If that worries you, both Microsoft and Twisted Pixel are doing their best to maintain the Austin studio’s unique qualities while also extending some benefits to them, like a little more room to breathe during the development process.

“Microsoft’s a very big company, and you’ve got Twisted Pixel, a relatively smaller developer,” said Matt Booty, general manager of Microsoft Studios. “We’re very invested that they get to stay who they are, and they get to retain the magic they’ve got as a smaller indie developer. We’d like to leave the golden goose alone, so to speak.”

Twisted Pixel CEO Mike Wilford is excited for the studio’s future.

“Ever since the very beginning we’ve done things our way, with our own sense of humor,” he said in the article. “I think you’re going to see more of the same type of approach to our games, but with greater resources and time. You’re going to see us be able to make bigger games and richer games going forward.”

Those “bigger” and “richer” games will likely still be XBLA-sized.

Rating:

BUY

I never had much of an opportunity to play Splosion Man, but I heard nothing but good things from everyone else who played it. Then I saw Ms. Splosion Man at PAX East this past March, and I got a bit more interested in the series. Ms Splosion Man follows Splosion Man’s female counterpart who is created during a mistake made by the scientists after the capture of Splosion Man. But it wasn’t the story that drew me to the game, it was the girly aspects added to the game (like looking for shoes) and the quips made by Ms. Splosion Man herself.

The gameplay itself is pretty much the same from the first game. You need to splode in order to jump over obstacles, up walls and to exterminate some scientists and environmental details. There are two new obstacles in this game however: cannons and rails. The cannons are used to shoot Ms. Splosion Man through outdoor environments, and the rails are used in a similar fashion. Of course both do have their tricky parts, like the cannons that will move and the rails that have electric death rays criss crossing them.

This is all explained in what has quite possibly been my most favorite “how-to” instructions I have seen in a long, long time. It is done in an instructional video type format with two different colored Ms. Splosion Men. One showing the right way to play, the other showing the wrong way, because “nobody likes Debbie.” The sarcastic voice over for this part really gives you the tone of the game and sets you up for some fun times.

After the tutorial you get to go right into the game, and the quips get even better. Ms. Splosion man not only likes to go tip-toe while she runs, but she also seems to have a fondness for quoting songs from artists like Beyonce, Spice Girls and even No Doubt. She also seems to enjoy doing the “Single Ladies” dance. Ms. Splosion also spouts off some great one-liners that are girl-centric and made me laugh my ass off. At the same time like with most puzzle games like this I did get frustrated when I kept dying and had to keep re-starting. You are able to take a penalty and “cheat” to get to the next checkpoint, but the penalties are quite bad, and if you want a good score I recommend not going for it.

The other fun aspect that I liked was being able to play the game co-op though different levels. Players can choose between a few multiplayer options, including playing as Splosion and Ms. Splosion in a mode called 2 Girls 1 Controller. This mode proves to be tricky since one thumbstick and trigger will control one character while the other one will control the second character. It’s definitely a mode that can cause some frustration for some. I did enjoy playing a few levels with my boyfriend though. There are definitely some tricky puzzles in multiplayer that give you a good feeling once you are able to solve them.

All in all however I really enjoy playing Ms. Splosion Man. This game is great for someone relatively new to the series as well as people who have already been fans. Twisted Pixel really did a great job with the game and were just completely spot on with the humor. As an arcade game for Xbox Live I highly recommend picking it up to add to your arcade. If you’re a platformer fan, you will not be disappointed.

Twisted Pixel’s press release is way too hilarious to let it stagnate in my inbox, so here, read up on the “Pink Terror.”

The value of all life on Earth was originally placed at almost triple the amount of Microsoft points, but a surprise ruling from Twisted Pixel today cited a declining economy and a general disappointment in humanity as the root for assuring its destruction at the incredible price of 800 Microsoft Points.  Minutes after Big Science Labs announced the capture of rogue experiment Splosion Man, all communications cut out.  Unconfirmed reports of a “Pink Terror” led many to speculate on the existence of a “Ms. Splosion Man” – a second catastrophic experiment set to splode her revenge out from the laboratories of Big Science and into the world.

Humanity’s last brush with the apocalypse occurred almost one year ago, during the Great Meatening, a day remembered less for the terrible loss of many a scientist than for the vast flooding of delicious meat that rained down from the sky.  Here now again, all of humanity rests on the razor’s edge – Big Science encourages all citizens to resist the sizzle of fresh tenderloin and mass destruction on July 13th, no matter the phenomenal value.

Turns out they’ll need 10,000 testers, each of which will get access to two multiplayer levels per week in addition to a trial of the game.

“To make the best multiplayer game possible, we are enlisting the help of our friends and fans to beat the ever-living crap out of our game and tell us what is wrong with it,” said the game’s Director, Josh Bear.

In order to participate, you’ve first got to be chosen, but you won’t be chosen unless you own an Xbox 360 with a hard drive, have an Xbox LIVE Gold account and have broadband Internet access. You’ll also have to prove you’ve got the time to play the game with other people, even if you don’t know them, and also provide a ton of feedback. Remember, this is technically work that you’re doing in exchange for playing the game early, so make your participation worth it to the developers!

To start the application process, click here and submit your answers to the survey. (And if you do get in, send bug reports and comments to beta@twistedpixelgames.com.)

