PixelJunk Eden Brings Trophies For You And Me

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]

Pixeljunk Monsters Soundtrack On PSN Today

The best feature of PixelJunk Monsters is the music. Composed by Otograph, the musical duo of Iura Takashi and Oshima Sachiyo, it's the kind of music that you can start up on your favorite music-listening device and just lose yourself in it. Q-Games is releasing the soundtrack today on the PlayStation Network - a first for the service - and to celebrate they've posted an interview with the artists over on the Official PlayStation Blog, providing interesting insight into what goes into composing for the gamespace.

Well, for games, not only is there music, but there are also sound effects and we had to design both not to conflict with each other. For example, we tried to keep the rhythm sections and tones simple because of this. We also paid attention to giving the sound effects and music a sense of unity. The stages in Monsters are basically one screen so we attempted to use the music to expand the world beyond that for the player

Hit the link for more with Otograph, and keep your eyes peeled for the PixelJunk Monsters soundtrack on PSN today for $2.99.

PixelJunk Monsters Soundtrack: An Interview with Otograph [Official PlayStation Blog]

We just returned from SCEA's Pre-E3 Judge's Day, an event that gave us hands-on time with highly anticipated titles like Killzone 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet. So why am I writing about PixelJunk Eden first? Probably for the same reason that, at the end of the day, while Killzone 2 demo stations were available with no waiting, the wait to get hands on a DualShock to play more PixelJunk Eden was a good 15 minutes. We're not trying to downplay Killzone 2, mind you, as it's a fine game. But Eden? I'm already having withdrawals.

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.

Pixeljunk Eden Does...Something

The Official PlayStation Blog has posted details on the upcoming expansion pack to the utterly charming Q-Games title PixelJunk Monsters, due out next month on the PlayStation Network. The expansion will introduce players to Toki Island, with 15 new levels, 5 all-new music tracks from Otograph, and a few item changes to keep things fresh. Along with the new details, the OPSB have posted a short interview with Q-Games President Dylan Cuthbert, in which he explains the true driving force behind the expansion.

"...my wife simply loved the game so much she would badger me every day for more levels, so in the end I caved in."

PixelJunk Monsters Encore details + interview [Official PlayStation Blog]

Nintendo Taught Me To Be 'Anal'

The main thing I learned at Nintendo was that being "anal" is the most important asset a game creator needs to have. Mr. Miyamoto has the uncanny ability to spot the most minute detail in any game; just the odd pixel out of place and he will strike upon it like an eagle. So, although we are nowhere near that level yet, I am trying to guide everyone at Q to get good at "the details".

The other thing I learned from Nintendo, is learning to look at your game from a distance towards the end of development and decide what really needs to be done to make the game into a sell-able product. This is almost totally separate from the creative "game-making" process and most companies let their marketing departments do it which, in my opinion, is totally wrong.

First Footage Of PixelJunk Eden

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.

Kotakuite Tim R. loves PixelJunk Monsters. He loves it so much that he emailed creator Q-Games begging for a sequel or expansion. He soon received an email back from a Q-Games employee that revealed an expansion is already in the works.

Thanks for the mail! We are really enjoying the feedback from people about Monsters, it seems to have really hit a sweet spot. There should be some news about an expansion pack over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. You can expect more tower defense excitement soon. We'll let you know as soon as we hear any more details.

While it's been released to the masses for some time now, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on Q-Games' PixelJunk Monsters, the tower defense title for the PS3. Because while I'd downloaded it hoping for a PS3ized version of the acclaimed Desktop Tower Defense, I received a game that was completely different.

And it's sort of been rocking my world.

Q-Games follow-up to PixelJunk Racers is a tower defense PlayStation Network release known as PixelJunk Monsters. It's due to hit PlayStation 3s next week, according to President and Executive Producer Dylan Cuthbert, who's nice enough to give those unfamiliar with PixelJunk Monsters a quick primer on his team's latest. Unsurprisingly, Cuthbert has kind words for the woodland RTS, writing that its addictive nature is "going to keep you coming back again and again until your eyelids start fluttering uncontrollably." Wild eyelid fluttering? We're okay with that.

PixelJunk Monsters Set to Launch Next Week [PlayStation Blog]

"Diminishing of Core Players"

Video games used to be taken far more seriously than they are now; over here the gaming culture was affected adversely by advancing mobile phone tech., which back in the late '90s and early '00s was years ahead of the West. Suddenly people were playing (not games) with their phones and being more sociable than before, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for the human race. However, the Japanese still think of themselves as a kind of gaming mecca because they have a few god-like presences. In reality though, gaming has become less central and more a standard commodity; the Wii and DS have proved this with their huge demographic range. People want to play games, but without the huge investment of time and money games used to take up.

By Brian Ashcraft

"For the first few months of working here, my old boss at Lionheads Studios thought I was working with Mizuguchi," says Q-Games planner Rhodri Broadbent, lounging on a sofa in the developer's third floor Kyoto office space. There's a hi-def TV playing their latest, PixelJunk Racers. Whenever Q-Games is first mentioned, Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q? Entertainment is usually as well — though Q-Games had the "Q" before Mizguchi left SEGA to set up his boutique studio. Sure, Q-Games may not have Miz, but it does have Dylan Cuthbert, who helped create Star Fox while working for Nintendo, and Kenkichi Shimooka, who developed Ape Escape for the PlayStation. Dylan has the chicken pox and couldn't make it. Kenkichi? No clue where he is.

I'm in a white meeting room, waiting for the interview to start. I peer down the street still slick with rain. There are traditional Kyoto-style houses across the street from the modern office building. In the meeting room, there's a clock, a white board (fitting) and ping pong nets. When not used as a meeting room, it's converted into a ping pong room. Well, that's what the recruitment brochure tells me — and the drawer of ping pong equipment doesn't lead me to believe otherwise. A trio of developers enter, trade business cards and speak in British and North American accents. Almost half the office is foreign. These devs sitting across from me were instrumental in bringing Q-Games first game label PixelJunk title Racers to the PlayStation Network.

Q Games—no relation to Q Entertainment—will release PixelJunk Racers for the PLAYSTATION 3 this week, reports IGN, joining High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition for the week's downloadable titles. Q Games is responsible for handheld hits Digidrive and Star Fox Command and promises that the high-speed top down racer is the first in a series of PixelJunk branded games scheduled to hit the PS3.

PixelJunk Racers Release Date [IGN]

PixelJunk Racers didn't get much attention at Sony's E3 2007 press conference, but the game has a pedigree that might interest a few PLAYSTATION 3 owners. Developed by Q Games (a separate entity from Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment) PixelJunk Racers is a top down PlayStation Network title from the team that created Digidrive for Nintendo's bit Generations line and Star Fox Command for the Nintendo DS. The game looks like a high def Championship Sprint, but with added car combat and dozens of non-playable competitors. It's the first in a series of games from Q to be released under the PixelJunk brand. We're looking for more information from Sony on the quietly revealed PS3 game soon, but 8 new screens of the game are in our gallery below.