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Team Meat confirms 3DS development, Super Meat Boy sales approaching 400K
During a postmortem on Super Meat Boy here at GDC 2011, Team Meat's Tommy Refenes spoke at great length about the plight of developing the most punishing game of 2010 -- a long stretch of development Hell that has since seen nearly 400,000 copies sold across Xbox Live Arcade and Steam, he revealed. As part of Microsoft's Game Feast program, as well as several impressive Steam sales, Super Meat Boy was afforded a lot of time in the spotlight, though Refenes also attributed its high Metacritic rating as another catalyst for the rise in popularity. Later, Edmund McMillen, who participated in the postmortem through a Skype video call, confirmed that Team Meat has procured a 3DS development kit and is currently working on something for the platform. "We dont know if that'll be Meat Boy or something else, but who knows?" McMillen concluded coyly.
Super Meat Boy gets two new chapters on XBLA
As promised, the "Expert Remix" and fan-created "Cramps" chapters of Super Meat Boy on Xbox Live Arcade are now available for the cheaper-than-fast-food price of free. Accessible through "The Internets" -- the hub world included in the XBLA version of SMB -- each chapter features a slew of sharp, sometimes spinning objects that serve to stop Meat Boy's path to victory. While Cramps is hand-crafted by community member NovaSilisko, the Expert Remix levels are plucked from the original game's chapters and made extra difficult (a full list of the levels remixed can be found after the break). Also of note: "The Internets" is now unlockable at an earlier point in the game, requiring either 15 bandages or 40 completed levels. And while we appreciate the sentiment in lowering the barrier to entry, we'll be looking directly down our noses at you folks who needed the extra help. We're sorry -- it's just what Meat Boy does to us.
XBLA Super Meat Boy injected with fan created and remixed levels next week
The XBLA version of Super Meat Boy continues to ride the free DLC train, as Team Meat is planning to release another batch of levels. In fact, two sets of levels are expected. The first is a set of "expert remix" levels from the original game. Yes, Team Meat done gone and made twenty of the game's levels even harder -- including the first level of "The Kid." The team is also planning to release the first user-created level pack. While no solid release date has been set, the team hopes to have them up sometime "next week." You can see a list of all the expert remix levels right here. We suggest you take a few deep, calming breaths first.
Super Meat Boy postmortem, Angry Birds and Zynga talks announced for GDC 2011
In case you didn't know, it's the 25th anniversary of the Game Developers Conference this year, and that means a load of extra special presentations. Beyond the head of Nintendo keynoting, the laundry list of legendary developers giving "classic" postmortems, and various announcements, it was revealed today that Super Meat Boy devs Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes ("Team Meat") will be giving a postmortem of their own. And hey, we think they're pretty extra special. Additionally, Zynga VP of product development Mark Skaggs will be discussing his company's evolution, framed around the release of FarmVille and the push towards CityVille over the last year -- we'd suggest fledgling Facebook millionaires not be late. And finally, rounding out today's announcement is news of an Angry Birds talk from Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka (self-claimed "Head Eagle" at the studio). We'll be on hand at GDC bringing you all the meaty, free-to-play, bird-flinging news as it breaks.
Three Super Meat Boy tracks coming to Rock Band Network
The indefatigable Danny Baranowsky -- soundtrack composer for both Canabalt and Super Meat Boy, among others -- confirmed to us this morning that three tracks from Super Meat Boy are headed to the Rock Band Network. "The Battle of Lil' Slugger" and "Can o' Salt" will be released as remixed, extended versions, while "Betus Blues" is getting a retro remix for the RBN release. "I wanted to have some stuff in there for the people who delight in 100-percenting expert Dragonforce," Baranowsky told us of the remixes. From what we heard this morning of the extended, retro-ized "Betus Blues," we expect those folks to be handily challenged (as well as thoroughly entertained). No release date or price has been applied to the tracks yet, but the pack's author has them pegged as arriving "soon" -- it also labels them as coming to RBN 2.0, so we'd expect the tracks to arrive some time after February 15.
