THE END OF THE WORLD

Well, it looks like we made it! It was a long shot, but somehow, some way, we were able to avert the mega crisis of a lifetime and continue on existing. I don't know about you, but I'd like to think a lot of the credit goes to Dikembe Mutombo for his tireless work over the past 4 1/2 weeks. And also you: player of games, waster of time, procrastinator extraordinaire. You've done your civic duty. Thank you and congratulations.

Powerhouse Celebrates the Holidays!

Powerhouse Animation celebrated the holidays in style (as usual) with our annual holiday party at Cannoli Joe's. Everyone was in a festive mood-- possibly due to the significant quantities of wine-- and we had a great time getting together for food, fun, and our always enlightening Secret Santa gift exchange. We also welcomed one new animator to the team this year so congrats to Shaun Bryant on finally receiving his embroidered Powerhouse jacket. Welcome to the fold, Shaun! There's no going back now.

Help Dikembe Mutombo Save the World!

On Wednesday, Old Spice launched their latest and most awesomely irreverent campaign to date. Thanks to the fine folks at Wieden + Kennedy, Old Spice's newest spokesperson, retired NBA superstar Dikembe Mutombo has 4 1/2 weeks to save the world!

This campaign is a series of online 8-bit style games that feature Mutombo and his cast of bizarre characters, such as his brilliant and fashionable friend Science Bear. As each game launches, users are introduced to that week's mission via a wacky animated cinematic, and then they must work through the weekly challenge in order to help Dikembe save the world!

The Power of Two

As many of you probably know, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two hit shelves yesterday as part of the Nintendo Wii U release.

It's been getting a lot of great press, including some segments on major programs such as Good Morning America and The View!






Kotaku and the LA Times also had nice things to say about the latest game from Disney's Junction Point and the great Warren Spector. Powerhouse has been working with the Junction Point crew on this project for some time and we are so excited to see it finally come to life! We are very grateful to them for including us in this fantastic project and are so honored to be in the company of such incredible work.

The folks at IGN had some REALLY generous things to say about our cinematic work:

"There’s pleasure to be found in Epic Mickey 2’s cut-scenes, too. Lightning has struck twice for Powerhouse Studio, the outsourced animation team reunited to create Epic Mickey 2’s retro-flavored 2D cut-scenes. These are a stunning visual highlight, Powerhouse capturing a character’s bemusement or glee with just a raise of a squiggle or a slight shift of a black dot. The team has done well to create animations that retain Spector’s mad vision while feeling distinctively old-school."

Check out the cinema from the LA Times article here and go grab your copy of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two as soon as possible!!!!

Granny's Frying Pans of Fury!

Powerhouse just finished a very exciting project for one of our long-time clients, Drew Bates, and his property, Redneck Ninjas! The PHA team has been doing work for Drew and his RNN gang for years, and we're happy to announce that we've now had the opportunity to bring his characters to life in a different way... Enter: Granny's Frying Pans of Fury!

The first ever Redneck Ninjas game is a side-scroller that allows you to play as Granny in order to rescue her best friend Miss Chicken. Play the game now for free on Drew's site, Unique Publications.

Special thanks to Andy Schlossberg for helping us out in this process and making sure our vision became a reality. And as always, thanks to Drew for involving us in his dream. Play the game now and let us know what you think!

School of Rock Presents: Little Wing!

The Powerhouse team recently finished production on a new iOS game! 

The game, called Little Wing (after the greatest Jimi Hendrix song ever, of course), was created for a new client, School of Rock, and is aimed at young children in order to teach them to read and understand music. The School of Rock is an international organization that has over 50 campuses throughout the US and Mexico. Powerhouse did all of the design, in-game animation and cinematics for Little Wing, and we partnered with our friend Billy Garretsen to create the functionality.

Check it out for yourself by grabbing your own copy off the app store today!

