Joystiq

Joystiq interview: The Behemoth talks crashing castles

Jason Dobson — 2008-09-09T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Interviews

Despite keeping players salivating over Castle Crashers' eventual price and release date, The Behemoth's hand-drawn epic nonetheless remained near the top of a short list of 2008's most anticipated titles right up until the game's recent XBLA debut. Since then, Castle Crashers has more or less delivered on its promises of manic 2D brawling, though a near-crippled online experience threatened to send us stomping off to our rooms in contempt. Nevertheless, at the end of the day Castle Crashers is still a heck of a lot of fun to play.

Fun as it is, however, we recently managed to put the controllers down long enough to speak with The Behemoth's Emil Ayoubkhan and Dan Paladin to discuss their game's price, what took the game so long and what the team has planned now that Castle Crashers is out the door.

A quick addendum: This interview was conducted just before its release on XBLA but, due to Wednesday's Large Hadron Collider test, got lost in a black hole. Read on little soldiers! And for more, be sure to check out our PAX interview with The Behemoth as well.

Castle Crashers has certainly been a long time coming. Now that you just crossed the finish line, what can you say you learned most about the journey?

One of the biggest things we've learned is not to announce our titles so early in development. Also we always want to touch on the fact that we are a small team, and we take our sweet time with our projects. Although Microsoft has an extensive certification process the length of development time really had no bearing on that. We wanted to make sure the game was going to be as bug free as we could make it, and Microsoft helped with that.

Something you didn't announce early was the price. What took so long? Why the secrecy?

There was never any secrecy with the price as we were waiting on Microsoft to determine the price point.

Speaking of price, as a fellow indie XBLA developer, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on Braid. Jonathan Blow admitted he struggled with price a bit for his title too before settling in at the same somewhat controversial 1200 MS point price point.

We support Jonathan and other developers like him in their fight to survive the harsh climates of the retail world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peace on Earth. That sounded epic and professional, right?

Of course!

Switching gears a bit, what are your thoughts on DLC? Specifically, are there plans to support Castle Crashers post-release with downloadable content?

Castle Crashers will have DLC at a later time. Although we can't go into details right now, we will have a couple of expansion packs in the near future.

Note: It looks like we can look forward to at least two additional characters, which may make up one or both of the DLC offerings mentioned here, depending on how things shake out.

With so many characters and weapons from which to choose in Castle Crashers, is there an office favorite of each, or maybe a particularly lethal combination that gets mad love in the studio?

I enjoy the Saracen because of his Middle-Eastern heritage. Dan Paladin likes the Green Knight for some reason even though the Blue Knight is so much more awesome. Tom Fulp enjoys the Orange Knight, again not sure why as the Blue Knight is so much more awesome!

What are your thoughts on indie game development in the console space? Is it difficult to make a living down in the trenches?

Console space has been good to us since we've decided to publish our own titles. Before that we only had retail shelves and PC space, which was a lot more challenging as an independent developer.

Given the amount of time that Castle Crashers has been in development, surely you all must have spent a good deal of time playing other games as well. What game or games have gotten the most play time between the staff at The Behemoth while spending time under Castle Crashers' hood?

Team Fortress 2, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Call of Duty 4, GTA4. Every game on Partnernet.

(Dan wanted to make sure that Pac-Man Championship Edition was mentioned as well.)

I think we just discovered what took so long, haha! Just kidding, of course. So will the team take a well deserved break after Castle Crashers is out the door, or are there plans already in place for another project? You all sleep, right?

We don't really take breaks, but we sort of go into hiding sometimes when we are very stressed. As for future projects, yes! We have a lot!

Given the road you just traveled, would you do it all again? Would you do anything differently?

I think we have a pretty good formula, and we plan on sticking to it until we either run out of money or kill each other.

Finally, and since we're getting pretty hungry: Do you have a fave lunch spot?

Dan likes to walk 56 miles to Subway in Downtown Egypt. I don't mind going to 7-11 and grabbing a sandwich (which is located right next door). For the most part we just grab random crap and shovel it in our mouth holes and go back to work.

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Castle Crashers jumps through another hoop, gets rated 'Teen'

Griffin McElroy — 2008-06-15T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

We love the Xbox Live Arcade Service (fanboy placation: we love the PlayStation Network and WiiWare too), but it's a well-known fact that there are a number of hurdles a finished game has to clear before it can find its way onto the imponderable internets. One of said hurdles, labeled "the rating process" is actually three-hundred feet tall, covered in flaming, poison-coated spikes, and surrounded by a moat filled with bull sharks in mating season. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Thankfully, in an act of incredible vaulting prowess, Behemoth's upcoming ~~racist~~ multiplayer beat-'em-up Castle Crashers recently cleared said hurdle, receiving a decisive "Teen" rating (the German judges, obviously confused and unimpressed, gave the effort a 7.5). There are a number of other hoops the adorable brawler must jump through before attaining that coveted XBLA certification, but we're hopeful that we'll be storming cartoon strongholds relatively soon.

