Halfbrick Studios
Latest
Nintendo Power reveals de Blob: The Underground for DS, Wii
[Nintendo Power] The upcoming July issue of Nintendo Power reveals a new de Blob game coming to the DS and Wii, called de Blob: The Underground. Wii players can expect two-player support in The Underground, as well as "new moves, new foes" and "new 2D platforming segments." Blue Tongue will once again handle development on the Wii version, while Australian studio Halfbrick works on the DS debut. de Blob: The Underground is currently slated to launch in Spring 2011 -- but before that, you'll see much more at next month's Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Halfbrick shares Fruit Ninja sales numbers, how to succeed on the App store
iPhone and iPod Touch gamers have likely already heard of Fruit Ninja, a game where you coldly murder different offerings from nature's bounty -- by tapping and slicing across the screen, you cut down watermelons and the like. It's a pretty simple game and at only $.99, it's quickly climbed the charts of the most popular Apps in the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden. So we decided to grill Halbrick's creator and lead designer of Fruit Ninja, Luke Muscat, on all things iPhone. Joystiq: You sent out a press release before the weekend claiming 140,000 copies sold of your iPhone/iPod Touch game, Fruit Ninja. What's the current total at? Luke Muscat: Over 200,000 now. That's a pretty big milestone for us, we are very happy to have achieved such great success in a market that can be pretty unpredictable. If you're reading this and have purchased the game – you rule the App store!
Enter to win a copy of Fruit Ninja from TUAW and Halfbrick Studios
I wrote about Fruit Ninja last week, and since then it's been very popular on the App Store. Creators Halfbrick Studios tell us it's sold quite well so far. The game's simple, but well-polished and a lot of pick-up-and-play fun. It's only $1, so there's no reason not to go over and get it yourself. Just in case you haven't, though, Halfbrick has sent us a few promo codes for the game to give away to five lucky TUAW commenters. Want to win a copy of Fruit Ninja? Here are the rules: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. To enter, leave a comment on this post telling us what kind of fruit you like slashing most. The comment must be left before midnight EST on Thursday, May 6th, 2010. You may enter only once. 5 winners will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: A promo code redeemable for a copy of Fruit Ninja (Value: US$0.99 ) Click Here for complete Official Rules. Good luck to everyone who enters!
Hands-on with Fruit Ninja for the iPhone
Halfbrick Studios is an Australian game developer that's done a few licensed games on other platforms before along with the App Store title Blast Off, and they're back on the iPhone today with Fruit Ninja, a simple-but-fun arcade game that has you hacking fruit in half on the iPhone's touchscreen. The game just went live on the App Store moments ago. We at TUAW got a chance to play the game early, and our exclusive hands-on review is after the break. Fruit Ninja is simple but polished -- while the game mechanic is well done and well-supported with excellent graphics and sound, the gameplay itself is almost too shallow to support the rest of the design. The game's only 99 cents, and there's definitely 99 cents of entertainment here, but I wish there was even more.
Hands-on: Raskulls (XBLA)
Most Xbox Live Arcade enthusiasts likely aren't familiar with Halfbrick Studios, the Brisbane, Australia-based studio that's only previous work on the platform involved Indie Games that weren't very successful. After switching gears and offering some PSP Minis titles, the dev studio is back on Xbox with Raskulls, a polished and quirky game that has a variety of inspirations, from Mario Kart to Bomberman to, most notably, Mr. Driller. %Gallery-50092%
New Raskulls trailer filled with rats, skeletons, mayhem
Halfbrick has released a new Raskulls video packed with gameplay footage. We're also introduced to an invading race of evil alien rats which, somehow, are pitted against a seemingly innocent race of sentient skeletons. Figure that one out. Much more important, however, is the aforementioned gameplay, which honestly looks quite fun. Sitting somewhere between Mr. Driller and Smash Bros, the gameplay accommodates lots of platforming, power-ups, puzzle solving and close quarters combat. We still don't know when the game will finally make it to Xbox Live Arcade, but there is some good news as Halfbrick has announced that Raskulls will be playable at PAX East this weekend. The Joystiq staff will be there en masse, so expect us to give it a try.
Raskulls box art decided, disappointing
Well, congratulations, internet, you got it completely wrong. The image above and to the left is the "democratically" chosen digital box art for the upcoming XBLA title, Raskulls. It won over the image to the right by a minuscule 15 votes. Just look at it. It tells you nothing about the game. It's just a skull king dude pointing. Now look at the image to the right. You see that the king is searching for something, a precious gem of some sort. What's more, he is clearly not the only one, as he is pursued by many competitors and what appears to be a giant, flying pirate ship. Also, there is a laser. This is box art. This is the stuff of great literature. Alas, the public totally flubbed it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have the electoral college.
Raskulls XBLA box art to be chosen by fans
It's been quite some time since we discussed Halfbrick's upcoming XBLA action puzzler, Raskulls. Lest you've forgotten the game, imagine Mr. Driller with platforming elements and plenty of direct multiplayer combat. Oh, and all the characters are skeletons for some reason. Suffice it to say it's pretty colorful and "wacky." Now, Halfbrick is reaching out to its fans to decide on the virtual box art that will represent the game on Xbox Live Arcade. The two possible choices are above and, while we don't want to influence your vote, the one on the right is clearly the better of the two. If you need some help deciding which art best represents the game, we've embedded a trailer after the break. Once you've decided, head over to the Halfbrick website and cast your vote before the polls close on February 24.
