Mike-Wilford
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The three terrifying minutes that created The Gunstringer
"I'm going to go to the restroom," said Microsoft's Cherie Lutz, "but when I get back I really want to hear this new idea." "Oh yeah, it's awesome, can't wait." Twisted Pixel chief creative officer Josh Bear had responded with abounding confidence, if only to mask the truth. Because the fact of the matter, the fact that he and CEO Mike Wilford were all too aware of, as they sat in Redmond, WA Tex-Mex restaurant The Matador, was this: The idea wasn't "awesome." It was nonexistent. The developer had scored a major meeting with Microsoft to pitch a new game developed exclusively with Kinect (then "Project Natal") in mind. It needed to be big, it needed to be smart and -- most pressingly to Wilford and Bear at that exact moment -- it needed to exist.
Twisted Pixel CEO says studio is working on iOS game
"The Capcom fiasco -- if you want to call it that -- lit a fire under our butts to give [iOS development] a try and see if we can make something there," Twisted Pixel CEO Mike Wilford has told Touch Arcade. Of course, the "fiasco" he's referring to was Capcom's appropriation of Splosion Man's core gameplay mechanic for its MaXplosion, similarities that Wilford himself told Joystiq were "nauseating" back in January. But forget about all of that: Twisted Pixel is working on an iOS game! "We're working on something. Nothing to announce yet. Hopefully, relatively soon we'll having something to share with you guys," Wilford said. While he played coy on what this new project is, Wilford did say that the staple of "character-driven IPs" created at Twisted Pixel provide potential for "a lot of fun stuff." Baby Splosion Man? The Fingerstringer? The Maw(ing at your iOS screen)? What do you guys think Twisted Pixel is up to?
PAX East todo: It's not the Length, it's the Mirth (Game Length Versus Value)
With new forms of distribution for video games come new pricing models. Outlets like Apple's iOS App Store and digital distribution storefronts like Xbox Live Arcade and PSN are challenging the convention of $60 AAA retail titles, and complicating the already peculiar brand of calculus that gamers use when determining "value". Why is $1 okay on iPhone but $6 is too expensive? Why is one ten-hour retail game criticized for being "too short" while others aren't? Why are we so hung up on game length? Join myself and a stellar lineup of panelists as we wrestle with this age-old quandary. Panelists include: Chris Hecker is the sole developer behind SpyParty, the as-yet-undated indie "about human behavior, performance, perception, and deception." Mike Wilford is CEO of Twisted Pixel, the Austin-based developer behind upcoming downloadable titles Ms. Splosion Man and The Gunstringer. Albert Reed is the studio director and co-founder of Cambridge-based Demiurge Studios, which has worked on everything from Mass Effect on PC to Borderlands, and its first original IP, the downloadable Shoot Many Robots. Chris Grant is a writer who works from home in his pajamas. The panel takes place at 4:30pm on Sunday, March 13, in the Wyvern Theatre (on the 2nd floor).
