GamerBytes: PSN

New Greed Corp Trailer, Now Also Coming To Xbox Live Arcade,

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:26:37 +0000

W! Games have now revealed that Greed Corp is not just coming to the PlayStation Network, but will also be hitting the Xbox Live Arcade.

To celebrate the announcement W! Games have also released this new trailer. It's still looking great, but I'm a little confused as to how the game plays out. Hopefully we'll see a preview or two pop up before its release.

2BeeGames Reveal Finalists Of Second Indie Game Competition

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:02:18 +0000

2BeeGames have revealed the 10 finalists of their second Indie Game Competition, and since two of the finalists from the previous competition are on their way to XBLA and PSN titles we thought we'd take a look at the offering this time.

The finalists are:

Bullets of a Revolver – submitted by Diefox
Climb to the Top of the Castle – submitted by TwO Bros. Games
Cavemen Vs. Aliens – submitted by John Sear
Cochon’s Pursuit – submitted by Edouard Mercure
Daytraders of the Dead – submitted by Mat Groves / John Denton
DriftMoon – submitted by Ville Mönkkönen
Kablooey! – submitted by Vertigo Games
Tower of Heaven – submitted by Askiisoft
Turba – submitted by Binary Takeover
Vector Conflict: The Siege – submitted by Dig Your Own Grave Games

The 2BeeGames website has demos and videos of all the finalists, so I suggest you go and take a look at each. Of the lot I'm most interested in Climb to the Top of the Castle, seen in the embedded video, and Tower Of Heaven, a platformer set in the style of a monochrome GameBoy game.

GDC 2010 Reminds On Summit Submissions, IGF Student, Mobile Deadline

editors@gamerbytes.com (Simon Carless) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:30:08 +0000

[Just a quick reminder from our GDC colleagues about the call for submissions for the 2010 Summits, including indie, social/online, iPhone Summits - with a bonus Independent Games Festival heads-up in there also for students/mobile developers.]

Game Developers Conference 2010 organizers are reminding potential Summit speakers that they have until Friday, Nov. 13th to submit lectures, with IGF Student and Mobile deadlines also impending.

Held on the first two days of GDC 2010 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco -- next March 9th and 10th -- this year’s GDC Summit line-up includes two new events in the form of the Social & Online Games Summit and iPhone Games Summit.

These summits, alongside the GDC Mobile/Handheld, Independent Games, and Serious Games Summits, which are all accepting submissions through the end of Friday, November 13th.

(Other summits also held at GDC 2010 but not currently calling for submissions include one or two-day events on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the IGDA Education Summit, although the Game Localization Summit has an informal call for lectures ending on November 15th.)

In addition, Independent Games Festival 2010 organizers are reminding that, following record IGF Main Competition entries, games are due for submission in the free to enter Student Showcase category by Sunday November 15th, 2009. Separately of this, entries to the IGF Mobile competition -- encompassing iPhone, mobile phone, PSP, DS, Android and other handheld games -- are due by Tuesday, December 1st, 2009.

More information and registration specifics on the 2010 Game Developers Conference can be found at the official GDC 2010 website.

This Week On PSN - Braid And... Vagrant Story?

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:28:28 +0000

This week those lucky enough to be in North America will be able to pick up Braid this week on the PlayStation Network. The critically acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade game has been ported over by Hothead Games, and will cost $14.99USD.

For Europe it's currently unknown - they might be making up for their lackluster update last week, but based on some snooping from PSNStores the classic Vagrant Story PSOne title might be popping up this week. Cross your fingers.

Magic: The Gathering Coming To PSN, New XBLA DLC In 2010

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:37:19 +0000

The Wizards of the Coast have reveals that Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers will be coming to the PlayStation Network in the Fall of 2010 - and the XBLA version will receive new downloadable content too.

In both the Spring and Summer of 2010 the Xbox Live Arcade will receive two pieces of Magic DLC, and will feature new cards, puzzles, Planeswalkers and some surprised to go along with them. The PlayStation Network version will be basically the same as the Xbox Live Arcade version.

