Bit-Trip-Runner
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Humble Weekly: Mark of the Ninja, King Arthur's Gold
Stretch out your clicking fingers and get ready for some mad platforming action in the latest Humble Weekly Sale. Available for the week for any price you want are Shank 2, Blocks That Matter and Bit.Trip Runner. For $6 or more, grab Runner 2, Megabyte Punch and Fly'n. Add in King Arthur's Gold and Mark of the Ninja: Special Edition for $10 or more. All of these games individually would run $119. They're all either DRM-free downloads or on Steam, except for Fly'n, which is Steam only. As always, split your payment among the developers, Humble itself or charity, in whichever percentage breakdown you desire. Charities this time around are the American Red Cross and Child's Play. This week, Humble launched a new way for you to get your cheap-game fix with Humble Daily Bundles. Today, May 15, grab The Banner Saga, an artwork pack and The Banner Saga: Factions for $15 or more. Humble will run new daily bundles through May 26. [Image: Humble]
Humble Weekly Sale gets rhythmic with Audiosurf, Bit.Trip Runner
Paging Dr. Beat: Humble Bundle's latest Humble Weekly Sale requires a solid sense of rhythm, offering a pay-what-you-want collection of games that test your ability to play along to a backing music track. The $1-minimum package includes Empty Clip Studios' rhythm-driven shoot-'em-up Symphony, Iridium Studios' music-themed RPG Sequence, and Gaijin Games' platformer Bit Trip Runner. Pay more than $6 for the compilation and you'll also get the custom track-driven puzzler Audiosurf, twin-stick arena shooter Beat Hazard Ultra, and reverse-shmup Retro/Grade. The "Rhythm Games" Humble Weekly Bundle will remain available through March 27. [Image: Cold Beam Games]
Bit.Trip Runner2 sprints, hops, slides to Vita next week
The adorably addictive Bit.Trip pseudo-series of technicolor games is expanding again with word that the sequel to Bit.Trip Runner will make its Vita handheld debut on December 17. Officially titled "Bit.Trip Presents ... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien," Runner2 is a game in which your character runs, constantly and with no regard for his or her personal safety. It's your job as the player to use a few simple maneuvers (jumping and sliding, for example) to ensure that your on-screen pal doesn't meet a grisly death by dashing off the side of a cliff or sprinting into something sharp. It's a simple formula, but as the cult success of Bit.Trip Runner and the console iterations of Runner2 demonstrate, it's also incredibly addictive. The Vita version of Runner2 is said to be identical to its console counterparts, right down to its DLC offerings. The Good Friends Character Pack DLC (an addition that allows you to play as the protagonists of Psychonauts, Spelunky and other esoteric hits) will be available alongside Runner2 when it launches on December 17. On debut, the game will set you back $10 on the PlayStation Network Store, while the DLC is priced at $3. PlayStation Plus subscribers can expect a discount on both, with the game being reduced to $8 and the DLC to $2.09.
Bit.Trip games 25-to-75% off on Steam until May 20
Nearly everything in Gaijin Games' esteemed Bit.Trip series has been marked down on Steam, from now until Monday, May 20. For instance: Bit.Trip Collection, which includes Bit.Trip Beat, Bit.Trip Runner, Bit.Trip Core and Bit.Trip Void, has had its price cut by 75% and is now just $11.98. Likewise, all of those games can be purchased individually at a discounted price of $2.49. Even last year's gorgeous Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien has had its price dropped to less than $12 – we recommend gettin' while the gettin's good, as our very southern mom would say.
Bit.Trip Saga coming to 3DS eShop December 20 for $15
Aksys Games is bringing Bit.Trip Saga, the Gaijin Games 3DS compilation that hit retail last year, to Nintendo's eShop on December 20. What's more, the collection will cost $14.99, saving players a whole bunch of dollars in addition to the convenience of the compilation being downloadable.Bit.Trip Saga includes Bit.Trip Beat, Bit.Trip Core, Bit.Trip Void, Bit.Trip Runner, Bit.Trip Fate and Bit.Trip Flux. If our math is correct, that's only a couple dollars per game in the six-game bundle. What a deal! %Gallery-138323%
Humble Indie Bundle 6 ends, earns over $2 million
316,258 individuals signed on for the latest Humble Indie Bundle, which is arguably the best Humble Indie Bundle yet. Humble Indie Bundle 6, which halted sales earlier this evening, managed to earn a total of $2,048,330.42 during the collection's sale.Humble Indie Bundle 6 initially launched with the starting lineup of Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z., Torchlight, Vessel and Dustforce. A week later, the bundle expanded to include Bit.Trip Runner, Wizorb, Jamestown and Gratuitous Space Battles for purchases equal or greater to the average sale price of the set. See? Best bundle yet!
