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LocoCycle burns rubber toward Xbox 360, Steam on Valentine's Day
Following an ignominious debut on the Xbox One, developer Twisted Pixel Games is bringing LocoCycle to the Xbox 360 and PC just in time for the most romantic day of the year. For those who missed our scathing review, Lococyle is a motorcycle combat game that mates intentionally campy full-motion video sequences with repetitive, simplistic gameplay. It stars a chatty motorcycle called "IRIS" who is on the lam from her creators with a hapless human mechanic along for the ride. High-speed violent racing is obviously the game's aim, but as Jess Conditt points out, LocoCycle's gameplay, "even when it does get frantic, offers no strategy or challenge." Despite our issues with LocoCycle, Twisted Pixel is soldiering on. Come February 14, LocoCycle will be available on both Steam and the Xbox 360 Marketplace for $10 - half the price of LocoCycle's Xbox One incarnation. In celebration of these new versions of the game, Twisted Pixel is also sponsoring a contest to award a custom LocoCycle-themed Xbox 360 to one random fan. To enter, you need only purchase LocoCycle for either the Xbox 360 or Xbox One at some point between February 14 and February 28. Full details can be found at the contest's official site.
Gunstringer's 'Wavy Tube Man Chronicles' coming to Windows 8
"The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles," the bizarre full-motion-video episode originally released as downloadable content for The Gunstringer, has been uncoupled for standalone release on Windows 8 PCs and tablets.The Chronicles, which feature both a "Troma Team" credit and an acting role by Troma Studios co-founder Lloyd Kaufman (as "Doc Lloyd"), stars Wiley Wiggins as "Future Buddy." He joins your fight to protect a relatively Old West-ish town from Wavy Tube Man Jr., who has traveled back in time to prevent the death of his father, Wavy Tube Man.The Windows 8 version will be released "soon" for $1.49, a price low enough that we can just buy it again and confirm we didn't imagine the existence of this thing the first time around.%Gallery-170731%
Twisted Pixel on The Gunstringer's Kinect aiming (and shooting!) mechanics
Curious how Twisted Pixel's Kinect-powered undead cowboy marionette sim The Gunstringer works? Well, narratively, isn't it obvious? It's a western about undead puppets. As for the you-are-the-controller part, Twisted Pixel designer Dan Teasdale offers up a lengthy explanation on the studio's dev blog. "From the start of development on The Gunstringer, we've focused on getting across the feel of puppeteering as well as the feel of being an awesome kickass undead cowboy," Teasdale says. "It's really only something we could do with the Kinect sensor for two big reasons: pure analog actions and full skeletal data." Teasdale goes into some specifics on what he means by "pure analog actions" and, mostly, he means not waggle. "Gesture libraries and waggle are the designer's way to fit a square binary peg into a round analog hole," he says. In contrast, there's Kinect. Instead of the usual analog null points, The Gunstringer will actually use your body's position (see: skeletal data) to determine a null point. "'Your hand is stationary next to your hip' is incredibly more useful than 'this dot of information isn't moving,'" Teasdale relates. But seriously, how does the game control? Instead of the "move left, move left, no move right, okay stop" input you'd find with an analog stick, The Gunstringer lets you move the marionette "anywhere along the screen just by moving your hand to that location." That's movement, but what about shooting dudes? "Since we know how your entire arm from your hand to your shoulder is moving, we can accurately extrapolate what you're aiming at with your hands, and place the reticle exactly where you're pointing," he says. And the "fire action involves literally firing your six shooter as if you just felt recoil in your arm." Alright, even with all this detail we're still having a hard time picturing how it all comes together – it sounds a lot like Rez or Child of Eden ... but with undead cowboy marionettes. Luckily we'll all have a chance to try it out, together, at PAX East next month.
