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Dead Island Box Art Finally Revealed

Matthew Sims — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:49:48 +0000

We’ve seen a lot of assets for Dead Island thus far, and about the only thing we haven’t seen from this zombie action/rpg is the final box art. Well my friends, the wait is over. We can exclaim that our lives are now fulfilled due to this spectacular announcement! Huzzah!

Minor joking aside, the game is starting to look pretty solid, and we’re psyched for it. Due to most of the RipTen staff being head over heels in love with it, we’ve got pretty extensive coverage available on the site; the latest screens, 20 minutes of gameplay footage and eyes-on impressions from the GDC. If you aren’t excited after checking those out, you aren’t human. If you aren’t human that must mean….if you’ll excuse me, I have to get my shotgun.

RipTen will again be hands-on with Dead Island at E3 2011 so stay tuned.

Behold Epic’s Next Gen Tech Demo In Glorious Full HD

Dave Oshry — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:27:51 +0000

In case you’ve only heard about it or have only seen shaky off-screen footage, do yourself a favor and check out Epic Games next gen tech demo from the 2011 GDC in all it’s true glory.

I came across the full video on the Nvidia press site while doing my review of the GeForce GTX 590

Enjoy:

GDC11 Preview: The New Transformers Game Looks Badass, Just Like The Last One

Dave Oshry — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 07:57:31 +0000

Let’s face it, most games that are based on movies… suck. However, when it comes to bucking that trend, the Transformers do it as only they can, big, bold and bad ass.

If you skipped over the last Transformers game – you missed out. War for Cybertron was surprisingly awesome and was almost universally well received. Luckily, Activision and High Moon are sticking to the formula and releasing a follow up game to coincide with the new Transformers movie – Dark of The Moon. However, there’s more than meets the eye with this game. It’s not just a movie tie in, in fact it’s a prologue to the new movie and actually expands upon the Transformers lore. Oh, and did I mention you get to play as fsn favorites like Starscream, Soundwave, Ironhide, Megatron and of course, Optimus Prime? Yeah, but I’ll get to that later.

The game’s premise is based around the events after Revenge of the Fallen that lead into Dark of the Moon. Megatron is recovering, and a war is still raging. You will playas both Autobots and Decepticons, and the game features all the 3rd person robo-mayhem you could ask for. Running around sonic booming as Soundwave? Hell yes. Driving around at top speed as Bumblebee in sexy Chevy Camaro form? Hell yes. Turning into a jet as Starscream and actually engaging in dogfights that look like they came straight out of Afterburner? OH HELL YES.

I Scream, You Scream - We All Scream For Starscream

The reason why these game seem so fun and simple is just that. They’re fun and simple. You rampage around different missions as your favorite Autobots and Decepticons, you can change from car/truck to robot at any time, and the gameplay is solid. There’s no secret formula here – it’s just a solid Transformers game. Badass is the only word that can be used to describe it. If you’re in it for the lore because it’s a prequel to the upcoming film, then you’re also in luck because High Moon has really fleshed out the storylines of each character for you Transformer-nerds. Personally, I’m not that into the story, but did I mention you could play as Starscream and transform into a f**king jet!?

There’s also a new “Stealth Force” mode which lets you engage in vehicle combat without fully Transforming back into full bipedal robot mode. You know, like Twisted Metal, just in case this game couldn’t get any more badass.

Don't Make Me Transform Into a Big Block Chevy...I'll Do It!!

Last but not least check out this latest trailer. If you’re still not sold, then I’m sure there’s a Hello Kitty game somewhere with your name on it.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be released shortly before the film.

Stay tuned to RipTen for continued coverage of Dark of The Moon. The game… not the film.

GDC11 Preview: Dead Island – Borderlands + FarCry + Zombies = Win

Dave Oshry — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:29:19 +0000

I’m hard pressed to think of a game that has gotten as much hype as Dead Island before anyone actually saw it. This is all due in part to the game’s haunting trailer.

Well, the game isn’t the trailer – but it’s still rather awesome, from what I’ve seen thus far.