Humble Indie Bundle 6 adds Bit.Trip Runner, Wizorb, more goodness
Humble Indie Bundle 6 just added four new games to its already stellar lineup, available to those who pay more than the average (currently less than $6): Bit.Trip Runner, Wizorb, Jamestown and Gratuitous Space Battles. All four games are DRM-free, of course, and come packaged with soundtracks. They're redeemable via Steam or the Ubuntu Software Center.These four join Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z., Torchlight, Vessel and Dustforce, the last of which is unlockable by paying more than the average as well. With the new games, Humble Indie Bundle 6 is now worth $135, and as always, buyers can allocate how much of their purchase benefits charity, the developers or Humble Bundle itself. The sixth bundle will be available for seven more days, right here.
Steam Summer Sale, Day 10: Batman Arkham City, Torchlight, Quantum Conundrum and more
Whew, we did it. It's finally the last day of the Steam Summer Sale and we ... what's that? There's another day of this madness? That's just great. Well, hopefully you didn't budget your lemonade stand money the way we did this year in order to account for tomorrow, the final day of the sales promotion.It's hard to keep up when today's sales include Quantum Conundrum and Arma 2: Combined Operations, both at 40% off. Also, Batman: Arkham City stands alone at 66% off, plenty of reason for us to pretend July 22 isn't even on the calendar. While we're at it, Prince of Persia, Evochron Mercenary, Torchlight, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, and Fable 3 are tempting us with a 75% discount. Finally, the indie bundle for today includes Bit.Trip Runner, Eufloria, and Machinarium.Enough about games, who wants to buy some delicious lemonade so we're ready for tomorrow's sales?
Final Steam Sale of 2011 predicts zombie apocalypse, crime in 2012
The Steam Holiday Sale doesn't stop for anyone or anything -- not the end of a year, an era or the world -- and today, New Year's Eve 2011, is no different. The 13th day of the Steam Holiday Sale offers 75 percent off L.A. Noire, Bit.Trip Runner, the Hitman franchise, Magicka, both BioShocks, Hoard, GRID and the Counter-Strike series, and more titles at various other deduction rates. Check out all the deals before the year and our life as we know it ends.
Humble Indie Bundle 4 adds free soundtracks for every game
Er, not every game ever -- that'd be impossible, you guys. We're talking soundtracks for every game in the fourth Humble Indie Bundle: Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and Nightsky HD. The soundtracks are free to anyone who pays above the current average for the Bundle and, as usual, to anyone who's already purchased the bundle. You can snag them in mp3 format or, in the case of Super Meat Boy and Nightsky HD, also in FLAC.
Humble Indie Bundle 4 revealed, nab Meat Boy, Shank, Jamestown and more
As if you didn't already have enough fantastic games to play from this past year, the Humble Indie Bundle crew have made it their mission to completely overwhelm you with excellence. The fourth and latest package from the altruistic organization features an unparalleled lineup which includes Super Meat Boy, BIT.TRIP.RUNNER, Jamestown, Nightsky and Shank -- are and if you beat the average price with your choose-your-own-donation-level, you'll also grab Gratuitous Space Battles and Cave Story+. Note that all of these are PC, Mac and Linux compatible; a new feature for Jamestown and Shank. As always, you can choose which portion of your donations go to the developers, to the charities (Child's Play and the Red Cross!) and to the Humble Indie Bundle platform itself. We think we speak for everyone when we say that this is an insane value that you'd be insane to pass up, you insane person. [Update: Tim Ambrogi from Philly-based Jamestown-dev Final Form Games told us, "It's been our goal since launch to reach as many gamers as possible, so a Mac and Linux port were always our plan if we could afford the resources to develop them. Humble Bundle presented us with a cost/benefit proposition that made creating them now a low-risk decision." That's your money hard at work, people!]
Bit.Trip Presents: Runner 2, Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Gaijin Games has announced a sequel to the fourth entry in its lauded Bit.Trip series, Bit.Trip Runner, entitled Bit.Trip Presents: Runner 2, Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. The first direct sequel in the Bit.Trip series, Runner 2 sheds the 8-bit graphical motif so closely associated with the titles in favor of something else, preliminary hints at which can be seen in the concept art gallery below. Still in the extremely early stages of development, Runner 2 returns Commander Video to action with at least 10 new abilities, HD visuals, support for "Achievements/trophies/leaderboards," unlockable costumes and "LOTS more to be revealed later." The game will arrive sometime in 2012, as a download (in true Gaijin fashion), though this time on PSN and XBLA. If the brainstorming session above is any indication, Runner 2 may feature some paradigm-shifting design choices.%Gallery-136099%
Bit.Trip Complete trailer recaps an arduous journey
Launching alongside Bit.Trip Saga for 3DS, Bit.Trip Complete assembles all of Gaijin's rhythmic WiiWare titles at retail on September 13. Prepare yourself for ignominious deaths, spirited restarts and a pure delivery of disc content.
