PixelJunk 1-4: Drumroll Please …

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Hey PixelJunk fans,

A couple of weeks ago we unveiled PixelJunk 1-4 in trailer form to the masses and had a HUGE response! I suppose we deserved it because we simultaneously launched our naming contest for the game as well. For those who missed it we decided to let you, the fans, have a go at naming our game for us. It all began to snowball as news sites picked up on the competition and our servers crashed a couple of times from the load!

In just one week we got over 100,000 visitors to http://pixeljunk.jp and 10,000 people offered up ideas for a name based on the trailer. Even though the trailer’s resolution left a lot to be desired, we got a ridiculous amount of praise… and the team’s ego has been inflated a bit, which is a good thing, because now we’ll have to work extra specially hard to live up to everyone’s expectations! :-)

Anyway, we are now proud to announce that the name of the game has been picked! It will be called PixelJunk Shooter. Andy, the artist behind the style of the game, has knocked up a stunning logo that emphasizes the liquid element really well, as you can see below!

PJ Shooter Logo

The lucky winner, picked from a hat of about 8 other people who voted for the same name, is Mario Paquet from Canada! We chose the name because: 1) it’s simple, 2) it describes the main thing you do in the game, and 3) it makes a great logo!

The other runner-up names were:

  • PixelJunk Depths – Thomas Ella
  • PixelJunk Atlantis – Takuhiro Hara
  • PixelJunk Caves – Chi Lo
  • PixelJunk Blaster – Edward Stumpfel
  • PixelJunk S.O.S! – Derrick Kross

Other people voted for these names of course, but the above runners-up were picked out of a hat for each name in turn, so congratulations! T-shirts will be winging their way to you.

The most popular name suggested by a long shot was PixelJunk Elements, but we decided that it didn’t capture the shooting side of the game well enough and at the worst people might think it was a game about the weather. “Depths” almost became the chosen name but our producer at Sony Santa Monica, Deborah Mars, sounded like she had a lisp when she said it, so we dropped that one early on. We needed to choose a name everyone can enunciate. ;-)

Thanks for the incredible response and vibe we got from everyone. We are going to make this game a smash hit! If you manage to get into E3 next week you’ll be able to play a newer demo than the one shown in the video which has a number of cool new things in it… including co-op play!

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339 Comments

7 Author Replies

  • *HATE* awful awful awful name. Pretty much put me off the game now, if the team pick something as boring as that then how can they make a fun game -.-

  • AKidNamedJustin

    Wow…the response has been overwhelmingly negative. I wonder what’s going through the dev team’s heads right now.

    I’m also curious to see how the press will handle this.

  • Yeah dont like the name but whatever..

    GIVE ME MORE MONSTERS!!!!!!!!!

  • IMO, the game has a strong puzzle/strategy element that isn’t being represented in the title. Even “Cavern Shooter” to me would represent a better name. But then again, I thought the point of a naming contest was to come up with a creative, unique name–not something generic like “Shooter”.

  • I prefer blaster or elements. Bla.

  • Terrible choice

  • A very uninspired name. I think it sounds far too generic.

  • WOW!! SO original….

    My Suggestion was:

    PixelJunk 1-4: BoomSTICKS!

    now that would have been a cool name.

    Not PixelD*uche 1-4 : Shooter.. Phhh ( PAS! )

  • To all the people shouting “lol whiny baby” at the people showing disdain for the name:

    When 99% of the posts in a comment thread are lambasting the developer for their shoddy contest and unoriginal name, there is something to it. It isn’t simply fanboyish tears drowning out the sorrow. Its genuine disappointment.

    PJ should truly be ashamed here.

  • #108…

  • …grab some perspective in your life.

    This is the name of a video game.

    Genuine disappointment?

    Man, you must have an empty life.

  • Shooter?… That is kinda lame. Congrats to winner tho.

  • I don’t know how people can come on here and slate the name, because if you look at the rest of the PixelJunk series, you’ll note that none of them have any ‘creative’ names. PixelJunk Monsters, hello? If you saw that title, would you think about a tower defense game? I think not.

    That being said, I think it’s a very simplistic name, and sums up the game very well. Just like the other PixelJunk titles have managed to do.

    Can’t wait for it to hit PSN. :)

  • It’s a lame video game name. No more, no less.

  • “PixelJunk Shooter” sounds… don’t know the word for that but to me it’s something as “PixelJunk Halo”

    Those who still don’t know the awesome games PixelJunk delivers could think it’s just another Halo/Haze/Resistance kind of game.

    The name should have had something cute like Monsters did or something brain-stimulating like Eden. With Shooter you go back to Racers, what will be next? PixelJunk Videogame?

    Comment number 49: My suggestion was PixelJunk Gaia too!!
    Comment number 50: I totally agree with you

  • I agree with most people here… especially 18, 21, 22, 28 and 41 so far. I actually submitted most of those same choices.

    I was not aware that this was a contest for the worst game title… oops.

    I could have probably picked worse but I was going for an original title that would describe and make the game sound interesting.

    Shooter is horrible. We have enough shooters as it is, and it is not an accurate description (the title feels like ‘shooter genre’, as in 1st person).

    I will most likely base my purchase on that name choice, as I did with Racer.

    Re-vote?

  • 110 – That would only be the case for those truly upset becuase their own oh-so-amazing name wasn’t chosen. But the vast majority of the posters here are PixelJunk fans and have loved the creativity that has come out of Q-Games. It’s just a shame that the chosen name doesn’t seem to fit in with that creativeness – I felt they’d latched onto a good thing after naming Eden.

