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LittleBigPlanet wins big at the little BAFTAs

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 30th 2009 at 1:40PM }

Unsatisfied with simply winning the "Artistic Achievement" category of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards earlier this year, Media Molecule and its charming, customizable platforme, LittleBigPlanet, took the BAFTA's Children's Awards show by storm last night. The title took top honors during the ceremony, beating out Boom Blox Bash Party, de Blob and Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise for the coveted "Best Videogame" award.

Media Molecule's Mark Healey teased GamesIndustry about the future of the infinitely award-winning title, saying, "LittleBigPlanet has a lot more room to absorb a lot more things before we say goodbye to that one. I think every year from now on should be a big year for LittleBigPlanet, hopefully." With the Online Create mode patch out today and the Water Update coming soon, we think the studio's got plenty of big ideas to keep the Planet turning for a long, long time.

Prope announces Ivy the Kiwi? for Windows Mobile?

by JC Fletcher { Nov 13th 2009 at 5:30PM }

This could be really big news. Yuji Naka's studio, Prope, revealed what is likely to be the "Sonic-like" game mentioned last year. And Ivy the Kiwi?, the studio's new game (the question mark is part of the title), has some interesting mechanics: the game uses drawn lines to propel a character, sort of like Kirby's Canvas Curse or Wireway, but lets players anchor one side of the line and move the other endpoint around while Ivy's on it, for finer control of the character's movement.

However, it's for Windows Mobile (or, as the platform is being called in Japan, Windows Phone). Not what you'd typically think of as a major gaming platform. This game is part of a move to change that -- it's a launch title for Japan's Windows Mobile Marketplace and will be out in December.

Gallery: Ivy the Kiwi (Windows Mobile)

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Ghosts 'n Goblins now punishing iPhone players

by JC Fletcher { Nov 11th 2009 at 11:50AM }

Capcom has released a new Ghosts 'n Goblins game to, of all places, the iPhone. Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights features polygonal graphics like the PSP's Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, and, for the first time, two playable characters: Arthur and new hero Lancelot, who each have different weapons and lifebars.

We're going to assume that the difficulty of the series is tuned for iPhone play: Ghosts 'n Goblins games tend to be nightmarish in difficulty even with real d-pads and buttons, and porting that experience directly to the iPhone could only lead to tears. The lifebar from the PSP game will help, but even so we expect Arthur to spend most of the game in his boxers, as usual.

One aspect that is definitely tuned to the iPhone: paid DLC. For 99 cents a pop, you can power up Arthur or Lancelot, get unlimited lives or unlimited access to magic, or even reduce the strength of enemies and eliminate magicians from the game.

If you're feeling brave enough to take on the armies of Satan with just a touchscreen, Capcom is offering the game for $2.99 -- a discount of $2 -- until November 23.

Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights ($2.99):

Gallery: Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights (iPhone)

iPhone It In: Canabalt

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 11th 2009 at 8:00AM }

Canabalt is a 2D side-scroller where you control a gentleman continuously running across rooftops and cranes, gradually building up speed while avoiding various objects which will either slow down or kill him. Rather than "score" or "points," developer Semi Secret Software measures your success by the distance you manage to cross, even allowing for instant bragging via Twitter in-game. It's a simple premise with a surprising amount of depth.

And it's exactly the kind of game I want to pick up and play on my iPhone. Canabalt is perfect for the device: the gameplay comes in short, addictive bursts, it loads up quickly, and it employs the touchscreen in an intuitive way. Though a vast wealth of quick and addictive games now reside on my phone, I find myself constantly returning to Canabalt's rooftops and blaring techno music whenever I have a spare moment.

Gallery: Canabalt (iPhone)

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Golgoth confirms Joe and Mac remake in the works

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 6th 2009 at 3:30PM }

Golgoth recently dropped a press release to cut off conjecture about their next project at the pass, simply stating, "after our Toki remake release, we'll work on Joe and Mac license." That simple confirmation, as well as the concept art seen above, was really the only meat on the release's bones -- platforms for the remake, or a tentative launch window still remain unannounced.