NintendoWare Weekly: Bit. Trip Runner demo, Rival Turf!
Gaijin Games has made it simple for you to try out its super-hard platformer Bit.Trip Runner, releasing a demo on the Wii Shop today -- just as it has for most of the Bit.Trip games. You should absolutely try this one, unless you get frustrated easily. Also on Wii today: Rival Turf!, a game that isn't actually very good, but has a distinctive box art that ... also isn't very good.
Bit.Trip Runner's bits take the trip to Steam today
Bit.Trip Flux isn't the only release in Gaijin Games' abstract series to arrive today. While CommanderVideo's journey is ending today on WiiWare in Flux, his highly-choreographed run is just getting started on Steam with the debut of Bit.Trip Runner for PC and Mac. Gaijin announced the surprise SteamPlay port for release today, currently on sale for $9 (the price will bump up to $10 on March 8). The Steam version of Runner features a graphical upgrade over the original WiiWare release to better showcase the IGF-nominated visual design, along with leaderboards, achievements and new Easy and Hard modes. According to Gaijin, Xbox 360 and Wii (via Bluetooth) controllers are supported, too, which is good -- forced keyboard controls wouldn't have been the best way to alter the difficulty level.
Best of the Rest: JC's picks of 2010
Dragon Quest IX DQIX is secretly two games: when you're playing through the main quest, it's a traditional JRPG with a light but interesting story populated by unexpectedly engaging characters and perfectly brisk pacing; then as you approach the end, it becomes a dungeon crawler driven by a dungeon map trading mechanic using the passive communication of the DS. How compelling is that "tag mode" mechanic? I can't think of any other game for which I would go hang out at a GameStop and then a Best Buy, but that's exactly what I did when Nintendo held DQIX events this summer. I needed those maps. That's how I know this is my favorite game of 2010.
IndieCade 2010 finalists announced, everyone's nominated for everything
The IndieCade 2010 festival, an annual event held in Culver City, California which celebrates independently-created games, is doing a couple things differently for this year's awards presentation. The first is that all 32 of the finalists are nominated for every award category, such as "Technical Innovation," "World/Story," and the slightly more obscure "Sublime Experience." Check out the full list of categories and their lengthy list of contenders just past the jump. Oh, the second difference for this year's show? It's going to be hosted by LeVar Burton. In short, it's shaping up to be the best awards show ever.
Bit.Trip Runner original soundtrack now on sale
At long last, the ever-catchy background bleeps and bloops of Bit.Trip Runner can now be listened to from the safety and comfort of your music-listening device of preference. The mostly original soundtrack for the game (two songs were contributed by the chiptune virtuosos of Anamanaguchi) is now available to purchase from CDBaby.com for $6. We definitely think it could make for some soothing ambient music to accompany your daily aromatherapy sessions -- that is, as long as each square wave doesn't fill you with haunting flashbacks of that one fireball that ruined your perfect run.
Gaijin Games 'can't wait' to work on Bit.Trip.Runner for 3DS
Did you know that quite a few developers are working on games for the Nintendo 3DS? It's true! Here's this enormous list of games if you don't believe us. Not on that list, however, is Bit.Trip series developer Gaijin Games. That said, in a recent interview with Gamasutra, Nintendo executive VP of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway said that the studio "can't wait" to start working on bringing Bit.Trip.Runner to the 3DS. Just think about it: colors, explosions and music all working in tandem -- but in three dimensions! All kidding aside, the idea of Bit.Trip.Runner on the 3DS sounds like pure insanity. Pure, wonderful insanity.
Interview: Alex Neuse of Gaijin Games
A Bit.Trip-themed party at LA's GR2 gallery/store served as an E3 kickoff of sorts for us, as we prepared to be dazzled by new games with a night of dazzling Bit.Trip games projected on the walls outside the store. Gaijin Games CEO Alex Neuse took a break from watching attendees' minds be blown by the magnificence of gigantic Bit.Trip Runner to speak to Joystiq about the future of the Bit.Trip series, the successs of Runner, and being in awe of Tetsuya Mizuguchi. A note: the wink at the end will make more sense after you read that Gaijin announced an iPhone version of Bit.Trip Beat two days after we conducted this interview. Joystiq: How's the party going? Alex Neuse, Gaijin Games: The party's pretty fun! It kinda started off slow, and I thought maybe no one's going to come, but now it's filled out and I couldn't be happier. I really like playing the games all big on the buildings, but the most fun for me is talking to fans of the series and to see how much they really care for it. I'd say it's going really well tonight. Are the games any easier on the big screen? Man, I wonder. You know, they might be. They just might be. But they're harder with a crowd of people pressuring you to beat the boss of level 1 in Runner.
