Finally!  At long last!  And exactly on time, BigHead BASH is ready for closed beta testing!

Pop on over to the Kongregate page and sign up.  It’s not listed on the front page just yet – still in beta, after all – but you can find it by doing a search as well.  A Kongregate account is nice but not necessary.

Tell your friends, then meet them on the play-set to see who produces a bigger explosion when exposed to lasers, sticky bombs, rocket launchers, and more.

But there is much, much more to it than that.

As reported by Kotaku:

Akaneiro is an action role-playing game that takes players to a hand-painted world inspired by ancient demons and late Edo era Japan. Players join the The Order of Akane, an elite group of demon hunters, and attempt to rid a village of yokai. The blood of slaughtered yokai turned into crystalline shards called “Karma Shards”, which are what the Order of Akane harvest. There is apparently a variety of weapons that can be upgraded as well…

You can, of course, read the rest of the article here, or you can go straight to the official Akaneiro website here.

Keep your eyes peeled for the beta announcements on the Akaneiro Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.

Of particular interest is this:

Attracted to the collectible vinyl toy movement in recent years, which has seen massive growth as artists continue to create a seemingly endless supply of creative and beautiful toys, Spicy Horse wanted to tap into that collector’s spirit for Big Head Bash. Players will be able to show off their collections in a customizable display case with a constantly growing selection of backgrounds and accent items…

What’s really impressive is that Mr. Destructoid will be featured in the game:

Not wanting to be outdone by all of this announcing, we at Destructoid have a little surprise as well. Mr. Destructoid will be available as a playable character in Big Head Bash. In addition to being a snappy dresser, Mr. Destructoid also brings a massive cock — gun, that is. The cock gun will fire explosive roosters from its rear because if there’s one thing which says “class,” it’s combining a dick joke with a poop joke and wrapping it in an explosion. You’re welcome.

You’re thinking about what that looks like.  You’re wondering how it works.  Read the rest of the article to see both the new trailer and the video of the Mr. Destructoid Cock Gun.

But before you do that, you should also know that BigHead Bash will be distributed through GameStop’s online distribution channel, Kongregate.  You’ll be able to play in the previously mentioned Player-versus-Player mode and also against the computer.

We still need network and closed beta testers, so head over to the forum at BigHead Bash and sign up.  Test games run at 9:00 pm Central time, Sunday through Thursday.

Download the app from the iTunes store here.

Here’s a little peek:

You can get pieces of Alice’s wardrobe, outfit your house in the twisted Wonderland motif (including a Cheshire Cat statue), and go on quests to gain points and experience.

Fighty-Bitey was a cat who was a little insane and would lie in wait, seeming to be the epitome of tranquil, until you tried to pet it – or seemed to try to pet it, or passed near it, or moved at all, or thought about moving.  Any such interruption in the energy of the universe would send the cat into a flurry of teeth and claws…

Mau is cut from that same cloth, but his “fighty-bitey” tends to include sticky grenades and flame throwers.

Here’s your caption for the week.  Add your best Mau-ism to the template, save it as a .jpg, .png, or .gif and send it in through our Contest page.  The best of the best will be shown on the BigHead BASH Facebook page this Friday.

]]> http://www.americanmcgee.com/2012/01/02/the-new-meme-for-mau/feed/ 0 http://www.americanmcgee.com/2012/01/02/the-new-meme-for-mau/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/americanmcgee/~3/jXVVy8g1wjM/ http://www.americanmcgee.com/2011/12/30/alice-madness-returns-makes-click-onlines-list-for-games-of-the-year/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:00:37 +0000 Lilith70 http://www.americanmcgee.com/?p=952 ↓ Read the rest of this entry...]]> The accolades still roll for the honorable A:MR!  We started off the list for the folks at Click:

“10) Alice: Madness Returns (PS3, Xbox 360 & PC) – Electronic Arts

There’s usually at least one inclusion on these lists that surprises people, and we’re willing to wager that Electronic Arts’ return to Wonderland will fit the bill this year. When we reviewed it originally in June we were gushing with our praise. For some reason though, it seems like the majority of the rest of the gaming press disagreed with us. The game fared okay when the averages are tallied up for the year, but we stand firm in our opinion that the follow on to 2000’s American McGee’s Alice is one of the most enjoyable title of its ilk for years…”

You are invited, of course, to read the rest of the article here.  We didn’t give you all of the spoilers.

