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Binding of Isaac: Rebirth dev has 'big plans' for expansion
It's been less than a month since The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth returned players to the dark, unsettling basement of action-dungeon crawler The Binding of Isaac with a host of new features, yet designer Edmund McMillen is already planning ways to expand the upgraded re-release. "[O]nce the holidays end, the [N]icalis gang will be jumping back into the abyss and digging into the very large design doc [I] have ready for [them]," McMillen writes in a recent blog entry. "[I] have big plans for this expansion, [I] hope to add a very huge chunk of gameplay in the form of a new game mode that will almost double the amount of things you can do, [I'm] very proud of this new design." Additionally, McMillen notes that the expansion will include additional enemies, bosses, areas, endings, items and a new playable character. As it's in the very earliest stages of development, there's no release date nor title for the next Binding of Isaac expansion. While you wait, McMillen would like your help adding new items to the game. He's currently accepting suggestions on Reddit. [Image: Nicalis]
PSN Store Update: Digital Pros and CoDs
We're knee-deep in silly season, so it was already a stuffed-enough PlayStation Store update. Factor in that we've just had the first Tuesday of November and therefore the PlayStation Plus slew of games, well, we've got a fair bit to get through here. First off, there are the retail releases that get their downloadable accompaniments. That's MotoGP 14 (PS4 $60, PS3 $40 and Vita $30), The Wolf Among Us ($25 on PS4 and Vita), the standalone Toy Box download for Disney Infinity 2.0 ($20 on PS4 and PS3 for a limited time, regular price $30), Rocksmith 2014 ($60 on PS4), and finally the small matter of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ($60 on PS4 and PS3.) If you've got $100 to burn, you qualify to be a Digital Pro thanks to CoD: Advanced Warfare - Digital Pro Edition. Earning this prestigious title comes with the added benefits of the season pass, a bonus multiplayer map and other in-game goodies.
PS Plus in November: Binding of Isaac, SteamWorld Dig
November brings PS4 owners a final tide of big 2014 releases like Assassin't Creed Unity and Little Big Planet 3, but it also brings PS Plus subscribers some slick downloadables like the long-percolating Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Sitting alongside Isaac on PS4 is Image & Form's SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt. While you spend an inordinate amount of time underground in both games, Isaac has you exploring adorably grotesque, randomly-generated dungeons while SteamWorld has you digging through an interconnected, sprawling cave system under an Old West town. PlayStation 3 owners get a hearty selection of games as well. Luftrausers, Vlambeer's minimalist dogfighting escapade, joins strategy shooter Frozen Synapse Prime on Sony's elder statesman console. PS Vita owners can pick up The Hungry Horde as well as the tricky, creepy launch game Escape Plan. Lucky for them, Luftrausers, Rebirth, and SteamWorld are all Cross Buy on the platform as well. Vita owners with PS Plus are going to have a busy Thanksgiving. [Images: Nicalis]
Joystiq Weekly: Free upgrades for Destiny, Hatoful Boyfriend review, PAX Prime and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. PAX Prime 2014 ended on Monday, but we're still recovering. Not from the marathon of appointments or swimming through an ocean of people – we've got those parts down pat. If you've ever heard of the PAX Pox though, just know that it's ... definitely a thing. It seemed every morning of this week brought news of another staff member falling to Prime's crowdsourced super virus. Laptops still work on death beds, of course, so we kept churning out content from Prime while we tried to remember what clear airways and normal body temperatures feel like. You can dig through our featured content after the break worry-free though – we slathered it in hand sanitizer, so you shouldn't catch anything from going near it. There's always the rest of this week's content that wasn't staged in a biological hazard, of course. We've got good news for Destiny fans planning on upgrading hardware at a later date, release dates for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat X, a review of pigeon-on-human dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend and much more after the break!