Best Of GamerBytes - All Out Of Gum

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:40:08 +0000

[We round up the top console digital download news of the last week from GamerBytes, including brand-new game announcements and scoops from the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare, PSP Minis and DSiWare.]

This week on GamerBytes we broke a whole lot of news - a new Duke Nukem game is being developed for the Xbox Live Arcade, and Phoenix Wright might be coming to the Wii, plus we've seen a ton of independent game news for digital downloads, including Joe Danger, Auditorium and Aleph. Plenty of games to look forward to in the future.

Here are the top stories of the past seven days:

Interviews

EA, Criterion Vet Murray Forms Indie Hello Games, Talks Joe Danger
"Tiny UK studio Hello Games has announced its first title, Evel Knievel-inspired stuntman bike racer Joe Danger, on its way to digital platforms. You can view some leaked footage here."

Store Updates

XBLA Update - Wallace & Gromit Episodes 2, 3 And 4

NA PSN Store Update - Military Madness, Numblast, Creature Defense, Gex And More

EU PSN Store Update - Spot The Differences Cheap 3-On-3 NHL Arcade And Winnie The Pooh

NA Nintendo Update - Vikings & Dragons Play Card And Carnival Games

EU Nintendo Update - Monkey Island Chapter 3, UNO, Bomberman Blitz And More

Microsoft (Xbox Live Arcade, XBL Indie Games)

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project Coming To XBLA?
"Not even game cancellation can get the Duke down, as we've learned that his 2002 sidescroller may be on its way to the Xbox Live Arcade."

Synaesthete Devs Bring Aleph To Xbox Live Arcade
"The DigiPen students behind Synaesthete reveal a music-driven arcade shooter with a psychedelic aesthetic."

Joe Danger Is On Fire, First Footage Leaked
"At the Indie Games part of the Eurogamer Expo last week, everyone was talking about Joe Danger, the new stunt racing title from Hello Games. Here's some unofficial first footage."

Encleverment Experiment Finally Announced, Out Soon
"We've been discussingEncleverment Experiment' existence for years now, but it appears that it's finally on its way to the Xbox Live Arcade."

Sony (PlayStation Network, PSP Minis)

Auditorium Announced, Coming Next Year
"The winner of 2BeeGames' Indie Game Competition back in July now has a contract, and their game Auditorium will be available next year on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PSP Minis."

Nintendo (WiiWare, DSiWare)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Coming To The Wii
"In today's gift from the German USK rating system, it has been revealed that the Phoenix Wright might be on its way to WiiWare."

Blitz Games' KrissX Lives On
"It was a nice surprise to see Encleverment Experiment finally announced earlier this week, but now we can also reveal KrissX is also still alive, and is being published by Konami."

Space Invaders Extreme Z Out On DSiWare In Japan
"In standard Japanese publicity fashion, Taito have unveiled a digital download version of their Space Invaders Extreme series for the Nintendo DS, and have released it on the same day."

NA PSN Store Update - Military Madness, Numblast, Creature Defense, Gex And More

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:08:51 +0000

This week PS3 owners can finally get their hands on Military Madness: Nectaris from Hudson Entertainment, and the puzzling Numblast - both on PSN and PSP.

PSP games include Hudson's own Creature Defense tower defense game, Crimson Room: Reverse and the PSOne classic Gex. Nice to see the original game popping up, since the third title (which popped up a little while ago) isn't nearly as good.

Military Madness: Nectaris

Publisher: Hudson Entertainment
Developer: Backbone Entertainement
Category: Turn Based Strategy
Price: $9.99

"The Military is back for a new generation of recruits! The classic turn-based strategy series Military Madness, a.k.a. Nectaris, is exploding onto PlayStation Network. With an all-new graphical barrage, an all-new commander unit, online team and vs. multiplayer, and a platoon of other new features, this is the maddest game in the series yet!"

Click here for the official Military Madness page.

Numblast

Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Japan Studio
Category: Puzzle
Price: $4.99

"Prepare yourself for a number puzzle game that’s easy to play, totally addictive and laced with dreamlike, surreal undertones: are you ready for Numblast?"

