Even if you’re comparing the new slim-line Xbox 360, and the previous iterations, it doesn’t come close to the image that’s below. That’s a gold-plated Xbox 360 Elite, and it is currently the main prize for winning The Behemoth’s “Tournament of Champions.”
The studio is currently giving away a 24-karat gold-plated Xbox 360 Elite for the person who manages to make it to the top spot in the Castle Crashers Arena fighter on Xbox LIVE Arcade. There’s another themed Xbox 360, with the Castle Crashers on it, but that still pales in comparison to the gold 360 Elite. Oh, and if you happen to get in third place? See those strange looking chicken dolls? You’ll get 250 of those.
If you’re the sort of person who found yourself playing a game by yourself in the dark by the name of “‘Splosion Man” somewhere around the time of July 22, 2009, you already know of the intense joy you’ll be able to find in this game more than likely releasing through the same channel the original released (Xbox 360′s Xbox Live Arcade) sometime during the Fall of 2011. This is Ms. Splosion Man, a game where, like its predecessor, you’re basically ‘sploding things left and right. Check out the full hilariously comic press release! Well played, Twisted Pixel Games.
The plotline for this game is thus: scientists at “Big Science” have captured Mr. ‘Splosion Man, stopping him once and for all from destroying all their equipment with his ‘splosions. These scientists, celebrating in their ultimate victory, spill a bit of bubbly on a device that ultimately accidentally creates none other than a female version of ‘Splosion Man! So basically it’s ‘Splosion Man with lipstick and a bow on it’s head. Sound like any classic game expansion you’ve ever heard of? Look at this amazing teaser video, then read the excellent press release below.
BIG SCIENCE CAPTURES SPLOSION MAN, WORLD NOW SAFE FOREVER
Twisted Pixel Games Proud to Announce the World Won’t End in the Fall of 2011
AUSTIN, TX – December 2, 2010 – Twisted Pixel Games was pleased to announce today that their subsidiary, Big Science, has captured the Splosion Man and guaranteed the safety of all humankind. Many remember the terrifying events of July 2009: Splosion Man’s horrifying rampage through Big Science laboratories that meated hundreds of scientists and caused untold damage to their underground laboratories. Eye witnesses reported widespread destruction and a staggering number of t-bones and fillets left in his wake.
Today that ends, with Twisted Pixel releasing footage of the successful capture of the renegade experiment. The scientists speak with new-found confidence about their success. Says Dr. Wilson, “Even if some sort of newer, stronger, better threat were created, our newest security measures and fiendish traps would be more than enough to contain it. We’ve made incredible advances in our technology over this past year…. Not that there would ever be a use for any of it.”
Dr. Henry was quick to add, “Our lab, our equipment – everything has had functionality improvements and visual overhauls, and our company has expanded to some incredible new locations. It’s all pristine and beautiful – decadent environments that we are very happy no experiment gone wrong will ever rampage through.” Dr. Henry paused briefly before continuing, “I don’t even know why I’m mentioning that, because it’s 100% guaranteed that Splosion Man will never be a threat to us again.”
When asked if there was any risk of overconfidence amongst the scientists, Dr. Riley was quick to interject. “Why? What’s going to happen, some sort of freak accident in the after party that creates a “Ms. Splosion Man” mere seconds after Splosion Man’s capture? And then the Ms. Splosion Man goes on some monster tear in the fall of 2011? Yeah right. Not very likely.”
Twisted Pixel Games reiterates that despite the fact that nothing could possibly go wrong during today’s events, should any newsworthy event occur, they will release as much information as possible in the coming months.
About Twisted Pixel Games, LLC
Founded in 2006 by industry veterans, Twisted Pixel is the independent game development studio behind the 2009 IGF finalist and 2008 PAX 10 Audience Choice Award winning game The Maw for Xbox LIVE® Arcade, Steam, Greenhouse, and Direct2Drive. Their accomplishments continue with the successes of Splosion Man and Comic Jumper. Twisted Pixel specializes in character-driven, original IP titles that shake up what games are all about. Memorable characters, creative gameplay, and impressive presentation is our focus. Learn more at www.TwistedPixelGames.com.
