The new addition to the third PixelJunk brand game feels like a natural fit, both comfortable and innovative, not unlike the trio of downloadable games we've seen Q-Games deliver on the PlayStation Network. The newest Encore, which adds five new gardens and two new gameplay modes—the other being a "zero G" modifier—was in response to Eden's "general popularity."

We asked Cuthbert about the success of Eden and what we should expect from the next entries, tentatively titled PixelJunk 4 and PixelJunk Dungeons.

Cuthbert said that the PixelJunk series was originally "meant to be quite esoteric."

"We weren't expecting much in the way of sales," Cuthbert noted. "But sales have definitely surpassed our expectations." Perhaps so much so that Eden visual artist and musician Baiyon is now "more in-demand." Expect to hear more about Baiyon's other game endeavors in the near future, but don't expect them to be PixelJunk related.

After PixelJunk Eden Encore ships, we may finally hear more about the fourth game in the series that strives for a balance of old-school gameplay with modern day, "true HD" visuals running at 60 frames per second.

That fourth game won't be the previously hinted PixelJunk Dungeons that Cuthbert name-dropped at GDC last year.

It will, however, tap the PlayStation 3 hardware more so than any other previous game, with PixelJunk 4 taking advantage of the Cell's multi-SPU architecture. Expect to see Q-Games start teasing the game closer to release, a strategy different from the pre-release campaign of Eden.

"This time, we want to have more of a gap," Cuthbert said of the game's reveal. He wants PixelJunk fans to hold off from setting their expectations about what 4 will be.

As for Dungeons, we might know even less about the game than we thought we did. That's because the Q-Games founder says the game might not be called PixelJunk Dungeons at all. And it's not necessarily a dungeon crawler, re-imagined in the PixelJunk style.

"We want to make sure we can make a game that's different from what people expect," he said.

Firstly, and most importantly, there will be five new stages introduced. Five brand new stages, with five new backgrounds and even five new songs by the game's music man Baiyon. Not bad for a price of $5.99.

Next, a new feature introduced for Encore (hit three seeds in a row and all the bad guys EXPLODE) will be retroactively patched into the original game, which should make it a bit easier on you.

Finally, one level will introduce a "zero-G item", which when collected will let you float around to your heart's content, with no need to worry about silly little things like gravity.

Oh, and as for the "Big Secret(tm)" teased earlier in the month? They're still keeping mum on it, but did reveal that, if you get through the game and collect all 25 new spectra included, it "will enable you to play the entire game again in a completely different way".

With guns, perhaps?

PixelJunk Eden Encore Details [PlayStation]

Q's Dylan Cuthbert writes on the official PlayStation blog that PixelJunk Eden Encore adds "zero gravity, mirror worlds, all new music from Baiyon" and "something extra special at the end which is a Big Secret(tm) and is a present to all the fans." Cuthbert also teases "PixelJunk #4" which he says the developer is slaving away on.

As both Cuthbert and music man Baiyon are scheduled to be at next week's Game Developers Conference, we hope that we get a sneak peek at what that might be.

All Busy on the PixelJunk Front [PlayStation.blog]

Q-Games' big boss Dylan Cuthbert reveals on the official U.S. PlayStation blog that the patch that hit Japan late last year will grace American PlayStation 3s alongside the next PlayStation Store update. It comes bundled with a new camera, a less cruel continue system and much, much more. Okay, maybe one thing more.

Cuthbert also drops word that an "Encore" version of PixelJunk Eden is in the works. That's an expansion pack to me and you. Very exciting!

PixelJunk Eden: Tending to Our Lovely Gardens [PlayStation.blog]

In my downtime (ha!), I'll be relaxing with some Soulcalibur IV and pulling my hair out with some PixelJunk Eden. I'm surprised to find myself only halfway through my Spectra collection and completion. There's little doubt that Q Games gives you plenty of value for your dollar.

What about you? What are you playing this weekend?

