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Canadian Indie Bundle on Steam: Superbrothers, Shanks and more
Our brothers and sisters in The Great White North are getting some time in the spotlight today with a new bundle on Steam. The Canadian Indie Bundle packages together games from Klei Entertainment, Capybara Games, Gaslamp Games and more for $14.99.Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Shank and Shank 2 highlight this Canadian Indie Bundle, joined by Space Pirates and Zombies, Waveform, Hoard, Dungeons of Dredmor and Capsized. Many of the games in the bundle offer SteamPlay between Windows and Mac OSX.
EA Indie Bundle challenges your definitions, is live on Steam now
The EA Indie Bundle (yes, we assure you, it is barely-100-percent-mostly-ish possible for EA to have an indie bundle) is live on Steam, offering 70 percent off a package of six titles from four indie developers, or half off each individual game.Included in the sale is Warp, Shank, Shank 2, DeathSpank, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue and Gatling Gears. The DeathSpank titles are $7.50 individually and are available on PC and Mac through Steamplay, while the rest of EA's indies cost $5 and are PC only.Indie Game Magazine first spotted the bundle in the super-secret Steam registry files this morning. The sale is now officially on, set to disappear from Steam in one week on May 9.
The Failure Workshop: How four studios built success from defeat
Succeeding in the indie game industry often takes years of patience, personal sacrifice and Ramen, a lifestyle often not discussed in popular stories of underground triumph and million-unit sales. The Failure Workshop at GDC aims to highlight the failures of otherwise successful studios, this year from Supergiant Games, Klei Entertainment, Enemy Airship and Northway Games.We've listed the lessons from each below:Jamie Cheng, Klei Entertainment (Shank, Eets)After Eets and before Shank, in 2006, Klei began working on Sugar Rush, a second game in the Eets universe. It was greenlit by Nexon America, but was dropped two weeks before it was set to launch. Klei then tried to pitch it to consoles, but that fell through as well. During this process, Sugar Rush went through five art changes, three closed betas and a name change -- Scrappers -- transforming from a marshmallow-inspired character design, to tween, to adult, to mature and finally to cool, and all of it canceled for good in 2010.Sugar Rush's failure stemmed from Klei's lack of conviction with the title, studio co-founder Jamie Cheng said. Klei didn't know exactly what it wanted Sugar Rush to be, meaning feedback from every beta tester and publishing partner affected its development dramatically. However, success did come from Sugar Rush's failure."Shank never would have happened without this," Cheng said.
Klei Entertainment chowing down on new Eets title
Klei Entertainment, creator of the Shank series, is working on a second installment of its other original franchise, Eets, studio co-founder Jamie Cheng said at GDC today. Cheng presented at the Failure Workshop, showing off the many iterations and doomed decisions of Eets: Sugar Rush, a title Klei worked on for four years before it was canceled for good.Cheng said Klei was burnt out on Sugar Rush (later renamed Scrappers), so the new Eets title will probably have more to do with healthful eating habits and complete objects than anything else. We'll have more details on the failures of Klei, Supergiant Games, Enemy Airship and Northway Games in a separate story later today.
Big discounts on EA games, DLC on Xbox Live this week
Xbox Live is hosting some decent deals on Electronic Arts content this week. Notable games include Risk: Factions for $5, Shank for $7.50 or Dragon Age: Origins for $15. Plenty of DLC is up for grabs as well, including Dead Space 2 "Severed" or Mass Effect 2 "Arrival" DLC for $3 each, or Dragon Age's "Witch Hunt" DLC for $4. You can check out the full selection of sale items – oddly split into two different lists – here and here.
Humble Indie Bundle 4 adds free soundtracks for every game
Er, not every game ever -- that'd be impossible, you guys. We're talking soundtracks for every game in the fourth Humble Indie Bundle: Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and Nightsky HD. The soundtracks are free to anyone who pays above the current average for the Bundle and, as usual, to anyone who's already purchased the bundle. You can snag them in mp3 format or, in the case of Super Meat Boy and Nightsky HD, also in FLAC.
Shank 2: Back for more
Klei Entertainment's Shank was a lovable, uncomplicated indie beat-em-up. The game's protagonist went on a murderous rampage using whatever he had lying around, including guns, a big knife, a chainsaw, and a few other items. It's probably no surprise that the recently announced Shank 2 is more of that kind of thing. The backgrounds are nicer and more colorful, Shank's enemies are more varied, and the controls are refined. It's a better, cleaner Shank experience. The indie charm is still there, and the whole game is more polished. Oh, and there's one big feature that will probably make the game for fans of the series: An endless online co-op survival mode.