What we’re loving about the article (and as of Thursday night, only the first two parts are out) is that they almost seemed to make a serious effort to move away from the standard “fan-boy responses” and go with more unusual options.  They mentioned, for instance, that there are no first-person shooters in the whole list.  Batman and Child of Eden didn’t make the cut, but Rayman Origins did.  They based their list on fun and a holistic experience.  We are tickled and honored to share the stage with games selected by these criteria.

“Even though Amercian McGee’s Spicy Horse just wrapped up development on Alice: Madness Returns for EA, don’t expect to see another big-budget game from the Shanghai-based studio. The team has since changed focus to make good on its plans to explore alternative business models, starting with a new Facebook title dubbed BigHead Bash.

“The game is Spicy Horse’s first foray onto social networks, and has players take control of virtual figurines to duke it out in a side-scrolling online deathmatch. Collecting figures will play a huge role in the game, allowing players to earn bonuses for filling out their collection with sets of both original and licensed toys. Taking the theme one step further, Spicy Horse even has plans to sell physical figures tied to the game via a specialized 3D printing service.

“With its licenses and merchandising hooks in place, it might appear that the toy-based brawler was tailor made for microtranscations and the free-to-play model. In a recent interview with Gamasutra, however, American McGee explained that all of these systems fell into place only recently, and Spicy Horse didn’t even think about monetization until BigHead Bash was well underway…”

You can read the rest of the article here.

Maaaaatt. He's mysteeeeerious.

Also hailing from Down Under (and from the Alice: Madness Returns team, and the Grimm team before that) is our long-time friend Matt Razz.  He believes that you are all meant to fall under his crazy Street-Fighter-level mad skillz.

**************************************

Name: Matt Razz

Role at Spicy Horse: Producer / Designer / Spiritual Healer

Where are you from?  How did you come to work with Spicy Horse?

Bored of day to day life in Australia I went on a mission to quench my hunger for specialty horse meat. While journeying through china I was stopped to gather my thoughts, I found myself standing on a bridge when a glistening reflection in the calm Suzhou river caught my eye. Looking up to locate the source, a neon sign reading “Spicy Horse” caught my attention. It was at that moment I knew I had found what I was looking for.

What’s your role in developing BigHead BASH?

General weapons-destroying-toys laboratory tests and analysis.

What’s your favorite aspect of the game thus far?

Popping n00b toys heads off and watching them roll around the ground.

In your own words, tell us how you would describe the game.

Toys galore. Multiplayer mayhem. A weapon for every situation.

What do you think people are going to enjoy about the game?

It’s no secret, I receive points every time I kill you. People will enjoy giving me points by letting me kill them >:) They can try to resist and fight back, but it’s inevitable I will win.

How do you think BHB sets itself apart from other social network games?

Player will receive an online, real-time, player versus player beating of a lifetime from yours truly. Sick of clicking on your farm and asking friends to send you chicken droppings? No other game on Facebook requires this much skill.

What is your favorite BHB character to play as? Your favorite weapon?

Albert III. The offspring of the first monkey in space arrives with a vengeance wielding the mighty sniper rifle!

What is your favorite BHB character in general?

Betty Bombshell sure knows how to lure the boy toys into a trap… A word of advice, don’t trust a word she says.

What would you like the world to know about BHB?

If a free 2.5D online multiplayer death match shooter created from pure silly fun doesn’t sound like enough for you, just wait until you see what new famous characters will join the mayhem soon!

Behold, a new caption contest!

For the next few Mondays, we’ll release a character template in the new-classic meme style.  YOU add in your best lines, save it as a flat image, and send it to us through the form provided.  Every Friday, we’ll feature the best of the best in a stream to the public on our Facebook page.

First up is Chicken Norris.  This badass chicken is badass – as in, really badass.  Maybe Chuck borrowed his moniker from the chicken, you never know.  It could have happened.

When you’re all done with your crazy modifying, head on over to the Contests page to submit through the form there.  See you in the funny papers!