When I see a game for the first time, in my mind I immediately start comparing it to games I’ve seen before. I was expecting to a get a Left4Dead and/or a Dead Rising vibe from Dead Island, but I was very surprised to find out there’s a lot more to this game than just annihilating zombies.

As I watched Deep Silver play Dead Island (because they wouldn’t let me play it) I was almost instantly reminded of at least two other games. So please, come along with me as I tell you why I think Dead Island may not be the game that you think it is:

The Only Thing Missing Is Jack Carver

How it’s (looking) like… FarCry

The tropical environments are lush and the world is open. Trees sway, water ripples and red barrels (of course) explode. You can approach your quests and objectives from different angles around the island and the whole game just gives off a very FarCry vibe. Sure, this is clearly the weaker of the comparisons and it only really applies to how the game “Looks” – However, once you see the game for yourself, you’ll see what I mean. There’s also some very FarCry-esque cinematics, something that really doesn’t exist in the other game I think Dead Island was like, but I digress… If you like wide open spaces with which to carve wide open faces, then Dead Island will make you giddy.

Out Of My Way - I Need To Go Pray

How it’s (a lot) like… Borderlands

The roleplaying is deeper than you think. There are quests, quests, more quests and side quests. It’s a first person action/RPG more than it’s a first person hack n slash and even the workbench crafting system that I saw was far more similar to the one In Fallout: New Vegas than the duct tape symphony known as Dead Rising 2. Not to mention there’s even a persistent experience bar on your HUD and you visibly gain XP from each kill. Hell, I’ve even been told there are invisible dice rolls going on, so prepare to miss with that machete if you haven’t leveled properly, agent Thorton. However, the biggest similarity is that Dead Island features four player co-op and each of the four available characters have their own skill trees that are rather deep… sound familiar?

I Made This Just For You!!

As you level up your abilities with certain weapons and skills, they will become more powerful and you’ll be able to do some really gnarly things to the undead menace on the island. Also worth noting is that the game world is very similar to the one in Borderlands (Pandora). Sure, it’s vast and open, but it’s also populated with instances and lovely lovely load screens. I’m sure it won’t be an issue for most gamers, the whole Borderlands formula worked quite well, and if it ain’t broke…

So… yeah. This is what Dead Island felt like to me. Disagree with me if you must, but after seeing the game first hand and speaking about it at length with Deep Silver and Techland, I’ve come to realize that this game is much more of an RPG than anyone could have imagined, and I’m actually really excited about that. It’s got the realistic tropical visuals of FarCry and the roleplaying and co-op action of Borderlands – what more could you want in a game? Zombies? Well, yeah – there’s plenty of zombies.

Zombies, You Can Has Them

Dead Island is set for release later this year – unless it gets pushed back – or canceled – or the hipster zombie apocalypse comes before any of us can play it.

Stay tuned to RipTen for continued coverage of Dead Island.

The Sickest Game I Saw At The GDC Will Be Playable at PAX East!!

Dave Oshry — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:40:13 +0000

First of all, yes – I’m talking about The Darkness II. Sure, I just got done telling you all about my hands-off, eyes-on demo at the GDC, but I’ve already got even better news.

The Darkness II will be PLAYABLE at PAX East!!

Here’s what 2K had to say:

Due to the tremendous response from GDC last week, The Darkness II will now be hands-on playable at PAX East on the show floor, for the first time worldwide!

So pack your bags, get your ass to Boston this weekend, and find the 2K booth.

I recommend getting there early, you don’t want to get caught in a 5 hour line like those Duke Nukem players at PAX prime last year.

The Darkness II: If You Can Think It, You Can Do It

Dave Oshry — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:31:12 +0000

It goes without saying, even though I’m about to say it, that The Darkness II was my favorite game at the GDC… and I didn’t even get to play it.

Why does that go without saying? Because I’ve been telling everybody. I cannot believe how mind blowingly viscerally awesome this game looks. As a huge fan of both The Darkness comics and the original game (and the band), I am proud to say that Jackie Estacado is back – and better than ever.

