behemoth
Latest
The Behemoth revealing trailer for third game next week
The Behemoth has announced that it's ready to unveil a trailer for its third game on March 18, "just a few days before" the Tokyo Anime Fair. The latest post on the company blog informs that several of the developers are going to the Tokyo Anime Fair on March 20-21 and will showcase Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers and "an uber-early version of Game #3." So, if you're in Tokyo, would you kindly upload any gameplay video you capture to YouTube?As an amuse bouche, The Behemoth also showed off an image from the new game (pictured). Early idea on a name: The Crying Sugar Cube Leprechaun vs. The Helghast.[Thanks, Adam M O'Neill]
The creation of Castle Crashers' chilly Frost King
The crew behind Castle Crashers, artist to the stars Dan Paladin and programmer elite Tom Fulp, just willingly pulled the curtain back from their super secret design process. With the curtain removed, we get an insider's look into the creation process and how the evil Frost King came to be. As you can see per the art above, Mr. Paladin puts a heavy coat of "artistic magic" over the placeholder designs which sort of remind us of some sort of third grade school art project. View the creation of the Frost King in the 650% normal speed video that's embedded after the break. That Paladin has talent!
The Behemoth begins work on new game
On the Behemoth developer blog, resident artist Dan Paladin announced that the company is already prototyping its next project now that Castle Crashers is out the door. Paladin had little to say about the game apart from the fact that the company is "off to a very strong & solid start" and that those who have played the game seem to enjoy it. We suppose that's a good sign, right? Paladin added that the Behemoth might start posting images from the new game and see if the community can guess what the game is all about. Then again, he might just tell us.Our guess? An epic, episodic, massively multiplayer online first-person shooter real time strategy role-playing game. That's right, an MMOFPSRTSRPG. For Xbox Live Arcade, of course.
Castle Crashers dev teases new game
Curious as to what Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth has been up to lately? Well too bad, because the team isn't saying. Co-founder and self-proclaimed Best Blogger of 2009 Dan Paladin, however, is teasing on the company's site that they've been prototyping a new game. No other details are provided. Our prediction? It's gonna look like a Flash game.Last week, Microsoft announced that Castle Crashers was the most popular Xbox Live Arcade game of 2008 and ranked it 17th out of all Xbox LIVE titles. The King Pack DLC debuted earlier this week for 160 ($2).
This Wednesday: Castle Crashers DLC hitting XBLA
We've got new Castle Crashers DLC coming to Xbox Live Arcade this week for 160 ($2), according to Major Major Major Major (Nelson). As of this writing, no other details were available on his site nor on the Behemoth's blog, but we suspect it's probably the new characters and weapons we heard about in September. Sure, it's not technically a new title, but we'll let them slide this time. After all, it could be worse. As for the week after, you've got The Maw.
Castle Crashers Title Update now available ... finally!
Can it really be? Are our eyes deceiving us? Even when The Behemoth said last night that the long-long-awaited Castle Crashers Title Update would launch today, we didn't believe it -- but sure enough, the patch is live. We don't know the exact size, but the update took mere seconds to install. We just tried a four-player online match and it ran flawlessly. No official patch notes are out yet, but let us know if your castle crashing issues have been resolved.Update: Partial list of patch notes here.
No joke, Castle Crashers patch has released! [update]
Update: The Castle Crashers patch has now been released. Original post below.It's so very true! The long awaited, long demanded and long delayed online co-op fixing Castle Crashers patch is but a few hours away from being released. Developer The Behemoth just informed the masses via their official forums that the Castle Crashers patch has passed Microsoft certification and will release as a title update later this morning at 5:00AM eastern (2:00AM pacific). We're speechless! After chatting with The Behemoth a few weeks back, we were told that the patch was still being worked on and not through Microsoft cert. So, their recent announcement about its release has sort of caught us by surprise. No matter, Castle Crashers patch countdown is GO! Pinch us, we must be dreaming.[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Castle Crashers patch readied for certification
We finally have some news on the long-awaited patch for Castle Crashers. According to a post on developer Behemoth's site, the problems (including connectivity issues) have been "knocked out" and the team is currently verifying the updates before sending it off to Microsoft for certification. In perhaps one of the biggest understatements, the post states, "we are aware that many of you are unhappy about the wait" but explains that they had to fix all known issues at once, as opposed to release incremental updates. Certification can take a few weeks, so don't hold out hope for seeing the patch before Halloween. There should be more than enough titles to keep your attention in the interim.