You’ll be pleased to know that one thing we will add to Monsters in an upcoming patch is a difficulty setting menu - you won’t be able to use the online ranking (that wouldn’t be fair) but you can advance on any difficulty you like… even expert (which yes, is harder than the default setting). The patch will be free.

As for Eden, well… that’s way too easy a game to make it any easier, surely???!
At least in co-op you can reach out and catch your betrothed if she falls, the veritable juliet to your romeo so to speak.

However, we do have lots of ideas for the expansion pack as the controls are too much fun to waste on just one set of game rules. I’m sure we will try and add a more namby pamby mode for the “lighter” people out there.

It's nice to see PixelJunk listens to the namby pamby players. That so should be the brand's new slogan or something. Cuthbert better copyright that and pronto! Otherwise, he'll be sorry.

Dylan Responds [citizengame via The BBPS]

Outside of that, another of the McWhertor spawn is crashing at Kotaku Towers West this weekend, so we'll be doing various LA things that are vegan friendly. And you? What will you be playing this weekend? Leave proof in the comments!

Eurogamer
What's confusing is the game's wild and carefree disdain for consistency, and the way it throws its head back and laughs in the face of the laws of physics. Many jumps are hard to judge, because the game seems to decide whether your character will make them based on how it's feeling at precisely that moment in time. A plant that looks impossibly far away might be easily reachable, and vice versa. So you're left confused about what your character's capable of, which routes through the level are feasible and why these two aspects appear to change on a moment-to-moment basis.

Boomtown
Remote play on PSP makes a welcome appearance, and works very well, in no small part due to the simplicity of the controls and visuals. Then there is the ‘revolutionary’ trophy addition which will certainly sell a few more copies of the game for those hoping to ‘level up’ their PSN accounts. Thankfully, adding more value than just having to complete each level, the trophies vary between a completist’s dream, opening all of the seeds in each level to a rather crazy trapeze based three player achievement.

1UP
Eden's heart lies as much in its audiovisual detail as it does in any structural or gameplay elements. Strikingly colorful and abstract, the mesmerizing backdrops complement the sparse game perfectly. Even when the levels start flipping gravity and tweaking the relationship between the enemies and environments, it's easy to appreciate the visuals acting as the motivating force behind the action. The music isn't quite as interesting and doesn't evolve much throughout the journey, but the beats are still an essential part of the experience (the louder, the better).

UGO
PixelJunk Racer was cool and PixelJunk Monsters sucked away a good few months, but PixelJunk Eden is straight-up digital crack. The ever-increasing difficulty challenges without ever becoming overly frustrating, probably because the sights and sounds are so damn calming and the controls, so charmingly simple and intuitive. If it sounds too abstract, do yourself a favor try the demo on PSN. PixelJunk Eden is a wholly unique gaming experience, one which is difficult to accurately describe. Like the best things in life, it must be sampled to be truly understood.

I spent the better part of Tuesday playing PixelJunk Eden, leading to me having to stay up until 6AM to finish Eternity's Child for my review. 'Nuff said.

Dylan Cuthbert, president and executive producer, of Q-Games, says this new ability will revolutionize how people talk about games.

The YouTube upload feature is going to revolutionize how people share tips. Up until now it has been limited to people with video capture equipment, but from now on, anyone can record their game and upload it directly to YouTube from within the game! It is as simple as pushing one button to start and one button to stop and upload, and there is no affect on the gameplay thanks to the power of the PS3 and its abundance of SPU processors.

The YouTube people are pretty excited too, pointing out that this is likely just the first Playstation 3 game to do this.

We've already seen the significant positive impact for games like Spore and Mainichi Issho and how gamers share & show off their creations. We look forward to the day when having YouTube upload support in games will be a standard feature.

As Q-Games President Dylan Cuthbert said on the Playstation Blog, "The YouTube upload feature is going to revolutionize how people share tips". We wholeheartedly agree!

I hope more, bigger games will start to include this amazing feature.