Click here for more information on Numblast.

topatoi: Arcade Style Pack

Price: free

"Topatoi for PlayStation 3 brings your screen to life with classic platforming gameplay over a variety of dynamic levels. Angry barbarians and tricky puzzles will challenge you at every step in the world of the Great Tree, but overcome these obstacles and you’ll unlock an extra fourteen bonus levels!"

Gex

Price: $5.99

"Gex, the lovable couch-potato lizard, has been sucked into the wild worlds of the media dimensions! Help him escape in this classic side-scroller from Crystal Dynamics."

Crimson Room: Reverse

Publisher: Agetech
Developer: Toshimitsu Takagi
Category: Puzzle
Price: $7.99

"In a small and ordinary-looking room, you are trapped. You must figure out how to leave from the various rooms by finding, using, and combining items found there. Using the graphics, the sounds, and the responses as your only clues, you are using all your guile and ingenuity to escape. At the end of the game as you successfully escape, a fun video ending scene is presented as the screen credits roll, you are free!

"This PlayStation Portable version of Crimson Room is actually a compilation pack that includes multiple rooms previously available in the Flash version of the game, as well as, new scenarios and a "Reverse" Mode, which are all supervised by the brains behind the game himself, Toshiyuki Tagaki."

Creature Defense

Publisher: HudsonSoft
Developer: Hudson Entertainment
Category: Tower Defense
Price: $7.99

"Creature Defense will place gamers in a variety of stunningly illustrated worlds where they will be tasked with defending their land from invading attackers. After creating a deck where players take into consideration the types, tolerability and elements of the enemy, the onslaught begins and continues until adversaries are defeated, or the land falls. Special skills and attacks are added to the player’s arsenal as the game goes along. With new levels and attributes to explore, as well as 50 types of Monster Cards drawn by well known illustrators available for download, Creature Defense is an ongoing adventure for strategic minded gamers."

Numblast PSP

Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Japan Studio
Category: Puzzle
Price: $4.99

"Prepare yourself for a number puzzle game that’s easy to play, totally addictive and laced with dreamlike, surreal undertones: are you ready for Numblast?"

Click here for more information on Numblast.

Joe Danger Is On Fire, First Footage Leaked

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:25:09 +0000

At the Eurogamer Indie Games expo last week everyone was talking about Joe Danger, the new stunt racing title from Hello Games. Thing is, all we had were screenshots to go by - until now.

The Koalition happened to sneak past a camera and get some Joe Danger footage on the sly. At first glace you might think it's going for the same demographic as Trials HD, but it actually mixes more with Excitebike, but more emphasis on score and tricks rather than times.

Looks like a ton of fun. Hello Games haven't specified a platform just yet, but it's looking to be on XBLA, PSN and PC sometime next year. I can't wait.

Round-Up: Gamasutra Network Jobs, Week Of November 6

editors@gamerbytes.com (Simon Carless) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:41:05 +0000

In our latest employment-specific round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from 5th Cell, Insomniac and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, including positions from Sega of America, 2K Marin and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:

Rainbow Studios: Senior Producer
"Rainbow Studios, a subsidiary of THQ, is one of the largest video game developers in the Southwest and develops premier original and licensed titles for current and next generation console systems. Rainbow’s video game history includes the critically acclaimed Motocross Madness PC series, the award-winning ATV Offroad Fury, top-selling Splashdown, the highly praised MX franchise, the blockbuster Disney-Pixar Cars titles, and the critically acclaimed Wii title Deadly Creatures, along with the soon-to-be-released MX vs. ATV Reflex."

Relic Entertainment: Environment Artist
"Your friends will call in the middle of the night, cursing you. When you see them, they’ll wear sunglasses to conceal their bloodshot eyes, and they’ll be alone, because their romantic interests left them without even texting goodbye. They won’t be able to stop playing. It’s a terrible fate, but I’m afraid it’s what we want. And we need your help."

