The PixelJunk series has been a huge success for us, so to celebrate Q’s 10th anniversary (and also PixelJunk’s fifth), for a limited time we are slashing the prices of Racers, Monsters, Eden, and Shooter to just ONE DOLLAR. Yes, you heard correctly! On top of this, we are also slashing the prices for PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (PSP), PixelJunk Shooter 2 and PixelJunk SideScroller by HALF! You have no choice but to snap them all up the very moment the sale goes live tomorrow afternoon with the PlayStation Store update! Spread the word and let’s go PixelJunk crazy for a week! Actually, make that TWO weeks because after the sale, PixelJunk 4am will be launched (May 15th) and it is simply an incredibly unique experience.

For those of you anxious to get your hands on PixelJunk 4am, we will be hosting a PlayStation PixelJunk 4am Event open to the community on Thursday, May 10 from 6:00 to 9:00pm at Harlot in San Francisco. The first 75 attendees will receive a free copy of PixelJunk 4am when it is live on the PlayStation Store on Tuesday, May 15. Spread the word, Baiyon and I would love to meet you (psst…you must be 21+ to attend).

In the 10 years since I started Q-Games we’ve made a huge amount of games and technology for the PlayStation family and I’d like to highlight a few key moments in our history. Did you know that we made the PlayStation 3 “ribbon” and “sparkly dust” background on the XMB, as well as parts of the XMB graphical frontend? If you let the “About PS3″ credits roll you will actually see the Q-Games logo! Before that, on PSP, we developed some of the really cool technology demos that were shown at E3 all the way back in 2004. We also developed the PS3′s music visualizers, beginning with the “valley” default and culminating in the awesome “earth” visualizer – which was actually developed initially as a possible boot sequence for the PS3!! Ken Kutaragi envisioned a boot sequence similar to the sequence in Kubrick’s “2001 – A Space Odyssey” where you see a simultaneous moon and sunrise, but changed his mind and it became the even cooler “orchestral tuning” sequence that it is now. However, we continued working on it in secret, adding more resolution and detail until they gave in and let us sneak-release it into a firmware update a few years back.

Five years ago, with the launch of PSN, one of the guys at SCEI (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. in Tokyo) casually suggested I consider making PSN games. I initially dismissed the idea, imagining SD 480i quality games, but once I plugged my brand-new PS3 into a 1080p TV via a HDMI cable and saw the amazing resolution and color reproduction it clicked that perhaps it represented a chance to rejuvenate 2D gaming. So I got to work preparing concepts for games that took some old ideas, added some new ones, and most importantly updated them to use the incredible extra detail and crisp colors of 1080p. Thus PixelJunk was born!

The first game was PixelJunk Racers, a game designed pretty much to only be playable in 1080p and a game that was impossible in SD because of the hundreds of tiny cars racing around the screen – quite often portrayed as a “black sheep” in the PixelJunk stable, Racers is really quite a unique game and is a great party experience, allowing you to play with up to SEVEN players simultaneously – young kids absolutely love it too and we have plenty of diehard fans which is why we updated it to become PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap. Anyway, Racers launched us into self-publishing here in Japan which was also a lot of fun (suddenly we were not just a developer but a publisher too!), and started our arrangement with Santa Monica Studios to release the PixelJunk series in the West.

We developed the PixelJunk games in parallel and a few months after Racers we launched the smash hit PixelJunk Monsters which has been extremely popular over the years (oh, and the “Deluxe” PSP version will even run on your PS Vita as of May 15th!). Also, during the development of Racers I had the good fortune to bump into a Kyoto-based DJ and artist called “Baiyon” at a party held by a mutual friend and he seemed like an interesting guy so I decided to make our third game a little bit more “artsy” and brought him in to collaborate with us on it, giving birth to PixelJunk Eden! Just look at those CMYK colours – HDMI pushed to the extreme!