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth spins to November [Update: trailer]
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the twin-stick shooter's total remake for consoles, will launch November 4. Nicalis flashed gameplay clips and the release date for the remake in a new disturbing trailer, which has since been pulled from public view on YouTube. The developer teased that an announcement for the game was imminent on Twitter. The Binding of Isaac first launched on PC in September 2011, and Rebirth was originally discussed by creator Edmund McMillen in November 2012. The console port was previously expected to arrive in early 2014, but will hit PS4, Vita and Steam now in November. Rebirth was also originally planned for PS3 and 3DS, though the latter was disallowed by Nintendo due to the game's religious content. As of July, McMillen did not rule out an eventual appearance by Isaac on the 3DS eShop. [Image: Nicalis]
Binding of Isaac may still survive on Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS owners may yet help a kid survive his mom's attempt at ritual sacrifice, Legend of Zelda-style. Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen gave Nintendo portable players new hope in a Sunday post to Tumblr. "Has Isaac on the 3DS definitively fallen off the monkey train of possibility?" asked one intrepid follower. "No," was McMillen's succinct response. The question is certainly warranted. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, a full remake of McMillen's game, is expected out on PlayStation 4, PS Vita and Steam sometime this year, letting folks guide a terrified pink blob of a boy through a horrific basement hell. Back before Rebirth brought co-op, a new art style, and a substantial expansion to the 2011 original, there was talk of Isaac getting a Nintendo 3DS version. In February 2012, though, talks with Nintendo broke down and the 3DS port of Isaac was scrapped because of "questionable religious content." When Rebirth was announced in 2013, possibility of a Nintendo 3DS or even Wii U version emerged as McMillen said he was in talks with Nintendo again. As of early 2014, though, an updated Rebirth FAQ said that the game's religious themes were still causing friction with Nintendo. "We want to release on 3DS, and will if given the option," read the FAQ. "Isaac currently goes against Nintendo's publishing rules due to its religious aspects. But stuff might change, you never know." [Images: Nicalis]
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth local co-op FAQ talks flying babies
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth's renovated basement looks prettier than the one players fought through in the original 2011 release, but definitely still full of unsettling monsters. What lurks in the touched-up labyrinth will presumably provide the same intensely-difficult journey found in Rebirth's predecessor, but thanks to Rebirth's addition of local co-op, we won't have to face the horrors alone. Edmund McMillen recently posted a FAQ to explain how Rebirth's co-op works, and the short answer is: flying babies. Rather than getting a full-blown Isaac equivalent, sidekicks steal a heart from Player 1's life and spawn as a randomly-generated baby. If Player 2 willingly drops out to give Isaac his health back, they'll play as the same type of baby if they drop back in at a later point, but getting killed off means a fresh spawn from the baby generator, which offers types including Love Baby, Psy Baby and Spider Baby. Player 2 is free to return as a freshly-spawned baby so long as doing so doesn't leave Isaac with less than one heart. Also, so long as Player 1 doesn't slap the controller out of their hands for wasting health. McMillen stresses that the game is balanced for co-op, so you won't be mowing everything down just because you have double the projectile tears. Babies don't have the same capabilities as Isaac either, so they won't be able to pick up objects, nor will they determine when items are used. Babies also have a "cursed" attribute, like automatically dropping a bomb every minute, a risk McMillen equates to the downsides of the game's pill power-ups. If you're worried about co-op's addition hindering your ability to showcase your talents, McMillen's FAQ states that there will be some related Achievements, but assures that co-op challenges won't stand between players and the 100% completion Platinum God Achievement. [Image: Edmund McMillen]
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth FAQ covers launch, platforms, online options