Demiurge Studios: Senior Game Designer
"Demiurge Studios is seeking a talented, experienced Senior Designer to help lead our internal design team. A focus on communication, organization, iteration and polish are all critical attributes for our ideal candidate. Prior experience leading a team of designers and a demonstrable portfolio of game/level design across different genres are requirements for this position. If you can deconstruct reflex; if you can engineer adrenaline; if you can architect fun - we want to speak with you."

Sega of America: Senior Online Interactive Developer
"The Senior Online Interactive Developer will design and develop interactive online content including web sites, banners, promotions, games and other applications for the Sega family of web sites and other initiatives. The Senior Online Interactive Developer will be a part of the Online and Community teams as well as collaborate closely with cross-functional teams within the organization. This person will also manage staff and resources as necessary."

2K Marin: Engine Programmer
"2K Games seeks the talents of a seasoned and passionate programmer who enjoys a collaborative and creative work environment and is looking to work with like minded professionals to create a truly amazing game. Improve, maintain, and optimize the engine. Contribute to the design of a wide variety of enhancements to the Unreal Engine."

To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now.

EU PSN Store Update - Spot The Differences Cheap 3-On-3 NHL Arcade And Winnie The Pooh

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:39:54 +0000

Very slow week this week, but we were warned about this prior. Sony are currently doing some back end stuff to the store that a full, regular update wasn't possible. That's what they say anyway.

This week comes Party Time with Winnie the Pooh for PSOne and Spot The Differences! for PSP minis. Along with that there are still several games on sale which you can pick up, along with Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars and 3 on 3 NHL Arcade now on sale until the 19th.

Special Offers

Until the 12th of November:

Siren Blood Curse (Was – £19.99/€29.99 Now – £14.99 / €19.99 / $29.95AUD)
Siren Blood Curse Chapter One: The Siren’s Call (Was – £6.99/€9.99 Now – £4.79 / €5.99 / $9.95AUD)
Siren Blood Curse Chapter Two: No Refuge (Was – £6.99/€9.99 Now – £4.79 / €5.99 / $$9.95AUD)
Siren Blood Curse Chapter Three: Nest of Devils (Was – £6.99/€9.99 Now – £4.79 / €5.99 / $9.95AUD)
Siren Blood Curse Chapter Four: The End is the Beginning (Was – £6.99/€9.99 Now – £4.79 / €5.99 / $9.95AUD)

Until the 19th of November:

3 on 3 NHL Arcade (Was – £6.29 / €7.99 / $12.95AUD Now – £4.79 / €5.99 / $9.95AUD)
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars (Was – £7.99 / €9.99 / $15.95AUD Now – £3.99 / €4.99 / $8.45AUD)
Echochrome Micro (PSP) (Was – £6.29 / €7.99 / $15.95AUD Now – £3.99/€4.99 / $8.45AUD)
Syphon Filter: Combat Ops (PSP) (Was – £7.99 / €9.99 / $15.95AUD Now – £3.99 / €4.99 $8.45AUD)
Command & Conquer (PSone) (Was – £3.49 / €4.99 / $8.45AUD Now – £2.39 / €2.99 / $4.95AUD)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PSone) (Was – £3.49 / €4.99 / $8.45AUD Now – £2.39 / €2.99 / $4.95AUD)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert Retaliation (PSone) (Was – £3.49 / €4.99 / $8.45AUD Now – £2.39 / €2.99 / $4.95AUD)

PSone Classic

Party Time with Winnie the Pooh (£3.49 / €4.99 / $8.45AUD)

"Join Winnie the Pooh on an exciting adventure in search of lost treasure! You can invite your friends to join the fun - there are lots of games to play together (and lots of silly tricks to play on each other!) Everyone is sure to have a very good time. But remember to watch out for Woozles and Heffalumps!"

PSP minis

Spot the Differences! (£2.49 / €2.99 / Not available in Australia)

"The most complete Spot The Difference game on PSP! 240 scenes, 4 levels of difficulty and 4800 differences to spot!"