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The Behemoth says Castle Crashers is finally complete

Jason Dobson — 2008-05-16T23:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

It seems like just yesterday that Alien Hominid creator The Behemoth first announced its upcoming XBLA release Castle Crashers. Well, that's an outright lie. It's been a near unbearable wait, but according to a post by artist extraordinaire Dan Paladin on the studio's blog that game is. finally. complete.

But don't take up your swords and shields just yet, as it appears that it could be a little while before the decidedly old school, not to mention stylish brawler is available for download. Writes Paladin, "It has to go through all the required hoops of certification/final testing & all that jazz before it will actually become available on the service." He adds that "it's a good feeling know that the crashers are working their way into the world," though with the company noting that it could be a "couple months" before we're finally able to play the game the only feeling we're left with is impatience.

[Thanks Obvious]

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22 unlockable characters confirmed for Castle Crashers

Jason Dobson — 2008-03-19T18:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

You'll need more than your fingers and toes when counting up the number of playable characters in The Behemoth's upcoming (and long awaited) XBLA opus Castle Crashers, as the devs have confirmed that the game's roster will pack in "about" twenty-two unlockable slots.

How exactly characters will be unlocked remains, much like the game's eventual release date, a mystery, with Behemoth blogger Emil teasing only that characters will be added "by various different means." However, given that since it was first announced some two years ago the heavily-stylized side scroller has remained near the top of a short list of titles we cannot wait to sink our thumbs into, it's just shy of hyperbole to say that we'd do anything Castle Crashers asked of us anyway.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

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The Joystiq Weekend: August 18 - 20, 2007

Ross Miller — 2007-08-20T23:59:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360

Do you see what you miss when you don't read X3F, the blog formerly known as Xbox 360 Fanboy? This Castle Crashers costume is about as awesome as it gets; view an entire gallery of the creation here. Check out the highlights for the weekend:

Joystiquery
Metareview -- BioShock (Xbox 360, PC)
Joystiq Podcast 013 - Unlucky edition
Podcast Rodeo for August 19: Ears - Where everybody knows your name
Reminder: Win BioShock Xbox 360 faceplate & T-shirt
Today's chiefiest sequel: Master Chief Sucks at Halo 2
Today's nerd-check video: D&D 4th Edition
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: new and exciting edition

News
World of Warcraft's Spectral Tiger sells for $2000
Ratchet and Clank video dump with pretty colors
Jack Thompson files BioShock ad complaint with FTC
BioShock PC demo is really coming Monday
New games this week: BioShock edition
Super Metroid, Shinobi III, Neutopia hit Virtual Console
Xbox 360 gets European price drop on August 24
Timothy Olyphant talks about playing Agent 47
More freedom with EA, says Crysis developer
Too Human release date and demo 'coming soon'
Eidos' Crossfire is now Conflict: Denied Ops
This Wednesday: Space Giraffe and Street Trace light up XBLA
Metroid Prime 3's token feature a small taste of achievements
Upcoming John Woo film to become Chinese MMO
Dreamcast still strong, two new indie games at Leipzig
Paramount and Dreamworks ditch Blu-Ray for HD-DVD exclusivity
Keep a PlayStation Eye out for Trials of Topoq
Epic believes People Can Fly, acquires majority stake
Wednesday to bring new content, Folklore demo to the EU PSN
Lair dev calls ESRB 'bizarre', urges 'push the sex!'
Square Enix opening US merchadise store midnight tonight
Crysis Special Edition promises featurette, vignette and kitchenette sink
BioShock PC demo is now available

Rumors & Speculation
Pachter says PS3 outsold Xbox 360 in July
Rumor: Ninja Gaiden 2 for 360 to be at Tokyo Game Show

Culture & Community
Metroid retrospective: Part 4 -- DS games and Corruption
'Vast' memory card claims tool-less unlock for PlayStation 2

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Castle Crashers still looks beautiful

Justin McElroy — 2007-07-31T16:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Video

With the race to complete photorealism continuing at full tilt, it's kind of nice to see a game like Castle Crashers that still looks so ... gamey. We know it makes us sound like a cranky 80-year-old, but Behemoth's latest project seems to have been transported to us from a time when games were games.

Take a look at the above footage from the floor of Comic-Con and see if you don't agree that while you may swoon for the girls with the high-res faces, there will always be a place in your heart for a game that makes up for its lack of polygons with an abundance of panache.

