us know in advance. And here's some more from their announcement:

[Multiwinia] will be a whole new standalone product, combining elements of the award-winning Darwinia, with the addition of multiplayer support which will enable both co-operative and competitive battles between massive Darwinian armies. As well as the traditional single player mode, Multiwinia will offer a series of separate game modes, each with a number of unique levels offering a variety of new challenges.

"We've always known that Darwinia would naturally evolve into an incredible multiplayer game and right from day one I'd had visions of massive Darwinian armies converging for the ultimate Darwinian death-fest", Chris Delay, creative director of Introversion Software said enthusiastically about the new project.

Apart from Multiwinia and their continued support (through ongoing patches / ports) for Darwinia and DEFCON, Introversion is also working on Subversion - which should be another radical departure from traditional gameplay concepts. You can read more about Subversion in our news from last month.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)