Twisted Pixel reveals 'The Gunstringer' for Kinect, coming in 2011
Twisted Pixel has unveiled The Gunstringer, the studio's fifth game -- but its first to star a marionette bent on revenge. The announcement trailer (after the break) depicts a western setting with a cartoon flair, blending 2D and 3D elements. In terms of how the game actually plays, the trailer depicts gesture-based actions, with each of the game's scenarios featuring a live audience reacting in the background. TP hasn't announced whether The Gunstringer will be a retail game or one of the first Western-developed XBLA games for Kinect. If you weren't lucky enough to make an appearance at Twisted Pixel's video shoot for the game last week, there'll be another chance to fraternize with the Texas-based devs at March's PAX East in Boston, where both Ms. Splosion Man and The Gunstringer will be playable. Update: The Gunstringer's official website has opened and lead designer Dan Teasdale added some details on the forthcoming Kinect title, writing in a post, "As you may have already gathered, The Gunstringer is unlike any Kinect game you may have played previously. There are no minigames, forced gestures, or end of level photos of you in your underwear here. You can play it sitting down, which is great if you just want to play and relax rather than burn crazy calories. Most importantly, you can aim and move with precision not seen in any of the Kinect launch titles, and with a speed and feel that's just not possible with a traditional controller." Teasdale additionally says, "From the start of this project, we've focused on getting across the feel of marionetting a puppet's movement through a 3D world, then mixing that with the fun and mayhem of targeting-focused shooters like Rez. One minute you'll be navigating the Gunstringer over tricky ravines or towards secret paths, the next you'll be ducking behind cover to take out a half-dozen clockwork alligators with your six shooter."
Twisted Pixel shooting video in Austin for unannounced game
Austin, Texas residents: Splosion Man/Comic Jumper developer Twisted Pixel needs you to help promote an unknown game! The developer posted a Craigslist ad seeking extras for a "video shoot for Twisted Pixel's newest video game!" this Saturday, January 29. While it's awesome enough that some people who didn't have anything to do this weekend will get to hang out with Twisted Pixel in the Paramount Theater, this event holds some wider significance: "The game hasn't been announced quite yet so we need to be light on the details until then," the ad reads. Presumably, people attending this shoot will find out what they're promoting, which means the world will know soon after, even before PAX East.
Twisted Pixel CEO: We won't pursue legal action over Capcom's MaXplosion
Twisted Pixel CEO Michael Wilford says his comparatively tiny team won't be suing mega-publisher Capcom for its blatant attempt to rip off the studio's Splosion Man with iOS clone MaXplosion (pictured). "We're definitely not going to pursue legal action," Wilford told Joystiq. "While I think the similarities are pretty nauseating, we're too small to take on a company like Capcom. That, and we owe them one for inventing Mega Man, so we'll let them slide." "We just need to keep our heads down making the next thing so that Capcom has something to steal next year," he chided, while adding that he hopes Capcom is "not counting on the fact that indies can't fight back." "We'll just have to make our own mobile game," he challenged. "We'll let you know when we have something on the mobile front to talk about, but now we have added incentive!" Wilford also tweeted that the "best part" is that Twisted Pixel had originally pitched Splosion Man to Capcom, but the publisher passed on it. Speaking of Twitter, he said "the amount of support we've seen in the last 12 hours on Twitter and over email has been awesome, and I think that's better than [winning] a stupid lawsuit or anything like that." A Capcom Mobile representative told us that a statement from the company on the matter would hopefully be released later today. Wildford's full response is posted after the break.
Ms. Splosion Man makes her debut, sploding 'fall of 2011'
You know, in retrospect, that was quite a tell. Just last week, Splosion Man 'sploded to the top of the Xbox Live Arcade charts thanks to a hefty 75% Black Friday discount; this week, developer Twisted Pixel introduces us to Ms. Splosion Man, the titular leading lady in its next digitally delivered opus, coming "fall of 2011." Notably absent from the press release: a platform. Splosion Man was, of course, an Xbox Live Arcade-exclusive and part of Microsoft's 2009 Summer of Arcade. While the press release doesn't share much in the way of information, we had the opportunity to speak with Twisted Pixel CCO Josh Bear, who told us, "We could have churned out new levels [for Splosion Man], but we wouldn't have had the time to add in new gameplay puzzles or cool new character stuff. But we didn't just want to do Splosion Man 2, it had to be something a ittle more interesting. That is why we decided to do MSM." Check out the teaser trailer and cheeky press release just after the break, and then read our interview to learn about the game's Ms. Pac-Man homage ("everything was just more polished and better all around"), what former Rock Band 3 senior designer Dan Teasdale is up to since leaving Harmonix (turns out he's serving as the studio's janitor) and how Splosion Man and Ms. Splosion Man are different ("Splosion Man has a penis, Ms. Splosion Man" ... we'll leave the rest to Mr. Bear).
Comic Jumper soundtrack now available as a free download
Here's the problem with Comic Jumper: when you turn the game off, its awesome soundtrack remains silently imprisoned within the plastic and silicon of your console. If only there were some way to kind of take those tunes out of the game, so your ears could envelope themselves in those sultry sounds at your own leisure. Twisted Pixel has rectified the situation by offering music and sound bites from the game, free of charge, via the official site. Now you can jam to these tunes whenever you want, whether it's during that jerk Johnson's retirement speech (we just know he stole our chicken salad sandwich from the break room fridge last week) or our personal favorite: while enjoying a nice, candle-lit bubble bath. Those days don't unwind themselves, people.