[Via X3F]

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Castle Crashers likely due 2008, receiving more content

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2007-03-09T11:52:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, TGS

It seems that Microsoft's decision to expand the size restriction of Xbox Live Arcade games has become a double-edged sword, especially to fans of sword-swinging, skull-crushing adventure, Castle Crashers. After congratulating The Behemoth's Dan Paladin on the team's IGF award win at the Wednesday evening's ceremony, we enquired about the game's release timeframe and were met with less than pleasing information.

Mr. Paladin noted that the XBLA title still had "about a year of development left," thus placing the completed Castle Crashers in 2008 at the earliest. Disappointing news, certainly, but not entirely without one of those consolatory silver linings that people love to point and stare at. When Joystiq asked about the length of the game, Paladin noted that the 100MB boost in the XBLA size limit had allowed The Behemoth to include even more content and features in the game, making it a fuller and more satisfying adventure overall.

Alright, 2008. Come over here please.

See also: Castle Crashers GDC '07 impressions

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Castle Crashers GDC '07 impressions

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2007-03-08T05:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, GDC

Castle Crashers is a chaotic storm of spinning swords, overly aggressive primary colors and the occasional (but never displeasing) decapitation -- which is why we like it. Though the GDC demo boasts only a few notable changes from previous iterations, it still warrants a look. A long and loving look accompanied by a forlorn sigh and the formation of a gently sparkling tear.

One of the most interesting things about the game is the manner in which it draws your attention. It's even a little conflicting, as if two sets of fingers are snapping in your face in an alternating pattern. When you're not trying to spot your character deep within the colorful anarchy of battle, you're adopting a wider view of all the over-the-top action. It's like a tug of war, and one not too dissimilar from the battle between order and chaos that's at the core of the game.

The amount of personality and panache exuded by Castle Crashers seems to lend it more depth than it actually has, as does the jump-in-anytime multiplayer gameplay. In fact, playing the game on your own would likely be an ill-advised activity entirely, which is just as well since there are usually more than enough enemies and bosses to keep a party of four well occupied. The game is paced exceptionally well, with enemy types changing just as an inkling of repetition becomes apparent. The lumbering and amusing bosses in particular require a more evasive approach in-between bouts of unrestrained sword slashing (likely the most useful strategy in the game).

It's easy to draw comparisons between Castle Crashers and the likes of Double Dragon (it's even recommended!), but Castle Crashers distinguishes itself easily through its stunning art and swiftly paced gameplay. Besides, we don't remember Double Dragon featuring any end-of-level treasure chests that burst open and cause magnificent gold and jewels to rain down from the sky. When you're done chasing down the goods before your friends snatch them up, you'll also come to the realization that there's only one distressed damsel to share between the four of you.

It seems very few video game friendships survive epic rescue attempts, especially if the friends happen to be equipped with all manner of deadly weapons and arcane magic. Best keep that in mind before you play Castle Crashers in good company.

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Joystiq not-so-live coverage of the IGF and GDCA awards

Ross Miller — 2007-03-08T04:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Features, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox 360, GDC

6:20 p.m.: The Joystiq crew walks the red carpet, because we're just that important.

6:33 p.m.: Gnarls Barkley's cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" is blasting as we find seats in the press section. Cushy seats with recline-able chairs.

6:42 pm: Sam and Max introduce the start for the independent games festival. The mention of projectile vomiting is disturbing, but welcoming somehow.

6:43 pm: Jamil Moledina and Simon Carless march onto stage, noting that the show is being broadcast to the entire world. We sense somewhat sinister undertones.

6:45 pm: Someone in the press area screams "Simon Carless rules!" Journalist and industry insider, sure, but is he rockstar-screamworthy?

6:47 p.m.: Host Andy Schatz: "99% of us might not make it, and that's what makes everyone single one of you a hero" ... and another person screams. Are we at an Ozzy concert?

6:48 p.m.: Mod award nominees. And the winner is Weekday Warrior, a Half-Life 2 mod about the mundane. Four war-torn hippies take stag, the "righteous dude" in sunglasses shoots the double peace "I am not a crook" Nixon pose.

6:51 p.m.: Why they love students. They're "the ones who have not yet learned what's not possible." Student showcase nominees are shown, and the winner is Toblo, from a group of students at Digipen. Considering the usual course work, we'd say they were 3rd or 4th year students ... and they hate texture art. Think Doshin the Giant (all three of you out there who get that reference).

6:52 p.m.: Designer of Toblo just asked Brittany Auburn to marry him. See? Game designers get all the girls. I hope they have a giant Pac-Man wedding cake held up by a Toblo character.

6:54 p.m.: Schatz refuses to make a pre-written joke about the guy. What a wimp. Excellence in Audio award goes to Everyday Shooter by Jonathan Mak. He wants to get serious, is he going to propose too?