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is more than halfway done, with roughly 85 percent of the artwork completed and "almost all" of the game's original Flash art reworked in the new engine, creator Edmund McMillen writes in an expansive FAQ. Rebirth is the console, non-Flash remake of McMillen's gloomy roguelike, The Binding of Isaac, in development for Steam, PS4 and Vita. As for other platforms, McMillen says: "The rest aren't out of the question. We would love to release on all systems; the ball is in their courts though. We miiiiight also test the game out on iPad and see how it works – if it works ok then we will also release there." McMillen would love to see Rebith on Nintendo 3DS, but that's not possible right now, he says. "We want to release on 3DS, and will if given the option," McMillen writes. "Isaac currently goes against Nintendo's publishing rules due to its religious aspects. But stuff might change, you never know." He mentioned the religion issue regarding Nintendo in February 2012, but still called out 3DS and Wii U in November 2012 as platform goals. Rebirth features local co-op and the ability for players to stream runs against other people online, plus the option to share your final, end-game Isaac avatar online. It also supports controllers and will have at least three new playable characters, new endings and chapters, and more than 150 new items, pushing the total item count past 300. For clarity's sake, the header image is not an in-game screen of Rebirth's new art of anything. It's a Monstro figurine from The Binding of Isaac, hand-made by McMillen's mother-in-law and eventually available to purchase here.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth out early 2014 on PS4, Vita and Steam [Update: trailer]
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth – a complete remake of Edmund McMillen's tragic, captivating roguelike, The Binding of Isaac – is due out early next year for PS4, Vita and Steam. For Rebirth, McMillen tore down The Binding of Isaac and re-built it from scratch, complete with local co-op, competitive loadouts and more than two playable characters. Rebirth isn't a Flash game – it's made in an engine created by the game's console publisher, Nicalis, with brand new SNES-style, semi-16-bit graphics. The new game has more than 110 new items, extra gameplay, enemies and bosses, plus an expanded storyline. Players who own The Binding of Isaac already will get a "loyalty discount" on Steam for Rebirth. The Binding of Isaac has sold 2 million copies since launching in September 2011. That's certainly nothing to cry over.
The Binding of Isaac reaches two million in sales
Team Meat co-founder Edmund McMillen recently revealed that The Binding of Isaac has reached 2 million in sales. McMillen noted his surprise at the game's steady success, having first launched in September 2011, on an episode of the Northernlion gaming channel on YouTube."In the first year we sold a million copies, and now we're already up to two million," McMillen said. He also discussed the Nicalis "demake" of the game, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, and the definite inclusion of the Mystery Man unlockable character. The Mystery Man will use randomly-generated items and stats, offering a new challenge to players each time he's selected. McMillen also elaborated on the constraints that Flash presented in developing the game, and how Rebirth would benefit from fewer performance issues.
Nicalis wants your input on The Binding of Isaac's makeover
Nicalis is proposing four different art styles for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the console remake of Team Meat's bizarre PC game. Fans can vote on the four mock-up 16-bit art styles seen in the gallery below to determine which direction Nicalis will take the remake in.According to The Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen's Tumblr blog, the game is getting a face lift "because I think the art is tired and I'm sick of looking at it." The survey also asks for input on which platforms the game should appear on, with 3DS and Wii U listed as options.Nicalis will begin development on the project in January and hopes to launch PS3, Vita and PC (Steam) versions of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth by the end of 2013, with Xbox 360, iOS and Nintendo console ports a possibility. %Gallery-172447%
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth PS3, Vita, PC ports in progress
Surely Edmund McMillen didn't think 1 million Binding of Isaac fans would be satisfied with the scant details he provided about the game's console version, Rebirth, in yesterday's postmortem.He's taken to Tumblr to clear up questions about Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, confirming that publisher Nicalis is working on ports for PS3, Vita and PC via Steam. Nicalis is talking to Microsoft and Nintendo, and even iOS is an option, "if it's not garbage."Rebirth will include Wrath of the Lamb and a new, similarly sized expansion that features a fresh final chapter and ending, two new playable characters, and "tons more items, rooms, enemies, bosses and the like."Rebirth will have local co-op only, and it will contain some "secret stuff" that couldn't be added to the Flash version. Composer Danny Baranowsky is mixing up some new songs for the console version. It's set to begin development on January 1 and be finished by the end of 2013, and McMillen wants to have a loyalty pre-order discount for anyone who owns Isaac already."The biggest thing to keep in mind here is that development is just starting with the remake, nothing is totally set in stone and a lot will change over time," McMillen cautions. "I'm currently in full-time development of Mew-Genics with Tommy and we have a few other little tricks in store for you next year, so my goal with Rebirth is to simply make sure the remake is top-quality and then detail out the expansion and updates once development is much farther along."Yeah, yeah, whatever, McMillen – our eyes glazed over in glee right after reading "Vita."