Video: Watch Splosion Man's 'Donuts, Go Nuts!' song performed live at PAX
Not at PAX? Want to live vicariously through the power of the internet? We can think of no better solution to your dilemma than to recommend you watch our video of Matt "Chainsaw" Chaney's ukelele performance of "Donuts, Go Nuts!" from the Twisted Pixel booth this afternoon. And look on the bright side: You can go flip on your Xbox and play Splosion Man (again!) while all these suckers at PAX are left napping on beanbag chairs.
Rumor: Twisted Pixel working on Turbine's console MMO
Ever since we learned that Turbine's been dabbling in console game development, our speculation has run amok as to what that game might be. A Harry Potter MMO? Another Lord of the Rings title? A DDO port? While we could be waiting a while longer to discover what the name of the title, Twisted Pixel Games seems to be a partner in this process. On their games page, the company state that they've finished working on an "unannounced console MMO" for Turbine. Twisted Pixel is a hire-for-contract console developer with a handful of XBLA titles under its belt as well as Blitz: The League II. Twisted Pixel claim to have helped, and that their part is finished, but they are otherwise mum on the project. Still, it's great to hear that another Turbine game is on its way, and hopefully we'll hear more soon. The full statement is in the graphic above. [Thanks Sam!]
Comic Jumper packs in free 'Splosion Man DLC (plus: new trailers!)
You know, we thought we couldn't want need Twisted Pixel's Comic Jumper any more than we already do, but the announcement that two new levels for 'Splosion Man will be included with the game offers almost too much value for us to handle. And that's not even taking into account the two new trailers developer Twisted Pixel has sent along with the news. You can check out an overview of the game above and find the good gameplay stuff just beyond the break.
Comic Jumper's second, totally barbaric comic style revealed
Click to Barbarian-size Curious about the variety of artistic and thematic comic book styles you'll experience once you get your hot little hands on Twisted Pixel's action-platformer, Comic Jumper? The game's second overworld was recently revealed in screenshots and concept art, and ... well, we sure hope the estate of Robert E. Howard never sees this particular stage, as it clearly parodies his beefy, Cimmerian brainchild. Heck, the comic's named Nanoc: The Obliviator -- flip it around, and you get Conan. (Actually, you get Rotaivilbo Eht: Conan, but ... well, two of those words aren't words.) Check out both galleries below to get a sense of what the world of Nanoc is going to look like, then check out Twisted Pixel's in-depth preview on the game's official website. %Gallery-92487% %Gallery-92486%
Interview: Twisted Pixel's Mike Wilford talks Comic Jumper
After a grinning Peter Molyneux told Joystiq that Comic Jumper reminded him of a game he would have made twenty years ago (that's a compliment!), we stopped by developer Twisted Pixel's humble South by Southwest booth where CEO Mike Wilford told us about the encounter. "He gave us such a compliment, it was amazing!" Wilford said. After seeing what all the buzz was about, courtesy of a ten-minute demo, we rapped all about Comic Jumper's roots, how Twisted Pixel has changed after the success of 'Splosion Man, the return of 2D mascots (Hello, Sonic! Hello, Rocket Knight!), and where they find inspiration. Read on! Joystiq: What kind of games are you harkening back to with Comic Jumper? It looks like there's a little bit of everything in there. Mike Wilford: Definitely Contra, Gunstar Heroes, and a common theme across all of our games is that they're character-driven. We try to put a lot of personality and humor into the characters, so Earthworm Jim is a huge influence for us. Back in the day, there seemed to be a whole lot of mascot-type characters in games, like Mario, Sonic, all those things, and not many devs seem to be doing that anymore. We're trying to bring that back a little bit with our games.