Auditorium Announced, Coming Next Year

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:01:09 +0000

The winner of 2BeeGames' Indie Game Competition back in July now has a contract, and their game Auditorium will be available next year on Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PSP Minis.

Auditorium is a puzzle game where you position circles on the screen that manipulate a stream of dots to hit notes across a screen. You'll have numerous circles at once, with specific directions they're pointing to, and by manipulating their position and strength you'll need to hit all the notes on the screen to progress.

Currently the game is on the PC, and you can check out a quick flash demo of it here. It's a fairly simple, but nice looking puzzle game that'll fit just fine with Microsoft's current indie trend on Xbox Live Arcade. The Xbox Live Indie game Blow has a very similar mechanic, and while it's not as pretty as Auditorium might be, it does a lot more than this game currently does. I recommend checking that out while you wait for this one.

Auditorium will be available early next year.

Engine Software To Bring 5 Games To DSiWare

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:27:04 +0000

Straight from the German USK rating system comes 5 new titles coming to DSiWare. Don't get too excited though, it's about as bare bones as it can get.

Engine Software, probably best known to gamers as the guys who ported Puzzle Quest to the Nintendo DS, will be bringing Ferryman Puzzle, Just Sing! Christmas Songs, Simply Mahjong, Simply Sudoku and Simply Solitare to DSiWare.

I am fascinated by developers choice to create some of these titles. The DSi already has 4 Sudoku games with at least another one (Sudoku 4Pockets) on the way, you can get Nintendo's own 2-in-1 Solitare and there are already two Mahjong games out in Japan which we'll probably see pop up in the next few months. At what point does a developer think they have something to add to Sudoku on a platform where games don't drop from the shelves?

Even then, a Ferryman Puzzle game seems like a fairly dull idea, and just going by the name it sounds like it's not going to be dressed up at all. I don't even want to know what Just Sing! Christmas Songs is.

A point David Edery made in his recent address at the Australian Digital Distribution Summit comes to mind here. Simply being a cheap alternative isn't enough to get people to buy your game - in these cases Sudoku is everywhere, and being the fourth or fifth iteration on a console in seven months not going to net you anything.

I just can't get my head around it.

Interview: EA, Criterion Vet Murray Forms Indie Hello Games, Talks Joe Danger

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:27:58 +0000

[Originally published on big sister Gamasutra, Simon Carless talks to new independant developer Hello Games on bringing Joe Danger to life.]

Tiny UK studio Hello Games has announced its first title, Evel Knievel-inspired stuntman bike racer Joe Danger, on its way to digital platforms.

The studio co-founder is former EA and Criterion's Sean Murray, who's held lead programmer and technical director roles on games like Black and Burnout 3. But now, Murray and just three friends -- veterans of UK studios like Kuju, Climax and Sumo Digital -- have struck out on their own.

As he describes it to Gamasutra: "We're all young upstarts who climbed our way to the top of the pile in big companies and have now gone back to being just four guys in a tiny office in Guildford UK, grafting tirelessly over our super polished arcade masterpiece for the last year."

We decided to have a chat with Murray about his brave new venture, Joe Danger, and reinventing as an indie.

When was Hello Games founded, and what made you want to strike out on your own?

We started up around the middle of last year, working on my dining room table to begin with. When I joined the industry, it was absolutely my dream job. I'd been making games since I was a kid and this was an amazing opportunity.

I loved it, but I've never thought of doing anything except starting up on my own. I think that's the same for all of us. Dave [Ream] and Grant [Duncan] used to make Doom levels together as kids, I was always tinkering with some game or other, Ryan [Doyle] is the same. We didn't even discuss it that much to begin with, it was just assumed, we'll work together and start a new company. We had that instant connection, that is so rare.

What did you learn from working at a bigger company that you think will differentiate you as an indie?

We have met hugely talented individuals since we started out on our own. Other indies who are having to do everything for themselves – audio, graphics, coding... everything. We are constantly learning from them, and experiences like that are what it's all about for us. We are in awe of people who haven't worked in the industry before and had to learn the development process alone.

