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Lollipop Chainsaw's Akira Yamaoka-laden licks now available
Lollipop Chainsaw is out right now, but it wouldn't be complete without some aural stimulation: The Lollipop Chainsaw soundtrack, featuring tunes from Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill), is available today as well. The soundtrack includes collaborations between Mindless Self Indulgence's Jimmy Urine and Yamaoka, and a few licensed tracks from Five Finger Death Punch, The Chordettes and others.Check out the album's full track list, launched in North America by WaterTower Records, right here:
Sine Mora takes flight on PS Vita 'soon'
No longer will Digital Reality's purty shmup Sine Mora be confined to Xbox Live Arcade. Sine Mora will debut on PS Vita "soon," along with a new character (Wilhelmine Muller) from cult Japanese studio G.rev – the studio responsible for shmups such as Border Down, Strania and Under Defeat.There aren't many other details right now regarding the PS Vita port – we've no idea how "soon" the PS Vita version will launch, along with changes beyond the new character, "new special weapon and new chronomes."
Meet Lollipop Chainsaw's co-Starlings
The weirdest thing about Juliet Starling's sisters in Lollipop Chainsaw isn't their gleeful violence or absolute confidence that they won't shoot and/or drive through their cheerleader sis while performing insane gun and bus stunts.No, the weirdest thing is that they fight zombies – inexplicably animated corpses – constantly, but react with delight at the news that Juliet's boyfriend is just a head.%Gallery-153669%
Diabolical Pitch review: Field of nightmares
You are McAllister, a living legend in baseball, hunched over on the mound while gripping your lifeless throwing arm one moment after throwing a record-breaking out. Next thing you know, you're in a car accident, and wake up at a demented, run-down amusement park called Queen Christine's Dream Land. There, a man in a suit with the head of a cow explains that you can get your arm back to form by throwing your way to the castle at the end of the park -- while wearing a bionic arm.This is Diabolical Pitch, the latest XBLA title from Grasshopper Manufacture. As odd as it sounds, what's important to note is that this game is dependent on Microsoft's Kinect peripheral, and every throw by McAllister is a real-life throw by you.
Grasshopper working on 'Killer is Dead' for PS3 and Xbox 360
Famitsu reveals the next collaboration between Grasshopper Manufacture and publisher Kadokawa games: Killer is Dead, which is not directly related to Killer 7 -- though, of course, 90% of Grasshopper games are about assassins anyway. In Killer is Dead, players take the role of an "Executioner" who hunts down "S Level" criminals and kills them with a sword.According to Famitsu (according to Andriasang) the sword action will be similar to No More Heroes. Suda is in charge of the scenario and acting as executive producer, so expect leather jackets and wrestling masks like in No More Heroes as well.Key words and themes for the game include "Moon and Earth," "Brilliant Game," and "Love." We'll find out what all that means as the 2013 release approaches for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Behind the musical bosses of Lollipop Chainsaw
For everyone who looks at a punk rock zombie or a heavy metal Viking and thinks, "I wonder what inspired his taste in music?"
Shadows of the Damned 2 being considered by Grasshopper
Grasshopper Manufacture is considering a sequel to Shadows of the Damned, which is easily going to be this year's "damn the numbers!" moment if it becomes official. Eurogamer reports that Grasshopper chief creative officer Akira Yamaoka is thinking of a sequel, and believes EA -- which left the original IP to die at retail last time -- would "probably" be interested, before saying that "well, yes" it would.We adored Shadows of the Damned, which actually made the seventh spot on our top games of 2011, but critical acclaim isn't the same as sales. The game debuted at 31 on the UK charts and sold a measly 24,000 units in its first month in the States. We'll keep hope alive that Garcia Hotspur's Johnson will rise again. [Pixinity via Shutterstock]
Sine Mora review: A shmup in time
Growing up in an era where arcades and shooters were king, I have plenty of fond memories of games like Raiden and 1943. As the genre has evolved, difficulty has dramatically increased -- as has the number of bullets -- relegating my interest into the realm of fascination rather than participation. I can certainly appreciate a game like Ikaruga, for example, but I've come to terms with the fact that I lack the dedication to ever finish it (or probably even clear the second level).That's why Sine Mora is so refreshing. It offers up both a serious challenge for serious shooter fans and a palatable experience for lapsed addicts like myself.%Gallery-141456%
Taste Sine Mora's fireworks of destruction in the launch trailer
Take a look at all the pretty things in Sine Mora ... and then see them get shot at until they explode in this launch trailer! Huzzah!
Grasshopper/DeNA partnership releasing new Frog Minutes this spring
A year after the release of the charity app Frog Minutes, Grasshopper Manufacture is preparing an updated version for iOS and Android. As announced last September, this new Frog Minutes game will be published by DeNA on its (newly worldwide) Mobage network. The release is set for the spring. The last game had players catching bugs to lure various species frogs, then capturing the frogs.This game is being released under the Grasshopper/DeNA joint venture, whose name appears to have been changed from "Grasshopper Social Network Service Inc." to the infinitely snappier "Grasshopper Universe."