6:55 p.m.: Yes, yes ... "Colin, will you marry me?" Colin takes the stage and says no but still gives a concillatory hug. Mak walks off sad without a word.

6:57 p.m.: Sam & Max is testing their own independent game live for the audience. Rat splat, Max is still working out the kinks on the physics engine. "What's more innovative that dropping a rat and seeing how big of a splat he'll make? Bonus points for cracks in the concrete! ... Test build SDR 695 ... not bad, but it could use a few more iterations."

7:00 p.m.: Who put the pretty and the pretty into the pretty pretty ponies, time for visual art award. And the winner is Dan Paladin for Castle Crashers. He's not a man of many words, which is only fitting given the visual award.

7:01 p.m.: Props to DJ Charlie Malone for the music. Now on to IGF game design innovation, and Everyday Shooter gets it. That's two for them and zero (out of three) for Aquaria. No proposal this time, but he did downplay his work and suggest we try the other nominations.

7:05 p.m.: Schatz reminds us what independent means, just in case we're hear only understand two-thirds of the Award's name sake. IGF Tech Excellence -- our money's on Bang! Howdy based on name alone. And yet, our intuition and love for exclamation points must be shared by the voters! Two of the three creators take the stage dressed in cowboy hats and ponchos, dressed to kill.

7:06 p.m.: Quick note, this award show is very quick. Oscars take note.

7:07 p.m.: Samorost 2 takes best web browser game, and can't blame them for a game that gorgeous. We don't have the internet here, else we'd take a look at it now.

7:08 p.m.: Yet another short speech, how dare they not think everyone who helped them here! Wait, this is the independent awards, the list can't be that short.

7:09 p.m.: Carless and Moledina return. Some people near us complain they can't understand him past the accent, but we think they're just jealous that they don't have the sexy Brit drawl. They talk about cash prizes and Game Tap distribution.

7:10 p.m.: Rick Sanchez takes the stage and presents a video on what GameTap is up to. They show off the original titles (all three of them) and then mention recently-announced GameTap Indies, which leads into Sanchez's 3 distribution deals he'll hand out.

7:11 p.m.: Roboblitz take the $5,000 prize ... but don't they already get distributed over Xbox Live? That's a fine line and we could think of developers who could more use the cash.

7:12 p.m.: Cryptic Sea's Blast Miner wins, the creator takes out a copy of Dianetics and starts quoting ... "we lose a little of our quantity." So deep. A large applause.

7:15 p.m.: Everyday Shooter gets the third deal. "I gotta talk to my agent" and he leaves. We have to congratulate the guy on his tact.

7:16 p.m.: Audience award, Moledina and Carless present. Castle Crashers wins. Moledina reminds the audience that he loves the game. Good thing he's not giving an award to a game he hates.

Mark Morris and Thomas Arundel from Introversion, last year's Seumas McNally award, take the stage to offer advice, wearing jackets and ties with Darwinia man sewed in. Swearing a lot makes the list. Number five, most important: "do not take any money from publishers, they will only mess up your game."

7:18 p.m.: Seumas McNally prize goes to Aquaria. Thank god, we were worried they'd get snubbed all night by Everday Shooter. And we finally get a proper thank you speech from the three creators. Family, friends, internet people, blogs, everyone in existence. "This is the worst speech," one creator says of his own verbage. We think otherwise: longer speeches for the win!

7:21 p.m.: That concludes the IGF portion of the night. Carless speaks his sexy voice and the crowd screams out their love. Sam & Max returns. "Unforseen dev issues: I dropped the rat into the pretzel cart." Drat, we were hoping for Rat Splat. Maybe in Season 2.

And now for the more mainstream awards.

7:23 p.m.: Molina , Jason de la Roca take the stage. We want Simon back! We'd love to tell you what they're saying, but these ambiguous and obnoxious people right behind us complain about wearing suits and leaving the show. I have an idea for another new game involving gravity and a splat ...

7:24 p.m.: As requested, all the nominees stand up. Following the applause, three innovation honors are being given out: Line Rider's Bostjan Ravder [sp?] just screamed "yeah!" and walks off.

7:25 p.m.: Okami creators win the second innovation honors. In your face, AIAS! Some white guy unrelated to the game takes it "on behalf of Capcom." We were hoping for some of the Clover members. What a crock of --

7:26 p.m.: -- time for the third honors: Wii Sports. Moledina has a Mii hitting a home run. Miyamoto takes the stage and the room explodes. He's got a Mii shirt under a sports jacket. "I'd like to say thank on behalf of our staff members. Thank you voting for our Wii Sports. you'll hear about a lot tomorrow ... I'll spare you tonight," Miyamoto said, smiling the whole time.

