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Gaijin Games 'can't wait' to work on Bit.Trip.Runner for 3DS
Did you know that quite a few developers are working on games for the Nintendo 3DS? It's true! Here's this enormous list of games if you don't believe us. Not on that list, however, is Bit.Trip series developer Gaijin Games. That said, in a recent interview with Gamasutra, Nintendo executive VP of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway said that the studio "can't wait" to start working on bringing Bit.Trip.Runner to the 3DS. Just think about it: colors, explosions and music all working in tandem -- but in three dimensions! All kidding aside, the idea of Bit.Trip.Runner on the 3DS sounds like pure insanity. Pure, wonderful insanity.
Interview: Alex Neuse of Gaijin Games
A Bit.Trip-themed party at LA's GR2 gallery/store served as an E3 kickoff of sorts for us, as we prepared to be dazzled by new games with a night of dazzling Bit.Trip games projected on the walls outside the store. Gaijin Games CEO Alex Neuse took a break from watching attendees' minds be blown by the magnificence of gigantic Bit.Trip Runner to speak to Joystiq about the future of the Bit.Trip series, the successs of Runner, and being in awe of Tetsuya Mizuguchi. A note: the wink at the end will make more sense after you read that Gaijin announced an iPhone version of Bit.Trip Beat two days after we conducted this interview. Joystiq: How's the party going? Alex Neuse, Gaijin Games: The party's pretty fun! It kinda started off slow, and I thought maybe no one's going to come, but now it's filled out and I couldn't be happier. I really like playing the games all big on the buildings, but the most fun for me is talking to fans of the series and to see how much they really care for it. I'd say it's going really well tonight. Are the games any easier on the big screen? Man, I wonder. You know, they might be. They just might be. But they're harder with a crowd of people pressuring you to beat the boss of level 1 in Runner.
Bit.Trip Beat bouncing to iPhone
Gaijin Games' retro-synaesthetic Bit.Trip series is no longer a WiiWare exclusive. The developer announced that it has partnered with Namco Bandai to release an iPhone and iPad version of Bit.Trip Beat. It seems likely that the iPhone game will employ the tilt controls used to move the paddle in the Wii version, but that wasn't detailed in the brief, enthusiastic announcement -- and neither was a release date. We're checking with Gaijin Games to see when you'll be able to fail repeatedly to complete stage 2 on the go.
Review: Bit.Trip Runner
Bit.Trip Runner is profoundly difficult, as anyone who has played a previous Bit.Trip game would guess. It's probably one of the hardest games I've ever played, and in a way that most developers don't dare to make their games. Basically, if you already have high blood pressure or a short fuse, you should stay far away from Bit.Trip Runner. And if you don't, you should wear the Wii wrist strap while playing. Not because it uses motion controls, but because you'll occasionally get the impulse to throw something. If that doesn't scare you off -- if you welcome the challenge, or are a patient person in general, perhaps with access to the occasional cup of soothing tea -- then you'd do well to try out Gaijin Games' rhythmic, nostalgic version of the side-scrolling platformer.
Take your wall on a Bit.Trip with vinyl wall graphics
Are you enjoying this week's WiiWare release, Bit.Trip Runner? Would you like it even more if it were non-interactive, huge, and stuck to your wall? LTL Prints, who offers vinyl wall graphics based on Jet Set Radio Future, Dragon's Lair, Super Meat Boy and more, is now selling a line based on the Bit.Trip series and Gaijin Games' iconic, blocky Commander Video character. The vinyl prints range from the easily recognizable (Commander Video himself) to the abstract (a set of rectangular "beats" as seen in Bit.Trip Beat, and simple icons representing the first three games). The prints come in a variety of sizes, from one foot long ("laptop size") up to seven, so finding space for some Bit.Trip artwork is significantly easier than beating a Bit.Trip game.