PixelJunk Eden Now Fortified With YouTube APIs [APIBlog]

PixelJunk Eden is a short-form PSN title so there are fewer trophies when compared to, say, a Blu-ray title (which can have the esteemed platinum trophy), but we still managed to pack in quite a few. To begin with, you can get a bronze trophy for opening every “seed” in a stage. This is quite a challenge on some of the stages as the gardens are large and expansive. Then there are trophies for a load of other things, such as destroying 500 of the “prowlers,” or collecting 15 “crystals” in one jump. My personal favorite is a trophy that you can only achieve in 3P mode, where you have to “volley” a player between you back and forth five times without him/her landing on a plant, a bit like tennis.

Sounds great. Very much looking forward to this one.

PixelJunk Eden: Trophies Galore! [PlayStation.Blog]

The thing about PixelJunk Eden is that its appealing and addictive qualities might not come across well in screen shots or trailers. Q-Games Dylan Cuthbert showed a trailer for the previous build of Eden at GDC, likening it to "an organic Mario." It's accurate, in some sense, as the game is a platformer at heart, but one that oozes style and originality.

Here's how you play PixelJunk Eden.

The concept is simple. One to three players—we only played in a cooperative trio—will each control their "Grimp", a flea-like creature named with a portmanteau of "grip" and "jump." The goal is simply to build your garden. That will require each player to find a level's Spectras, analogous to a Star or Shine in a Mario game.

Grimps have a few ways of getting around each level, populated with plants, rocks, pollen and enemies. They can jump by double tapping X (or any face button) or launch them selves from a silken tether (tap X once) if launching themselves from a plant—they'll always grip to plants. That tether will keep the Grimp attached to the branch or stem it leaped from, allowing it to rotate around the centerpoint, picking up pollen or using it to fling the Grimp across open space.

The tether also acts as a sort of radar while the Grimp is rotating, with blips indicating where the next Spectra is located, a clever choice that keeps the game's HUD minimal.

Each level begins with a handful of stock plants and flowers that Grimps can climb upon or leap from. As you collect the pollen that floats about, you'll feed unpollinated seeds that will then sprout new growth when you touch them. The level design is more vertical than a traditional 2D platformer, with much of your progress upward. There's a danger to falling, of course, as landing on the ground will drain partially pollinated seeds, slowing your upward mobility.

When playing with a group, however, falling downward off-screen doesn't mean certain doom, as you'll respawn where the rest of your fellow Grimps are after a few seconds, if they're gripping a plant. This is where a good portion of the challenge—and PixelJunk Eden's addictive nature—lies. You'll work as a group to grab more pollen, to catch your teammates if they fall, to build pollen grabbing combos, to stay atop a level, even if the other two plummet downward. You'll take giant leaps of faith, tweaking your fall with the analog stick, delighting in perfectly targeted flying arcs.

Q-Games collaborated with Japanese artist and musician Baiyon to give the game much of its visual and musical style. It's said to feature over 100 minutes of original, electronic music from Baiyon, a soothing pulsing soundtrack that matches perfectly with Eden's zen-like visual atmosphere. The game will most likely see comparison's to previous works like Rez for its gorgeous visuals and throbbing soundtrack, despite the differences in style and energy.

PixelJunk Eden may be hard to describe—and your first few minutes with it may be slightly unsettling—but it's equally hard to put down. Hopefully, Q-Games and SCEA will release a demo soon, so more people will get to experience it for themselves before its release this Summer.

Dylan Cuthbert of Q-Games showed off the above trailer at the first day of the Game Developers Conference, revealing PixelJunk Eden to the public for the first time. According to Cuthbert, the third game in the PixelJunk series is like "an organic Mario" in which the player collects pollen to make other plants grow. With a combo-based scoring system, the psychedelic experimental PlayStation Network title extends the PixelJunk credo of bringing simple, 2D games into high definition. Q-Games' latest looks like a fresh and welcome addition to their already interesting line-up of games.