The line around Castle Crashers was continuously full -- all four controllers being put to the singular use of button mashing the baddies and quaffing all one could quaff -- while programmer (and Newgrounds chief) Tom Fulp watched on, paternally. One thing he heard continuously through the show, and I corroborated several times, was the repeated claim that players would "buy" an Xbox 360 "just for this game." Seriously, I heard the claim about four times within a half hour, and Tom said he'd been hearing it incessantly since the show floor opened. It was a sort of test. Will this game -- a throwback to the arcade 4-player beat-em-ups of yore dolled up with high-def graphics and (hopefully) an online multiplayer component -- sell next-gen systems to an audience that Gears of War can't?
Don't have an Xbox 360 but still want to play Castle Crashers? I overheard Tom saying there's no reason the title couldn't come out for whatever platform Sony has up their sleeve ... although we have a hard time imagining rows of people proclaiming a similar purchasing intent for the pricier PlayStation 3. Check out GameTrailer's shakycam footage of Castle Crasher's PAX build after the break.