The Xbox 360 Dashboard update earlier this week has split opinion among gamers, many of whom would like to be able to roll back to the previous version, but some game developers are also upset by Microsoft’s changes. Xbox Live Indie Games have been shifted to the “Speciality Shops” section of the dashboard, behind the Avatar Marketplace, in a move that developers are saying will have a negative impact on sales and gamer awareness.
Meanwhile the update has also removed much of the information about Indie Games titles when downloaded, reducing their pages to mere play/delete options. Previously there could be custom icons and box art, along with the description of the title from the Marketplace, depending on what the developers had provided.
The general consensus on Microsoft’s justification for the changes is that the company was seeing little return on the Indie Games section, and so decided to shift it so as to reduce competition with Xbox Live Arcade titles.
In April of last year, Amazon announced that they would be working with Microsoft to open up their very own Xbox LIVE Store. It was considered just a Beta back then, and we’re not necessarily sure that title ever came off. So today’s announcement, a bit over a year after opening their virtual doors, comes as a shock. According to a statement posted on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE page, Amazon will no longer be selling any LIVE Arcade titles.
Instead of just pulling all of the digital content off of the site, which may make sense, you’ll just get a prompt saying that the title you’re looking for is currently unavailable. Just to rub it in your face, though, you’ll also get a message that says, “We don’t know when or if this item will be available again.” From the sounds of it, they won’t be coming back any time soon, unfortunately.
What’s even more strange, though, is that it’s unknown why Amazon has done this. Or if Microsoft made them do it. Considering the digital retailer is still offering up digital games for both Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii, it’s a very curious event indeed. However, not all hope is lost. Just because you can’t buy the games from Amazon, doesn’t mean you still can’t get yourself some Microsoft Points, to then buy those same titles through Xbox LIVE Arcade proper.
Can you believe that it’s already (pretty much) the middle of July? It just feels like time’s flying by, doesn’t it? Guess that’s what happens when you’re having fun — and we have plenty of that around here. That’s why we’re happy you can join us. So, welcome to tonight’s edition of The Daily Slash. First up, in the Best of R3 Media, we’ve got 100,000 apps for the Android Market, and is an iPhone 4 recall coming soon? And then in the Dredge ‘Net, it looks like Stanford is going digital, we’ve got some big speakers, and it looks like Destination Arcade is just a limited run.
The Best of R3 Media
100,000 Apps in Android Market by End of July: As of right now, the Android Market is somewhere in the ballpark of 95,000 apps, apparently. Pretty impressive numbers (even if you consider the competition). But, that’s just about to be shunned with a nice little milestone, which is apparently going to be reached by the end of this month. 100,000. Thanks to AndroLib, we can see that over the course of the last few months, Android’s been rolling in about 14,000 every month, so reaching that milestone won’t be all that hard, hopefully. [via Android Community]
PR Experts Say iPhone 4 Recall Inevitable: So, the iPhone 4 has a problem with its reception. Some say it’s software related. Others, the majority voice if you will, say that it has more to do with the faulty way the antenna works. PR Experts believe the latter, saying that it’s a hardware fault, and that a recall not only needs to take place, but that it’s actually inevitable. There’s no word from Apple, of course, but hopefully that happens sooner than later. [via SlashGear]
The Dredge ‘Net
Stanford Engineering Library About to go Digital: So, Stanford’s legendary Engineering Library, with a collection of 80,000 or more books, is going to finally say good-bye to the physical copies and enter into the digital realm. According to some research done through the library, it looks like there is a vast majority of books in the library that haven’t been checked out in almost five years. That’s almost ridiculous. So, Stanford is planning on opening a new library, with only 10,000 or so books inside, but with all of the others transferred to a safe digital hard drive somewhere, where students can access it from wherever they want. Pretty good stuff to hear, for those who love technology, but it’s still (kind of) sad to see the ways of the old disappearing right before our eyes. [via Hot Hardware]
