But the game was playable on the Comic-Con show floor, split into three parts, each game type a multiplayer affair for up to four players. Is that the maximum number of players? Behemoth folks at the show wouldn't say. It's another thing that's "TBA."

Game 3 is, as far as we can tell from our hands on time with the game, a series of competitive and team-based multiplayer platformer games with a Behemoth flair. You'll customize the look of your adorably animated character, drawn in the Dan Paladin style, then enter a hub world full of doors, each leading to various game types.

There's "Grab the Gold," which features a floating gold whale that defecates gold bricks. Pick up those bricks and transport them to a floating winged safe to deposit your winnings. Whoever has the most gold when the timer runs out wins the round.

"Soul Snatcher" is a game of keep away. Players will lose their souls if they're knocked out, have their heads stomped upon, or burn to death. Grab the floating, frowning soul and play keep away. The longer one holds onto an opponent's soul, the higher their score. Big scores beat small scores. Obviously.

Game 3 also features a slightly less violent competitive mode, "Paint the World." Run your character over the gray and white blocks the level is built from to paint them the color of your team. The more tiles you own, the more points you score. The catch is that tiles your character touches don't instantly take on your team's color, meaning an opponent could swoop in and make it his own. The level will also "de-colorize" some tiles during a broadly sweeping desaturation event, forcing you to revisit some tiles.

All of these game types get a little more interesting, thanks to the combat items one chooses for their character. These include, but are not limited to, weapons like an exploding Frisbee, a mortar that launches blocks of ice, a fireball and an electric fan. That fan is one of the defensive options, pushing back opponents and the projectiles they'll send your way. A bouncing ball, described to me as the best item in the game, certainly didn't seem that way, based on my use of the thing.

At close range, players can melee with their fists. That's called "punching" someone.

The Comic-Con demo was enjoyable, if limited, and definitely promising. Game 3 is cute, customizable and combines familiar game modes into a package that's in line with The Behemoth's previous work on Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. The flyer for the game indicates that there will be a single player component. It also promises unlockables, depth and replayability, features and [can't make this word out] and the reas... that word gets cut off too. Look, it's gonna have stuff in it.

The developers behind Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid also said they will be showing a very early version of the game off at the Tokyo Anime Fair on March 20 and 21.

Until then they've posted this single shot from the game which offers little insight into game play, but at least gives us a sense of the art style.

Tokyo Anime Fair and Game #3 stuffs!

In his blog, the Muttpop president waxes on the development process behind the Luchadores Five figures. Apparently, some of the early sketches were so inspirational to Silva and Frissen, they "decided we could e-mail bomb our favorite toy companies and a videogame company called Behemoth."

Behemoth had just released ALIEN HOMINID for the Gamecube and Xbox. I really felt like the spirit of that game had something in common with what we were doing. I heard that the Behemoth guys were thinking of doing a multiplayer game so I was trying to convince them to do one with the Luchadores Five and Tequila. Both Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin got back to me via email. They really loved the designs I sent them (I sent the 2 'pitch' jpegs below and a few final pencils images of some of the other characters from Luchadores Five) and were going to talk to their investors about the possibility of collaboration.

Obviously, it didn't work out. But I think I can see some similarities between the green Crasher and the Tequila sketch. Could it be the green luchadore mask?

Muttpop Lucha Libre Beginnings [Muttpop Blog via Offworld]

Artist Dan Paladin writes on the Behemoth's Development Blog of Development that the studio is "off to a very strong and solid start," but is understandably cagey on details. (We anticipate something animated that displays graphics on screen.)

"The game has proven to be a lot of fun for the people that we’ve shown!" Paladin writes. "Perhaps we can start posting imagery later on and begin a guessing game about the game. It’s like two games in one! Maybe we’ll just flat out tell you, though, and ruin the guessing game."

And that's about all we know. Considering how long development on Castle Crashers took — not to mention the title update to fix the little bugger — we'll switch into Patience Mode while we slowly anticipate the Behemoth's next.