7:29 p.m.: A Mega 64 skit about the Kuribo's boot from Super Mario Bros. 3. A bunch of odd looks, no altercations or cops. Oh wait, someone kicks him and he falls over! Now the foot has moved to the beach, he just can't stay up while making it over the dune. Angered, he crawls out of the shoe and off into the sunset.

7:31 p.m.: Tim Schafer takes the stage ... well, that's it folks! We're done blogging for the night; too busy oggling the creator of Grim Fandango.

7:32 p.m.: Change of heart. Schafer talks about caveman video games and their at-the-time awards shows. We hear they made the developers pay to participate in the awards (Oh, Okami). How retro ... seven years past.

7:33 p.m.: New studio award. Schafer is happy that he doesn't have to give his award from last year back. The nominees are being shown off in group photos, they're all so cute. Iron Lore wins for Titan Quest.

7:34 p.m.: We're now into the time of night where winners give real speeches and thank as many people as possible. Our level of comfort is back.

7:35 p.m.: An analogy about stubborn cats leads into best writing. The nominee list reads off like our list of favorite games last year. Winner goes to Twilight Princess. We're going to quipple with this one because (a) Sam & Max trumps all and (b) Twilight Princess is based on a decades-old plot. The recipient takes the stage and thanks everyone in Japanese. We understand Aragato, so we clap enthusiastically. The translator fills us in, telling the crowd that by clapping, we have signed ourselves away to slave labor.

7:36 p.m.: Schafer returns, talking up his latest night of sex, drugs, fast cars, glamor -- the life of a game designer. Wii Sports wins best game design. Not bad ... for a tech demo! (Oh yes, we went there. You want to fight about it?)

7:37 p.m.: We might be bitter, but Wii Sports winning does mean Miyamoto takes the stage. He screams "oh!" and walks away.

Time for another Mega64, this time from Dead Rising. Erotica points abound! Random trivia: the barricade scene was actually the second take. The first take was reportedly better, but a camera malfunction caused the film to be a wash. You'd think he'd know better. He's covered wars, you know.

7:40 p.m.: Eric Zimmerman, apparently for GameTap (and not Lab like we and he thought), takes the stage. He talks about game mavericks, honoring Greg Costikyan. "He has been working in the industry for longer than many of you have been alive." Greg is watching on the stage's steps as Zimmerman talks up his countless awards and Manifesto Games, a vendor for independent games online.

"Love him or hate him, and I know you do!" Zimmerman exclaims.

7:46 p.m.: Costikyan is on the mic, wearing a sport jacket and a shirt -- gaming chic! -- that says "Rock is dead: Long live paper and scissors." Costikyan talks of the problems with mainstream media and its repetitive, monotonous games. He uses big words, so many people zone out.

"Imagine gaming as sublime products of the human soul." Someone near us snorts but fear not, naysayer, Costikyan is talking about the future.

Okay, now he wants us to imagine a world where people are not ignorant of economics or politics ... get real, Costyikyan, our imaginations aren't that large.

"If we can imagine it, we can make it happen. Let us begin." All kidding aside, Costikyan gave some inspiring words that show he deserves the maverick award, whether or not you agree with him.

7:49 p.m.: Schafer returns. We were led to believe he was about to bring up Psychonauts but, no, best audio award. Guitar Hero II is announced, but we were hoping they'd mention every artist from every song available in the nomination list, as we could use a bathroom break. Winner goes Guitar Hero II.

7:51 p.m.: Pantheon: a cross between a panther and a lion. Schafer is working out his next game character live on stage. Character design award, more than a few hoots and hollars when Raving Rabbids are shown on screen. Winner goes to Okami, who we imagine is going to rake in the honors this year.

Random white guy returns! He's like a super hero. "Thanks, sorry they can't be here," and he runs off into a night.

7:55 p.m.: Censors and janitor's did not like Schafer's interpretive piece --- brown rage on the stage -- so it's time for Mega 64's A Boy and his Blob, Feel the Magic XX/XY (Thanks, I love you too ... oh wait, you're a guy. Sorry.)

New scene: Mega64 guys running around the metreon and get stopped by Miyamoto who looks at them disparagingly. Then a link character pops up, sees the scene, and sneak away unseen. The crowd erupts.

7:58 p.m.: Time for the Frst Penguin award, being given to Alexey Pajitnov. We are privileged to a Tetris montage with old pictures of the creator in giant Russian hats. Pajitnov is shown, and form his movements we can only make one revelation: the guy is actually a robot. Standing ovation, and from peer pressure we follow suit. Laptop still in hand.

8:00 p.m.: "I share this award with every Tetris publisher" -- that's a lot of thanks right there.

