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Team Meat bashes MS, Zen Studios hits Meat, both have lunch date in Bay Area
The right to a personal opinion is the crux of humanity, freedom and guns, and Team Meat and Zen Studios are exercising their liberties to the fullest. Super Meat Boy's Team Meat has been vocal about its displeasure with developing for Microsoft's Game Feast promotion in 2010, and raised the issue again on the IndieGames Podcast this month. Team Meat say Super Meat Boy didn't receive the promotion it was verbally promised, which was supposed to include a review from Major Nelson and an exclusive launch week. Neither happened, and McMillen promises that Indie Game: The Movie captures much of Team Meat's Microsoft frustration, including what felt like being tortured in a concentration camp (IndieGames Podcast 27:35).
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.
Super Meat Boy save fix on the way
Super Meat Boy demands patience and precision from fans, who have shown nothing but adoration for its frantic 2D platforming. While you're grinning from satisfaction after completing an incredibly difficult sequence, don't forget to make sure your progress has been saved -- some players have reported encountering an inconsistent auto-save glitch. According to Tweets from the Super Meat Boy account, the bug can crawl out if you collect the same band-aid more than once in a level. So, um, don't do that. Team Meat's Edmund McMillen assured us that the issue has been identified and will be corrected soon. We'll let you know when the fix goes out on Xbox Live.
Super Meat Boy launches with beefy new trailer
We'd never let you forget that the excellent Super Meat Boy is arriving on Xbox 360 today. Ever. But even if we were to fail you, the dudes of Area 5 and Team Meat would be there to pick up the slack with a special, BurgerTime-esque launch trailer. Hooray for fetus juice! ... Wait, what?
Super Meat Boy 'on sale' for 800 MS points at launch
For as long as Super Meat Boy remains fresh in Xbox Live Arcade's refrigerated aisles, it will be "on sale" for 800 Microsoft points ($10). That's 33 percent off the regular 1200 MSP price. The sale will be for a "limited time only," so once Meat Boy starts smelling a little funky, he'll go back up to the originally intended price. Look for the game this Wednesday, October 20. As we noted in our review, the game will put you through the grinder. So, take those five dollars you saved and invest in some tissues, 'cause you'll need something to wipe away the tears when Super Meat Boy carves off your rump and hands it to you. %Gallery-103429%
Pinball FX 2 delayed, still part of XBLA's Game Feast
You know how during certain, extremely fancy multi-course meals, guests will be given a brief intermission between the lobster bisque and the incredibly difficult platformer? Developer ZEN Studios announced earlier today that a similar palette cleanser will be offered this week during the XBLA Game Feast, as the release of its free, flipper-tapping title Pinball FX 2 has been delayed from October 13 to October 27. That means that Pinball FX 2, not Super Meat Boy, is the final game for the promotion -- which makes us wonder if they'd consider changing its name to something relating to its new headliner. Something like Multiball Month or Bumper ... Time. Bumper Time, sure!
Super Meat Boy review: Into the grinder
There was a time when I thought I was pretty good at video games. I've brought down the likes of Earthworm Jim, Rocket Knight Adventures, Ninja Gaiden (2004), Mega Man 9 and many others without much trouble and only the occasional spurt of profanity. Having completed the story (but not nearly all of the levels) of Super Meat Boy, I can soundly declare that it trumps them all. As of this writing, I have died 1,792 times and several hundred of those lives -- at least -- were spent trying to conquer the last level. Super Meat Boy is tough, as tough as the toughest nails in the toughest universe. I've been maimed, beaten, crushed, devoured, stabbed, sliced and otherwise disfigured over, and over, and over again. I can only thank my lucky stars that my wife wasn't around to witness the frequency, volume and general ferocity of the swears that shook the living room walls. So, yes, it's hard. It's also one of the best games I've played this year. %Gallery-103429%
Comic Jumper review: Panel beater
Games are made by human beings. It's easy to forget that fact when you're playing an extravagant, focus-tested blockbuster like Assassin's Creed, whose high production values can even obscure a team of over 200 people. In contrast, Twisted Pixel's games don't feel like perfectly orchestrated, inhuman feats -- they feel like they were handmade, just for you. That contrast isn't diminished when the Texas-based indie developer attempts more complex storytelling in Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley. There has never been this much dialogue, creative presentation and extra content in a Twisted Pixel game, and while it feels less economical and less elegant than either The Maw or 'Splosion Man, hubristic hero Captain Smiley doesn't waste his time in the spotlight. %Gallery-88440%