There was so much win involved in the demo I saw at the GDC. Such a great art style, such great carnage, such great dialogue, such great storytelling… and even some great tits. As I watched Jackie once again transform into a beast controlled by The Darkness and decimate dirtbags in amazing new ways (thanks to the new and improved quad-wielding combat system) I was in awe.

Everything I ever wanted to do in the first game, was being done on screen. Anything I thought Jackie might be able to do, he did! Picking up weapons from across a room with demon arms? Check. Using demon arms to pick up objects and hurl them at bad guys? Check. Ripping off a car door with your demon arm and using it as a shield? Well, I’d never even thought of that… but yeah, Check. Better yet, you can now start firing two separate weapons while simultaneously slashing and grabbing your foes with those nasty, gnarly demonic arms of yours. It was all there. It all looked so seamless and easy. If you felt like a bad ass in the first game, your’re gonna feel like a mother fuckin’ god damned one man army in this game… because you are.

After the demo I just had to sit down to talk with someone about all the awesome I had just witnessed.

Luckily, Darkness II project director Sheldon Carter (from Digital Extremes) was on hand for an interview:

So, The Darkness II looks as if it’s definitely shaping up to be one hell of a sequel. You can bet that with guys like Sheldon on board to make sure that players get an amazingly brutal, visceral, creative and bad ass experience, I have no doubt that this game will certainly not be the last we see of Jackie Estacado and The Darkness.

GDC11: Epic Games Next Gen Tech Demo Is Mighty Impressive (Video)

Dave Oshry — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:24:26 +0000

Last week at the GDC, Epic Games showed off the improvements they had made to their Unreal Engine. Luckily for us, someone shot the whole damn thing on video.

Enjoy:

Nvidia + Epic = WIN.

GDC11 Preview: Risen 2 – It’s an Open World Pirate RPG. Yarrrr!!

Dave Oshry — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:48:08 +0000

I’ll admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of Risen. While it wasn’t a bad game, it had left me with an overall feeling of, “Meh”

However, Deep Silver may very well soon be on an RPG roll. With Risen 2 and the upcoming zombie action/rpg Dead Island both on the horizon, things look rather promising. Yet, that’s only because Risen 2 took me by surprise.

All I knew about Risen 2 was that it was yet another RPG, but this time, it had pirates! Who doesn’t like pirates!? Better yet, it runs on an all new engine developed internally by Piranha Bytes that makes for some rather lush and enticing visuals. So, when Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes sat me down at the GDC to show me Risen 2, the first thing they did was take me through the game’s day/night cycle to show off these impressive visuals. It looked something like this:

Good Morning

Good Afternoon

: Good Evening

Good Night

They then ran around the port shown above and surrounding island for a bit (I’m told the entire game is completely open) and then ran up to a clearing to spawn some monsters for us to look at . . . and then kill.

The monsters looked equally as impressive and intimidating, even though the combat did appear a bit wonky at first. However, I was looking at a very very early pre-alpha build – there was hardly even any sound. Yet, not only did the beasties look well crafted, but also creepy as hell. I mean what the hell is this thing!?

Kill It With Fire!!

Luckily, in order to kill things like that you’ll be presented with an array of pirate-y weapons such as swords, daggers, blunderbusses, and yes, dual pistols. (pewpewpew)

The whole demo gave me a very Two Worlds II vibe, which isn’t a bad thing, because as you know, I loved Two Worlds II. While Risen II doesn’t exactly look like a AAA title, it does look like it may be a hell of a lot of fun, especially since an open world RPG focused on Pirates simply hasn’t been done before.

Quite frankly, any game that lets me dual wield pistols in an open world while drinking rum already has my attention.

Not to mention that the main character is a total bad ass. I mean, look at this dude. He clearly gets all the babes at every port and that eyepatch makes Solid Snake look like a total wuss.

Yarr!!

Risen 2 will be out later this year on Xbox360, PS3 and PC. Stay tuned to RipTen for continued coverage.

