Double Fine

The “point and click” adventure game genre simply refuses to die. Ron Gilbert, creative mastermind behind Monkey Island, leads Double Fine‘s upcoming console-bound return to adventure games, The Cave. Gilbert isn’t redesigning the wheel here (though I wouldn’t put it past him) but The Cave definitely has everything for the contemporary adventure game fan.

The Cave is an adventure game of the 2D platform and puzzle variety wherein you guide three characters along a journey through a mysterious, question-answering cave. Seven characters — amongst them a Hillbilly, Knight, Scientist, Monk, Time Traveler, Adventurer and a set of creepy Twin children — each find themselves with a deep desire which they believe the cave can satisfy. Though they have an overt motive for venturing into the cave, Gilbert says there’s something deeper going on in The Cave. Read More

Double Fine’s Tim Schafer recently met with SFWeekly and revealed news of a sequel to the recent XBLA hit Double Fine Happy Action Theater. The Kinect only title, which …
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You might have thought Double Fine had forgotten about XBLA, with their Kickstarter fame all we’ve heard XBLA-wise is rumblings of new Iron Brigade content. Now Sega is publishing their brand new game entitled The Cave, conceived by Maniac Mansion creator Ron Gilbert. It’s an adventure game with puzzle and platforming elements but not in a traditional sense and more Metroidvania-style exploration. You’ll assemble a crack team of spelunkers each with different abilities and personalities. You can switch between any of the three characters on the fly or use 3-player local co-op. The characters include a scientist, a knight and a hillbilly…because why not? Ron Gilbert had this to say about The Cave:

“The concept of The Cave has been bouncing around in my head for many, many years, and then the little voices that tell me to do things said it was time to make the game,” added Ron Gilbert. “I’m thrilled to be working with amazingly talented folks at Double Fine and ecstatic that the team at SEGA believes in adventure games and quirky ideas.

Catch some screenshots after the jump, the game will be out some time in 2013.
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When Xbox Live Arcade launched in 2004 on Microsoft’s debut console, six titles well-known for their arcade roots appeared on the service at a fraction of retail cost. After Xbox Live Arcade re-launched on Xbox 360, the “Arcade” titles being released had a meager size limit of 50MB and retained the trend of being quick, shallow experiences. Today, some downloadable titles earn more critical attention than major blockbusters and may even reach Microsoft’s mandated size limit of 2GB.

“Now is an excellent time for high-quality, original, specific, relatively low-priced games, and I think this will continue for the foreseeable future,” said Greg Kasavin, writer and designer at SuperGiant Games. “Though it’s very difficult to make games, it’s never been easier due to the digital platforms and free tools out there these days.”

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We totally missed January, but the Monthly Recap is back for February! Yaaay. There’s an immense amount of news this month because for some reason February is XBLA month. There’s roughly a million game announcements and DLC as well. I suggest hitting CTRL + F and searching for the copious news about your favorite game. Or games. Or just read all the news, because that’s a good idea.

Beyond the “things that happened”, there’s also several Friday Top Fives and Most Wanted’s this month as we continue to beef up our feature repertoire. Our chief feature, A Year In Review (2011) is definitely worth checking out for some insight into the fluctuations in XBLA cost versus review scores. Lastly, amongst the five podcasts is our Music Special which showcases some of the best XBLA soundtrack tunes since its inception.

Without further ado, welcome to February all over again! Read More

Happy Action Theater was developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released February 1, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Double Fine Productions is a household name when it comes to Xbox Live Arcade games. Stacking, Trenched/Iron Brigade and Costume Quest are all titles that everyone should have on their machine. They’re all original properties; they were risks for both Double Fine and their publishers to put out, but each has succeeded. Now Double Fine wants to go out on a limb with their new Kinect title, Happy Action Theater.

The game itself is a collection of 18 minigames. Most involve players viewing themselves on screen with other digitized elements added such as snow, lava, or water. Players interact with objects in the environment such as balloons or fish to have them in turn react. There is no winning the game. It’s just you and the environment and acting like a fool. To some that sounds like fun. To others, well…

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Double Fine is offering Iron Brigade players an item pack featuring items based on its 2009 game Brutal Legend – and all they have to do is sign up for a newsletter.
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It’s a bumper episode this week, with one of our longest ever. We kick it off by talking about last week’s release of Shank 2, which we pretty much universally enjoyed. Be sure to check out our character unlock guide if you decide to pick it up. Speaking of guides, after spending a lot of time with Rise of the Martian bear for the guide, Todd isn’t keen to play it again any time soon.

After discussing some of the other random games we’ve been playing Perry brings the news. Which includes some Kickstarter discussion and debate about Gotham City Impostors approach to DLC. Then Andrew poses @MizzouGaming‘s twitter question to us, which leads to a long discussion about our thoughts on the past and future of XBLA. He then challenges us all to play Assault Heroes, so check it out and let us know what you think on twitter or the comments.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks 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/XBLAFancastEp49.mp3[/podcast]

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Welcome back to the regiment, marine! That’s right, our very first big guide is back for the DLC nearly a year since the original release. Five new levels, two new survival levels, and over 50 pieces of loot and we’ve got the how-to to all of it. Big thanks to our Andrew Crews, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Saris and his friend Tyler for helping us get through this challenging installment of Iron Brigade DLC. The DLC is currently available for 400 MSP and you can check out our review if you’re not sure you whether or not you should be jumping back into this game after it’s been so long.

For those of you who are diving back in or already have, we’ve got level guides to each of the five levels including what loot is acquired on those levels (so you don’t have to check the loot-specific guide) and strategies for getting gold medals (though they aren’t necessary for achievements this time around) and of course a wave breakdown for each. On top of that we’ve got the traditional loot guide complete with images for all the weapons, chassis and emplacements including all the stats and unlock locations. Lastly we have our guides to both survival maps, both of which provide quite a bit of a challenge. On top of that, each level and survival level have videos accompanying them, so do feel free to check those out if reading is too much work for you (the link can be found in the actual page if you want both). Without further a do, enjoy your guide to the Rise of the Martian Bear! Read More

Double Fine has made a name for itself on Xbox Live Arcade through popular titles Costume Quest, Stacking, Iron Brigade and, most recently, Happy Action Theater, but in the midst of crowd-sourcing nearly $2 million dollars, Double Fine man Tim Schafer has opined over Microsoft’s burgeoning (or is it?) digital platform.

“Ever since I played Geometry Wars I thought, what a great new portal,” the developer said in an interview with Hookshot Inc., “But it seems that this year, the idea didn’t explode like it should have. Back when Castle Crashers came out, it seemed it was going to grow and grow. I just wish there was more support, more marketing, more placement on the dashboard. It could have been our own little Sundance Film festival, a great sandbox for indie development.”

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