Super Meat Boy patched on XBLA, new levels to follow
If you envision Microsoft's nebulous certification process as a sadistic Super Meat Boy level -- some lava pits here, a few saw blades everywhere -- you may understand why a tiny weakling of a file, less than 1MB in size, spent over 3 months attempting to survive the gauntlet unscathed. Yes, the Super Meat Boy patch, which should cover up all of the squishy protagonist's oozing faults (including that auto-save glitch), is now available on Xbox Live Arcade. Just launch the game to download it automatically. With the XBLA version corrected, Team Meat can continue pushing new content to "Teh Internets," the in-game hub that hosts free, downloadable levels. Indie developer Gaijin Games is constructing a level pack for Commander Video, and Michael "Kayin" O'Reilly -- indefensibly evil creator of I Wanna Be The Guy -- is making some Kid-unfriendly levels. Team Meat's Edmund McMillen says that a pack remixing Super Meat Boy's best bits is also on the way. "We also have a few other devs lined up but we want to space level updates out a bit," he tells us. The game's level editor and level portal will be live on Steam "as soon as possible," he adds, and "we will also have a few cool bits of info about the future of SMB around that time as well." So ... that's a lot of incoming levels. When you've conquered all of them, it'll be time to concern yourself with a different kind of certification -- that of your inevitable insanity.
Super Meat Boy meats 3D in fan short
"Bandage Get!!!!" is the name of this appropriately titled -- and very slick -- Super Meat Boy fan short by Joseph Manalaysay, in which the anthropomorphic cut of beef navigates the perils of a 3D-rendered city to (wait for it) get the bandage. It's great, but the more "realistic" Boy is creepy!
Russian Super Meat Boy box art winner revealed, delightful
Team Meat's contest to find new box art for the Russian release of its beloved, nightmarishly difficult platformer Super Meat Boy has been fruitful, indeed. Check out the winning art after the jump -- then soak in all the other wonderful submissions over on Team Meat's site. We want posters!
Super Paper Meat Boy is exactly what you think it is
No, seriously -- it's a paper cube of meat dodging deadly paper traps. And it's a completely wonderful homage to Super Meat Boy.
Super Meat Boy soundtrack now available in 2 CD special edition
If you've managed to resist downloading the impossibly cheap Super Meat Boy soundtrack, you'll be interested to know that now there's a much more physical and significantly more awesome version available. The 2 CD set includes all the music from the downloadable release and also includes menu and cutscene music, two new remixes and more. It also comes in the neato case seen above. The 2 CD set can be had for $10 -- or more, if you're so inclined -- plus shipping. For an additional $5, you can also order a copy of the soundtrack signed by its composer Danny Baranowsky. See hi-res images of the packaging in the gallery below. %Gallery-114017%
Super Meat Boy piano arrangements are delightful
Brent Kennedy's piano arrangements are, to put it lightly, very impressive. His latest renditions of Super Meat Boy tunes are no different, urging us to loop "Betus Blues" while charging once more through level two's Light World. It's so much more harrowing when the music sounds classical!