PSN Summer Sale drops prices on Scott Pilgrim, Pac-Man CE DX, and more next week
If your PlayStation Plus membership is still active next week, you'll be privy to some deep, deep discounts between July 12 and July 19 thanks to Sony's PSN Summer Sale. If your membership has lapsed, you'll still get discounts, but only one "deep" worth. Sony announced the 11 games that will form the basis of the sale, including Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shank, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Chime Super Deluxe, the Move-enhanced port of Dead Space: Extraction, and more. Plus members will save 50% off the normal price, while everyone else will grab a nice 30% discount. Check out the full list after the break. If you see anything you like, we suggest going and purchasing a PSN card to pay for it, on account of ... recent events.
Klei Entertainment on 'The Journey to Creating Shank'
Klei Entertainment was pushed to the verge of bankruptcy during the development of its ultra-violent, Desperado-inspired action game, Shank. Studio founder Jamie Cheng described some of the more tumultuous periods in the game's development at a GDC panel on Tuesday morning, admitting that stress even managed to crack his normally calm demeanor. In order to remain afloat and complete Shank, Klei introduced temporary (and optional) employee wage reductions with interest, and Cheng himself took out a bank loan against his house in January 2010. The studio was offered a lifeline from an unnamed publisher, but it declined the offer and opted for a fairer, less constrictive deal with EA Partners. "We kept the IP, we kept the creative freedom; it was the good stuff," Cheng said.
Pre-order PC Bulletstorm from EA Store, get Shank for free
Every, um, cloud in a Bulletstorm has a silver lining, because it's full of steel Shanks. Okay, that belabored metaphor is supposed to refer to the fact that if you pre-order the PC download version of Bulletstorm from EA's store, you'll get a free download of Klei Entertainment's side-scrolling action game Shank. We just wanted to say it in a more poetic way than "buy this one game about committing thousands of bloody murders, and get another game about bloody murders for free," okay? The deal is good only with purchases of the $60 Bulletstorm Limited Edition, through Feb. 21.
Get Shank'd in the Xbox Live Deal of the Week
Shank is a lot of fun because it lets you murder a lot of different people in a lot of different ways, and I think you should buy it. –Justin McElroy, Joystiq.com Had you taken our recommendation several months ago, you would likely have vented your most murderous fantasies -- many of which you never knew you had -- many times over by now; in which case, you should probably, peacefully move on to our next post. Had you, on the other hand, not been called to action by our priase of Shank, then perhaps this is the opportunity you've been waiting for: The Xbox Live Arcade version of the game has been discounted to 800 Microsoft Points ($10) -- down from $15 -- this week (through Sunday) for Xbox Live Gold members. If not the original price, then perhaps your apprehension was fixated on those icky bugs that had crawled out of the XBLA release. Well, those have been taken care of, too. Still not interested? Ohh, we get it now. All right, sit tight -- next week's Marketplace deal is the one for you.
Shank and 'Spank now available on PC
Shank and DeathSpank are ready for action now on Steam for $15 apiece. Shank doles out death in what the movie advertisements will refer to as a roaring rampage of revenge, while DeathSpank delivers demise at the end of a punch ... line. We enjoyed both titles when they were first released over the summer on consoles. We found Shank to be a "cure for murder" (but please consult your physician before taking Shank) and said DeathSpank was "built on a solid foundation of time-tested gameplay and bacon."
Shank takes a stab at Steam on October 26
Klei Entertainment's stylish murder-em-up, Shank, has been dated for Steam, according to the latest trailer issued by EA. On October 26, anxious arterial-spray aficionados can work their craft via Valve's Steam service -- as seen in the image above, pre-ordering the game also knocks off 10% of its $14.99 asking price, bringing it down to $13.49. Oh, you don't believe us? Really? We thought we got past your trust issues, Reginald? Well, head past the break and check out the trailer for yourself, then feel super guilty for ever doubting us.
