Interviews

Klei, developers of Shank and its recently released sequel, Shank 2, recently announced their new project, Mark of the Ninja. We have the fortune of bringing you another interview with Klei’s founder, Jamie Cheng. This time, he’s been kind enough to talk about Mark of the Ninja in some detail regarding the team’s approach to the game and their gameplay goals. We’ve also got preview content coming up after PAX East, so stick around after this!

Shank is definitely a kinetic, quick paced beat ’em up and never denies that, but Mark of the Ninja is no brawler; in fact it’s far from it. So we had to ask: why a stealth game?

According to Cheng, the team at Klei that’s been working on Mark of the Ninja grew up with ninjas and, simply put, they wanted to make a game that does ninjas justice. “When I play other stealth games you don’t feel like a ninja, you feel like Shank actually. We wanted one where you actually felt sneaky, felt like an actual ninja.”

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We had the opportunity to ask Kedhrin Gonzalez, Creative Director at Illfonic, about Nexuiz the upcoming arena shooter for XBLA. A big thanks to Kedhrin for taking the time to answer our questions and give us greater insight into the team and the game. Nexuiz will be available as a part of the XBLA House Party promotion on February 29 for 800 MSP.

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We recently had the opportunity to ask Jeremy Slaczka, CEO of 5th Cell questions about their upcoming sci-fi shooter Hybrid. During the interview we talk about the game’s unique control scheme, design, and the drastic departure that 5th Cell made in choosing to develop Hybrid. Read on to get the low down on what could be this year’s most unique multiplayer frag fest!

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We love ourselves a good 2D anything here at XBLA Fans, so this week we interviewed Jamie Cheng, Founder of Klei Entertainment. Klei is known for many things, but chiefly here on XBLA we know them for developing Shank, a 2D brawler filled to the brim with weapons, stabbing, shooting and most of all, shanking. We’ve interviewed Jamie before about the game, but this time we got in-depth and talk at length about all things Shank, Shank 2 and Klei in general.

Specifically speaking Jamie discusses a bit of his opinions on Shank and how he and his team wanted to improve on what they achieved with Shank. We discuss some of the flaws in Shank and how they’ve been addressed in Shank 2. On top of that, we discuss the reasoning behind choosing a survival mode as this game’s multiplayer mode instead of another co-op campaign. There’s also plenty of Klei-related talk for those interested in learning more about an indie developer.

Any fans of brawlers should check out Shank and Shank 2, the latter of which has had plenty of awesome coverage over the last couple months. There’s single player footage and footage of the new survival mode as well as all kinds of cool things for fans like this Shank 3D papercraft. There have been quite a few changes to the Shank experience for Shank 2 and Jamie and I spare no detail when discussing them, especially with survival mode.

Shank 2 is out on XBLA on February 8 for 800MSP.

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Racing games on XBLA are constantly struggling for uniqueness. These racers, many of which are top-down, have to find a way to stand out and really pull ahead of the pack. Some games go with zany weaponry, some go with a fun and light nature, and some are very competitive. Bang Bang Racing, the upcoming product of a collaboration between well-known XBLA developer and publisher Digital Reality and Playbox, is out to make a name for itself and we just have to find out how they plan to do it! Hit the jump for a Q & A with Bang Bang Racing‘s Digital Reality-side Lead Designer, András “Amper” Timár-Geng. Read More

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It’s always nice to talk to a developer working on their first XBLA game. So it was great to get an interview from newly formed developer Blossom Minds on their upcoming debut title, Walter. The game has gorgeous visuals and is looking to surprise some players upon release. We chatted with Ludovic Chabanon, CEO and Programmer and Jerome Braune, Desire Designer at Blossom Minds about the studio, Walter and what we should be looking forward to in 2012.

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We talk to Stardock about their Xbox Live Indie Game Elfsquad7
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We recently had the opportunity to play an early build of quirky action-puzzler A Virus Named Tom and were able to follow it up with an interview with Tim Keenan, creator of the game and founder of its development studio Misfits Attic. After a brief intro to the game and the company, we break into a discussion of the art, humor, influences, and focus on co-op/multiplayer that makes this game different from a lot of what’s out there on XBLA. Along the way we hit on a lot of development talk including what makes a good achievement and why working with non-gamers can be a good thing. It was a lot of fun to record and thanks go out to Tim for taking the time to talk.

We’re looking forward to hearing more about A Virus Named Tom as it draws closer to release. Check them out on Twitter at @Misfitsattic or at the links above. They do a lot of community interaction – including incorporating ideas generated by the community in the game – so head on over and let them know what you think! Stay tuned here as well for more information as we hear it.

Please subscribe, comment, review the podcast on iTunes and tell your friends! We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question.

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I recently had the chance to talk to Iron Brigade (AKA Trenched) Project Lead Brad Muir from Double Fine. Brad talks a bit about the upcoming update and European release for Iron Brigade, which will include a bunch of new content. He also outlines what we can expect from the first DLC pack, Rise of the Martian Bear which sees the Iron Brigade story take the fight against the tubes to Mars.

After that we get into a discussion of XBLA in general and talk about some of the pros and cons of the service as well as what the service will hopefully evolve into.

Thanks to Brad for coming on the show and keep checking back for news on that update, which should be out very very soon.

Please subscribe, comment, review the podcast on iTunes and tell your friends! We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question.

Big thanks again to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

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