Schafer returns. "Are there any nerds in the audience?" Maybe he's lost his glasses. Schafer talks of dead jocks and the label nerd now being an acclaimed status. Best technology nominees are being announced ... Wii Sports again?! We are torn between ridiculous choices and seeing Miyamoto take the stage. Gears of Wars wins and the tech team, minus Cliffy B, give their thanks. "We're actually thinking of licensing that technology, so see us after the show."

8:03 p.m.: Schafer has been paying a kid in Singapore to play Oblivion. "Speaking of outsourcing, here is the award for best visual art." Cautious laughter at that remark. Best visual arts award goes to Gears of War and Cliffy B shows up to thank the art department on their behalf and a cohort reminds the audience of an awesome tech team. Yeah, we hear they won an award.

8:06 p.m.: Graham Divine of Ensemble studio presents Community Contribution honor to George "The Fat Man" Sanger. He's got more Wild West apparel than the team of Bang! Cowboy.

The Fat Man, "a giver," promises to keep the speech under 3 minutes. He gives a speech about having to write a song about world peace for kids with celebrities and middle schoolers and incoporating multiple genres, etc. "It was like the musical version of Daikatana," he quips. The story of hardship leads to a strong point: there's sacrifice from everyone and we're better off because of it.

8:15 p.m.: Time for a Richard "Lord British" Garriott to give the Lifetime Achievement Award to Shigeru Miyamoto. Lord British declares his favoritism to Nintendogs. We bet he has a puppy named Shiggy.

8:17 p.m.: A montage of Miyamoto's work, up to Mario Kart double Dash, is shown. This is going to take awhile. The Mario theme song is being played in the background. We know see a bunch of video of Miyamoto, including him with guitar, with zelda shield and sword, as conductor. Miyamoto takes the stage, crowd rises and screams. No one will let him sit down and talk.

8:19 p.m.: "I have a translator, so now I can speak a lot he said," smiling all the while. "I've done quite a lot of embarrassing things over the years," he said.

"Getting awards like this makes me feel old and like you expect me to retire soon. I personally feel very young and expect do this for long time. While I've been doing this for a long time, I've been surrounded by a lot of young people such as yourselves. And I've sucked up a lot of their life force in the process." So Miyamoto's a vampire.

8:22 p.m.: The game of the year nominees are being announced. Loudest applause goes to Okami and Wii Sports. Gears of War takes first prize! Cliffy B's first reaction: "Holy shit!" Thanks goes to family, Microsoft, girlfriend and Miyamoto for "inspiring me to do what I do every day." Now a thanks to the other nominees and a second nod for Microsoft.

8:26 p.m.: One last Schafer appearance, we're savoring it. That's it for the show! Thanks for enjoying this with us!

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Gears of War takes best game at GDCA, Aquaria wins IGF best game prize

Ross Miller — 2007-03-08T02:12:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox 360, GDC

At tonight's Game Developers Choice Awards, Epic Games' Gears of War took home three awards: best technology, visual arts, and the coveted Game of the Year award. On the independent side of things, Bit Blot's Aquaria won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize from the Independent Games Festival.

Okami picked up a win in one of the four categories it was nominated in (take that, AIAS). Unfortunately, Loco Roco did not pick up any awards despite two nominations (character design and audio). Independent game Everyday Shooter won two awards and a distribution deal from GameTap.

View the full list winners and nominees from both events below.

Game Developers Choice Awards

New studio

Gastronaut, Small Arms
Naked Sky Ent, Roboblitz
Iron Lore, Titan Quest
Ready at Dawn, Daxter
Wadjet Eye, the Shiva

Writing award:

Bully
Dreamfall: The longest Journey
Sam & Max episode 1: Culture Shock
Oblivion
Twilight Princess

Game design

Bully
Okami
Oblivion
Viva Pinata
Wii Sports

Audio

Company of Heros
Defcon
Guitar Hero II
Tomb Raider Legend
Loco Roco

Character design

FF XII
Loco Roco
Okami
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Viva Pinata

Best technology

Company of Heroes
Dead Rising
Gears of War
Table Tennis
Wii Sports

Visual Arts

FFXII
Gears of War
Okami
Oblivion
Viva Pinata

Best game

Okami
Oblivion
Gears of War
Twilight Princess
Wii Sports

Community :George "The Fat" Man
Lifetime Achievement Award: Shigeru Miyamoto
Maverick Award: Greg Costikyan.