Halfbrick's Rocket Racing boosts onto PSP/PS3 this month
Halfbrick Studios continues to churn out Minis for the PSP and PS3. Rocket Racing is the fourth title from the Australian studio for Sony's indie platform, following Age of Zombies, Echoes and Blast Off. Based on the Xbox Live Indie Game of the same name, Rocket Racing is one of the few games designed with the PSP Go in mind: the game can be played exclusively with the shoulder buttons, meaning Go owners can play with the system closed. The gameplay of this top-down racer is rather unique. Each shoulder button represents a side thruster on the vehicle. Players will have to adjust each thruster to cut through corners, and make their way through the game's 24 levels. Hugging the walls won't result in a penalty; instead, the "grind" will result in a speed boost. Unfortunately, due to limitations of the Minis platform, there's no real multiplayer. Instead, gamers will have to resort to pass-around multiplayer, taking turns to go through the courses. Unfortunately, this "Party" mode seems like a rather misguided attempt to circumvent Minis' shortcoming. Rocket Racing should appear on the PlayStation Store later this month for $4.99. Check out a trailer after the break. %Gallery-85251%
Age of Zombies blasts onto PSP and PS3 Minis Feb. 25
Halfbrick Studios, the Minis-producing development factory in Brisbane, has announced a new title: Age of Zombies. Not to be confused with the Age of Aquarius or the beloved children's film Ice Age, Halfbrick's game is decidedly more macabre -- with a pinch of cute tossed in. (We never thought we'd call zombies both those things, but there it is.) Age of Zombies follows time-traveling protagonist (and delicious side dish) Barry Steakfries, doing his best to eradicate the hungry undead looking to get a mouthful of his tasty vittles. The debut trailer nestled above gives us a vibe akin to a cross between Robotron and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which kinda sounds like a good time. There's also the promise of zombified T-Rex dinosaurs, which hardly seems possible in the real world, but, hey, we'll take it. Age of Zombies will be available to download from the PlayStation Store on Thursday, February 25 for $4.99. In the meantime, fight your way through a horde of new screens in our gallery below. %Gallery-84946%
The Raskulls screens break on through to the other side
Click image to go from half-size to full-size Halfbrick has uploaded a slew of new screens for its upcoming XBLA puzzle-platformer, The Raskulls, to the game's official site. There hasn't been much on the title yet, save for a brief trailer showing some gameplay and thoughts on the game from its art lead during our interview with Halfbrick, but these new shots show the game is coming along nicely. We have yet to get our hands on it, but if the recent trailer is any indication, it looks like a frenetic, friendship-endangering good time. Hit up the gallery below for the new screens. %Gallery-50092%
Gravitate to Halfbrick's newest PSP Mini, Blast Off
Listen, you're going to need a solid handheld game if you're going to survive tomorrow's family-fueled Thanksgiving festivities. You know, something discreet you can hide under the table, or perhaps behind a towering pile of yams. Indie developer Halfbrick has you covered -- the studio released its second PSP Mini onto the PSN yesterday: An "interstellar arcade game" titled Blast Off. The game, which arrived on the PSN storefront for the bargain price of $2.99, places you behind the controls of a rocket ship. Whilst piloting said spacecraft, you must navigate through the gravitational fields of planets, asteroids and black holes to rescue lost astronauts. It sounds like an neat little diversion to help you get through the post-pumpkin pie family bonding time.
Halfbrick reveals price and date for Echoes, a new PSP Mini
Ever have one of those days when you're up really late, just lookin' at art, and then you end up getting sucked into a dreamworld where you have to run through a series of levels based on surrealistic paintings, collecting crystals while avoiding nightmarish monsters? It's an extraordinarily relatable experience, and one that's serving as the premise for Halfbrick's soon-to-be-released PSP Mini titled Echoes. A recent press release from Halfbrick has revealed a Nov. 19 release date for the game, which will sell for the low, low price of $2.99. If you're curious what being inside a painting feels like, check out the game's debut trailer, which we've posted after the jump. Otherwise, just load up this image and put your face really close to the screen.
Interview: Halfbrick talks PSP Minis
Last time we talked to Halfbrick Studios, the company was gearing up to assault Xbox Live with a suite of Indie Games (then called Community Games). Now, with the unveiling of Sony's Minis, Halfbrick has announced it's developing for the PSP platform. In fact, a few of its titles were even in the debut trailer for Minis. We talked to Phil Larsen, community manager at Halfbrick, about these new products and Sony's bite-sized games service.
Race your eyeballs to this Halfbrick Rocket Race trailer
Click to fuel your eyeballs with more screens The Brisbane-based Halfbrick Studios just sent us a press release informing us it has a new title on the way to Xbox Live's Community Games Indie Games section in Halfbrick Rocket Race. A racer with a twist, Halfbrick Rocket Race isn't all about getting from Point A to Point B ... ... okay, maybe it is, but there are subtleties here, like the boost you get from hitting your thrusters next to a wall. See what we mean in the game's first trailer, which is currently running qualifying laps past the break.%Gallery-67211%
The Raskulls bust some blocks in latest trailer
Halfbrick Studios, those adorable chaps from Brisbane, has sent along a gameplay trailer of its equally adorable XBLA game, Raskulls. Many things in this trailer rub us the right way: the cute, infectious music; the block-breakin' gameplay reminiscent of Mr. Driller; and the unique special abilities for each character. It looks to be a dangerously fun combination, if we may say so.
Joystiq interview: Halfbrick Studios
We recently fired off some long-distance questions to Halfbrick Studios, an independent developer located in Brisbane, Australia, about itself and its projects in the pipeline for Xbox 360 -- more specifically, for XBLA and XNA Community Games. Lead artist Matthew Knight generously accepted our assault and blasted back with his answers. Warning: Stepping into our friendly exchange just might hit you like a ton of (half) bricks ...
