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Castle Crashers storming PS3, playable at Comic-Con
The Behemoth's four-player, hack 'n slash Xbox Live Arcade title Castle Crashers has crashed right through the wall of platform exclusivity and is coming to PlayStation 3, the developer announced on the eve of San Diego Comic-Con. According to GameSpot, a playable version of the game for PS3 will be on the show floor tomorrow for attendees to gets their hands on.Castle Crashers hit Xbox Live Arcade on August 27, 2008 and reached a milestone of 1 million players last month. The version for Sony's console has yet to be dated -- or detailed beyond the fact that it'll include Trophies -- but might we suggest dropping it on the one-year anniversary of the 360 version's launch? (With lots of new goodies, of course.)
Super Meat Boy character select screen reveals playable Alien Hominid [update]
Things are on the up and up for Super Meat Boy developer Edmund McMillen. After releasing This is a Cry for Help last year and subsequently announcing SMB for WiiWare, he put his indie cred on display for the world in adding Braid's Tim to his upcoming game. And now, during a live video interview with Bytejacker, McMillen revealed The Behemoth's Alien Hominid as another playable character! Quickly panning to his computer screen during the interview and teasing it, one of our wonderful readers snagged a screen grab so we could share it with the world. Now the real question: Castle Crashers characters playable as well? Hmmmm, McMillen? Hmmm? (We love you. Please?) Update: It was pointed out by a few astute Game Informer readers in the comments section that Alien Hominid was actually revealed as a playable character in a recent issue. Sorry, folks! (Thanks, Zack!)
Castle Crashers reached one million players today
The developers of Castle Crashers must have been ecstatic when its XBLA baby grew to house over 900,000 users last month, but this probably doesn't compare to the excitement felt today. At 12:57pm, The Behemoth diligently verified via its Leaderboard numbers that its behemoth of a game has broken the seven-digit barrier, becoming host to exactly 1 million players.Castle Crashers has reached this momentous milestone rather quickly, having been out on the market for only 10 months (hey, that's an average of 100,000 new players a month) and to celebrate, The Behemoth gave away a set of uber-fantastic stuff. If you signed up previously, you could've won a bag of prizes which included a custom Castle Crashers Xbox 360 Elite. Congrats to whoever won, and to The Behemoth!
Castle Crashers hits 900,000 players, Behemoth offers prize for guessing date of millionth
The Behemoth took the time out of its busy Crying Sugar Cube Leprechaun (not real title) development to reveal that the Castle Crashers leaderboards have passed 900,000 users. That does not mean there have been nearly a million sales of the game, but it does mean that Castle Crashers has been doing well on XBLA, a mere 8 months after launch.The company's site is now challenging users to guess the exact date and time that the main Castle Crashers leaderboard will hit one million players. The winner will receive something "SPECTACULAR." Best of luck, but don't get The Behemoth too distracted with your entry on the company's forum, it has another game to finish.
The Behemoth promises new game info in July, shows off artistic bento
Feeling obligated to update its blog, developer The Behemoth showed off some Castle Crashers bento (above), created by Anna the red, and stated that it would have more information to share about its third game in July.The Behemoth is teasing that its (currently untitled) third game will makes an appearance at San Diego's Comic-Con, taking place July 23-26. That's too bad -- we were hoping to see more of the Crying Sugar Cube Leprechaun at E3 in June.
Reminder: Alien Hominid HD for 400 MS points this week
Major Nelson reminds us that Alien Hominid HD is only 400 ($5) this week for Xbox Live gold members. The Behemoth's first XBLA title is normally priced 800 ($10). If this is somehow your first time ever hearing about Alien Hominid, the title received generally favorable reviews -- and we'd also like to welcome you back from your troglodytic lifestyle of the last three years. The Behemoth is currently working on The Crying Sugar Cube Leprechaun its third as-yet untitled project, which the developer recently showed off in trailer form.
XBLA Awards: Braid can't rewind loss to Castle Crashers
Castle Crashers recovered from a 4-month gimp to be crowned the Xbox Live Arcade "Game of the Year" in the second annual community voting awards. Somewhat surprisingly, Castle Crashers also managed to nab "Best Co-op Mode" despite being virtually unplayable online for four out of its seven months in release. On its way to top honors, The Behemoth's beat-em-up notably beat out its fellow indie nominee, Braid, which was famously dismissed by an American youth spokesperson.Braid's losing streak continued in the "Best Single Player Game" category, which was claimed by Orange Box cutout Portal: Still Alive (oh right, it has "exclusive" challenge maps), but Jonathan Blow's timeless effort did mange to win "Best Innovation" amid stiff competition. (We were certain Kefling's innovative "use of Avatars" was a shoo-in.)The complete list of awards and recipients is posted after the break.