Lollipop Chainsaw voice cast is relatively star-studded
You may recognize Michael Rosenbaum, voice of the head-on-a-lanyard Nick, as Lex Luthor from Smallville, or as The Flash from the Justice League cartoons. So he went from playing a bald guy to a guy with hair but nothing else. Or, if you prefer, he went from The Flash to a character incapable of ... flashing?All right, if you want jokes that make some reasonable amount of sense, watch the video and have them delivered to you by a team of professionals including Tara Strong, Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry.
James Gunn on learning from Lollipop Chainsaw
Hollywood screenwriter/director James Gunn is working on the script for Lollipop Chainsaw, a game about a teenage girl using a magical chainsaw and cheerleading moves to kill zombies, with the help of her boyfriend's still-living, detached head.He seems to have some lofty ideas about games nonetheless. "In films, it's hard to say 'we're trying to do something new in a movie' -- it's kind of a simple thing," he told Joystiq in a GDC interview. "Games are infinitely more complex than film, and there's still so much stuff that hasn't been done, it's really exciting, because there's just so much untrampled ground. That's cool. There's so many things that haven't been done." Subtract putting an animate, disembodied head on a zombie body from that list -- that's now been done, and it's "the coolest thing in the world." For Gunn, Lollipop Chainsaw is a crash course in the world of game development. "When I was a kid, I used to make my own games on the computer, and I understood the basic dynamics of, basically, the 'choose your own adventure' style of how games worked," he said. "But being able to see it from the inside and how things worked -- just that balance between the gameplay and the storytelling aspect of it -- it's an interesting process the whole way through." He sees it as the kind of learning opportunity he had in the film industry, in which he came in as a screenwriter and "then I would just go ask everybody every question I possibly could about visual effects and how that works, and get to watch these directors direct." We can't wait to see what happens when Grasshopper Manufacture is your reference point for the video game industry.
Diabolical Pitch crosses home plate April 4
April 4 marks the beginning of the Kinect combat baseball season. Major Nelson revealed that Diabolical Pitch, Grasshopper Manufacture's damned freaky Kinect game, will be out on that day.There's no more new info, as it was just a blurb in a roundup of news from Microsoft's recent press event, but no amount of explanation would make that game make sense anyway.
Lollipop Chainsaw heads to US on June 12
At the Lollipop Chainsaw event this evening it was announced the game will cut into North American retail on June 12. We're sure to have more details from the event as the night goes on.%Gallery-149593%
Sine Mora will cost 1,200 Microsoft Points, new trailer is free
Digital Reality announced Sine Mora's March 21 release date with a wacky contest resulting in sort of a puzzle. For the price, there were no such shenanigans -- it's 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15), co-publisher Grasshopper Manufacture revealed in a regular old press release.Now, if you want to be puzzled, watch the new trailer above -- and be absolutely mystified that a shooter can have this much voice acting in it.
Sine Mora shoots up XBLA on March 21
Sine Mora, the time-bending shooter from Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality, finally has a release date, and it's sooner than you think. The game will be released exclusively on XBLA on March 21.The date was revealed in something of a roundabout way, as developer Digital Reality held a contest on Facebook to see who could guess the release date. The winner is revealed in the above video and, referencing the original contest post, we see he guessed March 21, so there you go!
Lollipop Chainsaw pre-order outfits include a famous chainsaw wielder
The press release announcing pre-order costumes for Lollipop Chainsaw jokes that "Juliet won't be in her birthday suit," instantly making us feel terribly self-conscious about what WB thinks our interest in the game is about.Said pre-order costumes actually sound pretty amusing -- it's a shame they're all spread out across different retailers at launch. Amazon will allow you to dress Juliet in "Rockabilly" gear, Best Buy offers "Goth Girl" and "Foxy Funk," and GameStop includes an Evil Dead Ash costume. It's a cute visual reference and it's practical clothing!Additionally, GameStop PowerUp Rewards members will get a costume of Jimmy Urine, lead singer of Mindless Self Indulgence, who also composed the boss music and acts in the game. Obscure punk rock tie-ins? Now you're getting closer to the reason for our interest.%Gallery-146261%
Sine Mora's difficulty settings compared
Sine Mora comes in two flavors: normal and insane, shown side-by-side in this trailer. The difference, much like the difference between normal and "insane" hot sauce, is that one seems likely to generate intense pain, but people volunteer nonetheless.
Oh my goth! It's Lollipop Chainsaw's villain, Swan
You can't just have zombies show up for no reason, obviously. In Lollipop Chainsaw, the malevolent force behind the zombie invasion is ... Swan, a "goth geek bastard" with a goofy laugh and much nicer clothes than any goths we knew.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2011: Shadows of the Damned
This sojourn in hell inspires the most intense evangelism, and that makes me think nobody in EA's marketing department bothered to play Shadows of the Damned. Even those who acted as envoys for the game's off-kilter charms, those people who were unpaid but still rewarded, might have gotten stuck on the easy marquee description: "It's the unfathomable oddness of Suda 51, paired with Shinji Mikami sensibility and an Akira Yamaoka soundtrack!" The summation is accurate (if a bit unfair to the major input from design lead Massimo Guarini, who left Grasshopper Manufacture in 2011), but hardly a detailed message for those unfamiliar with star Japanese designers. At least Shadows of the Damned had no troubles conveying its obvious qualities: a surprising and properly grotesque vision of post-life limbo, a protagonist passionate to a fault and a hilarious skull-on-a-stick to guide him.
