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The Behemoth gives Major Trophy
Showing what an awesome development team they are, The Behemoth gave Major Nelson a custom, hand made FBI Agent trophy. This was in thanks for his support of their first title for Xbox Live Arcade, Alien Hominid HD, back in late February. Now, some of you may remember that The Behemoth was going to give away trophies for those at the top of the leaderboards of the game. Major, being an MS employee was not eligible to win, no matter how mad his skillz, so they hooked him up with this absolutely badass trophy, and he's posted pics on his flickr page of the gift and the thank you letter included in the package. Hopefully, The Behemoth will remember X3F and our GDC interview when Castle Crashers lands on Arcade, right guys?
Castle Crashers still 50 megs
We ran a story on Friday stating that Castle Crashers will release in 2008 because of the recent size limit increase on Xbox Live Arcade games. This info was apparently communicated to Joystiq during GDC. Since running the story, The Behemoth's Tom Fulp contacted us to let us know that The Behemoth is busy cramming as much as they can into Castle Crashers, but are still adhering to the 50 MB limit. In fact, Fulp noted that The Behemoth enjoys the challenge of meeting the size restriction. It seems the size limit increase is decided on a case by case basis, and The Behemoth has not requested a size increase at this time.Size increase or not, we wouldn't expect the game to hit anytime soon.
Castle Crashers gets bumped into 2008
Joystiq cornered The Behemoth's Dan Paladin after the GDC awards ceremony and asked about a release time-frame for Castle Crashers. To their (and our) dismay, Mr. Paladin stated that there was still "about a year of development left" on the XBLA title. Shocked, Joystiq then inquired to whether The Behemoth was going to take advantage of the 100MB bump in the XBLA size limit and were pleased to learn that Castle Crashers would benefit by adding additional features and content. So, we'll be seeing more Castle Crashers content, but will also have to suffer a longer wait. With a year or more of development nobody will be having any Castle Crashers fun until 2008 ... so you better make one hell of a game Mr. Paladin, because this hurts. This hurts a bunch.
Castle Crashers likely due 2008, receiving more content
var digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/castle-crashers-likely-due-2008-receiving-more-content/'; It seems that Microsoft's decision to expand the size restriction of Xbox Live Arcade games has become a double-edged sword, especially to fans of sword-swinging, skull-crushing adventure, Castle Crashers. After congratulating The Behemoth's Dan Paladin on the team's IGF award win at the Wednesday evening's ceremony, we enquired about the game's release timeframe and were met with less than pleasing information.Mr. Paladin noted that the XBLA title still had "about a year of development left," thus placing the completed Castle Crashers in 2008 at the earliest. Disappointing news, certainly, but not entirely without one of those consolatory silver linings that people love to point and stare at. When Joystiq asked about the length of the game, Paladin noted that the 100MB boost in the XBLA size limit had allowed The Behemoth to include even more content and features in the game, making it a fuller and more satisfying adventure overall.Alright, 2008. Come over here please.See also: Castle Crashers GDC '07 impressions
Castle Crashers GDC '07 impressions
Castle Crashers is a chaotic storm of spinning swords, overly aggressive primary colors and the occasional (but never displeasing) decapitation -- which is why we like it. Though the GDC demo boasts only a few notable changes from previous iterations, it still warrants a look. A long and loving look accompanied by a forlorn sigh and the formation of a gently sparkling tear. One of the most interesting things about the game is the manner in which it draws your attention. It's even a little conflicting, as if two sets of fingers are snapping in your face in an alternating pattern. When you're not trying to spot your character deep within the colorful anarchy of battle, you're adopting a wider view of all the over-the-top action. It's like a tug of war, and one not too dissimilar from the battle between order and chaos that's at the core of the game.
Joystiq not-so-live coverage of the IGF and GDCA awards
6:20 p.m.: The Joystiq crew walks the red carpet, because we're just that important.6:33 p.m.: Gnarls Barkley's cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" is blasting as we find seats in the press section. Cushy seats with recline-able chairs.6:42 pm: Sam and Max introduce the start for the independent games festival. The mention of projectile vomiting is disturbing, but welcoming somehow. 6:43 pm: Jamil Moledina and Simon Carless march onto stage, noting that the show is being broadcast to the entire world. We sense somewhat sinister undertones.
Gears of War takes best game at GDCA, Aquaria wins IGF best game prize
At tonight's Game Developers Choice Awards, Epic Games' Gears of War took home three awards: best technology, visual arts, and the coveted Game of the Year award. On the independent side of things, Bit Blot's Aquaria won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize from the Independent Games Festival.Okami picked up a win in one of the four categories it was nominated in (take that, AIAS). Unfortunately, Loco Roco did not pick up any awards despite two nominations (character design and audio). Independent game Everyday Shooter won two awards and a distribution deal from GameTap.View the full list winners and nominees from both events below.
GDC 07: Castle Crashers hands on
We heard the rumblings. We smelled the awesome. We knew that Castle Crashers was somewhere at GDC. It was just a matter of finding it. After what seemed like days of searching, we found the title in the Independent Games Festival pit, loaded up on an HD screen with some pumping speakers, Castle Crashers was ready and raring to go.