Arcadian Audio Pnoe Speakers are 100-Watts of Ridiculousness: We had to make the Slash’s picture tonight these speakers. Yes, those are speakers. And yes, they look like giant horns. Massive, even. According to the manufacturer, there’s actually a reason they look like that: it apparently “creates the smoothest, roundest path for the sound wave front, without any obstructions, so that there are no sources of standing waves and spurious reflections.” We’ll just have to take their word for it, because we can’t help but think that these speakers are going to be ridiculously expensive, to match that ridiculous amount of size. [via DVICE]
Destination Arcade? Just for the Summer, Thank You Very Much: Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade is a big showcase of Arcade titles. And, apparently this year, it’s also going to put something else in the limelight. Microsoft’s new Destination Arcade, which is a new recommendation engine and browsing interface, and basically makes the Arcade and its seemingly endless amount of games actually fun to find. But, apparently Microsoft doesn’t want us to actually enjoy it for any real amount of time, as they’ve now clarified that the new UI is only going to be for the Summer, before it will get pulled, and we’ll have to go back to the Dark Ages. That makes us sad. [via Joystiq]
At the moment, Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade is one of the best ways to get your nostalgia-rich gaming on, as it features quite a few “oldie-but-goodie” titles tucked away inside. The trouble is, in its current iteration it’s not the easiest digital interface to navigate through. Like Microsoft of yesteryear, lists play a big part of finding that next great game. As we reported last week, Microsoft is looking to change that up with Destination Arcade, a whole new way to find what you’re looking for, plus a lot more. But it’s not coming out on the 14th anymore, as the upgrade has been pushed back.
At its core, Destination Arcade is a “recommendation engine & visual browser app.” Basically, instead of going through those endless lists (once you get past the nice cover flow-like UI, of course), you’ll be able to navigate the internal catalogue of Arcade with a very ornate, attractive and sleek User Interface. Other features wise, you’ll be able to use that recommendation engine to your advantage, by both being able to recommend titles in general (or to a specific friend), but you’ll also be able to choose games based on personal recommendations. If it goes as well as Microsoft plans, then we could see Destination Arcade being something noteworthy to use, especially when Kinect launches later this year.
And while we would love to get our hands on it in two days, Microsoft has made the decision to hold it off for another week. Likely candidates are bug fixes and UI polishing that still needs to be done, but we imagine that it could be anything. Or, it could also have to do with the fact that the 21st of July is the day Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion heats up. But that could just be a coincidence (probably not, though). Either way, you have just over a week before you’ll be able to download the new Arcade goodness. Let’s hope it’s worth it.
It feels like it’s been forever since Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7. And, despite the fact the details came afterward, it almost feels longer since we actually heard any details about one of the future mobile Operating System’s coolest features: Xbox LIVE support. We know it goes beyond just having your Xbox LIVE profile/avatar, and we know the XNA framework will make it easy for developers to integrate features from the console to the handset, but apparently Microsoft is going for the throat on this one.
According to Oded Ran, who is the Head of Consumer Marketing for Windows Phone, “There are four million Xboxes in the UK compared to 2.5 million iPhones; we’re now working with developers who know how to make games, and they’re able to port Xbox Arcade games to mobile phones easily.” Obviously, the defining line has been drawn in the proverbial sand, and Microsoft wants to leverage the strength of their Xbox 360/LIVE/Arcade platforms, and make them a paramount feature on their upcoming handsets.
With the XNA framework, it’s also possible for developers and game publishers to create LIVE Arcade games for the PC, the console, and the mobile phone — meaning the level of playability, integration, and overall fun could go through the roof if the Redmond-based company actually implements it well enough to be interesting.
