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Backbone-developed Streets of Rage, ESWAT pitch art surfaces
Developer Backbone Entertainment planned to produce new entries in multiple classic Sega franchises, as evidenced in a gallery of images posted online by former Backbone artist Arvin Bautista. Bautista's art showcases characters from Sega's Streets of Rage beat-'em-up series, along with a mockup screenshot from a proposed remake of ESWAT, a side-scrolling action game that premiered in arcades in 1989. The games were pitched as downloadable titles for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, though neither was officially announced. It's unknown if either game is currently in development. Despite its Genesis-era popularity, the Streets of Rage series stumbled when it came time to transition to later consoles. A Dreamcast sequel was cancelled early in development, and though Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games pitched a downloadable Streets of Rage remake for current-gen consoles, a release never materialized. Adding to the bodycount, Bionic Commando Rearmed developer GRIN was rumored to be working on its own Streets of Rage game prior to its closure in 2009. Sega itself hasn't forgotten the series, producing last year's Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage compilation for Xbox Live Arcade as a reminder, but at this point, you'd be forgiven for thinking that these streets are cursed.
Death Jr. developer Backbone sees layoffs
Backbone Entertainment, the Foundation 9-owned developer of many HD re-releases and retro collections including Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection – as well as the Death Jr. series – has suffered layoffs, Foundation 9 CEO James North-Hearn has told Gamasutra."Due to a lower demand for conventional console development, the studio has made some difficult but necessary adjustments in both its capacity and services, with the goal of matching the changing needs of today's market," North-Hearn said. "The dedicated development staff at Backbone has put together some of the studio's best work for our partners in the upcoming fall releases, Dance Central 3 and Midway Arcade Origins."The scope of the layoffs was not revealed.
'Midway Arcade Origins' puts classic coin-ops on Xbox and PS3
Warner Bros. Interactive is bundling its archive of Midway arcade games once again, for sale on PS3 and Xbox 360. Midway Arcade Origins is a collection of "more than 30 classic, genre-defining Midway titles from the golden age of arcades," including Gauntlet, Joust, Spy Hunter, Marble Madness, Defender, and Rampage. There's no online multiplayer, but there are new Achievements, Trophies, and leaderboards.The Backbone-developed collection will be available this November for $30. That's less than $1 a game! Or, as far as we're concerned, it's $30 for Marble Madness's music, with a bunch of free games included.
The Simpsons Arcade Game classified in Australia
Quarter-consuming favorite The Simpsons Arcade Game appears to finally be making its way to current generation systems. XBLAfans took note of the Australian classification board posting, which states the game is being developed by Backbone (who did the X-Men Arcade port) and published by Konami, so this is definitely not EA's cheap iOS imitation. Konami told us it had "no information at this time" when contacted for a statement. If Backbone does that same job on Simpsons it did on X-Men Arcade, the title should be well done and available on several platforms.
New Deadliest Warrior and Ugly Americans titles coming to XBLA and PSN under 345 Games
Emboldened by the success of last year's anachronistic fighter Deadliest Warrior: The Game (which has sold over 400,000 downloads to date across XBLA and PSN), MTV Networks Entertainment has announced the opening of a new development studio called 345 Games. We spoke with Dan Yang and Prithvi Virasinghe from the newly incorporated studio about its plans to create game adaptations of Spike TV and Comedy Central programming. They revealed that they're starting with one distinct project from each network: Deadliest Warrior: Legends and Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon. The first, a follow-up to last year's Deadliest title, will feature all new fighters pulled from across the fullness of time, and more than twice as many arenas as the series' first installment. Each warrior type will be represented by titular legends such as William Wallace or Shaka Zulu, who can lead their armies in the new "Generals" campaign mode. Skirmishes between factions in this mode are carried out using the same battle simulator used in the show, and players can affect their troops with certain "X-Factors," such as training exercises, or unique General strategies.
X-Men Arcade being developed by Backbone, supports widescreen
We've got a couple of tiny updates to last weekend's announcement of the classic X-Men Arcade game making its way to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN. The title will be transferred from arcade cabinet to consoles by Backbone Entertainment, which was also responsible for ports like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. We also followed up with Konami after noticing some reports of the game's "high-definition graphics." A representative for the publisher explained that the gameplay graphics may be upscaled, and that there would be new HD updates for some of the UI and menus. Also, before there are riots in the streets, we did ask about the game's "widescreen" support. Refresher for some: the X-Men arcade game came in a couple versions: one that was just a standard 4:3 television, and another that used some visual trickery by sticking two screens together and creating a "wide screen" supporting six players. We were informed that the game will support widescreen when the game is open to six player "drop-in multiplayer." The PS3 supports six players both online and couch, while the XBLA version only supports six online. On either console, if there are four players or less, the game flips to a 4:3 scale; however, it sounds like if you just leave the game open to the possibility of six, it will stay widescreen. We'll have to test that once we get some hands-on time with the game.
