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Fez on WiiWare not 'worth our time and effort,' dev says
It's pretty likely that Fez won't be gracing WiiWare, judging from some not-so-nice things one of the developers had to say regarding Nintendo's platform. Phil Fish, the game's co-creator, told Destructoid back at PAX East that "WiiWare just wouldn't be worth our time and effort," and described it as "a dismal system" that he avoids as both a consumer and a developer. "No demos? F*ck off," he concluded. Of course, there are demos on WiiWare now, but for years that wasn't the case. When questioned on the possibility of 3DS, Fish commented that anything he'd produce would have to be a different game entirely -- kinda like Super Hypercube, his stereoscopic 3D game. It's hardly a confirmation, but we're fairly certain the man doesn't go around winking and nudging people, willy-nilly. That'd be weird!
Indies react: PAX East as a showcase for small studios
Like so many PAX shows before it, this year's PAX East showcased a ton of indie games -- the gaming equivalent of a Williamsburg dubstep show, if you will. In our experience at this year's event, larger industry players like EA and Bethesda showed off their titles with hired hands and private theater viewings, choosing to exhibit older demos rather than new content. The indies and smaller studios, on the other hand, were out in force. Beyond bringing playable versions of their games to the show -- even Fez was playable, for the first time in several years of development -- the indie studios brought themselves. They continued the tradition of directly engaging with attendees and, often, solicited game-testing feedback on the fly. "I approached PAX East as a three-day playtest session. I learned so much about what works and what doesn't just from standing in the back and observing how people played the game," Fez co-developer Phil Fish told Joystiq. "It's also an amazing morale boost to be told by so many people that your game is great."
Fez footage is positively magical
After the break you will find nearly six minutes of gameplay footage from Fez. It looks, in short, pretty magical. We suggest you watch it as often as possible. You could start right now. That would be a good choice.
Fez preview: It's the little things
Fez is not just a platformer. Nor is it just a puzzle-platformer. Fez is an experience. A crazy experience that's clearly the product of some eccentric and passionate game developers -- two, in fact, who are all that comprise Polytron Corporation, the game's Montreal-based developer. Fez is what happens when you mix fancy, high-end modern consoles with 16-bit-era graphics, and put two guys with very serious detail obsession in control. In short, Fez is very, very impressive.
Fez being co-published by Trapdoor
Before jumping around Villageville with Gomez in Polytron's Fez at PAX East, we couldn't help but notice a bright logo for relatively unknown developer Trapdoor. This might not be so strange if it weren't for the fact that Trapdoor itself isn't a game publisher -- and its own XBLA/PSN/Steam game Warp is being published with EA Partners. When asked about the surprise splash screen, Trapdoor founder Ken Schachter explained it by saying, "We should be issuing a press release this week, but the gist of it is that we're going to be announcing that we're co-publishing Fez." That said, given Trapdoor's ability to co-publish Fez, we wondered why the studio isn't publishing its own game, Warp. "We met with a bunch of publishers, and we weighed a bunch of options, but at the end of the day we were really impressed with the team at EA, and with what they had to bring to the table," Schachter told us. He further explained, "Basically, with regards to EA Partners, they've been really great about letting us be and focus on the creative part. And really just work on our game, and retain ownership of our IP. And they have a world class business, marketing, and PR team. And that's really the best of both worlds." As previously announced, Warp is expected to launch this summer, while Fez should arrive at some point later this year.
Fez: The first two and a half minutes
At a time when many are wearing Santa hats, Polytron Corporation would like us to pause a moment (two and a half minutes, actually) to consider the fez. Actually: Fez, proper noun. The developer has released a video of the opening to its anticipated indie game as a holiday surprise. Swell, right?
Fez shows off gameplay, still in development
Hey, remember Fez, the little mind- and dimension-twisting indie platformer that was due out in 2009 2010 sometime in the future? Apparently that's still true -- developer Phil Fish has shared a brand new gameplay video on Twitter today, and you can watch it right after the break. The lead character's name is Gomez, according to the video's description, and the game will take him "a voyage of discovery into the mysterious 3rd dimension." Sounds fun, but when's it out? Fish doesn't say that, but he does confirm that the game "does indeed appear not to be an elaborate prank." Cute. Normally we wouldn't allow ourselves to be strung along like this on so little information, but this video has changed our perspective just enough for us to stay patient for this one a little longer. Weird how that works.