Shank devs looking into busted 360 Achievements and chugging cinematics
Recently released kill-em-up Shank has split critics – 1UP says it's the "freshest, most unequivocally rewarding beat-em-up game to come along in almost a decade" while Gamespot claims "style can't quite overcome the lack of substance in this fun though shallow brawler" – but surprisingly it's also caused a fissure in the console world. So while the PS3 version continues along, with no problems in sight, the Xbox 360 release suffers two issues on certain systems. First, users who played the Xbox Live trial and then – eager to continue their kill-a-thon – purchased the title to start earning some of those sweet Achievements ... well, we've got bad news. Klei's Jamie Chang writes on the game's site that "if you unlock the Trial on the 360, there's a chance that the first two achievements are not unlocked." The good news: the team at Klei has "already got a fix for this" so you'll get your 'cheevos just as soon as that's rolled out. The other, and less significant, issue: chugging cinematics. Cheng notes that "older Xbox 360's have slower disc access rates, so the opening cinematic chugs, and loading between levels takes longer." This never came up in testing and doesn't actually affect the gameplay in any way, but that's got to be doubly annoying. Slow load times off a hard drive? The good news is, we're hearing about this is on Klei's site very soon after complaints started appearing on message boards, and Cheng and Co have already pledged to address the issues. And, as a sort of strange, machete-themed penance, they're offering the above image in wallpaper format. We imagine it's metaphorical: Shank is Cheng, and each machete is for one of the aforementioned bugs ... or it's just a picture of Shank. You could interpret it either way, really.
European PSN releases for August 25
Clear your Wednesday schedules, our European colleagues -- this week's PSN update's a beefy one. There are new games in the forms of Joe Danger, Shank, PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap and MotorStorm 3D Rift, a demo for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, and a new persistent beta server for MAG that allows players to test out some new, potentially upcoming features at no cost. Get to it! Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Shank review: Always Be Murdering
You've probably noticed that critics often employ flowery language when they're trying to describe hyper-violence, whether it's a "bullet ballet" or a "symphony of destruction." Never one to use my evolved human intellect to mask primal urges, I'm going to try to explain the appeal of Klei's side-scrolling kill-'em-up Shank in the most basic, honest terms possible. If the game's not employing the slightest bit of nuance, I don't see why I should have to. Shank is a lot of fun because it lets you murder a lot of different people in a lot of different ways, and I think you should buy it. %Gallery-71865%
PSN Tuesday: Shank, PixelJunk Racers 2, Press Your Luck
Guns, cars and pressing one's luck is what this week's new PSN titles are all about. Shank, PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap, Press Your Luck and Motorstorm 3D Rift are all added to the PSN. The audio of these games will involve a log of banging, vrooming and hollering of "BIG MONEY, NO WHAMMIES!" Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
This Wednesday: Shank and Scott Pilgrim beat up XBLA
It's a great week for Xbox 360 owners who possess a great deal of pent-up aggression, as the two-week PSN exclusivity of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World comes to a halt this Wednesday, August 25. The highly stylized, chiptune-enhanced beat 'em up will run you 800 Microsoft Points ($10), which is roughly equivalent to the price of a Scott Pilgrim movie ticket -- an item apparently covered in some kind of fatal, diffusive poison. If you're looking for a beat-'em-up with more ... well, stabbing, you'll also be able to pick up Klei Entertainment's Shank for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). That's a little bit more than the entry fee to Scott Pilgrim, but we're sure that's only because of discrepancies in the Canadian/American currency exchange rate. %Gallery-95506%
Download the Shank soundtrack, watch the launch trailer
Your hands won't be able to play Shank until this week's PSN Tuesday/XBLA Wednesday update goes live, but your ears will be able to listen to the entire game's soundtrack. Big Download has the 13-track OST available for download, without any messy DRM to worry about. If that's not enough for you, your eyes will be able to watch the game's bloody launch trailer. Be warned, though. If you get queasy from violence, your stomach might also partake in the festivities. Download the Official Shank Soundtrack (46 MB)
Hear some of Shank's tracks, and see Shank's tracksuit
It may seem strange to receive an update on Klei Entertainment's XBLA/PC/PSN action game Shank that doesn't have anything to do with brutal gun, knife, or gun/knife/knife/gun/chainsaw violence, but you'll like this anyway. In advance of next week's release (August 24 on PSN, August 25 on XBLA, "Fall" on PC), Klei has posted six songs from the game's soundtrack. In addition, the company revealed a few of the unlockable costumes in which you'll be able to clothe Shank, including a Bruce Lee-inspired yellow jumpsuit (no Kareem Abdul-Jabbar footprint, though) and a shirtless "Red Ninja" getup.