Good luck!

(If you’re not so lucky, you can live vicariously through me and read about my experience with the game here.)

The setup was pretty interesting here.  First, you’re in a theatre and the show is getting ready to start. As a puppeteer, you’re controlling the star, after all. Once we actually got into the game and got a little bit of background (The Gunstringer has been betrayed and must seek revenge on the members of his former posse — it’s a Western trope and it reminds me of Red Dead Redemption, to be honest), we were almost immediately introduced to the main cast of characters — which included an extra-bosomy lady and an oil baron made of oil as well as a Wacky Waving Arm Inflatable Tube Man!

The last one was my first target.

After getting the motions down (left hand steers, and the right hand aims and controls his guns), it was easy enough to make it to him.

I didn’t have the easiest time staying behind cover, but it was nice to be able to hide back there and pick out what I was going to attack once I left the rock.

I did eventually defeat the Wacky Waving Arm Inflatable Tube Man! and…well, we went back to an audience view. I’d forgotten that I was theoretically doing this as a “performer,” and not just for the few people that had gathered behind me.  I have mixed emotions about this. I did appreciate the reminder that this was a show, but at the same time, I was almost taken out of it. Really, though — I thought the demo was over.

It was not over, but my arms were pretty tired (remember, I’m not used to Kinect and I’m also incredibly out-of-shape, hurray!), so when the next section started, I was both surprised and ill-prepared. Not a good combo.

After a few minutes of jumping around (or at least pulling my left hand up to make The Gunstringer jump), I ended up failing in a not-so-spectacular fashion. Bummer.

Because of the arm pain, I quit. (Be advised that you can sit to play and don’t need the sorts of exaggerated arm motions I was making.) Inexperience was my greatest foe, I suppose.

At that point, I was able to move on to Ms. Splosion Man. The original Splosion Man was a great XBLA hit, and the sequel, featuring a sassy lady version of the hero, is pretty fun to play.

This game has added little rails that Ms. Splosion Man can use to traverse parts of the level, and she spouts pop culture witticisms at every opportunity. There’s still only one button command (‘splode, of course), and you’ll be exploding over and over again to drive the character higher and higher as well as in boss fights.

Over the course of the level, however, these get a little annoying, not to mention that I personally didn’t like a few of the things she had to say. Yeah, some of it was cute, but hearing her say stuff like, “Who left the toilet seat up?” and “Do I look fat in this?” is a little concerning.

You’ll also be hearing her say these things…a lot, in addition to the other parts of the script. So get used to it, I suppose. Studio time to record audio is pretty expensive, and there would have to be some sound in addition to music and explosions, so it makes sense. A few lines did have me giggling from time to time, and I even let @stealthyslyth take the headphones from me to get a listen.

Despite the vocal repetition, the game itself is pretty fun. Again, I’m late to everything, so I hadn’t played the original, but I got the hang of the second outing quickly enough, and I really did love playing.

Overall, I have to say that we’ve got a lot to look forward to from Twisted Pixel this year. If I ever get a Kinect unit, I know The Gunstringer will be on my list of games that I have to have for it. Until then, I suppose I’ll eventually have Ms. Splosion Man to keep me company.

Look below for full gameplay demo videos (from GDC, but it’s close enough).

Splosion Man

Splosion Man was supposed to be the first game to support Avatar Rewards, free items for your avatar that you unlock in-game. Instead they ended up being second, but that’s not due from lack of effort from Twisted Pixel Games.

Twisted Pixel Games are very supportive of their fans and really wanted to create and make available Avatar Rewards for Splosion Man and future games. In a quote from Mike Wilford from Twisted Pixel Games, he explained that the delay was not entirely something they controlled.

“The avatar awards have not been released yet, and unfortunately I can not tell you when that will be because I have not received a release date from Microsoft as of yet. However, they have said that it will be soon. There weren’t any difficulties to speak of, really… we made up some avatar clothing, used the API calls that Microsoft provided, and it just worked. I think we’ll definitely support avatar awards in the future. We try to pack each of our games with as much free content as possible, like gamerpics, premium themes, avatar awards, and whatever else we can get away with.”

Hopefully the delay will not discourage Twisted Pixel Games or other companies from using Avatar Awards in the future. For the record, Microsoft’s Lips Number One Hits is the first title to have in-game Avatar Awards.

Splosion Man ran into a few bumps with getting their avatar rewards up & running properly, but as of now there is a title update in place. New Splosion Man gear for your avatar is available. If you’ve already reached an achievement that was tied in with an item, it will become available after you download the update. There are also some minor issues fixed in the update.

There are two new tops: a hoodie and sundress for the ladies, and two tshirts for the men.

Twisted Pixel has also teamed up with Omaha Steaks to give away some free meat. Simply download the special Splosion Man gamerpic and play in online game sessions before Nov 22nd to be entered (up to 5 entries per person).

Splosion Man

Avatar clothing is a big deal here and it looks like the first company to include in-game avatar clothing awards will be Twisted Pixel. The awards will be coming to Splosion Man.

To get these, break your first pane of glass in Splosion Man and complete the entire co-op campaign.

If you’ve been playing and have already done both of those tasks, then your items will automatically unlock.

No date on when this will happen, but soon seems close.

[source Joystiq]