European Nintendo downloads: Bit.Trip Runner, Ghoul Patrol
The fourth game in Gaijin Games' retro-esque, musical Bit.Trip series arrives in Europe today, three days before Commander Video runs across the Atlantic Ocean. Should your tastes run more toward shooting than running, you can play Ghoul Patrol, the second game about zombies having eaten someone's neighbors. DSiWare is packed with stuff, including EnjoyUp's original DS version of Chronos Twins and a time-management game about fire trucks. Ghoul Patrol (SNES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Bit.Trip Runner (WiiWare, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) AiRace (DSiWare, 1-6 players, 500 DSi Points) Brain Drain (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Chronos Twins (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Fire Panic (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Sudoku Challenge! (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Run to your printer for Bit.Trip Runner papercraft
Gaijin Games and Paper Foldables have provided us with an activity with which we can keep busy while waiting for the May 17 release of Bit.Trip: Runner. In anticipation of the chiptune-soaked, sidescrolling action game starring Commander Video, Gaijin posted the template for this papercraft Runner diorama. If you throw it across the room, it'll kind of look like the game in motion! But there's no way we'd ever do that after spending hours meticulously cutting, folding, and gluing this model together. In fact, we're just going to get some of that puzzle glue to drench this with. If you like building papercraft Bit.Trip models, there's a Commander Video, too, also created by Paper Foldables.
Bit. Trip Runner crosses the finish line in Europe first
Bit.Trip Beat hit Europe a month after it arrived in North America, as did Core. Void was almost three months behind. However, European Wii owners won't have to wait in agony while the western hemisphere enjoys Bit.Trip Runner. In a brief announcement, Gaijin Games revealed that the chiptune-filled rhythm platformer will be released in Europe in Australia on May 14, three days before it arrives in North America. To help you decide whether or not this is welcome news, we've embedded the trailer. You'll find this out when you watch, but spoiler alert: yes, this is probably great news if you're a PAL gamer.
Bit. Trip: Runner is a 'rhythm platformer'
Speaking to Nintendo Life in a podcast, Gaijin Games's Alex Neuse spilled plenty of details about the fourth Bit.Trip game for WiiWare, Bit. Trip Runner. Neuse calls the game a "rhythm platformer," a genre populated, in his estimation, only by Vib-Ribbon. Which means that players will move Commander Video through side-scrolling environments to the beat of new chiptune songs, two of which are provided by chiptune superstars Anamanaguchi. The game's 50 levels will make use of user-submitted fanart, for which the developer is still soliciting entries. The universe of Bit. Trip will also expand a bit: "We're going to be adding a lot more to this game," Neuse said. "There's going to be multiple characters – not playable characters, but we are going to introduce some new characters into the franchise." Runner is around 2/3 complete, and is expected to release on WiiWare sometime this spring.
Gaijin Games offers first screen of Bit.Trip Runner
A single screen from the next Bit.Trip game from Gaijin Games has been revealed, and judging from the look of it, Bit.Trip Runner is going to be significantly less abstract than the previous entries in the retro-themed musical WiiWare game series. In fact, it looks like a side-scrolling platformer, which would make sense, given the name. But, of course, Gaijin made a Pong-esque game with 15-minute long chiptune-based levels, so we shouldn't assume the obvious when it comes to the adventures of Commander Video. This could be controlled with the Your Shape camera, for all we know. [Via Destructoid, GSW]
Give thanks for Bit.Trip Void on November 23
Gaijin Games has announced a release date for the third game in its abstract, chiptune-infused Bit.Trip series. Bit.Trip: Void, which involves using the Nunchuk's analog stick to absorb and/or avoid dots based on color, will arrive in North America on November 23. "That's right, the week of Thanksgiving!" the announcement notes. "Total sweetness in the village." Like Beat and Core, it'll cost 600 Wii Points. If you like the music from the Bit.Trip games, you'll also be delighted to know that the soundtrack for Bit.Trip: Beat is now available for purchase on iTunes and CDBaby, with releases to follow on pretty much every online and mobile music retailer you've ever heard of, and several you haven't. Finally, proving its allegiance to the chiptune community. Gaijin Games announced that it will sponsor this year's Blip Festival in New York City. Classy!
Nintendo reveals three new Bit.Trip games headed to WiiWare
Proving that the Bit.Trip is far from reaching its destination, Nintendo has listed two additional games in the pixel-celebrating series for WiiWare. (We already got a hint at another this morning, bringing the total number of Trips we'll be going on to three.) The Big N has the already announced Bit.Trip: Void down for Q3 2009 release, noting that "three additional titles" in the franchise will arrive sometime in Q4 2009 and into Q1 2010. We already know from our chat with Gaijin Games that one of the trio is based on an old-school Atari title -- the other two are anyone's guess. We're betting on the sixth game being Bit.Trip: Trip, in which players must guide a lone pixel home through all of the previous Bit.Trip games.
