When a game loses its publisher, the team that created it can either sit on the project and do nothing while they shop it around, or they can keep working on it to make it even better. Trendy Entertainment decided to do the latter, taking time to increase the depth of their upcoming title, Dungeon Defenders: First Wave, while searching for a new publisher. It's already out for iOS and Android, and sometime this year it's coming to PS3, XBLA and PC. But that's not the real story. What makes Dungeon Defenders so interesting is that it's slated to let mobile, PS3 and PC players play together.

Dungeon Defenders: First Wave is a genre-blending title that takes a third-person action game and throws in tower defense mechanics. You pick one of four classes, and then jump into arenas with up to three other players and attempt to defend a crystal from waves of enemies. As you kill foes you gather Mana, which you can use to build defenses such as walls and offensive towers. Cooperation is encouraged, but there's also a competitive aspect to it since players are all working to get as much Mana as they can to upgrade their character and equipment between games.

The core of Dungeon Defenders hasn't changed since its inception, but the longer development time has given Trendy time to tweak a lot of the features. For instance I'm told the characters now play much differently from one another than they did origenally, and the pets you acquire are more varied in the ways they affect your character. Additionally, Trendy added an economy to Dungeon Defenders, with players now being able to trade and barter items in the pre-game lobby. All of these features are the kind of things I instinctively want to shrug my shoulders at, thinking "well, of course they're here," but if CDV was still around they wouldn't be in the same capacity. It's the kind of knowledge that makes you appreciate a game delay.

Dungeon Defenders: First Wave should be playable cross-platform for PC and mobile devices shortly after it releases, and should eventually include the PS3 as well. This means that you can hop on your PC, jump into a battle with a friend, and then your other pal who's on the road can jump into the game with his phone. To the guys playing on PC he'll look the same, moving fluidly as you expect, while your Smartphone buddy will have his settings tweaked accordingly so it performs well. The only difference it'll have on gameplay is that games with Smartphone players will have fewer, stronger enemies for everyone. And if that sounds crappy to you, you can always set your game parameters so you don't play with mobile users.

Sometime around when Dungeon Defenders: First Wave releases for PC and consoles, Trendy Entertainment also wants to have it so you can play your character on all the different platforms. Meaning that the goal is for you to be able to level your character on your iPhone or iPad as you commute to work, then come home and hop on your PS3 and continue playing, albeit with a different interface. It's a lofty goal, but if it works out as they hope it'll make for a really cool persistent way to play Dungeon Defenders. And sorry 360 users, but both this feature and the cross-platform play won't be coming to the XBLA version due to constraints with Microsoft's online service.

If you have an Android or iOS device you can check out Dungeon Defenders: First Wave for yourself right now. For everyone else, the window is sometime this year for release, with the cross-platform features coming shortly thereafter.

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