Reminder: 'Splosion Man is $5 this week
We told you last week, but with a certain something likely taking up every ounce of delicious brain juice you've got right now, we felt it prudent to put out a reminder. 'Splosion Man, Twisted Pixel's game of splodey splendor, is 50 percent off this week on Xbox Live, bringing it down to a very reasonable 400 price tag. If you haven't bothered to check it out yet -- it is one of 2009's best games, y'know -- then there's really no excuse now. Shortcut: Add Splosion Man to your download queue [Xbox.com]
The Maw developer's 'Splosion Man is real, real weird
Two days, two games starring heroes who explode, neither of them jokes. We caught Explodemon! but managed to miss The Maw creator Twisted Pixel's intentionally cheeky announcement of a game called 'Splosion Man amid the April Fools mess. We surely didn't miss the follow-up confirmation that -- bizarre as it sounds -- the game is real.Planned for Xbox Live Arcade, the game is "a 2.5D action/platformer based around the simple concept of 'splosions and the ridiculousness that ensues," according to its developer. Born of an experiment conducted too close to the sun, the titular Man will run through levels destroying everything in his wake, including the scientists trying to capture him. They're reduced to "chunks of ham and ribeyes, the smell of their destruction terrifying, but also a little succulent."From the sound of things, the game will be heavily focused on racking up points based on destruction, but will also feature large-scale boss battles and story sequences integrated into gameplay. Twisted Pixel is planning four-player co-op (yes, there are three other 'splody guys) via local and Live play. Given the dev's success with The Maw, consider our interest sparked.%Gallery-49189%
The Maw takes on Brute Force expansion this Wed.
Twisted Pixel Games just announced that The Maw's Brute Force expansion - the first of three "deleted scenes" - will release to the Xbox Live Marketplace this Wednesday, February 18th.For 100 ($1.25), the Brute Force downloadable content embiggens The Maw experience by adding new puzzles, new cinematics and new characters including the robotic Brute Soldier. We fell in love with the overeating purple blob when it released last month, so it's good to see Twisted Pixel supporting the game with relatively affordable DLC. Inexpensive content is always welcome. Overpriced DLC can continue to stay away.%Gallery-44927%
Twisted Pixel already has The Maw DLC plans
Twisted Pixel Games' The Maw, featuring everyone' favorite one-eyed purple monster with an enormous appetite, will be expanding in the not so distant future with new downloadable content. According to Kotaku, Twisted Pixel already has three pieces (Brute Force, River Redirect and The Speeder Lane) of DLC planned for release. Each will be a new level, come with a new achievement and cost 100 Microsoft points. Nom, nom, nom.
The Maw developer not keen to idea of Community Games
In a comment made to MTV Multiplayer, CEO and software engineer Michael Wilford of Twisted Pixel Games (the team behind recent XBLA release The Maw) admitted that the Community Games program is less than appealing and that they're happy developing on the XBLA with Microsoft support. Partly due to the fact that the Community Games program is shrouded in mystery. "I like the looks of the business model, but Community Games face[s] the same problem PC web portals do," said Wilford, "which is an open platform and an overabundance of not-so-stellar games." He continues, "we may develop for Community Games at some point, but XBLA is very successful partly because it is a closed and tightly managed portfolio of games." Adding that, with their relationship with Microsoft, they hope to continue "down the XBLA path."We tend to agree with Wilford. The new Community Games section is a great opportunity for start ups, offers great potential and is generally a good program for up and comers. But the sheer amount of titles and amount of lower quality games tarnishes the program's goal. What say you?
Get'em boy! 'The Maw' dragged to the XBLA
Update: According to Major Nelson, FunTown Mahjong is actually supposed to release next week. Yay?This week, the Xbox Live Arcade is featuring the award-winning independent 3D platformer, The Maw. Developed by Twisted Pixel Games, The Maw features an adorable alien named Frank who is trying to find his way home after a failed kidnapping attempt finds him crash landed on a strange planet. As Frank, players will team up with a hungry purple creature named Maw who can be led around the world on an electronic leash and sent to devour everything in your path. Twisted Pixel promises a "lengthy" single-player campaign, "intense cutscenes" (Read: one of the first is a spoof on Kill Bill) and "cutting edge graphics." The Maw clocks in at nearly 150MB and will run gamers 800 for the full version.Also, Major Nelson notes that another XBLA release should be on the service today. According to the Major, FunTown Mahjong is supposed to be available now, in all regions except Korea, for 800 but as of this story going live we have yet to see it online. Download a trial version of The Maw now. Gallery: The Maw (XBLA)
The Maw opens on Xbox Live Jan. 21
The Maw isn't just the pink blob you see in the pic above. It's also the name of an action-platformer that sports some of the nicest production values we've seen in an Xbox Live Arcade title (you can get a sample right here). Developer Twisted Pixel Games has just revealed that we'll be able to see if the gameplay lives up to the graphics and stellar music when the game arrives on Jan. 21.So, that covers next Wednesday, but we're still wondering what's coming tomorrow.[Via X3F]