Austin GDC 2009: Gaijin Games hints at Bit.Trip: Void release date, next game
Following his panel about Gaijin Games' design process, we approached art director Mike Roush to try to get some more information about Bit.Trip: Void -- specifically, when we'll be able to download and play it. He wasn't entirely sure, because nobody is when it comes to downloadable Nintendo releases, but he told us, "If I were to guess, it would be mid-October. We wanted to push that release date back." Roush said that Gaijin is shooting for a simultaneous worldwide release for the Ikaruga-ish dot-absorbing game, after receiving some "flak" from impatient European fans. While we were chatting, we tried our wiliest interview techniques to try to extract some hints about the next Bit.Trip title -- which is to say we asked for hints about the next Bit. Trip title. "I will not give you a hint," Roush said. "However, it is the game we all wanted to make when we started Gaijin Games. It's the game we've been waiting for... I will give you a hint: it will be based off of an Atari game." And no, it isn't Warlords. We asked.
Explore the Void with Aksys and Gaijin Games
Gaijin Games is up to its old tricks again, offering inscrutable teasers for an upcoming game, though the new "Explore the Void" site is much more quietly lovely than the Commander Video mysteries we're used to. Over the last week or so, the developer has posted images to the site that have now been revealed as extreme closeups of satellite dishes in silhouette. What does it mean for the next game? Bit. Trip: Dish? Bit. Trip: Transmit?Bit. Trip: Zoomed In Images of Everyday Objects? At least we have pretty pictures to look at while we contemplate this puzzle.
Review: Bit.Trip Core (WiiWare)
Gaijin Games returns with another installment in its Bit.Trip series: Bit.Trip: Core, and if you found yourself hyperventilating at the prospect of zapping pixels from a whole bunch of different directions, know those fears are well-founded. Bit.Trip: Core is very tough, but like its predecessor, it's not frustrating. [Note: There's also a video review!]
Bit.Trip: Core to be 100th WiiWare game upon its July 6 release
Gaijin Games posted this semi-cryptic puzzle to its official blog yesterday, offering what seems to be the release date for Bit.Trip: Core, the follow-up to the retro-rhythm-Pong-shooter, Bit.Trip: Beat. The numbers "7+6+9" correspond to a date: July 6, 2009, which just happens to be a Monday. We've gotten confirmation from Gaijin Games that this is indeed the meaning of the image. "Absolutely," Gaijin's Chris Osborn told us. "And it will be the 100th WiiWare release!" Given that Nintendo saves its milestone Virtual Console releases for things like Zelda games, it seems like quite a distinction to be the hundredth game on WiiWare. [Via GoNintendo]
Gaijin Games ups the ante on WiiWare with Bit.Trip: Core
The sequel to the very fun (yet, very punishing) Bit.Trip: Beat has been revealed in Bit.Trip: Core, GameSpot reports. If you thought it was tough keeping track of rogue pixels assaulting you from one direction, then you're going to have an even tougher time with Core, as the player must now defend against attacking pixels from four different directions. Another big change comes in the controls department. The first game featured motion-based controls, but in Core you're stuck in the middle of the screen, pushing directions on the d-pad to shine a beam of light toward rushing pixels. It's essentially the same type of gameplay, combining rhythm and shmup elements, so if you liked Bit.Trip: Beat, then you'll likely find value in this. The game also adds a progress meter showing you how far you've made it into a stage, as well as a screen clearing ability that will hopefully ease the experience up a bit. Bit.Trip: Core is due for release on WiiWare sometime this summer.
The Bit.Trip.Beat stops on WiiWare this Monday
Ready to go on your first Bit.Trip? The folks at Aksys have confirmed to us that the hard-as-nails retro-themed WiiWare-exclusive music game will make its US debut on Monday, March 16th. The concept is rather simple: just tilt your Wii Remote to slide your Pong-esque paddle up and down. Deflect oncoming bullets to create some pretty rad chiptune music. As easy as this sounds, the wild barrage of notes that soon floods the screen will lead to many, many game overs. With support for up to four players on one screen, Bit.Trip.Beat has us pretty excited. It's the kind of game that you can just play and get into a trance. %Gallery-43105%
