About Todd Schlickbernd

Gamers the world over exude opinions and complaints about the games they love, and lament at the fact that developers hardly ever seem to hear them. Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont, Project Lead and Designer on Reverge Labs’ upcoming fighting game, Skullgirls, is just such a gamer. A long time lover and competitive player of fighting games, Mike Z has used his programming expertise and fighting engine in combination with the art and characters of Alex “o_8” Ahad, Creative Director on the game, to create the game he’s always wanted to play. Skullgirls is many things, but at it’s heart it’s what happens when a gamer takes his expertise and makes a game out of it. Of course, that could mean anything, that could mean making another Marvel vs. Capcom 2 just because that’s one of the games Mike Z loves, but instead Reverge Labs has taken it one step further and is implementing a myriad of conveniences and thoughtful design changes that fighting game enthusiasts such as myself have been clamoring for, unwilling to be complacent with the traditional fighting game design and features. Check out the Q&A after the jump and find yourself exclaiming “That’s amazing! Why hasn’t anyone done that yet?” all the way through the interview. Read More

Feels like it’s been a while since we’ve spent quite a bit of time on news, but we did! Yay us. Or rather, yay you, because you get to enjoy the tagential and more than a few times irate banter that John L, Andrew and I share on this episode as we discuss the Xbox 360’s superiority and how Xbox Live Arcade still has some popular genres and mechanics left untouched.

We also discuss the mysterious absence of Dungeon Defenders and the mysterious still-in-the-works of Sonic 4: Episode 2. Beyond that, with Counter Strike and Gotham City Imposters representing the first person shooter genre on the XBLA, we wonder if either will work out.

After the news Andrew and John go on and on about how great Toy Soldiers: Cold War is and I nod all the way through. I tell a whimsical From Dust story which may be just slightly spoilery if you haven’t finished the game yet. It’s more of a gameplay spoiler than a story spoiler, though arguably the two are pretty close in that game. Regardless, to top it all off we have a wonderful Twitter topic which gets us angry at games (again), but will we want to punch babies this episode? Find out!

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Dungeon Defenders has been through a very interesting development cycle. Originally slated for December of last year, various issues the likes of which are unknown to most of mankind …
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Xbox Live Arcade is filled with all sorts of match-3 style puzzle games and platforming puzzlers, but perhaps it’s been a while since we’ve seen an action puzzler without all the jumping and the falling. Well Misfits Attic’s A Virus Named Tom plans to fill that void, fill it with all sorts of infectious action puzzler goodness. While the game may be a ways off, plenty is known about it and there’s even a gameplay trailer brimming with personality (and viruses). Watch it below the jump, and don’t worry, we guarantee it’s not a security risk.

If you’re too lazy to watch the video or fear the brimming of its hilariousness, we could go at length to describe the game but the developers have said it best:

Imagine trying to solve a simple puzzle. Now imagine people are throwing potatoes at you. So while you’re trying to concentrate, you now have to dodge potatoes (they hurt more than you’d think). Actually it’s more like you’re trying to diffuse a bomb, because there’s a timer that’s counting down to doom-o’clock. Yeah, so it’s basically like you’re a really unpopular bomb squad. But at least you can get your friends to help: by telling you how you’re solving the problem wrong, or kicking the potato-ers in the shin. That’s basically the game. Oh, and there’s also a territory mode you can play against your friends. Make sense?

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Ronimo Games wants you, the fans, to decide which character makes it into the spotlight for Awesomenauts next. First was Froggy G and recently released Sheriff Lonestar, but it …
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpjtYpPDSso&feature=player_embedded

Doublesix, developer of South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play, just announced their upcoming game Strike Suit Zero. While the teaser trailer is all tease and no gameplay, the …
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Skullgirls, a fighting game being developed by long time pro Mike “Z” Zaimont and his team at Reverge Labs, plans to do a lot of things that fighting game enthusiasts have been wanting for years. Reverge Labs wants to make a solid game full of interesting mechanics, but also do little things here and there to remove the minor irritations that people can’t stand about games or fighting games in specific. During this panel at Evo 2011 much was discussed including all of the characters, game mechanics and features, and we’ve gone through and picked up as much of the relevant info as possible provided below the jump and cut into neat, cheweable pieces. Let us know if you need more steak sauce with that: Read More

Upcoming fighting game Skullgirls got some love at Evo 2011 recently and Reverge Labs has unveiled a new character, their fourth to date, Parasoul. Parasoul is a very large …
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In this special episode of the XBLAFancast we chat with Matt Knights of Halfbrick Studios about their upcoming game, Fruit Ninja Kinect. We discuss what exactly Fruit Ninja is, for those who haven’t played the portable version, and how it’s been changed to suit the Kinect interface. Matt explains the additions to the game including more blades and backgrounds in the dojo and a whole new feature for unlocking new shadows. Unlike the portable version, FNK has a multiplayer mode, so we talk about that as well, how it’s different from the solo and what players can expect from it.

To round out the episode we talk some lighter chat including some Halfbrick info. Matt talks about how it’s been working on their second XBLA title and how porting an existing game differs from the processes involved in creating their first XBLA game, Raskulls. FNK is a score-centric game, so we of course demand Halfbrick’s top scores in all their modes so that we might demolish their scores, however intimidating they may seem! Here they are:

Fruit Ninja Kinect Developer High Scores
Arcade: 1064
Zen: 278
Classic: 816
Team Arcade: 2012
Pomegranate: 86 Hits

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City Warrens Secret areas (10):

1. Right as the level starts a stack of crates will be minding its own business off towards the bottom left of the screen. …
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