Castle Crashers DLC: 2 characters, chainsaw(!)
As a general rule of thumb, there is one thing that can make an awesome game even awesomer. That one thing, as we're sure you've already guessed, is a chainsaw. Smart company that it is, The Behemoth has announced that not only will upcoming Castle Crashers DLC add two new characters -- the King and the Necromancer -- but also a chainsaw. Why is there a chainsaw in what is obviously a medieval world? Shut up is why.Those of you experiencing connection problems -- like us -- fear not, for The Behemoth has promised that fixing the technical issues in Castle Crashers is "top priority." Considering that the patch has no given release date, that makes the release of the DLC even more nebulous. Other details, like the price, are also up in the air. Here's hoping we get our patch and our DLC sooner rather than later.[Via Joystiq]
Joystiq interview: The Behemoth talks crashing castles
Despite keeping players salivating over Castle Crashers' eventual price and release date, The Behemoth's hand-drawn epic nonetheless remained near the top of a short list of 2008's most anticipated titles right up until the game's recent XBLA debut. Since then, Castle Crashers has more or less delivered on its promises of manic 2D brawling, though a near-crippled online experience threatened to send us stomping off to our rooms in contempt. Nevertheless, at the end of the day Castle Crashers is still a heck of a lot of fun to play. Fun as it is, however, we recently managed to put the controllers down long enough to speak with The Behemoth's Emil Ayoubkhan and Dan Paladin to discuss their game's price, what took the game so long and what the team has planned now that Castle Crashers is out the door. A quick addendum: This interview was conducted just before its release on XBLA but, due to Wednesday's Large Hadron Collider test, got lost in a black hole. Read on little soldiers! And for more, be sure to check out our PAX interview with The Behemoth as well.
Metareview -- Castle Crashers (Xbox 360)
Castle Crashers has invaded Xbox Live Arcade and, unless you're having connectivity issues, chances are you've discovered the charm in this homage revolution modern iteration of the beat 'em up genre. The game seems to be receiving positive reviews for its ambition as an XBLA title, but those pesky connection issues are causing reviewers to shave points off "Castle Crashes'" overall score. IGN (90/100): "Castle Crashers takes the best elements of traditional side-scrolling beat-em-ups and adds lots of flair. There's some great humor here and some nice surprises that will please most. ... The bulk of Castle Crashers is an enjoyable ride and one every 360 owner should experience." GameSpot (85/100): "Even at a price of 1,200 Microsoft points, Castle Crashers provides great value. The main storyline offers hours of bad-guy beating and princess-rescuing fun that it is sure to please. The ability to play with friends should make the experience richer, even if it is limited to a more local experience. As a testament to its entertainment, feature losses and some disappointing online play hardly slow this juggernaut of amusement down. This is an absurdly hilarious romp you won't soon forget." VGT (60/100): "Castle Crashers is an entertaining brawler, but the replay value is chopped into little frustrating bits by a horrifically painful online experience. I'm left wondering why I spent $15 (1200 MS points) on a five-hour single player game. Multiple playthroughs will unlock new characters, but the repetitive nature is a bit tiresome. Avoid purchasing Castle Crashers until the developer sorts the major online problems out." X3F in Brief and GameTrailer's video reviews can be found after the break.
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Castle Crashers
Castle Crashers is finally here folks. We spent the better part of our morning putting the game through its paces, and now a new episode of XBLA in Brief to show for it. An old school hack n' slash game with a quirky sense of humor, Castle Crashers definitely deserves notice from long time gamers. Check out our latest episode and find out if it's worth 1200 Microsoft Points.[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[M4V] Download the M4V directly.
Poll: Castle Crashers connectivity issues?