The Behemoth reveals trailer for third game
Developer The Behemoth has released its first trailer for The Crying Sugar Cube Leprechaun -- OK, that's not the real title, but the game doesn't have a name yet ... so deal. Actual details on the unnamed party platformer are pretty scarce at the moment, with no price, console nor game details announced. What we do know is that the game is expected in 2010, but considering what happened with Castle Crashers, let's just put 2010 in the category of hopeful dreaming for now. Let's also pray that any online play actually works on day one this time.All The Behemoth would say is that the game is in the "very super early development stage right now." Check out the video after the break for an idea of what to expect from The Crying ... we gotta stop, that's how fake rumors about titles get started.[Thanks, RazorD]
SXSW 2009: Being Indie and Successful in the Video Game Industry
There's a wealth of indie-related gaming panels and goings on at SXSW this year, ranging from the previous "Games By The People, For The People" panel, the GameSalad folks, and the retro-cool Get Outta My Face arcade cabinet. Heck, there's even a company that wants to bring back Hypercard stack games. So we went back for more indie gaming panel goodness, just because we could. This was a panel by the game developers this time, rather than the people who run the companies ... so what did we learn? A lot of the same from the previous panel. Sadly Jonathan Blow couldn't make it, and was replaced by the above inflatable doll with the Freddie Mercury mug. Although covering his absence nicely were panelists Kellee Santiago from thatgamecompany, John Baez of The Behemoth, Ron Carmel of 2D BOY, and Joel DeYoung from Hothead Games who moderated. Check out the highlights after the break.
Fable, Alien Hominid HD get slashed for March Deals of the Week
Before Peter Molyneux and Co. captured our GOTY hearts with Fable II, Lionhead introduced the world to Albion in Fable -- on the original Xbox. Next week -- billed as the figurative pot of gold for St. Paddy's Day -- the Xbox Originals release of Fable will be discounted to 800 ($10) on March 16, down one third the standard (Read: Overpriced) tag of 1200. March 23's Deal of the Week isn't nearly exciting, discounting the Iowa Mission Pack for Battlestations Midway by 20%. Finally, to put an Irish kiss on the end of the month, the Deal of the Week beginning March 30 will be the XBLA title Alien Hominid HD, discounted by 50% to 400 ($5). Those are some quality price drops... Irish I had some more MS Points.
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]
Castle Crashers dev's third game closer to unveiling
The Behemoth, developer of Xbox Live Arcade favorites Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers is preparing to reveal its third -- as of yet unnamed -- title. The dev has been teasing "Game #3" on its blog and Twitter feed for some time, updating the latter today with, "Trailer for game #3 is complete!"Given that the 2009 Game Developers Conference kicks off in San Francisco in only two weeks' time, we'd say the odds are good that Game #3 will get a proper unveiling -- and title -- during the event. Predictions? Let's hear 'em in comments.[Via Primotech]
Virtually tour Behemoth and get a peek at new project
OK, so maybe the tour video of indie dev The Behemoth's new San Diego office isn't exactly newsworthy. In fact, the video we've posted after the break is basically just Dan Paladin pretending that he's different people from the staff before (in most cases) admitting that he doesn't really know what they do.But we thought you might be interested to see the sculptures of animal orbs at this same link, which is supposedly from a "secret project." Animal Orbs Pinball? We can only hope.
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!
World at War and Castle Crashers top Live charts
New Xbox Live activity figures for the week of January 12th have just made their way online thanks to one Major Nelson and claiming the number one spot is Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War. That zombified weekend must have helped. Halo 3, CoD4, Gears 2 and Left 4 Dead round out the top five. As far as Xbox Live Arcade games go, Castle Crashers sits on top, partly due to the fact that new DLC just released. Full list of Live rankings for retail, XBLA and Community Games is viewable after the jump.
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).
Castle Crashers 'King Pack' DLC releasing this Wed [update]
Update: GSB informs us that the DLC will contain two new characters (Open Faced Grey Knight and The King), a new seal animal orb named Pelter, three new weapons including the Gold Sword, and a King's Heal potion that heals your entire party.Thanks to one helpful Major Nelson, we've just been informed that Castle Crashers' firstest downloadable content will be releasing to the Xbox Live Marketplace this Wednesday and will be priced at 160 Microsoft points. The King Pack is the DLC's name and if the name is any indication of what'll be included in the paid content, we'd say there'd be a king involved in it somewhere. Now that we think about it, the new content will probably look something like this. We've contacted The Behemoth regarding this Castle Crashers DLC and are patiently awaiting concrete details.
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]