We were lucky enough to work for some amazingly accepting and open companies previously. Ryan and I joined Criterion around the same time. After our first year we were both brought into a room and asked to pick an area to lead. In a company full of some of the most talented game developers in the world, that's a fantastic opportunity to learn from the best. Hopefully that gives us a nice head start, but we just feel we have so much to learn.

How did you come up with Joe Danger as a project, conceptually?

It's funny how it all came about. We know each other so well the type of game we were going to make was just implicit. Once we had an office, we spent a couple of days just giddily spinning in our chairs, before we actually settled down to design something. We knew the type of game we wanted to make – just not the actual one we were going to make.

Grant had a box of toys he brought down from his attic. Something kind of beautiful happened when he brought those in. There was an instant power to demonstrating your latest game idea with Optimus Prime in your hands. I like to think we designed our next five games that first week, just setting up toys on the office floor.

But we kept coming back to one toy, an Evel Knievel stunt cycle. We just sat and actually played with it, building bigger and bigger ramps, launching it out of windows, down corridors. We started to build this little character around who this hapless guy was. The world's most determined stuntman. It kind of tapped into the character you imagined as you played with those toys as a kid. Designing the game from there just flowed naturally.

Are there particular facets to it that you feel are new, or is 'new' over-rated vs. 'fun'?

I imagine the aim of any games developer is to entertain, we'll certainly never be ashamed of saying our focus is on fun. Having said that, I remember reading somewhere Hirokazu Yasuhara, saying they realized on Sonic a player can't have fun if nothing is new. Sonic's a good example of something that wasn't necessarily a ground-breaking game, but it did innovate in hundreds of ways, big and small.

When people play our game, I think they are surprised at how fresh it is. It's a racing game, but it's secretly a platformer, and also one where you are holding a combo and constantly thinking about your score as well as exploring.

Some of the press who have spent time with it have said they don't really know what to compare it to – but landmarks like Crazy Taxi, Excitebike, Sonic, Super Monkey Ball come up a lot. Which we totally love, but I think we're our own game.

What are the advantages (and disadvantages) of working in a really small team?

Something we often say to each other is that this is the most productive we've ever been in our lives. I think that's especially true because we are bringing our industry experience into a small team. So it's all the process and technology, but we've left behind lots of the production overheads.

Kind of the best of both worlds. Something that surprises people is just how tight knit we are, we're a proper little band. That comes from working intensely in a confined space, but also we were friends before this ever started.

Ryan and I have sat side by side each other for years now, Grant and Dave grew up together. When it comes to working we have a kind of hive mind. Grant never has to do any concept art, he can just scribble and everyone knows exactly what he's after.

We definitely have to wear lots of hats, though. There are more roles for us to fill than there are people. I think we're trying to make a pretty big game, we don't have a designer, we don't have PR, or a business manager. There's just the four of us.

Do you have a particular preference for one or multiple PC/console SKUs to release this game? What's the ETA?

PSN and XBLA are markets that have a lot of barriers to entry. We'd love to bring our game to every platform if we could. Even on PC, it's really important to get someone like Steam on board. I guess it's really naive, but we had this concept of, if we build it, they will come.

So we just put together a PC build, then a PS3 one and an Xbox 360 [build] as soon as we got our hands on dev-kits. We're slowly building up our list of contacts and talking to the right people, and we'll announce our plan as soon as we can.

With a such a small team though we would struggle to bring it out on everything all at once, even if we were allowed to. I made a Linux and Mac build in my spare time just for the hell of it, I have no idea if anyone wants it!

What small-team games are you particularly enamored of?

Personally I'm a huge fan of Flash games. You have a huge community of the most prolific and talented small groups out there. Most of them can't make a living unless they regularly get played by millions of people, so you have games that get to the core of the player's experience instantly.

It reminds me of arcade games in that way. People like Brad Bourne with Fancy Pants Adventure, the guys behind Auditorium, the Casual Collective who made The Space Game – we really admire those people and we love their games.

What's the one thing that people would be surprised to learn about Hello Games?