We'd love to toot our own horn for correctly guessing the franchise Golgoth would work on next, but the studio's boss did say it would be a Data East-developed co-op platformer. One needn't be a world-renowned cryptographer to suss that one out.

New, super character art from New Super Mario Bros. Wii

by JC Fletcher { Oct 26th 2009 at 1:15PM }

The new multiplayer mode in New Super Mario Bros. Wii is great, as is the apparent difficulty of the new levels. We're curious about the Super Guide feature as well. But for some Mario fans, the real draw to the latest sidescroller can be seen above: the Koopalings, returning for the first time in a traditional Mario game since Super Mario World. While, of course, we'd still prefer a 2D adventure, Iggy, Morton, et al. have made the transition to 3D quite well!

Nintendo released that render along with some other character and enemy art, and an image of the bizarre all-red box art. See what a Goomba looks like now in our gallery. Spoiler: pretty much like it always looks.

Gallery: New Super Mario Bros. Wii character art

Nippon Ichi teases new Prinny platformer

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 23rd 2009 at 1:15PM }

Are you ready to lose another set of 1000 lives? If so, then Nippon Ichi has a new Prinny game for you. Unfortunately, Nippon Ichi has decided against releasing any information on the game, even obscuring its lengthy title. After playing the first game, can we suggest Prinny 2: This is Going to be a Really Hard Game?

[Via Andriasang]

Trine coming to US PSN today; Frozenbyte answers the obvious question

by JC Fletcher { Oct 22nd 2009 at 6:00PM }

What happened? Frozenbyte has reiterated that Trine will really, for reals be available on PSN today. The PSN puzzle-platformer was supposed to be out in July, before the PC version, but it failed to meet either of those deadlines. So why is it three months late?

Essentially, as Frozenbyte has said, the delay can be attributed to stringent testing for a console release, combined with a long wait for approval of every test -- with just a dash of Sony marketing strategy. Frozenbyte's Joel Kinnunen has described the issue in a lengthy forum post.

"The reason why the US version is so late is a bit of a similar situation as the overall delay," Kinnunen wrote. "We had the US version done around the same time as the European version and I think the publisher submitted it swiftly after hearing the European version was 'ok.'" After that delay, Kinnunen believes, it was Sony's desire to "give the game a good window with regards to other PSN titles/content" that kept it off the US PlayStation Store until today.

Hands-on: Konami's DSiWare 'Reflection'

by Kevin Kelly { Oct 14th 2009 at 5:15PM }

With concept art and a logo that look like they were ripped straight out of a Mirror's Edge anime fansite, it's not surprising that Konami's first DSiWare title Reflection is all about the gameplay and not the graphics. The game features an extremely innovative use of the DSi's second screen as a literal reflection (get it?) of the game, turning an otherwise pedestrian platformer into a challenging puzzler.

You play as Kirra, a thief for hire who has been tasked with retrieving an ancient mirror from some similarly ancient ruins. When she finds the mirror, it does what all ancient mirrors do: it breaks. And in doing so, the mirror shatters her reality as well. She now has to reassemble the mirror if there is any hope of restoring her world, and she does this by traveling through both her world and the mirror world, reflected in the DSi's bottom screen.

Gallery: Reflection (DSiWare)

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Topatoi getting US release next week

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 7th 2009 at 9:00AM }

Back in July, we wrote a headline about Topatoi and its slow journey to the US. Well, looks like we were right: more than three months after its original European release, Topatoi will finally grace the American PlayStation Store next week, on October 15th.

Critics have been mixed about the PSN platformer, with Worth Playing calling it a "fantastic platformer" while OPM faults the game's "mystifyingly unintuitive control mechanic." It won't be long until we can judge the game for ourselves, though.

Trine's Platinum Trophy is all heart and soul

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 17th 2009 at 3:00PM }

Though Trine's lengthy delay has become the butt of many a tactless joke, European PlayStation 3 owners can finally access Frozenbyte's physics-based platformer today -- the pleasant result of a wizard, a warrior and a thief walking into a cross-media bar. As consolation, the trio have brought along a Platinum Trophy, a rarity among downloadable PlayStation Network games.