For our fourth title we had a naming contest which helped us decide on the name for “PixelJunk 1-4″ to be “PixelJunk Shooter” (yes, “PixelJunk Elements” was also popular but sorry folks it didn’t capture the “sci-fi” spirit enough for me – besides the acronym would be PJE and we already had a PJE in the series…). The concept for Shooter was decided right at the start of the PixelJunk project but the fluid technology took a little time to develop and flesh out, and by the time we had got to the point where we were thinking about music I had persuaded my old friend Alex “The Orb” Paterson to work with us on the soundtrack. He had just started an interesting collaboration with Dom Beken in the form of High Frequency Bandwidth (HFB for short) whose style of music is a kind of retro “b movie dub techno” was a perfect fit for the world we were creating in Shooter. This led us to collaborate on the sequel “Shooter 2″ and our very latest release last year “PixelJunk SideScroller” (which is totally awesome by the way).

Which leads us to the upcoming release of PixelJunk 4am which, although it isn’t a “game” per se, is deeply engaging and a fun experience for everyone. Every time you play you are broadcasting live to the world! It’s really really addictive and you’ll find your PlayStation Move is being used in ways you never imagined!

Well that was a long post, but hey I hadn’t posted in a while – now PixelJunkies, go forth and spread the word, the PixelJunk BLOWOUT sale is ON!

We used the same engine as for the two Shooter titles, but the game itself is entirely different. To begin with this is a single-stick controlled game rather than the dual-stick control we had in Shooter, which makes it even more addictive and easy to control. And of course, you can only face to the right as you fly your craft! The only similarity really is that a handful of enemies from Shooter have been “re-imagined” for SideScroller, but to add to them we created a whole slew of new enemies and bosses for you to try to destroy also.

The back-story of the game is that SideScroller is the game the pilot of PixelJunk Shooter is playing on his old computer console in his ship on the way home to Earth after the ending of Shooter 2. This explains the cool “retro” look we have designed with the curved CRT (cathode ray tube) screen and the monochrome look of the interface. However, during its orbit of Apoxus Prime perhaps the computer has been infected… a little?

Some people reckon PixelJunk games are a little tough, and well… yes, they are a little because I think games should be a challenge. However, what we’ve done this time is scattered loads of checkpoints so even if you do die, you’ll restart really close, and we also give you the option to downgrade your difficulty setting if you get a Game Over too. We’ve created 4 difficulty levels so everyone is catered for (I hope!).

Oh and did I mention, the bosses are AWESOME! Maybe I should mention that again…

I’ve got to head off and start finishing off PixelJunk 4am, so I’m going to leave you with the really cool trailer for SideScroller we created (see above). Definitely check it out, because you might be able to spot one of the AWESOME bosses in there!

Remember everyone – October 25th!

So here we are creeping up onto yet another Tokyo Game Show and we have a big announcement to make… and an unusual one at that! We are announcing a name change – I’m sure many of you have seen information about PixelJunk Lifelike over the past year or so, including some live demo performances we did during E3, and a few of you might have noticed how much the core concept of Lifelike expanded and shifted since it was first announced as we explored more and more ideas. Well, after long deliberation we are changing the name to “PixelJunk 4am” to better match the atmosphere we are trying to create. And for more information about that, I have asked some questions and translated Baiyon‘s answers for you:

Why the name change?

Baiyon: PixelJunk Lifelike was originally conceived as an extension of the PixelJunk Eden world. Our idea was to create a kind of living speaker for people to play their music through, using natural imagery and taking strong visual cues from Eden. There wasn’t even the concept of a “player.” We’ve since moved far beyond that simple idea to new and uncharted waters, both visually and musically. The style has evolved now into something that is really quite different from anything we’ve ever made before. It was only natural that we’d want to chase this new concept and capture it with a new title.

Why 4am?

Baiyon: 4am represents the exact mood and feeling we’ve captured. 4am is that deep night hour. In clubs, the music drifts to a new level entering a deepened state that often seems removed from reality. