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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.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancast_Interview_Klei.mp3[/podcast]

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Developer Zen Studios is set to release Epic Quest, an expansion to Pinball FX2, it announced today. The medieval-knight themed table, which will be available to download this month, looks to merge classic pinball with some RPG-lite tropes. It will integrate seamlessly into the Pinball FX2 platform, the developer said, and arrive bundled with a stack of new achievements. Presumably all for a price.

The trailer boasts character progression and a leveling system, but that doesn’t look to extend much beyond a crowded wardrobe. The core pinball experience seems to very much be at the heart of Epic Quest. Hit the jump for screenshots of the new table.

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New Trials Evolution footage has appeared on the Xbox Marketplace confirming that the highly-anticipated stunt-racer will launch spring 2012. That whittles it down to a period of about four months but should put to bed any lasting fears that Evolution would be reserved to headline this year’s Summer of Arcade event.

Alongside the customary blend of bike-racing, stunts and collisions, the video flaunts Evo’s “crazy powerful” track editor. Footage of a first person shooter, no less, accompanies the flurry of only-slightly less zany bike tracks and arrives but a few days after a separate video was leaked showcasing a Limbo-esque level. Crazy and powerful, it would appear.

Hit the jump for a trio of fresh screenshots.

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Andrew returns this week for a bumper episode, lots of games and news to talk about and we even debut another new segment!

We kick things off talking about last week’s releases of Quarrel and Puddle, unlike some other weeks we’ve actually played enough of these to have an informed discussion!

Perry of course brings all the big news stories, for the full posts of those check below for links.

For this week’s Todd Talk, Todd has some feelings on The Behemoth’s recent statement that they’re going back to the drawing board with Battleblock Theatre.

Finally, we debut Community Corner, in which Andrew grabs some twitter questions from you guys and also sets a challenge. This week he wants everyone to check out Switchball and send their thoughts to us on twitter, so get to 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.

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.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp47.mp3[/podcast]

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The Walt Disney Company has acquired media corporation UTV along with its subsidiary, game publisher UTV Ignition Entertainment Ltd, according to a Eurogamer report of a story that originated from BBC News. UTV is an India-based firm that specializes in film, television, animation and gaming. Disney’s cost for acquiring a controlling interest has not been made public as of this time. India’s cabinet just last month approved the entertainment conglomerate’s bid to pick up shares of UTV that it was not already in possession of.

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For those of you excited about Gotham City Impostor‘s recent release date announcement, this one’s for you. The glider rig is a useful tool for those who want a …
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Just yesterday we had a rumor about the Simpsons Arcade game possibly releasing next week. Well good news to fans, Konami has officially announced it will be coming to Xbox Live …
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Since being announced last year, Ubisoft hasn’t released any firm details on Rayman 3 HD‘s release until a brand new trailer shown today. The team behind the Beyond Good …
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A look at 2011, seeking trends and other information any XBLA Fan would be interested in…
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Alan Wake, the Writer – (3:25)

The first manuscript page is right in front of your face. The game is of course just introducing you to the mechanic, but it’s …
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