With all the hubbub surrounding Castle Crashers this week, we were eager to download our own copy this morning. After trying out the single player campaign it was time to try out some online multiplayer. And that's when the problems started. Try as we might, we simply can't get into an online game. So far, we've managed to get into one game, but that abruptly ended after about a minute with the message that the game was no longer available. We've been reading various comments about it on the web and we've decided to put together a poll to see how everyone's experience has been so far. Give your feedback below.%Poll-18717%
Video: Street Fighter vs ... Castle Crashers?
It's actually a character created for Mugen by PiNPOiNT -- the same guy who created the Castle Crashers costume, incidentally. Confused by all this Castle Crashers Baby Give-away talk? Then do yourself a service and get learned about all the exciting Castle Crashers launch events we have planned.
A week of Castle Crashers giveaways at X3F
In addition to being knee-deep in Too Human, our friends at X3F are celebrating Castle Crashers' Xbox Live Arcade debut by running daily giveaway contests all week, with developer Behemoth providing some added graphical flair. Today's giveaway is a trio of CC t-shirts. Keep an eye out on this tag for more CC prizes all week.
Castle Crashers priced for 1200 MS points
Crisis averted! Those who fretted over Castle Crashers' reported 1800 MS point entry fee can finally un-tense their muscles and relax. Behemoth has announced on its development blog that the price tag is a more palatable 1200 MS points (US $15). Is that the sweet spot for this month's only online multiplayer game? Castle Crashers begins, erm, crashing castles next Wednesday, August 27.[Via X3F]
The Behemoth: Castle Crashers price not decided yet
After yesterday's discovery and following denial of an 1800 MS Points price for Castle Crashers, The Behemoth's Emil Ayoubkhan has made an official comment on the Castle Crashers development blog. According to Ayoubkhan, not only is the 1800 point price incorrect, but the price itself hasn't even been decided. "Both The Behemoth and Microsoft are still working together to figure out a reasonable price point. (not 1800 points)," says Ayoubkhan. He adds that the final price of Castle Crashers will be set by Microsoft (in other words, if the price is high, it's Microsoft's fault). Whatever the price is, we should know for sure by August 25.
Microsoft: high Braid and Castle Crashers prices incorrect
It might be a little too early to breathe a sigh of relief, but things could be looking up for Castle Crashers and Braid. Both were recently listed on the official Japanese Xbox 360 blog for the relatively high prices of 1800 ($22.50) and 1200 ($15.00) points respectively. According to Shacknews, Microsoft has denied these prices, noting that they are "incorrect for both domestic and international markets." Microsoft adds that the official prices will be revealed on the Mondays before Braid and Castle Crashers release dates, which are August 4 and 25 respectively.You can all put your torches and pitchforks away ... for now.
First Impressions: SAGA
SAGA (not to be confused with Saga, who gave us the immortal "On the Loose") is an MMORTS -- massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game. While there are few enough of these on the market -- making its very existence worthy of approbation -- we thought it would be worth taking a closer look, to offer up an opinion of our first couple of hours into gameplay. Thus, this First Impressions post.Remember: this is not a guide, nor was this in any way influenced by the development studio. This is an entirely subjective look at SAGA, from an average gamer's point of view. And now, on with the show! Game. Thing. Whatever. Onward!%Gallery-28014%
Joystiq E3 Hands-on: Castle Crashers
Thanks to the dedicated blogging of the folks at Behemoth, we pretty much knew everything there was to know about Castle Crashers coming into E3 -- it's the followup to Alien Hominid, a game that started out on Newgrounds, and ended up on the XBLA. It's got tons of playable characters, lots of "animal orbs" you can recruit to fight with you, and a great art style and a sly sense of humor. In fact, the only thing we didn't know about it was probably the most important thing: how it actually played. After playing it with Microsoft Director of Digitally Distributed Content Scott Austin here at E3, we can safely say it's going to be one of the biggest XBLA titles of this year (it's due out before September 21st). Castle Crashers is crazy good button mashing fun, and we can't wait to lay down our hard-earned Microsoft Points for it.
