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After holding the first Scribblenauts launch event in New York, Warner Bros. Interactive has decided to modify the party for Super Scribblenauts with a couple of adjectives, like "sunny" and "smoggy." The launch party for the DS puzzle-adventure sequel will be held at the GameStop on Sunset and Vine in Los Angeles on October 10.

There, you'll be able to buy the game early, of course, and also participate in a Super Scribblenauts costume contest, solve puzzles on a magnetic wall and meet the 5TH Cell team responsible for the game. The celebration is only going on from 11AM-2PM -- if you're late, you'll have to buy the game on its regular October 12 date, like everyone else in America.

From what we've seen, it seems safe to say that if you liked Scribblenauts, you'll love the sequel. It's got a refined and updated version of the original's wordplay, along with plenty of fun extras like a level editor with deep scripting capability, and a "merit" achievements system that keeps the gameplay moving even after you've beaten the 100-plus levels the first time.

But what if you didn't like Scribblenauts? What if, like me, you were charmed by the premise, but were overwhelmed by the execution, by the option to create anything in order to solve a series of often nebulous puzzles?

Upon playing Super Scribblenauts, it becomes readily apparent why you'd want to use the d-pad to manipulate the game's hero, Maxwell. So why wasn't that an option in the first game? Joystiq asked 5TH Cell Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka, and were told that the original touch-screen input didn't draw any complaints -- at least not from casual players. "We haven't gotten any emails from casual users," he told us this week, "that are like, 'Hey, I don't like the controls.' It's the hardcore users that are like, 'I play Mario all of the time, and I'm a hardcore gamer, and I'm used to these kinds of controls, and what's what I want."

Though controlling Maxwell directly with the d-pad may seem an obvious choice, it wasn't the first time around. "Maxwell's actually an AI," Slaczka said. "So it wasn't just like throw the d-pad controls in." Maxwell was programmed to respond to the rest of the game's systems rather than just follow button directions, and so it didn't occur to the developers to control him directly. "You'd have to overwrite all of the code that we'd built up for him. So in the second one, we basically did that." The team "stripped out" all of the behaviors and responses that had been coded, and created the option for "one-to-one player control."

For his own part, Slaczka says he doesn't care which option players use, but he'll stick with the stylus. "This isn't a platforming game," he said. "This is a puzzle game. Unfortunately, it has a platforming-type feel to it. So we said for the second one, that's fine, we'll address it, we'll give you both. And we actually fixed up the stylus controls, too, so Maxwell doesn't run away as you tap -- when you let go he stops. So we made it way better."

The Gamescom awards have been handed out by an "expert jury" from the publishing and media sector, with Gran Turismo 5 taking the "Best of Gamescom" award. Unlike the E3 Game Critics Awards, which is a collaborative effort by outlets you've heard of, the Gamescom accolades appear to come from six folks whose names we don't quite (be polite, be polite!) ... recognize.

The short list of winners selected by the brotzeit club were:

• Best of Gamescom: Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH)
• Hardware accessories: PlayStation Move (Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH)
• Console games: Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH)
• Mobile games: Super Scribblenauts (Warner Bros. Games)
• Online games: Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft West)
• PC games: Crysis 2 (Crytek GmbH)
• Best of Family Entertainment: Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo of Europe GmbH)

Those are certainly some adequate choices, but considering the international presence and size of the show, it would seem prudent that the Gamescom awards seek out a better mix and quantity of judges for future shows.

You guys already know the drill: 5TH Cell has released a new batch of screenshots for Super Scribblenauts, one which follows the format of all the developer's previous asset blasts for the series. That is to say:

There's a lovely, illustrated desktop background, followed by: A handful of clever solutions to a few in-game puzzles, which leads into: A couple of screens showing the puzzle creation tools, and finally: A screen showing that, yes, the game is capable of discerning between cerulean, sunlit, cow-like, centaurian, tricolor and cotton elementals. This screen is commonly referred to as "5TH Cell's really just showing off now."

Check out more screens in our Flickr set function getVideo() { var so = new SWFObject("http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf", "mplayer", "420", "340", "8", "#000000"); so.addParam("wmode","transparent"); so.addParam("swliveconnect", "true"); so.addParam("allowscriptaccess", "always"); so.addParam("allowfullscreen", "true"); so.addVariable("pid", "goni001"); so.addVariable("siteId", "485"); so.addVariable("videoId", "186237"); so.addVariable("file", "http://cms.springboard.gorillanation.com/xml_feeds_advanced/index/485/3/186237/"); so.addVariable("pageUrl", document.location); so.write("flashcontent_485_goni001_single_186237"); } getVideo(); RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 2010 PUBLISHER: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment DEVELOPER: 5TH Cell ESRB RATING: E10+ GENRE: Social Puzzle/Emergent PLATFORMS: DS PLAYERS: SINGLE PLAYER PRODUCT OVERVIEW: Super Scribblenauts for Nintendo DS expands the innovative elements from the award-winning first [...]