The Behemoth's Dan Paladin interviewed
Game Almighty posted an interview with Dan Paladin, The Behemoth's artist extraordinaire for Alien Hominid HD and upcoming XBLA title Castle Crashers. In the interview, Dan talks about the differences in the art style between the games, where he gets his inspiration, and why he is so cool. He also talks about the challenges and changes they've encountered while developing Castle Crashers, including reducing the size of the knights on screen and dealing with the complex code. One of the most interesting tidbits from the interview is when Mr. Paladin talks about a few of Castle Crashers' game features stating:"In Castle Crashers, when holding down the right trigger all 4 of the buttons on top become spells that are intuitive to the player. For instance, press jump without right trigger and you jump normally. Press jump with the right trigger held down and you do a magic boosted jump. You can unlock a lot of characters to play as - as well as weapons, pets, and items! Every character has their own magic abilities which affect the enemies in different ways."We must admit, we are uber excited for some four player co-op over Xbox Live and beating on those bad dudes. Anyone satisfied with XBLA title Alien Hominid HD and overly pumped for some Castle Crashers later this year?[Thanks, Chris]
New Castle Crashers trailer(!)
It's been a long time coming, but we finally have new Castle Crashers media to share. The last time we had a new Castle Crashers video was in July, and that's just too long. Granted, we know what a beast the Xbox Live Arcade certification process can be, so we're not getting our hopes up that we'll actually be able to play Castle Crashers anytime soon. For now, all we can do is watch this video and dream of co-op hack & slash action with some seriously large bosses. Watch the video, and enjoy.For more intrepid readers, you can even download an HD version, stream it to your Xbox 360, and pretend you're actually playing Castle Crashers!
Castle Crashers is racist, claims strange interpretation
GameTrailers recently received an alarming phone message referencing a Castle Crashers clip that the site had posted during PAX 06. A babbling voice was insisting that The Behemoth's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title was racist, depicting "brown and black characters" being slaughtered by "pure-white characters." It sounds absurd -- it is absurd. But for someone who seems so obviously removed from mainstream gaming culture and the intentions of The Behemoth, could Castle Crashers be rationally interpreted as racist?The message has since been overlaid on top of gameplay footage (see embedded video), giving us a chance to inspect its claim. Interestingly, if we suspend our understanding of the game -- that is, if remove this clip from the context of mainstream gaming culture -- we see what appears to be white figures mercilessly butchering brown and black characters. If we also take into account that a history of racist media and entertainment exists (often guised in cartoonish fashion), than the interpretation in question is actually not absurd. But the interpretation is, we must contend, inaccurate.
Castle Crashers, most racist game of 2006?
We love Castle Crashers. That's no secret. It sits at the top of our XBLA wish list, right next to Small Arms. We could think of many words to describe it. Awesome, sweet, phat, dope, cool, all of these words leap to mind. But racist? That was the thought of one concerned mother upon seeing the trailer on GameTrailers.com. First of all, what mom is cruising GameTrailers? That's awesome. Second, racist? Apparently, she thinks the multicolored knights are actually white supremacists. We'll just let you absorb that for a minute ... and there we go. Listen to her bewildered phone call after the break.[Via Xboxic]
Joyswag: A Castle Crashers tee for your thoughts ... the revenge! [update 1]
On Sunday we asked you to leave a comment with your feedback on Castle Crashers for a chance to win an adorable Castle Crashers tee. 210 of you did and, after running the numbers at random.org, our first result was #76. The seventy-sixth comment was posted by one Mr. Franky Digital, who wrote, "This could very well resurrect the side-scrolling beat-'em-up genre for a new generation. Every generation should have a Turtles in Time."That got us thinking. We have another Castle Crashers tee to hand out (size XL), but who to give it to? All you have to do is leave a comment telling us what your favorite side-scrolling beat-'em-up is/was and why. Hate side-scrolling beat-'em-ups? We'd like to know that also (but you better have a good reason why). We'll select one at random and award them the final tee. Good luck![Upate: A quick roll of the random.org die and we've got comment 96, in which Kiey chose Konami's classic Genesis beat 'em up Sunset Riders. Congrats Kiey, you won the tee!]
Watch Castle Crashers, win swag!
Head on over to Joystiq to take a gander at the latest Castle Crashers footage. As an added bonus, you'll have chance to win a sweet Castle Crashers tee. Everybody loves free tee shirts! You've got until 2:30 EST (GMT -4). Check out the post for official rules and whatnot. Good luck!
Joyswag: A Castle Crashers tee for your thoughts
One of the greatest parts about meeting The Behemoth's Tom Fulp at PAX (hi Tom!) was hearing how he read and incorporated our reader's feedback into the Castle Crashers' PAX build, specifically Psaakyrn's comment that enemies appeared to get stuck outside the screen. In the footage from the PAX build you'll notice a dearth of such behavior, with most of the action concentrated towards the center of the screen.In the spirit of continuing this line of communication, we'll be giving away two of these super sweet Castle Crashers tees to a randomly selected comment containing feedback. Do you like the graphics? How much would you pay for a title like this? Did you manage to acquire the coveted "first post"? Just kidding, that last one doesn't count. Let us, and The Behemoth, know what you think of their latest effort and you could win a tee (continue reading for the rules). Get to it, we'll give you another chance tomorrow.P.S.- Tom agrees with us, the world would be a much better place with a Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 game. He didn't say they're making one, he was just saying. We're gonna puff up our cheeks and hold our breath until PBCBSF2006 climbs out of its animated grave and into our interactive world. Starting. Now.