Gauntlet DS found on ESRB website with Majesco as publisher
After being potentially canceled as of a few months ago, Gauntlet DS has re-emerged from purgatory with a new publisher in Majesco. At very least, that's our best guess based on an ESRB rating for the game found by a Gauntlet-lovin' GoNintendo reader.Once announced as being developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by now Square Enix-owned Eidos, the title was delisted from GameStop's website as well as Amazon back in February. Does this mean we'll finally be able to try our very best not to shoot food on the DS in the near future? One can only dream.
Rock Band Unplugged: Full track list & DLC revealed
Joystiq is pleased to unravel one of the great mysteries of our time ... Rock Band Unplugged's track list! Don't all faint at once now. *Phew*. We've got the complete set of band names and numbers (of the musical variety) featured on the PSP-exclusive's disc, plus the first ten DLC tracks to be available directly through the in-game music store beginning on release day, June 9, 2009. So, without further ado ... [Here's the part where you press the big blue button. Yeah, that one.]
NYCC 09: Bomberman Ultra hands-on (PSN)
Bomberman isn't Bomberman if it isn't done in that classic 2D, top-down style. It's a simple formula that has transcended generations, making hits when staying true to its roots ... and making facepalms when it doesn't. It's with this thought in mind that we're left unsurprised to see what Hudson has decided to do with Bomberman Ultra -- the latest entry into this 26-year old series. Hudson is sticking to tradition with this PlayStation Network title.Bomberman Ultra is, in a nutshell, a slightly upgraded port of Bomberman Live! which debuted on Xbox Live back in 2007. The visuals are virtually identical as this PS3 version retains a crisp and clean look along with some very vibrant colors. Other identical features include the very same power-ups and character customization options found in Live!. Ultra also contains all of Live!'s additional levels from the Bomb-Up Pack DLC, as well as three all-original stages for a total of 17 playable levels. Gallery: Bomberman Ultra
Rumor: Gauntlet DS has died
Gauntlet DS has been removed or changed to a nebulous status on several retail sites. GoNintendo took notice that the title was removed from GameStop; allegedly, Amazon told customers that the game had been "canceled." Furthermore, Eidos no longer makes any mention of the title on its site.A source familiar with the development of the title has confirmed to Joystiq that Gauntlet DS has indeed been scrapped; however, we've contacted both Eidos and developer Backbone Entertainment to learn what has (or hasn't) befallen the DS dungeon crawler. We'll update as soon as we hear something official.%Gallery-19968%
Gauntlet delayed again?
What's become of Gauntlet DS? The game was first announced last April, with a then-lightning fast release scheduled for a mere two months later. But June came and went with no multiplayer hack-n-slash game anywhere to be seen, and after a time, we were told October. Later, February. Now? According to GameStop, we might see Gauntlet in April, a year after the game's initial confirmation. And even that's not official.So what's happened to the game? "Official" hands-on reports and impressions have been positive, even when they criticize certain aspects of the game, like its framerate (from impressions of last year's version), though some of our readers have reported negatively on the game. After so many delays, we have to assume Backbone Entertainment was doing something to the game, but what, we just don't know. Gallery: Gauntlet [Via GoNintendo]
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix sells 250k units
Why is Ryu showing us his pearly whites and giving us a thumbs up? That's because Capcom has just announced they have sold an impressive 250,000 copies of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix across the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A breakdown of the sales numbers between the two consoles was not released. The game was released on November 25th, so it hasn't even been a month since its debut. According to Capcom, it also broke both day one and week one sales records, and it will "most likely" go on to break the 30-days sales record as well. It might even become the highest grossing digital title ever.What did you expect? Capcom took an old-school favorite, improved upon it, and unleashed it onto all the SF fanboys. Street Fighter forever!
Holiday Deal of the Week: Bomberman LIVE
Bomberman LIVE, that Xbox Live Arcade game that you've come to obsessively love thanks to the addition of NXE Avatars, is being cheapened. We've just been informed via a nearly frozen carrier pigeon that this week's Holiday Deal of the Week is Bomberman LIVE, which has been discounted to 600 Microsoft points. A 200 point savings over its retail price and something we can only describe as being "blastacular!" The holiday deal goes live Tuesday morning, so prep those MS points for spending. Ho, ho, ho and merry Holiday Deal of the Week! %Gallery-5187%
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HDR finished, submitted, targeted for Nov.
