tim schafer

Brian Provinciano, the developer of Retro City Rampage, made an interesting revelation on Twitter recently: the PlayStation Vita version of his game sold more copies than its XBLA and PSN counterparts.

Indies should definitely jump onto the PS Vita. RCR's sold much more on PSN than XBLA and more on PS Vita than even PS3.

— Brian Provinciano (@BriProv) February 26, 2013

In surprisingly singing the praises of the struggling handheld as a viable platform for indie developers, he also took the opportunity to fire a few passive-aggressive potshots at XBLA.

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Much has been made over the last seven years about the high cost of publishing, promoting and patching on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade platform. Last week, G.Rev president Hiroyuki Maruyama (Strania: The Stellar Machine, Under Defeat HD) shared his own thoughts on the platform.

XBLA?DLC?????????????????????????????????????????????????80?????????????????????????????????????????????

— ???? ???? (@hiro_maruyama) January 18, 2013

“A strong yen and a weak dollar is very damaging to us because XBLA and DLC are ‘export products.’ That’s why Japanese developers avoid making games for Xbox 360. When we released Strania on XBLA, the rate was 80 yen per dollar. (wry smile) If Japanese people buy our game in MSP, we receive in dollars!”

The dollar has strengthened since then, but the yen still has it beat, with the exchange rate currently sitting at 88.62 yen per dollar. Put in Xbox LIVE terms, 1600MSP ($19.99 US) retails at a rate of ¥2,240 ($24.94 when converted). When the percentage of the sales owed to content creators on a 1600 msp game is disbursed, Microsoft calculates based on $19.99 per copy (the US cost of the points), regardless of how much a consumer paid for the 1600MSP that enabled the purchase.

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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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The folks over at FrontTowardsGamer.Com recently spoke with Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions and published the conversation as part of their podcast. In the interview around the 1 …
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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

Yesterday, the lovely folks at Double Fine Productions started a Kickstarter to fund a new point-and-click adventure game to be released this year. They’re looking for $400,000 but in …
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Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear was developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Microsoft. It was released February 1, 2012 for 400 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Iron Brigade is a game with a rich history. That history involves a plethora of fun, customization, shots fired, explosions, lawsuits, name changes, and now, a chapter about bears in outer space. Rise of the Martian Bear is the first downloadable content to be released for Iron Brigade, Double Fine Productions’ take on tower defense originally released in June of last year. The add-on expands upon Iron Brigade in almost every way imaginable, giving fans more of what they loved, and plenty of new toys to boot. By now you’ve certainly heard that two-handed salutes have made their way into the game, but let’s dive into the rest of what awaits us on Mars.

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Haunt was developed by developed by NanaOn-Sha and Zoë Mode and was published by Microsoft Studios. It was released January 18, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Haunt is the latest Kinect enabled game to hit XBLA, and with PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura at the reins we know we’re in for something a bit different. You play as a “kid” who wakes up in an old mansion when a mysterious painting calls you over. It turns out to be the mansion’s owner, Benjamin Muldoon who has been trapped there by ghosts. He asks you to explore the haunted mansion and collect “Phantaflaks” (regular orange soda just won’t cut it) that can be used to free him once and for all.

If you’re expecting something along the lines of Silent Hill then you’re going to be disappointed. The scares in Haunt are more on the campy Ghostbusters level. Playing like a cross between an old school point-and-click game and a Haunted House amusement ride, there’s about as much frights as there is rapping but that doesn’t stop us being thoroughly entertained.

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The folks over at Giant Bomb were lucky enough to sit down with Brad Muir of Double Fine Productions and get their hands on the new Iron Brigade DLC, …
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No more conjecture, Double Fine’s zany Kinect title Happy Action Theater hits Xbox Live Arcade February 1. Tim Schafer took to Twitter to broadcast the news earlier today:

“DFHAT …
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