Team Meat's next game to be smaller, possibly on handhelds
Super Meat Boy's co-creators Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes don't want to make another platformer. "We've farmed this. It's done. There's no more coming out of us," McMillen said in a recent interview with Game Informer. In fact, the duo's next game could very well be dynamically generated, a brawler, a shooter, or something more casual, and could end up on a handheld -- but "not like iPhone or anything," Refenes notes. "Me and Tommy love video games. I don't think we discriminate on what genres we'd want to do," McMillen explains. And it certainly won't be as difficult as SMB, or as difficult to make. "Kind of like eating the ginger between sushi entrees. Just kind of cleanse it, make a new little game, and then start on the next big one," he explains. Super Mint Boy, perhaps? Not likely, as McMillen definitively states, "After the level editor comes out, it's done. Cut it off. No more meat boy." In the pages-long interview, Refenes and McMillen wax on a variety of topics, from undiscovered gaming references within SMB, to working with Microsoft and Nintendo, to the genesis of Meat Boy's death replays. Get a cup of hot coffee, put on that kickin' SMB soundtrack, and get reading.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2010: Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is so simple in concept that it's downright pretentious to read so much into it. But what else is a critic good for? On the surface, SMB -- a repurposing of the initials of probably the most famous video game of all time -- is a quintessential "indie" work. Essentially the product of the Team Meat twosome of Edmund McMillen (the creator) and Tommy Refenes (the programmer), Super Meat Boy is equal parts professional perfectionism and total unprofessionalism. The game "oozes with the blood of artistic independence," as McMillen put it ... on his "Dev Blog for Gay Nerds." What's arguably the most technically excellent 2D platformer ever designed can't be separated from its adolescent humor. Team Meat are folk heroes for the Twixter generation: enviably talented young artists, who use their powers in defiantly uncouth ways.
72-hour charity marathon lets internet pick games, gets really tough ones
The marathon gaming team Wily Whompers was scheduled to race team Zeldathon this week, but when that showdown fell through, it decided to turn its marathon into a Viewer's Choice of sorts, asking Reddit readers to help choose which games to play for 72 hours straight. The group is also raising money for Child's Play as it streams the event -- so far it has only reached a few hundred dollars, but there's still time left to play ... and watch. The team started with a run through Mega Man 10 and then the Reddit folks showed a cruel streak, sending the players through Super Meat Boy (we're told they beat all of the Light World levels and the warp zones), Super Ghouls N Ghosts and a few other unforgiving titles before the Whompers' current challenge as of this writing: Beating the forehead-slappingly difficult Demon's Souls. We can only wish them luck -- we're hard pressed to do anything for three days straight, much less play some of the hardest games around.
In Russia, Super Meat Boy retail cover makes you!
Okay, not quite. But fans of Super Meat Boy in Russia now have the opportunity to design the cover art for the PC box-copy release in the territory (so team Meat doesn't have to). Published by Buka Entertainment, the Russian release will be the first box copy of the game available in the world, so it's ... sort of a big deal? To enter the box art contest -- well, first you have to be a resident of Russia or any of the former Soviet Union countries, and then -- just put together a 709x709-pixel image using this set of SMB assets (.ZIP link), send it in to Buka before midnight on January 15, 2011, and calmly wait for the results to be announced a day or so later (more specific instructions can be found here). Not only will the winner become "like semi-popular," but he or she will also receive an Acer monitor! A personal message from Team Meat's Edmund McMillen spells out the intentions behind the contest, which you can view after the break. If you don't watch it for the pitch, watch it for his totally sweet hat.
Team Meat explains what went wrong with WiiWare's Super Meat Boy
If Super Meat Boy were to launch on WiiWare today, it would have no leaderboards, no Dark World levels and no support for downloadable additions. Boss fights and cutscenes would have no musical accompaniment, and only six music tracks (including just one for retro-themed levels) would be present. In the words of designer Edmund McMillen, it would be "a piece of shit version of Super Meat Boy." When McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes, who together form Team Meat, tested a version of their loopy platformer that could fit under the (previously disputed) 40MB file-size limit imposed by Nintendo's WiiWare service, they weren't satisfied with the compromises and decided to cancel it. "There is no way to avoid the fact that if we released a 40MB version of Super Meat Boy it would be a shit version of the game," McMillen told Joystiq. "It's a lose lose situation, but the fact of the matter is if we release a shitty game, we will have to live with that for the rest of our careers and have to cop to the fact that it is a shitty game."