Cliffy B Says The Hipster Zombie Apocalypse Is Coming… And It Smells

Dave Oshry — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:39:52 +0000

There were a ton of great stories I could have written about Cliff Bleszinski’s panel at the GDC. His speech was hilarious and insightful. Say what you want about Cliffy B, but the son of a bitch knows how to grow a brand.

However, I’m not here to tell you about all that, or what Cliff thinks about the current state of the gaming industry. You can read all about that in countless other places. I’m here to pass on a warning from Cliff…

The Hipster Zombie Apocalypse is coming . . . and it smells!

Now obviously this slide was shown to reinforce the fact that nerd culture has taken over and guess what gamers? We’ve won harder than Charlie Sheen. #Winning #Tigerblood

However, hipsters are a plague upon our planet and they must be killed with fire. Unfortunately, if you tried to kill them with fire, they’d probably just tell you that fire was soooo last week and that this week everyone is killing people with something far more trendy. FUCK!!

But since you insist on seeing more of Cliff’s awesome speech, here’s a 10 minute segment I shot. In this short period of time he manages to cover: Being called a douchebag, having thick skin, growing a brand, marketing, why developers don’t do more PR, the nerds taking over, Notch, Glory Hole Simulators, Duty Calls, being slaves to technology, Geoff Keighley, and the scariness of the sheer amount of gaming platforms that exist in 2012. Enjoy:

After the panel I spoke with Cliff for a short while. “Hey Dicktits!” I blurted out. He was not exactly “amused” …until he realized it was me! “Hey, good to see ya Dicktits!” he replied. Yes, we are classy motherfuckers.

Stay tuned to RipTen for the rest of our wrap up coverage of the GDC, and all things Cliffy B.

Bungie Not Actually Making an MMO – We Didn’t Get The Joke

Dave Oshry — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:15:53 +0000

This week at the GDC everyone was convinced (including us) that Bungie had confirmed their next game was an MMO. Well, as it turns out, the slide and comments presented were in jest and we just didn’t get the joke.

Or maybe it just wasn’t funny?

Lead network engineer David Aldridge showed a slide and made some comments that everyone took as said confirmation. Well, Bungie and David have stated that this was a misinterpretation of a poorly delivered joke and that we just can’t process David. His brain has one speed, one gear . . . GO!

Well, Perhaps David Aldridge should stick to his day job and leave the comedy to people with #Tigerblood who are always #Winning like Charlie Sheen. ^__^

Or maybe it’s a Serbian Jew double bluff and Bungie really are making an MMO but are trying to cover up since David spilled the beans? Who knows!? I bet Bobby Kotick does . . .

GDC11: SOCOM 4 Brings 3rd Person Counter Strike Action To PS3

Dave Oshry — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:25:57 +0000

"Ok, Let's Go"

Hooyah!! Sony and Zipper Interactive have unveiled the final multiplayer mode for SOCOM 4 – and guess who got some hands-on time. That’s right, I did.

Bomb squad mode follows a tried and true formula made famous by Valve’s classic FPS, Counter Strike. One team has planted bombs and the other team must try to defuse them. Now, while SOCOM 4 and Counter Strike are clearly very different in terms of gameplay – I found the experiences to be strikingly similar.

According to Playstation:

In Bomb Squad, Insurgents have planted a number of bombs around the map and the Spec Ops team must defuse them all before time runs out. What makes Bomb Squad special is that it features the unique Bomb Technician character, played by one member of the Spec Ops team, who is charged with defusing the explosives. He carries both an automatic shotgun and a mobile grenade launcher and is very heavily armored, making him a deadly force on his own; that said, the technician is still an open target any time he turns his back to defuse Insurgent bombs. Succeeding in Bomb Squad requires tactics, teamwork, patience and confidence to get the job done, all pillars of the overall SOCOM experience.

Luckily, I never played as the technician – that’s way too much responsibility for a SOCOM nub like me. Instead I took a sniper loadout and covered our technician from afar. There were three bombs that needed to be defused before time ran out, so with headsets and Dualshock 3′s at the ready – my team headed out to stomp the insurgency. Hooyah!!