Dan Paladin; Best Blogger of 2009 [The Behemoth Development Blog]

Xbox Live Arcade Activity For Week Of August 25th [GamerBytes]

Castle Crashers Development Blog [The Behemoth]

Each are differing levels of snazzy and should go a long way to making your torso and shoulder area less naked. Details on each of the limited t-shirts are available at the official site, as are handy ordering instructions.

Game Set Apparel

Alrighty.

These shiny, handmade beauties have just been shipped by The Behemoth to the top Alien Hominids on Xbox Live across three categories. Each is inscribed with the gamertag and high score of the champion. Suitable for display, the trophies are also excellent for putting in a box somewhere, pulling it out every now and then and saying, "Hey, I forgot I had this thing!" before burying it again. That or eBay.

For details on how you can get yours own shiny imitation gold tribute to your skill at sloth, check out the Alien Hominid leaderboards, or hit the press release below, which pretty much says what I did with out the extra added snark. Michael Fahey

IT'S GOOD TO BE FIRST!

The Behemoth Ships Exclusive Handmade Trophies for Top "Alien Hominid HD" Players on Xbox Live Arcade

San Diego, CA, May 3rd, 2007— Independent game and toy developer The Behemoth announced today the first shipment of exclusive handmade trophies honoring the top players of Alien Hominid HD on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Xbox LIVE Arcade on the Xbox 360 is the premier destination for digitally distributed, high definition original and classic games.

The trophies, built with love and elbow grease at the developer's studio, are being mailed out to players who have scaled the heights of the Alien Hominid HD leaderboards.

"We wanted to find a way to recognize the top players of Alien Hominid HD," said Alien Hominid HD producer John Baez. "Making some spiffy trophies here in the office from genuinely simulated gold seemed like just the ticket."

The trophies are customized individually for each player, with their Gamertag, high score and date etched into the trophy's base. The select few who manage to maintain the top position for a combined total of three weeks will be catapulted into the Behemoth Hall of Fame, where they will bask in the light of gamer stardom forever; or, at least, for as long as The Behemoth keeps the Hall of Fame posted on its website.

As reported this weekend, Alien Hominid HD hits the Xbox Live Arcade at midnight Mountain time this Wednesday.

The 800-point game will include 16 levels, seven mini-games and online multiplayer support. Multiplayer modes ley two players locally play the game or up to four players offline or on play the mini-games.

It will also include leaderboard support and 12 Achievements worth 200 gamescore points. Brian Crecente

In an interview with 1up.com, Group Product Manager for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, Aaron Greenberg, revealed that Alien Hominid would indeed be making it's debut appearance on XBLA next week. This news comes in answer to questions posed by 1up about the general on again off again arrival of titles on XBL.

"Some people just want quality over quantity," said Greenberg. "People have a minimum quality bar that they expect; we're increasingly adding that to more and more of these titles."

He then quickly follows up that statement by doing some name dropping that is cleverly devised to put an end to this line of questioning about dicey release dates.

We are excited to bring Alien Hominid out next week; we are excited to make up for lost time.

Fortunately for him, I am easily distracted by shiny objects and awesome flash games turned console favorites, so the old bait and switch technique always works on me. Flynn De Marco

What's Wrong with Xbox Live Arcade? [1up]

Major Nelson explains:

There will be no Xbox Live Arcade release this Wednesday, as the scheduled title was delayed. We have a very high bar that each title must pass over in order to be released on Xbox Live Arcade and unfortunately, no titles were ready in time.

So, with bad news comes good news. Microsoft is keeping something from you for your own good. Thanks for nothing, MS. And I mean that. Michael McWhertor

Holy hotness Batman, Castle Crashers looks amazing. I guess that makes sense, since the multiplayer button-masher was developed by The Behemoth of Alien Hominid fame. The developer just announced that both Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Alien Hominid hits this fall, whiile Castle Crahers lands next year. Can't. Wait. Brian Crecente