It took less than a week, but Mojang and 4J Studios proved the naysayers wrong. Minecraft, which was just released on May 9, is a resounding success on Xbox Live Arcade, shattering first-day sales records on its way to over one million copies sold globally.
The news was revealed by a jubilant Major Nelson, who also tallied up some other stats related to the game. Nelson’s numbers say that the total online hours played equate to 5.2 million. There have been 4 million multiplayer sessions so far, totaling 2.4 million hours played.
It’s an episode of purely normal proportions, but extremely epic significance. That’s right, 100 episodes strong, we shed the typical pomp and circumstance to bring the regular everyday Octocast that everyone has come to love.
Are you the kind of gamer that finished Super Meat Boy and thought “I liked it, but I wish it were a little harder”? Then Pwnee Studios has the project for you. Their upcoming title Cloudberry Kingdom could be one of the most challenging platformers of all time, but it’s going to need some help if it’s going to be released.
Pwnee spent so much time trying to get Cloudbery Kingdom‘s signature feature (an AI capable of creating procedurally generated levels with six difficulty modes) right, that they have gone over budget. Thankfully for them, Kickstarter is an easy way to reach out to fans for support.
The developer is hoping to use the funds gained from Kickstarter to hire an artist to complete the game’s graphics and an animator to put together cutscenes. They also have some pretty big plans should they get more than the $20,000 they’re asking for.
“If the project gets over funded then we will go really crazy,” Pwnee said on the Kickstarter page. “The AI gets more powerful the more obstacles we design for the game. Every time we add a new obstacle the AI quickly learns how to use it and then can immediately start designing levels with it, combining it with any of the other obstacles already in the game.
“The same is true for heroes. We can design new heroes, with totally new physics and controls, and the AI will figure out how to design levels specifically for that hero. This leads to an awesome combinatorial explosion of insane potential, and the more funding we get the more material we can give to the AI to make really unique levels and a truly awesome experience.”
Fans have until May 26 to pledge support for the game. A Steam version is set to launch in September for $15, while a Wii U version is planned for December.
Whether you want to hunt for crystals like you’re Indiana Jones or knock out internet memes like you are Little Mac back in ’89, this week’s XBLIG roundup has a bit of everything.
Consider me shocked by this one. Crystal Hunters is very likely the best game released on the service in all of April. It’s a room-based puzzler in the vein of The Adventures of Lolo, which you might remember from the NES. Gem collecting is the objective here. You’ll need to push boxes on to switches to open doors and exits. You can also slide them into the view of enemies who will shoot to kill if you cross their line of sight. Forethought and careful planning are a prerequisite here — looks elsewhere for twitch-based high-octane gaming.
It’s doubtful that there will ever be an Xbox Live Arcade game as anticipated as Polytron’s FEZ. I wondered how the game would fare against years of previews and hype when I pressed start for the first time, but it wasn’t until sometime after completing the game that I found my answer. FEZ is a complicated nut to crack, but what waits inside is worth the effort.
Saying FEZ is ‘complicated’ is actually a disservice to the work put in by Polytron. The cliche of “a puzzle, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in an enigma” is all-too applicable here. Puzzles are so intricately weaved through the game that they only begin to make sense several hours in, or during a second playthrough in some cases. Taking actual pen and paper notes is a necessity to solve some of the greater challenges. The air of mystery surrounding just about everything can feel suffocating, so much so that I wasn’t sure I was enjoying my time with FEZ early on. It turns out that sticking with it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Read more
Still impatiently awaiting Battleblock Theater? Yeah, us too. But since the Behemoth’s four-player side-scroller won’t be released anytime soon, let’s take a minute to celebrate a milestone in the developer’s history. Alien Hominid has been played 20 million times. The game that started it all for the Behemoth just passed that milestone over on Newgrounds. Feel free to congratulate Dan Paladin and Tom Fulp at Comic-Con in San Diego, but don’t expect an answer when you nag them about getting your grubby mitts on Battleblock.
Going Loud Studio’s breakout hit, DLC Quest, is now available for Mac on the App Store for $.99. The price jumps up a whopping 100% on May 14, so you better act quickly if you want to save yourself a buck. The 2D retro platformer is quite a delight, and you can check out our review of the XBLIG version here.
Magiko Gaming is at it again, and has shed new light on the cave dwelling platformer they have been working on for “about 7 or 8 months,” Platformines. This marks the fifth release from the studio, whose most recent title Platformance: Temple Death was not only punishingly difficult and charming, but well received on XBLIG. You can get a peek at our review here without having to brave the traps and dangerous environments yourself.
Configuring inputs, tweaking, adding a bit more content and a coat of polish are all that remain on the developer’s list. “A typical game will last around 10 hours,” Magicko states, and since the world is randomly generated, multiple playthroughs are encouraged, so that should add a bit of replay value as well.
The premise is simple enough: build a monstrous digging machine, RoboDIG, by collecting 9 parts scattered throughout the world, each of which is located in an area more difficult than the last. Along the way you’ll acquire new weapons, some sweet wigs, and a variety of clothing and accessories. Nudists will be excited to hear that pants are optional. Read more