I have no idea. How about this? We once got arrested in our office. We were working so late on a Sunday, they assumed that we were trying to rob the building. It was actually surprisingly difficult to convince everyone that we worked there.

This Week On PSN - Numblast, Military Madness

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:13:36 +0000

Usually we don't write up "This Week" posts for the PlayStation Network, usually because we.. just don't know. This week however the PlayStation Blog has revealed enough for us to know the US is getting at least two games this week - Numblast and Military Madness.

Numblast is a strange puzzle game that relies on creating combos with numbers, and involves a pink money and a winged boy. It's been available for the PS3 and PSP for a few months now in Europe, and is now finally coming to the US for only $4.99. Check out a trailer for the game here.

Military Madness is a remake of the classic Hudson turn based strategy title. It was released a month ago on XBLA, and will now pop up on the PSN in the US for $9.99. Check here for more information on the game before it releases.

Europe on the other hand can expect a slow week - due to some behind-the-scenes work the Sony Europe team are doing with the store, so don't expect anything this week.

Best Of GamerBytes - Get Ready To Excite

editors@gamerbytes.com (Ryan Langley) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:23:07 +0000

This was a big week for announcements on WiiWare and the PlayStation Network - a new Excitebike, first footage of Castlevania: Rebirth, Rayman coming to DSiWare, The Red Star impending on PSP, and Aqua Panic coming to PSN. We're nearing the end of the year, but there's still plenty of games to look forward to.

Here are the highlights for the last seven days:

Interviews

Interview: Nigoro Talks Retro Inspirations, La Mulana For WiiWare
"Brandon Sheffield talks to Takumi Naramura on his his upcoming WiiWare game La Mulana and his life in the video game industry."

Store Updates

XBLA Update - Rainbow Islands, Inferno Pool, Cheap Fable II Pub Games
NA PSN Store Update - Inferno Pool, Family Game Night, LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, Crystal Defenders, Zombie Tycoon And More
EU PSN Store Update - Family Game Night, Zombie Apocalypse, LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, Crystal Defenders, Zombie Tycoon And More
NA Nintendo Update - Tales Of Monkey Island 3, Ghost Mansion Party, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Golden Axe Arcade, The Royal Bluff, Sudoku
EU Nintendo Update - Lit, Ghost Mansion, Zombies, Card Classics And Red Riding Hood Zombie BBQ

Microsoft (Xbox Live Arcade, XBL Indie Games)

0D Beat Drop Dated, Japan's Deals Of The Week Announced For November
"You could be saving money on Peggle, Death Tank and NHL 3-on-3 Arcade next month."

Artech Studios Working On Dragon’s Hoard
"Artech Studios has been quiet on the digital distribution front since Aces of The Galaxy, but a new document reveals they're hard at work on Dragon’s Hoard."

Sony (PlayStation Network, PSP Minis)

Aqua Panic Coming To The PlayStation Network
"Eko System's Lemmings-styled water puzzler is going High Definition on PS3, says the German USK rating system."

The Red Star Coming To PSP
"The German rating board continues to do what it does best by revealing that The Red Star will be making its way to the PSP."

Capybara Games Are Planning Some Zombie Tactics
"According to a document from the Ontario Media Development Corporation, Capybara games is apparently at work on Zombie Tactics for an unannounced -- likely digital download -- platform."

Nintendo (WiiWare, DSiWare)

Square-Enix 's Hills & Rivers Remain Coming To DsiWare
"Square-Enix's recently announced iPhone strategy title Hills & Rivers Remain has now also been announced for DSiWare."

Rayman Coming To DSiWare
"Ubisoft's original mascot has been given the backseat thanks to the Raving Rabbids, but Rayman is finally making a return on DSiWare."

Excitebike: World Rally Announced, Out In Two Weeks
"With no Trucks or 'Bots in sight, Nintendo has revealed Excitebike: World Rally will be coming to WiiWare in a little under two weeks."

First Footage Of Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth
"Have a look at the Japanese version ofCastlevania WiiWare."