New Super Meat Boy hub world, level editor and portal coming next month
While we already knew a level editor was on the way for the PC version of Super Meat Boy, news that it will also add an online portal for the custom levels is, um, news! Additionally, both the PC and Xbox Live Arcade versions will soon be updated with a new hub-world chapter, which will be home to new levels uploaded by Team Meat. All the new content is expected to be released mid-January, according to the developer. The PC-only online portal will catalog all user-created maps (created with the level editor, of course) and allow players to rate them and sort them based on a variety of criteria, says Team Meat. As for the new hub-world chapter, dubbed "Super Meat World," it will unlock as a destination prior to the first chapter (The Forest) on the chapter select screen once the player has collected 20 bandages. "Super Meat World" will behave a bit differently on each platform. On both XBLA and PC, this world will become the default destination for all new levels uploaded to the game by Team Meat (but not "Teh Internets" world, which will continue to reside in its own spot and even get some additional level love via this impending update) and will gain levels designed specifically for some of the hidden characters in the game. Also, Team Meat says that while a level editor won't be gracing XBLA, it will upload "all compatible user made level packs that we deem 'awesome'" to the XBLA's "Teh Internets" world. On the PC, "Super Meat World" gets an additional exclusive feature: an "Enter the Unknown" area which will feature a dynamic playlist of random, highly-ranked, custom maps made by the community each time you play. Players will need only to choose a level of difficulty at the outset on PC, then they'll be thrust into multiple levels that meet both the rating prerequisite and toughness level chosen.
Super Meat Boy WiiWare canceled, retail 'looking grim'
The saga of the WiiWare version of Super Meat Boy has come to an abrupt, disappointing end, with Team Meat tweeting today that the project has been canceled altogether. The team is still considering retail, but adds that the possibility is "also looking grim." We've contacted Team Meat for further comment. Keep an eye here for updates as we get them.
New Year's XBLM sale discounts multiple items, offers daily deals
Microsoft has launched its "Countdown to New Year's" promotion today on Xbox Live, which will see numerous pieces of Marketplace content discounted in the days leading up to the ball drop. The deals are highlighted by several XBLA games on sale now through December 31, including Super Meat Boy, Carcassonne, Comic Jumper, Castle Crashers and Risk Factions; all of which are 33–50 percent off. Daily deals are also on offer, beginning with today's deal: Red Dead Redemption DLC. Both the "Liars & Cheats" and the "Legends & Killers" packs are available for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) each, half their usual price. Meanwhile, "Undead Nightmare" and the "Undead Nightmare Collection" (which bundles together all three aforementioned add-ons) are 25 percent off at 600 ($7.50) and 1200 points ($15), respectively. And tomorrow, December 22, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be available for half-off at 600 points ($7.50). Additionally, Microsoft has listed clues to the rest of this year's daily deals on the Xbox Live Dashboard. We've compiled the clues, along with our best guesses, after the break. Be sure to check it out before you start spending your holiday points! Finally, buying discounted items, watching Netflix movies or playing Halo: Reach and Fable 3 multiplayer during this 11-day promotion will automatically enter players into a sweepstakes to win a massive prize package, featuring a 50-inch HDTV.
Super Meat Boy for $3.75 and much more in Steam's Holiday Sale
If you've been looking for the perfect gift for your PC-gaming friends, then look no further: You'll need that money you were going to spend on them to buy stuff for yourself in this year's 14-day Steam Holiday Sale. As it does all the time, the digital retailer has discounted a bunch of games, though these deals are uncommonly good. Most notable among today's "Daily Deals" is Super Meat Boy for $3.75, a price so good you should consider it now even if you're waiting for the Mac version (thanks to Steam Play, when you buy the PC version, you'll get the Mac one when it's released); Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for just $6.79 -- just in time for the Vietnam expansion; and the Oddworld Oddboxx for $12.49. There's also a one-day "Holiday Bonus" each day of the sale, which run until January 2, contingent upon ownership of another game. Today, you get an extra 10 percent off Portal if you have Half-Life 2 in your Steam Library. Steam is also offering crazy discounts on publisher packs -- like every Valve game for $50 and every Square Enix/Eidos game on the service, including Batman: Arkham Asylum, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Just Causes 1 and 2, and Front Mission Evolved, for $74.99. These publisher packs will be on sale through January 2.