"Bomb Defused"

BOOM! HEADSHOT! But it was my head that got blown off. Time for revenge? No. Time to rush bomb site B. God damn this was starting to feel like Counter Strike. “Rush B, Rush B!” someone yelled in my ear. “Fuckin’ trying but they’re camping mid!” I yelled back. “Could use some damn support by the tanker!”

Eventually, we started to get the hang of things. I’d finally figured out SOCOM’s control scheme and was taking cover on said tanker and popping out occasionally to snipe anyone foolish enough to come out in the open. One bomb defused…two bombs defused. Two minutes to go and there was still one bomb left… but they were camping hard. Try as we might, even with such an open map – the bastards held us off. The insurgents had won, I had disgraced America. It was time… to commit Seppuku.

"Insurgents Win"

So, if you like Counter Strike but you prefer the more tactical 3rd person experience that SOCOM provides, then you’ll likely have a ton of fun with this new mode. Sony and Zipper know when not to mess with a tried and true formula, and you’ll be able to see it for yourself when the Beta testing begins. In the meantime, check out this latest gameplay video:

SOCOM 4 launches worldwide on April 19th. Hooyah!!

GDC11: Jon St. John Wants You To Play Rochard, And So Do We

Dave Oshry — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 21:34:24 +0000

I didn’t know much about Rochard before I got a chance to play it at the GDC. All I knew was that Jon St. John was in it. Usually, that’s good enough for me.

Jon has brought his balls of steel to the voice of this PSN exclusive title, and you’ll need thumbs of steel to get through it.

Rochard is a 2D side scrolling, puzzle solving platformer that combines gameplay similar to Bionic Commando Re-Armed with Portal-esque puzzling thanks to the G-lifter which works very much like the gravity gun from Half Life.

You’ll use your G-lifer to throw around boxes and other heavy space junk while manipulating gravity to solve your way and save the day. Watch this launch trailer to get a better idea of what I mean:

As I played Rochard I got the feeling that I was actually clever as I bounced around the space station manipulating gravity and solving puzzles. The controls are rather intuitive for the DualShock 3 and it makes things like jumping while controlling gravity and moving things with the G-lifter all at once “almost” seem easy.

Recoil promises not only an eight hour experience, but also that the G-lifter will always be given abilities so the game never feels “stale” throughout. Hell, even during the half hour or so that I played Rochard, new and interesting puzzles and challenges were consistently thrown at me.

However, the best thing about Rochard is by far Jon St. John’s voice work. He takes on a deep southern twang as the burly space miner John Rochard and he delivers dialogue and deep fried one liners as only JSJ can.

Better yet, Jon was on hand as I checked out Rochard and recorded a short video telling us that we’re gonna love it:

Rochard will be available this spring exclusively on the Playstation Network. No price has yet been set. I know I’m man enough to take on Rochard, because I’ve got Balls of Steel:

GDC11: New Dynasty Warriors 7 English Gameplay

Dave Oshry — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:57:12 +0000

Hot off the Tecmo Koei press, it’s six minutes of brutal Dynasty Warriors gameplay – with fantastic English voice acting no less. Personally, I prefer subtitled Japanese, but its always good to see Koei going the extra mile.

Enjoy:

TK Says:

Incredible might and power of warriors is born again in this new chapter of the dynasties with Shu, Wei, Wu and the new Kingdom of Jin, the state that superseded the Three Kingdoms period. Dynasty Warriors 7 will embrace new technology with full stereoscopic 3D.

Official Site: http://www.dynastywarriors7.eu

Like us @ Facebook: http://facebook.com/koeigames
Follow us @ Twitter: http://twitter.com/tecmokoeieurope

GDC11: Bungie’s Next Game Confirmed to be an MMO

Garrett Hartman — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:36:19 +0000

During the Bungie presentation at GDC, lead network engineer David Aldrige confirmed Bungie’s next game will be an MMO.