PAX: The Castle Crashers test
The exhibition space at PAX was a bit cramped, but that didn't stop Redmond neighbors Microsoft and Nintendo from representing, Guitar Hero II from rocking out, game import shop extraordinaire Pink Godzilla from selling, and The Behemoth from having one of the most popular games at the show. Who are The Behemoth? They're the small game studio responsible for the adorable Alien Hominid and the delicious Castle Crashers, both headed to Xbox Live Arcade.The line around Castle Crashers was continuously full -- all four controllers being put to the singular use of button mashing the baddies and quaffing all one could quaff -- while programmer (and Newgrounds chief) Tom Fulp watched on, paternally. One thing he heard continuously through the show, and I corroborated several times, was the repeated claim that players would "buy" an Xbox 360 "just for this game." Seriously, I heard the claim about four times within a half hour, and Tom said he'd been hearing it incessantly since the show floor opened. It was a sort of test. Will this game -- a throwback to the arcade 4-player beat-em-ups of yore dolled up with high-def graphics and (hopefully) an online multiplayer component -- sell next-gen systems to an audience that Gears of War can't? Don't have an Xbox 360 but still want to play Castle Crashers? I overheard Tom saying there's no reason the title couldn't come out for whatever platform Sony has up their sleeve ... although we have a hard time imagining rows of people proclaiming a similar purchasing intent for the pricier PlayStation 3. Check out GameTrailer's shakycam footage of Castle Crasher's PAX build after the break.
Castle Crashers: an XBLA original from The Behemoth
After seeing this video it was clear that The Behemoth's new XBLA offering Castle Crashers needed more than just a one line nod at the bottom of an Alien Hominid post. We've been doing the retro arcade thing long enough; now it's time to bring the multiplayer fun of arcade side-scrollers to Xbox Live Arcade. Forget about porting Golden Axe (though we'd take that too), Castle Crashers promises high-def resolutions with their old-school, beat 'em up action. Let's review, from 1UP: "What [an XBLA release] means for players is a much cheaper price, as well as overhauled visuals that -- when combined with the game's widescreen capability -- allow a lot more to take place on the screen at once. With any four-player game where all the characters are on the screen at the same time, there's a risk of too much going on and players getting confused, so the visual overhaul makes the game much easier to follow than it was in the version we saw last year."This is the sort of mindless arcade fun we need! Now if these guys would go ahead and secure the rights to Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 we'd die happy. Very happy, indeed. [Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Crashing castles on Xbox Live Arcade
Behemoth has announced that they are bringing Alien Hominid and a new original title to Xbox Live Arcade. The new title, Castle Crashers, is sure to remind many of old school beat 'em ups like Golden Axe and Guardian Heroes. The game features lots of enemies, 4 player co-op, and some serious action. Bonus points to Behemoth for making the characters look like the Black Knight (who, as you know, always triumphs). After you watch the gameplay video above, be sure and check out the official trailer on Xboxyde.I'm just going to abandon all journalistic objectivity here and say Castle Crashers looks like it's going to kick ass.[Via Joystiq]
Alien Hominid to crash land on XBLA this year [update 1]
There's two ways you could look at this, depending on how cynical and jaded you are. You could jump up and down knowing that Alien Hominid, one of the most successful and interesting indie games ever made, is coming to Microsoft's popular Xbox Live Arcade service this winter ... or you could grind your teeth knowing that your perfectly suitable Xbox copy isn't backwards compatible (yet?) so, if you want that side scrolling action, you'll be shelling out for the same game again. Granted, it was only $20 to begin with, and a $10 XBLA price would still keep the total well below your average AAA title, but it's the principle dammit! This is a slippery slope for Microsoft to be on. Cynical (and/or cheap) gamers have foretold the day when Microsoft would use future profits to determine the fate of backwards compatibility on a particular title. Conspiracy theorists will point to Alien Hominid's relatively spartan and humble graphics as proof positive that Redmond isn't playing fair. Of course, these accusations will be premature since there are certain to be more backcompat updates before the Fall console launches, but they'll be made regardless. Game Informer reports that Alien Hominid developer The Behemoth is also bringing their in development title Castle Crashers to XBLA in early 2007. For more indie-dev goodies, check out the excellent Gamasutra podcast this week for an interview with The Behemoth's John Baez. [Thanks, Shizzle] [Update 1: 1UP previewed the game at the Comic-Con expo that began today. They confirm the obligatory 360 upgrades like high-def and widescreen support, but also note that "the developers are looking into adding a few bonuses here and there to give the Live Arcade version something extra for players who are familiar with the original" but add "we don't have any details on that front at this point."]