#clips The "more" from that headline refers the hyper-active vikings, powerful cheetahs and tiny dragons alluded to in this new Super Scribblenauts trailer, released as part of WB's Gamescom hype. More »

If the expansive dictionary found at the center of Scribblenauts left you bewildered, we're curious about what you'll think of the trailer for Super Scribblenauts posted below. It the game's noun recognition was indeed powered by black magic, its adjectives must be the work of Cthulhu.

Super Scribblenauts is due out Oct. 12th, 2010 in North America.

#preorderbonus If you're going to play like Maxwell, you might as well look like Maxwell, with a pair of attractive plush headphones available to GameStop customers that preorder the adjective-infused Super Scribblenauts. More »

They're "fuzzy." They're "camouflage" -- or "polka-dot" or "grey," depending on which you happen to pick up. According to WB, they're "chic," "colorful" and "plush." We would argue that they are "loud" in two different ways. And they're also "free." Appropriately, there are plenty of adjectives to describe the Super Scribblenauts pre-order bonus, the Adjectivized Headphones.

Unless you pre-order your copy of the game from GameStop, they're also "inaccessible." The headphones will be handed out (in the three aforementioned color schemes, randomly selected) with pre-orders of the game on its October 12 release date. And they'll totally look "awesome" worn over a Rooster Hat.

Check out the pre-order bonus for the sequel hitting the Nintendo DS in October.

#esrb What innumerable whimsical scenarios can Scribblenauts players generate like some sort of god in the sequel? How about knife-wielding murderous computers, flaming snowmen and flesheating bicycles? That's just the tip of the iceberg in the still kid-friendly Super Scribblenauts. More »

Were you concerned about whether or not you'd be able to create a man-eating bicycle in Super Scribblenauts? Parents, do you have a strict "no homicidal houses" policy for your kids' entertainment media? The ESRB has stepped in to offer a few (extremely) random examples of what's possible.

#ds Nouns can solve problems in Super Scribblenauts, as you can can see in the first two solutions to this challenge level in next month's DS game. But so can a noun connected to just the right adjective. More »

#preview Inspired by the never-discouraged mailman, the true professional permits no act of nature, chance or evil to interfere with his coverage of a new video game. But what fun could you have with Super Scribblenauts just 10 minutes after your wedding ring disappeared? More »

Making tigers happy: it's what we do.

Comic-Con is turning out to be pretty worthwhile simply for DS-related reasons. In addition to the exclusive Dragon Quest IX content, you'll have a chance to try out Super Scribblenauts, and save $5 on the game for your trouble.

Warner Bros. Interactive will have demo stations for the adjective-enhanced adventure in its booth (#4545). Those who go to check it out will get an adjective of their own, thanks to a $5 Best Buy coupon to turn their own copies of Super Scribblenauts into cheap copies. The publisher released this charming artwork today as well, depicting some adjectivized objects found within the game. A plaid kappa! A wooden cat, in a furry cup, maybe? A tiny, striped, winged elephant! These are things that you can use in a video game to solve puzzles!

#e32010 It's tough to beat the wow factor of the dizzying dictionary of usable words in last year's Scribblenauts for the DS. This year's followup: Super Scribblenauts, doesn't try to outdo that as much as perfect other aspects of the game. More »

Last year at E3, the game press lost its collective cool over Scribblenauts. We suspect we're headed for another collective freakout with Super Scribblenauts. Last year, it was the audacious, impossible-sounding concept of thinking of any noun and summoning it to solve a puzzle. This year, we've all had time to become familiar with the concept -- but the fact that the sequel has been refined to fix the one problem the original game had might be worth the renewed enthusiasm.

#scribblenauts Scribblenauts returns in 2010, and as you'd expect from a game like this, the focus is on new words. All kinds of new words. Like EXPLOSIVE ADJECTIVES. More »

Creative Director and 5th Cell CEO Jeremiah Slaczka talks about what we can expect for the sequel.

Pencil in some time with this DS sequel.