While very stingy on details, Aldridge made sure to point out it would not be a “WoW in Space”. This was in response to earlier rumors. The game has previous been described as “having something for everyone”.

This will be the first game to be created by Bungie and published by Activision as part of their 10 year multiplatform agreement.

I’ve got to admit, it seems that Bungie is going out of their way to make something different with this one. It will be interesting to finally find out what this game will be.

Source

GDC11: Dead Island Won’t Actually Let You Kill Children

Dave Oshry — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:06:51 +0000

A lot has been said about Dead Island and it’s haunting reveal trailer. You know, the one where a little girl dies not once, but twice.

Well, today at the GDC I had the chance to see Dead Island in action, and while I can’t yet tell you all about what I saw – I can tell you that you won’t actually be able to kill children.

We asked Deep Silver flat out if you’d be able to kill kids and they replied no . . . they didn’t think it was appropriate.

So… I guess it’s ok in the trailer, but not in practice? Who knows. Someone should probably tell Geoff from Achievement Hunter, I’m sure he’ll be relieved.

Stay tuned to RipTen for my full hands-off, eyes-on preview of Dead Island live from the GDC.

GDC11: Jaffe Says Console Games Take Too Damn Long To Load – Ends Up Playing PSP On The Can

Dave Oshry — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:00:19 +0000

Moments ago, the ever outspoken lord of Twisted Metal gave a brief presentation during the GDC. During which, he brought up a few slides showing just how god damn long it takes from the time you power on your console, to when you actually get to start playing games. Games like Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood can take up to 13 minutes before you’re in a game, and even Killzone 3 can take 8 minutes before you get that instant bloodthirsty gratification you crave.

This being the case, Jaffe let us know that the place he now finds himself doing most of his gaming … is on the toilet. PSP firmly in hand, as so not to drop it, Jaffe contends that handheld devices like the PSP and DS can still give gamers that instant gaming gratification they crave that we simply cannot get on modern consoles. It would also appear he has a healthy amount of fiber in his diet.

Jaffe concluded by letting us know that games used to ship finished on day one – and we shouldn’t be patching them the first fucking week that they’re on shelves. However, that is far less interesting than thinking about him playing PSP while taking a shit, right?

GDC11: Nvidia and Epic Games Team Up For Gaming Glory

Dave Oshry — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:40:48 +0000

What do you get when you combine Unreal 3 and Nvidia technology? A match made in gaming heaven if you ask me.

Today at the GDC, Epic has announced that the Unreal 3 engine now features support for DX11 capabilities that include Nvidia’s PhysX, Apex and 3DVision. /woot

“Thanks to NVIDIA’s excellent cross-platform physics technologies and DX11 expertise, we have enhanced Unreal Engine 3 to bring unprecedented new levels of realism and demonstrate what the next generation of gaming will be,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games.

“Unreal Engine 3 continues to amaze us and represents a generational leap in gaming,” said Drew Henry, general manager of GPU business at NVIDIA. “With the addition of our PhysX, APEX and 3D Vision technologies, it will deliver unprecedented, high-end visual experiences for gamers. We can’t wait to play the games that Unreal Engine 3 will power in the future.”

Here’s some Facts about Nvidia and UE3 straight from Nvidia:

Epic Games and NVIDIA have worked together to integrate PhysX and APEX technologies into Unreal Engine 3.

Unreal Engine 3 powers some of the most exciting games in the market across multiple platforms including: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Bulletstorm, Dungeon Defenders, Infinity Blade, Gears of War 2, Mass Effect 2, DC Universe Online, Medal of Honor, and the upcoming Batman: Arkham City, BioShock Infinite, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3 and Mortal Kombat.

The latest updates to Unreal Engine 3 are available now to all licensees. Unreal Engine 3 enables developers to ship games with “out of the box” support for DX11, APEX, PhysX, and 3D Vision.

3D Vision is the world’s leading consumer 3D solution and supports PC gaming, 3D photos and videos, Blu-ray 3D movies, 3D Web browsing, and the new online 3D community, www.3DVisionLive.com.

