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Limbo was top Summer of Arcade title 'by a long stretch,' part of 'changing' XBLA market
Five of the top six spots on Xbox Live Arcade aren't just Japanese; they are all ports of classic titles. When we asked Microsoft Games Studios VP Phil Spencer about the observation, he said he could challenge the assumption that ports and existing IPs dominate sales on the platform. His ammunition was Limbo, the superb platformer that kicked off this year's Summer of Arcade. "Our number one Summer of Arcade game is Limbo," Spencer said, "by a long stretch." Other games in the five-week lineup included updates of classic titles like Hydro Thunder and existing – and highly visible – IPs like Castlevania and Lara Croft. "I think there was a time when Live Arcade was about IP that people knew," Spencer acknowledged, while conceding that those games are "always going to be important." "It's changing though," he said. "I really think coming out of Braid, Shadow Complex, Limbo [...] that it's changing a little bit. We see that in the market, that it's becoming less about iconic IP that people know and it's becoming more diverse." And that's a good thing for everyone involved, including Spencer. "I love Limbo. I think Limbo's probably my game of the year right now." Us too.
Limbo sells 300k, design philosophy discussed by Playdead
According to Gamasutra, Limbo – which kicked off the Xbox Live Arcade Summer of Arcade last month – has sold over 300,000 units. The outlet spoke to Jeppe Carlsen, level designer for Limbo, who discussed some of the design philosophy behind the game. Carlsen noted that the team had a few goals that Limbo had to adhere to from the beginning, including the overall mood and the decision that it would contain no tutorial text whatsoever. With many of the game's puzzles punishing a player at the slightest misstep, Carlsen stated that "it's important that you also treat him nicely." In other words, while death is frequent, it's also entertaining and educational. Ideally, players learn something about the puzzle with each death. Another philosophy: Make sure the correct solution is "fairly easy to execute" and that incorrect solutions are obviously wrong. Making incorrect solutions obvious aids players in discarding them from other possible solutions, nudging them toward the correct one. After all, there's no better motivator than grisly death.
Limbo tops weekly Xbox Live Arcade sales charts
Major Nelson's weekly dispatch of Xbox Live Arcade sales and activity rankings had an unlikely frontrunner: Playdead's $15 art house platformer, Limbo. The title took first place in the Arcade sales category, and tenth place in overall Live activity, beating out fellow recent XBLA releases Hydro Thunder: Hurricane, Deadliest Warrior and DeathSpank. It could not, however, do anything to stop Baby Maker Extreme from exerting its dominance on the Top Indie Games category. Perhaps nothing ever will. Click past the jump to see all the XBLA rankings for the week of July 26.
Review: Limbo
When trying to work out the best way to describe Limbo, I keep coming back to Edvard Munch. I've always been fascinated with Munch, an artist most famous for painting The Scream. It's his other works, however, that tend to stick with me, particularly his Madonna. As a work of art, Munch's Madonna presents the viewer with seemingly disparate imagery, at once both alluring and disquieting. It's dark, a little disturbing, and yet it's also engaging and beautiful. That's Limbo. %Gallery-97027%
Playdead: Limbo not coming to PS3 or PC
It looks like the upcoming XBLA platformer Limbo isn't headed to the PS3 or PC after all. After the ESRB listed the game for the two additional platforms, we contacted Playdead for more information and, according to Playdead's Dino Patti, the game is not coming to either the PC or PS3. "We are only launching the title on XBLA," said Patti. "You won't see a PS3 or PC version this time around, sorry." He added that he's "not sure where the mistake was made" but Playdead has requested that the ESRB remove the PS3 and PC labels from Limbo's listing.
ESRB rates Limbo for PS3 and PC
According to the ESRB, it looks like the Xbox won't be the only platform stuck in Limbo this summer. Assuming the recent ESRB listing is accurate, Playdead's terrifying, striking platformer is also headed to the PlayStation 3 and PC. Definitely good news if true, given how much we enjoyed the game's brooding atmosphere earlier this year. We've contacted Playdead for confirmation on the listing and will update this post with any new info. %Gallery-88180%
Limbo gives rise to first gameplay trailer
Playdead Games has finally created a gameplay trailer of its upcoming XBLA game, Limbo. Although the game has been in development for four years, this is the first promotional effort from the studio comprised entirely of in-game footage -- albeit just a small glimpse of Limbo's haunting monochromatic world. Don't be fooled by the seeming simplicity of the gameplay seen here. While Limbo is a platformer, it features many unique physics-based environmental puzzles, which aren't well demonstrated in this brief teaser. Also not featured in this video: some of the most scarring, gruesome death sequences we've ever seen in a game. %Gallery-88180%
Hands-on: Limbo
Very few games manage to instill a pure kind of terror such as Limbo, an aptly-titled puzzle-platformer in development for the past four years. Winner of multiple IGF awards, Limbo is a beautiful and haunting journey, one that must be experienced to be understood -- and thankfully, you'll be able to experience it on Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Like Braid and Shadow Complex before it, Limbo is likely to become the headlining downloadable game of the year. To describe Limbo in great detail would be a huge disservice to gamers. What makes Limbo so mesmerizing is its mysterious quality: the game simply begins, and continues. The abstract narrative is told simply through the journey; don't expect long Jonathan Blow-esque prose throughout. Presented in black and white and silence, Limbo's simplistic style carries a foreboding atmosphere unlike any other game. It's gorgeous, with detailed animations giving life to every object in the world. Were it not for its interactivity, one might be hard pressed not to think it's a painting. Limbo offers players little direction, nor does it need to. A GUI would ruin the simple beauty of developer Playdead's project. The controls will be immediately familiar to most gamers: A to jump and X to grab. It may seem a bit too simplistic, but Limbo offers some rather unique puzzles that take advantage of the environment in unusual and unexpected ways. Timing and precision is a necessity -- as is repetition, with death an unavoidable part of the gameplay. Traps, enemies, and pitfalls will make this a perilous journey, and the graphic depictions of death will keep you uncomfortable and on edge for hours. It was hard to resist the urge to continue playing through the entire adventure. While I found myself stuck at a few devilish puzzles, I never found myself too frustrated to go on. Limbo is a gorgeous game that explores emotions so rarely found in games: not just terror, but a distinct sense of helplessness and longing.%Gallery-88180%
Limbo coming to XBLA this summer
We can't help but notice you checking out that Limbo screenshot above, and who can blame you? The IGF-nominated puzzle platformer isn't just a real head-turner, it's got brains to match. Even better, developer Playdead tells us you'll be able to help its young protagonist look for his sister on the edge of Hell when it hits XBLA this summer. Here's the crazy thing though: You two have already met. No, really, it's true, way back in 2006, when Limbo was little more than a design doc and a teaser trailer. Kinda makes you feel a little creepy for ogling it, huh? Don't worry, your secret's safe with us.