"Trine has a Platinum Trophy because it's a fairly large game for a downloadable title (and dare I say great quality)," Frozenbyte PR manager Joel Kinnunen told Joystiq. "I think all the heart and soul we poured into the game fused into a platinum core, so maybe that's another reason." The virtual reward, obtained by earning all lower-tier Trophies, is generally reserved for the PS3's retail releases.

You may suspect Trine to become one of them -- the PC version made it to retail in North America, after all -- but Kinnunen ruled out any immediate plans for a Blu-ray release.

Gallery: Trine

Konami announces DSiWare puzzle-platformer 'Reflection'

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 16th 2009 at 10:47AM }

click for gallery

Konami has decided to dip its massive toes into the murky waters of the DSiWare platform with Reflection, a downloadable puzzle-platformer designed to invoke the handheld's dual-screen capabilities. In the game, you play as Kirra, an adventurer on a journey to recover a broken magic mirror. Actually, you play as Kirra's good and evil halves simultaneously on the two screens -- a nasty side-effect of the aforementioned mirror-breaking.

Though the game's art (seen in the gallery below) isn't exactly stunning, that concept actually sounds pretty neat. According to the game's press release announcement, it's set to drop this fall, so we should be seeing Reflection in the DSi Shop soon. We also expect to see it in a snow-covered hill, shortly before the landslide brings us down.

Gallery: Reflection (DSiWare)

Austin GDC 2009: Phil Fish offers first public demo of Fez

by JC Fletcher { Sep 15th 2009 at 2:00PM }

Capping off the "The New Indie Hotness" panel at Austin GDC, Polytron's Phil Fish played an early version of the multidimensional XBLA platformer, Fez, for the audience. Though there were a few issues related to the pre-release state of the game -- specifically, Fish claimed that some platforms were disappearing -- we saw enough to know that this is something to continue following!

Fez plays sort of like Super Paper Mario, but with more of an emphasis on optical illusions. It appears as a 2D sidescrolling platformer most of the time, but at any time the player can rotate the entire world 90 degrees along a vertical axis. This allows the player to use optical illusions to navigate the game world. For example, Fish climbed a ladder up the side of one platform, and then rotated the world to reveal another identical platform several yards away. By rotating again, the perspective shifted such that it looked like the ladder was connected to the second platform -- and so it was, and Fish emerged atop the once-distant platform.

In another example, Fish tossed a bomb onto a moving platform to expose the entrance to a cave. He walked to the entrance, and then rotated the world 180 degrees to reveal the other side of the rock structure into which the cave had been cut, granting him immediate access to the other side.

When Fish paused, we noticed a "leaderboards" item in the pause menu. We don't know as yet what the leaderboards will compare, but at least they'll be there.

First screens for Game Arts' WiiWare platformer

by JC Fletcher { Sep 1st 2009 at 12:30PM }

This May at a Grandia Online presentation, Game Arts teased an upcoming WiiWare title called Kage no Shounen, Hikari no Yousei (Boy of Shadow, Fairy of Light). The latest Famitsu magazine includes the first screens of the game now called Shadow Walker: Kage no Shounen, Hikari no Yousei.

The concept is somewhere between Hudson's Shadow Tower and WayForward's LIT, as far as we can tell, featuring a character who can only walk in shadow. We're sure we'll find out more this week. The game is expected to release to Japan's Wii Shop next month, for 1,000 Wii Points.

G4TV gets hands on Behemoth's 'Game 3' platformer

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 19th 2009 at 12:01AM }

If your pure, pure love of Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid has left you starving for more info regarding The Behemoth's next title -- a multiplayer platformer tentatively titled "Game 3" -- then you should check out G4's recent hands-on with the title, in video form after the break. Adam Sessler got a chance to check out the idiosyncratic game while Dan Paladin rides shotgun, explaining a couple of the game's modes, as well as the overarching story for the title. In a nutshell, said plot features a schizophrenic madman who's managed to kidnap your friends, whom you must rescue. Sounds appropriately bizarre.

The video shows four players slugging it out in "Whale mode," and also gives a brief demo of the co-op mode. We can't wait to check it out -- sadly, with a nondescript launch window of "2010," it seems we'll be doing a great deal of waiting before we can do checking.

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