    And to all those thinking of not buying it anymore – seriously? A name will do that to you? Fair enough but you’re the only one missing out if you decide to turn down a great game down to a name. To me it’s looks like it’s going to be one of the best AND accessible games on the PSN this year – a huge achievement for Q-Games and I hope the sales reflect that.

  • Yes this is the most plain name ever.
    i didnt bother entering the contest but seeing the other names being mentioned i dont see how u guys came to this conclusion.

    like others have pointed out shooter makes people beleive its just another game out there like asteroids or blastfactor but it doesnt show any of the innovative new mechanics in your game.

    i can see elements working but yet you say you dont use all the elements.

    but you dont use all the guns either.

    i would probably have mentioned something like PJ: solid liquid. because that mechinic is what sets it appart.

    gaia, earth, caves are all also nice cause they have to do with the setting just like eden does.

    anyway thats my rant.

  • yes 114, exactly.

  • My suggestion was Pixeljunk Spelunk. Sorry but Pixeljunk Shooter is a terrible name.

  • -1 For the name.

    Congrats to my fellow Canadian though, always good to see!

    When I think of ‘Shooter’ I think of the old arcade games like Aerofighters, R-Type and Gradius.

    This game looks far from that style of games so for me the name doesn’t fit well.

    I’ll still buy it though because it will be awesome coming from the PJ team.

    But someone mentioned it earlier and I wanted to echo the point: if this was the winner, why even bother having a naming contest?

  • looks good!

  • That’s an awful choice.

    All five of the runner-ups are better than “Shooter”

  • Not an exciting name. If that’s the most creative name you could decide on out of 10,000 entries then it’s pretty poor. Though sadly I never got around to posting it, PixelJunk Chasm’ would have been my entry.

    Regardless of that I’m still excited for the game. So I’d ask my fellow gamers: let’s not judge a game by its name. :)

  • I wonder how “Mario Paquet from Canada!” feels about this.

  • Pixel Junk S.O.S. wins

    No wait, PixelJunk: sNsKid… LMFAO

  • lol, you made a contest and pick the lamest name :P

  • I don’t like it at all, but the logo looks cool.

  • Yay!! I’ve been saving $10 for this one for the longest time. Hope it comes out really soon!

  • AKidNamedJustin

    I actually think all games should be changed to meet PJ’s criteria. Uncharted 2 can be changed to “Shooter”. Killzone 3 (when it comes out) can be changed to “Shooter”. Megaman 10 can be changed to “Shooter”. Resistance 3…”Shooter”. Ratchet and Clank: Crack in Time…”Shooter”. MGS5…”Shooter”. They should have called Worms “Shooter” and don’t get me started on “Calling All Cars”…you do a lot more shooting than you do calling.

    Come to think of it…the only other game that really gets it is “Everyday Shooter”.

  • WORST.. NAME…. EVAAAAA!!!!

    Fantastic looking logo art though. Shame, how can you have such beautiful art for such a lame name :(

  • Woah, this is completely ridiculous, why was there a contest at all?

  • pixeljunk gonads

  • I think they should have picked what they thought was the top 15 names, and then let the users vote on what name they like.

    Shooter is not a bad name, but it could have been cooler imo

  • ILOVEPLASTATION3

    I hope the game itself is good, cause the name is kinda bad…

  • Really don’t care for the name. Why have a contest if you’re going to pick such a middle of the road name? I liked PixelJunk: Elements and Pixeljunk: Elementa Pura. Both titles I submitted.

  • PixelJunk Atlantis was what I sent you!!

    Sounds so much better,

    Pixeljunk: Shooter sounds..crap tbh.

  • @119: PixelJunk Spelunk, that was my suggestion too! “Spelunk” or “Spelunker” would’ve been awesome.

    But I like how modest “Shooter” sounds. It pretends to be a simple shooter, but it’s obviously a lot deeper than that.

  • Gosh, even most of the runner up names are kinda blah. S.O.S and Cave are decent but I know there were so many way cooler and better fitting names.

    One’s I’ve read so far are Pixel Junk:

    Cascade
    Splunk
    Rescue
    Elements
    Cavern
    Splooge
    Splash
    and many many more…. PIXEL JUNK SHOOTER?! … WTH?! So why even do a contest?

    Don’t know why but this is really chaffing my butt lol

  • Lame! Pixel Junk Spelunk is much more clever than Pixel Junk Caves.

    Pixel Junk Shooter doesn’t capture the elements part of the game either. Works both ways. Bad name anyhow.

  • you should have picked your top ten suggested names and let us vote over them…this is just stupid..

  • awesome. Can’t wait!

  • too generic, new name please

  • Lol gotta agree with the people. I’m sure you didn’t need a contest to come up with a name like PJ “Shooter”? Can’t say I was too fond of the other names either. PJ Elements being the best out of them.

    I would rather have gone with PJ Dungeons (which I believe was the original name given by the team). Ah well… Probably gonna be a interesting game anyway which is really what the game is about.

  • Perfectly said Unknown_Hero. I think it’s getting rather obvious now that they probably should have let the fans vote on the name.

    They could have picked the top 10-20 and have gamers their top 3 to submit. Then show the actual poll results when the time’s up.

    Quite honestly, ANYTHING other than Shooter I’ll take. That name is going to be like a splinter in my brain every time I play the game lol

  • Oh and I also agree with comment 138. Those names were a lot more interesting.

  • I’m going to make a game called “game”, while I’m at it I’m going to name my dog “dog”.

  • Lame name is lame.

  • I can’t believe you picked “PixelJunk Shooter” over my “PixelJunk Savior”! Ah well, tough luck I guess.

  • Where the chump that came up with this horrendous name?

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