A Very Spooky Powerhouse Halloween

The Powerhouse Animation gang really got into the spirit this Halloween. We had a great time showing off our costumes and, for some of us, staying in character for much of the day. Check out all of the creative get ups from our creative animation staff!

Congratulations to our winners of the first PHA costume contest! Adam Conarroe, Nyk Petta and Stephanie Delota!

 And Happy Halloween from everyone at Powerhouse Animation!

Powerlines: From the Artists at Powerhouse Animation

Powerhouse Animation is now in the book business! Many of our talented Powerhouse artists have teamed up to create Powerlines, a book of original art including digital, oil on canvas, quilting, and even graphic novel.

Thanks to our very own Chris Beaver for heading up this effort and putting everything together. We are really excited by how it turned out!

Here is a sneak preview of some of the art included in Powerlines:

Kellan Stover

Stephanie McCrea

 Sam Deats

Come by our booth at the Austin Wizard Con this weekend to check it out. Books will be on sale at the convention, as well as on our website coming soon. We only printed a limited quantity so grab yours before they're all gone. Thanks again to Chris and AusTex Printing for all the hard work in bringing this idea to life!

We're Making a TV Pilot!

The Powerhouse crew is very excited to announce that we will be working on an animated pilot for the beloved Irish comedy Mrs. Brown's Boys! This project has been in the works for a while and this week we finally met with the MBB team to kick it off.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Mrs. Brown's Boys-- it is a wildly popular BBC sitcom featuring acclaimed Irish comedian and radio host Brendan O'Carroll. The show, which just completed its second season and is in production on a third, has won an impressive array of awards including the 2012 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for best comedy series, as well as best actor for Brendan.

The show also won the award for Best Comedy Show at this year's UK TV Choice Awards and has been growing in popularity ever since it debuted on the air in 2011.

Back in March, Brendan and his team announced that they would be taking their quirky cross-dressing comedy to the next level with an animated series: "Brendan O'Carroll's Mrs Brown creation goes global in comic cartoon caper." I think it goes without saying that Powerhouse is thrilled to be brought on board as the studio to bring their vision to life!

We can't wait to get started on this project and are really grateful to be included in what we are sure will be a tremendous success.

For more information on Mrs Brown's Boys, check out the website as well as the number of hilarious clips that are available online... and then order your copy of Season 1 and the soon-to-be-released Season 2 on DVD!

Thanks to Stephen and Leo for taking the time to come visit us this week and get things rolling. We are so happy to be a part of the Mrs Brown's team!

270: White House Defense 2012!

With a major Presidential election coming up in less than 40 days the Powerhouse gang thought it was a good time to team up with some folks over at DC London to help keep people engaged in the political process! What better way to do that than with a White House tower defense game?

The 2012 version of 270 is now live on the interweb, and you can join the fight today! Play as either Republicans or Democrats and try to prevent those pesky donkeys/elephants (respectively) from getting into the White House. Keep the opposing party from winning 270 electoral votes and you win! 

Check out the updated towers for this election season including the 99%ers, Tea Partiers, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, and of course Mitt Romney.

Let your voice be heard! Go vote... err, play this online tower defense game and share it with your friends! Do your civic duty!

PLAY NOW!

The Banner Saga at Fantastic Arcade

Our friends at Stoic have been working tirelessly to prepare The Banner Saga for its debut at Fantastic Arcade this week and they are finally ready to show it off! The Powerhouse gang took a trip down to the Highball this afternoon to hear the Stoic team speak about the game, show some behind-the-scenes development secrets, and, of course, present some of our in-game and cinematic animation. 

Check out some more information about the game here: http://fantasticfest.com/games/the-banner-saga

If you missed them today, don't worry! Fantastic Arcade runs through the weekend at the Highball on South Lamar and it's completely free! Stop on by, say hi to the Stoic guys, and check out The Banner Saga as well as a number of other games!

We promise to keep you posted on its release and any other updates as we get closer to an official launch. Congrats to Alex, Arnie, and John at Stoic!!