Best mod:

Darkness over Daggorford (NVN)
Spawns of Deflebub (UT2004)
Eternal Silence (HL2)
Weekday Warrior (HL2)

Student showcase:

Base Invaders: Digipen
Invalid Tangram: Guildhall at SMU
Opera Slinger: Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy
Gelatin Joe: Digipen
And Yet it Moves: Tu Wien
Rooms: Sungkyunkwan University
Toblo: Digipen
Euclidean Crisis: Stanford
Ball of Bastards: Koln International
The Blob: Hogeschool van de Kunsten, Utrecht

Excellence in Audio

Aquaria
Bone: The Great Cow Race
Everyday Shooter
Fizzball
Racing pitch

Excellence in Visuals

Aquaria
Golf?
Samorost 2
Castle Crashers
Roboblitz

Game Design Innovation

Aquaria
Everyday Shooter
Armadillo Run
Toblo
Toribash

Tech Excellence

Arcane Legions
Armada Online
Bang! Howdy
Blast Miner
Band of Bugs

Web Browser game

Bible Islands
Gamma Bros.
Samorost 2

Seumas McNally

Aquaria
Armadillo Run
Bang! Howdy
Roboblitz
Everyday Shooter

GameTap distribution deals: Blast Miner, Roboblitz, Everyday Shooter
Audience Award: Castle Crashers

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XBLA Today: Heavy Weapon

Jared Rea — 2007-01-17T18:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Arcade, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

As a game that is 26 years old and was given away for free with the original Xbox Live Arcade service, Ms. Pac-Man is quite the hard act to follow. Stepping up to the plate this week is PopCap games, provider of deliciously overpriced flash games that were also once available for free. And because Xbox Live Arcade was in serious need of some 8-way shooters, this week's game is none other than Heavy Weapon.

When the Red Star Nation attacks, it's up to you and your two analogs of fury to dish out justice -- America style! More tanks than Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! More stabs at tongue-in-cheek, retro chic humor than Worms! Sure, it lacks a sufficient number of dragons to compete with Double Dragon, but it supports two more players than Robotron! Isn't that, like, totally worth your 800 Microsoft Points?

Actually, no. No it isn't. Your 800 points nets you a mildly entertaining distraction that, like most shooters on XBLA, fails to provide a sufficient enough challenge to warrant more than a slight brow raise. It so wants to deserve the title "retro", but even games from the 16-bit era such as Total Carnage managed to nail the sense of humor better. The dual-analog shooter has been done to death on XBLA and Heavy Weapon may very well be the bottom of the barrel for the service.

We suggest saving your points for something with a bit more bite to it. Mutant Storm Empire and Castle Crashers come to mind.

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Castle Crashers is racist, claims strange interpretation

James Ransom-Wiley — 2006-10-20T16:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Online

GameTrailers recently received an alarming phone message referencing a Castle Crashers clip that the site had posted during PAX 06. A babbling voice was insisting that The Behemoth's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title was racist, depicting "brown and black characters" being slaughtered by "pure-white characters." It sounds absurd -- it is absurd. But for someone who seems so obviously removed from mainstream gaming culture and the intentions of The Behemoth, could Castle Crashers be rationally interpreted as racist?

The message has since been overlaid on top of gameplay footage (see embedded video), giving us a chance to inspect its claim. Interestingly, if we suspend our understanding of the game -- that is, if remove this clip from the context of mainstream gaming culture -- we see what appears to be white figures mercilessly butchering brown and black characters. If we also take into account that a history of racist media and entertainment exists (often guised in cartoonish fashion), than the interpretation in question is actually not absurd. But the interpretation is, we must contend, inaccurate.

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Joyswag: A Castle Crashers tee for your thoughts ... the revenge! [update 1]

Christopher Grant — 2006-09-12T15:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Arcade, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Joyswag, Fashion

On Sunday we asked you to leave a comment with your feedback on Castle Crashers for a chance to win an adorable Castle Crashers tee. 210 of you did and, after running the numbers at random.org, our first result was #76. The seventy-sixth comment was posted by one Mr. Franky Digital, who wrote, "This could very well resurrect the side-scrolling beat-'em-up genre for a new generation. Every generation should have a Turtles in Time."

That got us thinking. We have another Castle Crashers tee to hand out (size XL), but who to give it to? All you have to do is leave a comment telling us what your favorite side-scrolling beat-'em-up is/was and why. Hate side-scrolling beat-'em-ups? We'd like to know that also (but you better have a good reason why). We'll select one at random and award them the final tee. Good luck!

[Upate: A quick roll of the random.org die and we've got comment 96, in which Kiey chose Konami's classic Genesis beat 'em up Sunset Riders. Congrats Kiey, you won the tee!]