Super Meat Boy preview: Super masochistic
I almost didn't dare write a preview of the XBLA version of Super Meat Boy. When I approached the demo kiosk at Fantastic Arcade, I started playing the level the previous player had abandoned, and then proceeded to die -- about a hundred times. That's not hyperbole. If anything, that's a conservative estimate. I failed over, and over, and over again. "Well, that wouldn't make for a good preview," I thought, reflecting on the humiliating performance that I just wrote about in this preview. Later, after a brief mourning period, I returned to the game and started the demo from the first level. With the advantage of a bit more experience traversing Super Meat Boy's earlier levels, and having gotten a feel for the dash-jump physics, I was able to triumph over adversity and complete that one extremely difficult level. (Bonus: I could deliver my impressions of the game based on more than just the first three quarters of a single level played repeatedly.) My opinion? Super Meat Boy is an ideal game for people who became addicted to the extreme platforming challenges found in N+ ... unless they're squeamish about blood. %Gallery-103429%
Hydrophobia review: That sinking feeling
During a huge party on the Queen of the World -- a luxury liner filled with the world's rich and privileged -- terrorists attack. And not just any terrorists, but terrorists with a little too much respect for economist Thomas Malthus. Hydrophobia would be impossible to discuss without bringing up Malthus, whose seminal work "An Essay on the Principle of Population" posits that population growth will eventually outstrip human resources, whether they be food or energy or jobs or some combination of those. In Hydrophobia, this future has come to pass. The "Neo-Malthusians" are hell bent on murdering as many of the ship's denizens as possible to do their part in controlling overpopulation. Protagonist Kate Wilson is the only one in a position to stop them but ... wait for it ... she's just an engineer. (Yes, it's all very "Seagal in Under Siege.") Room after room is filled with at least some amount of water, which is a real issue for the game's unwitting hero who is, as the game's name hints, afraid of water. Sure, it's unconventional, but I actually really like the premise for Hydrophobia. The game? Not as much.
BioLab table revealed for Pinball FX 2
Listen, we're not going to stand here and pretend like we understand the odd ... subset of people that love video game pinball. But they're out there, they're voracious, and we're not standing in their way. So here's the new BioLab table from the upcoming Pinball FX 2. Drink it in, weirdos. %Gallery-103204%
Comic Jumper preview: Mashed-up mayhem
Twisted Pixel has risen to XBLA fame with critically acclaimed titles The Maw and 'Splosion Man. When the developers offer to personally stop by your West Los Angeles apartment to show you their latest title, Comic Jumper, you say yes. That's what I did, and in addition to playing through the first level and getting a feel for the mechanics, I played a few later levels and got a good look at all of the collectibles and extras you'll be unlocking throughout the game. Comic Jumper is a longtime passion project for Twisted Pixel -- COO Josh Bear drew the game's main character, Captain Smiley, way back in seventh grade, and it's something the company has always wanted to make. After the success of 'Splosion Man last year, the team decided to have a go at finally turning it into a game. "It's not like we have any idea of how long the company could be around," Bear joked. %Gallery-88440%
Gorge on Comic Jumper, Hydrophobia, Pinball FX 2, and Super Meat Boy in XBLA Game Feast
Major Nelson has announced the lineup for Microsoft's XBLA "Game Feast" promotion, and, well, we suggest having a metaphorical Tums on hand in anticipation of this smorgasbord. The first course, on September 29, is Hydrophobia for 1,200 Microsoft Points. Twisted Pixel's Comic Jumper follows on October 6 at the same price. Pinball FX 2 will be available October 13. It's free, and can import tables from the first Pinball FX, with each additional table purchased individually. Finally, as discovered earlier this morning, Super Meat Boy will serve as (a kind of disgusting) dessert on October 20, also for 1200 Points.
Xbox Live's 'Game Feast' serves up Super Meat Boy on Oct. 20
Team Meat's manic and mercilessly tenderized hero, Super Meat Boy, is set to make his debut on Xbox Live Arcade on October 20. The developer announced the date via Twitter, and indicated that the well-done platformer would be part of "Game Feast," a new promotion from Microsoft Game Studios that should be detailed later today. With Super Meat Boy making up the main course, Game Feast might just be burger, better and more badass than the recently concluded Summer of Arcade. See the full poster after the break.