If you want to check out the new and improved Unreal 3 tech at the GDC – stop by the NVIDIA booth (#1802, South Hall) throughout the show. I’ll be hanging out with them on Friday and i’ll be sure to get the lowdown on all things Epic and Nvidia.

GDC11: Super Meat Boy Could Have Been Ported to PSN in Four Days

Dave Oshry — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:57:07 +0000

Yes, I’m as surprised as you are. Either it’s way easier to port from Xbox to Playstation than I thought, or Team Meat is super fucking talented. I’d assume the latter.

During their panel at the GDC today, Tommy Refenes, lead programmer of Super Meat Boy, said that if Microsoft didn’t pick up SMB, he’d have ported it to a PSN within four days and taken it to Sony. He told Microsoft this straight out and he wasn’t even lying – 4 days would be all he needed. He flat out told Microsoft that Sony was their back up plan and they’d make it happen immediately if Microsoft said no. Note that at this time Sony was more or less not interested in Super Meat Boy and Tommy was, for lack of a better word, bluffing. Pretty ballsy if you ask me, but I think the results speak for themselves.

Even though the Super Meat Boy launch on Xbox Live Arcade didn’t exactly go according to plan, I bet somebody at Microsoft is glad that they decided to stick with Super Meat Boy instead of letting it fall onto Sony’s system.

Well played, Tommy Refenes . . . well played.

GDC11: Super Meat Recap: 400k Copies Sold – Steam Beats Out Xbox Live

Dave Oshry — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:55:11 +0000

According to Team Meat, you should all love all over Steam. Hot nasty love. The kind you clean up with a mop and bucket.

Fresh and meaty from their panel at the GDC, Team Meat (Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen) made a few things known. A. Super Meat Boy has sold over 400,000 copies to date. B. Steam is awesome. C. Xbox live is a mindfuck

Super Meat Boy was supposed to launch as part of the Game Feast event on XBLA. This event featured games like Comic Jumper and Hydrophobia. However, by the time Super Meat Boy was ready to launch, the Game Feast was more or less a sales failure and Microsoft seemingly wanted to distance themselves from the event as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Super Meat Boy hadn’t yet launched and Team Meat had been promised an exclusive launch week with the first slot on the XBLA marketplace with all kinds of awesome and attractive features to promote it. They got none of that. In fact, the game wasn’t even available for purchase until halfway through the launch day. At one point the guys thought that somebody at Microsoft was, “Out to get us!”

Team Meat said they felt “pushed aside”, that it hurt their feelings and that it was a, “mindfuck.” While Super Meat boy still managed to sell well on XBLA, the game sold much better on Steam, and they say that the Steam version has been easier to maintain and patch. According to Tommy, everyone should make hot nasty love all over Steam.

He did want to make it clear that working with the creative side of Microsoft was awesome however.

Last but not least, they wanted to let us know that we should all, “Make Games!!”

After the panel I ran into Danny Baranowsky, Super Meat Boy soundtrack creator, composer and all around bad ass dude. He had promised to give me a signed copy of the special edition of his amazing soundtrack, but the son of a bitch didn’t have a sharpi. Naturally, I kicked him in the dicktits and stormed off like a five year old. I’ll call him later to apologize.

Stay tuned to RipTen for more news from th GDC as our week in San Fransisco rolls on!

GDC11: Super Meat Boy 3DS is a Possibilty – WiiWare is Not

Dave Oshry — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:57:12 +0000

The Super Meaty Super Meat Bot panel just ended at the GDC and some things were made clear … other things, not so clear.

Toward the very end of the panel, Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen (and wife) finally announced the big Wii news they’d been talking about . . . that there IS NO WII NEWS. Super Meat Boy will never be on WiiWare, ever. Never, ever, ever, never ever ever. Sorry KingNintendoFanboy.

However, in a surprise announcement, Team Meat let everyone know that they did indeed have 3DS development kits and Super Meat Boy 3DS is a definite possibility!!

That concludes today’s segment entitled, “Really cool news and really shitty news all at once”