A few other things:

Only one entry per person, please (cheaters will be automatically disqualified)
The contest is limited to US entrants only, mainly because we don't want to ship anywhere else
You'll have until 2:30pm EST on Wednesday, September 13th to enter
This shirt is a size XL
Please allow two to three weeks for prize delivery

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Joyswag: A Castle Crashers tee for your thoughts

Christopher Grant — 2006-09-10T15:35:00+00:00

Filed under: Joyswag, Fashion

One of the greatest parts about meeting The Behemoth's Tom Fulp at PAX (hi Tom!) was hearing how he read and incorporated our reader's feedback into the Castle Crashers' PAX build, specifically Psaakyrn's comment that enemies appeared to get stuck outside the screen. In the footage from the PAX build you'll notice a dearth of such behavior, with most of the action concentrated towards the center of the screen.

In the spirit of continuing this line of communication, we'll be giving away two of these super sweet Castle Crashers tees to a randomly selected comment containing feedback. Do you like the graphics? How much would you pay for a title like this? Did you manage to acquire the coveted "first post"? Just kidding, that last one doesn't count. Let us, and The Behemoth, know what you think of their latest effort and you could win a tee (continue reading for the rules). Get to it, we'll give you another chance tomorrow.

P.S.- Tom agrees with us, the world would be a much better place with a Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 game. He didn't say they're making one, he was just saying. We're gonna puff up our cheeks and hold our breath until PBCBSF2006 climbs out of its animated grave and into our interactive world. Starting. Now.

A few other things:

Only one entry per person, please (cheaters will be automatically disqualified)
The contest is limited to US entrants only, mainly because we don't want to ship overseas
You'll have until 2:30pm EST on Monday, September 11th to enter
This shirt is a size L ... we'll have an XL for you tomorrow afternoon
Please allow two to three weeks for prize delivery

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PAX: The Castle Crashers test

Christopher Grant — 2006-09-10T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Arcade, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

The exhibition space at PAX was a bit cramped, but that didn't stop Redmond neighbors Microsoft and Nintendo from representing, Guitar Hero II from rocking out, game import shop extraordinaire Pink Godzilla from selling, and The Behemoth from having one of the most popular games at the show. Who are The Behemoth? They're the small game studio responsible for the adorable Alien Hominid and the delicious Castle Crashers, both headed to Xbox Live Arcade.

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.

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Castle Crashers: an XBLA original from The Behemoth

Christopher Grant — 2006-07-20T16:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360

After seeing this video it was clear that The Behemoth's new XBLA offering Castle Crashers needed more than just a one line nod at the bottom of an Alien Hominid post. We've been doing the retro arcade thing long enough; now it's time to bring the multiplayer fun of arcade side-scrollers to Xbox Live Arcade. Forget about porting Golden Axe (though we'd take that too), Castle Crashers promises high-def resolutions with their old-school, beat 'em up action. Let's review, from 1UP:

"What [an XBLA release] means for players is a much cheaper price, as well as overhauled visuals that -- when combined with the game's widescreen capability -- allow a lot more to take place on the screen at once. With any four-player game where all the characters are on the screen at the same time, there's a risk of too much going on and players getting confused, so the visual overhaul makes the game much easier to follow than it was in the version we saw last year."

This is the sort of mindless arcade fun we need! Now if these guys would go ahead and secure the rights to Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 we'd die happy. Very happy, indeed.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

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Alien Hominid to crash land on XBLA this year [update 1]

Christopher Grant — 2006-07-20T10:05:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360

There's two ways you could look at this, depending on how cynical and jaded you are. You could jump up and down knowing that Alien Hominid, one of the most successful and interesting indie games ever made, is coming to Microsoft's popular Xbox Live Arcade service this winter ... or you could grind your teeth knowing that your perfectly suitable Xbox copy isn't backwards compatible (yet?) so, if you want that side scrolling action, you'll be shelling out for the same game again. Granted, it was only $20 to begin with, and a $10 XBLA price would still keep the total well below your average AAA title, but it's the principle dammit!

This is a slippery slope for Microsoft to be on. Cynical (and/or cheap) gamers have foretold the day when Microsoft would use future profits to determine the fate of backwards compatibility on a particular title. Conspiracy theorists will point to Alien Hominid's relatively spartan and humble graphics as proof positive that Redmond isn't playing fair. Of course, these accusations will be premature since there are certain to be more backcompat updates before the Fall console launches, but they'll be made regardless.

Game Informer reports that Alien Hominid developer The Behemoth is also bringing their in development title Castle Crashers to XBLA in early 2007. For more indie-dev goodies, check out the excellent Gamasutra podcast this week for an interview with The Behemoth's John Baez.

[Thanks, Shizzle]

[Update 1: 1UP previewed the game at the Comic-Con expo that began today. They confirm the obligatory 360 upgrades like high-def and widescreen support, but also note that "the developers are looking into adding a few bonuses here and there to give the Live Arcade version something extra for players who are familiar with the original" but add "we don't have any details on that front at this point."]

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