"Very soon" could very well mean "this month" for the release of Capcom's HD remix of Super Street Fighter II Turbo on PSN and XBLA, according to an official forum post by Christian Svensson, the company's VP of strategic planning & business development. Svensson confirmed that the game is finished and has been submitted to both Microsoft and Sony for approval, but that one or both versions could get bumped if the process hits any snags. "November is indeed the target month," he said, while cautioning that, "It is possible for us to bounce the submission on one and not the other which would cause the release to potentially not be simultaneous and still be released in November on one of the two." [Via PS3 Fanboy]
Fresh Gauntlet shots arrive: 'Welcome, brown screens!'
Even by Gauntlet standards, the latest screenshots from Eidos' hack-and-slash revival are chockful of brown and beige. Not that we even care that much about how this will look -- Gauntlet is all about the co-op, after all -- but come on, guys! We know you possess knowledge of other colors.In between the unrelenting brownness, you'll get a glimpse of a couple of the enemies you will encounter, including the "Soulless Leech" (the red, swirly chap here) and the "Beast of Burden" (here, no, sorry, here). Gauntlet will now be coming out in October, after it slipped from its original June date.Finally, if somebody could reassure us that they got the reference in the title so we don't feel about 800 years old, that'd be peachy. Cheers.%Gallery-19972%[Via press release]
E308: Monster Lab blinded me with science
Backbone Entertainment's Monster Lab, published by Eidos, seems better every time I see it. I don't think that this is a function of improvements being made to the game so much as it is a matter of me understanding it a little better and getting more into the gameplay. I hope this game doesn't end up as overlooked as I think it will!My demo at E3 took me through most of the steps to monster-fighting success: creating parts, building a creature, and fighting. Parts for the monster are made in minigames, and come in three categories of mad science: mechanical, alchemical, and biological. Mechanical parts range from gear-covered steampunk-looking stuff to futuristic robot parts; biological parts are your basic gross monster stuff, and alchemical parts are magic-themed. %Gallery-15038%
Capcom patching SSFIITHDR 'open beta' after all
Capcom is performing a very special move for those miffed at the generally broken state of the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix "open beta." Despite originally dismissing connection issues and other awkwardness as the pitfalls of pre-release software, it is now planning to offer a patch to address them, according to a post on its official blog.The patch is slated to contain "several fixes for the open beta," and Capcom states that "the overall experience in the beta will be vastly improved." More details – including a release date – are promised to be forthcoming, so don't put away those arcade sticks just yet.
This Wednesday: Go! Go! Break Steady and 1942 jointly strike XBLA
Capcom continues its retro revival on XBLA this Wednesday with the release of 1942: Joint Strike. Developed by Backbone Entertainment (Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 and the upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix), the game is a classic two-player, top-down shooter set against the backdrop of an alternate WWII where laser cannons and building-sized tanks are commonplace. It's landing at 800 MS points ($10). Go! Go! Break Steady is a rhythm puzzle game set against the backdrop of an alternate WWII– er, actually it's a breakdancing themed puzzler from indie dev Little Boy Games. We first checked out this XNA-to-XBLA success story at GDC '08. You can pop and/or lock to your heart's content for 800 MS points ($10). If you don't care for the trial game, you can always use the $10 to support your local youth center, which was likely saved by breakdancers in the '80s. %Gallery-18258% %Gallery-16353%
Go! Go! Break Steady and 1942: Joint Strike make their way to the XBLA this Wed.
The Microsoft folks just announced that this Xbox Live Arcade release Wednesday, both Go! Go! Break Steady and 1942: Joint Strike will be making their way to the XBLA. And for 800 Microsoft points each, no less.And just in case you wanted to know a bit more about each title, developer Little Boy Games' debut title Go! Go! Break Steady is a mix between the music and puzzle genres utilizing 20 original tracks. As far as 1942: Joint Strike goes, it's a Backbone Entertainment developed remake of the original top down vertical shooter Joint Strike featuring co-op gameplay and plenty of explosive goodness. Screenshots will be added when they become available. Galleries added below.%Gallery-28260%%Gallery-16606%
Fanswag: Death Jr. and a Nyko Kama wireless nunchuk
If you're looking for a new game to play, as well as a device that will eat up all of your batteries, then you've come to the right place. We're giving away 2 copies of Death Jr. (each retail for $40), along with one Nyko Kama wireless nunchuk (goes for $35). The grand prize winner will get both the nunchuk and a copy of Death Jr. for the Wii. The runner-up will only get a copy of Death Jr.What do you need to do to enter our giveaway? Easy, just leave a comment telling us who your favorite character from the Death Jr. games is. Need some help? Hit up the official site here, or check out the Wikipedia entries for more. Simply tell us your favorite character, and you're entered.Entrants must be at least 18 years of age or older and legal, current residents of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). You may leave only one comment per calendar day, so leave any more than that and you'll be disqualified. The giveaway starts now and entries must be in by 11:59pm Eastern on Wednesday, June 18th. We'll select the winner the following day, via random drawing.Best of luck to you all and don't forget to give the official rules a read.%Gallery-24649%
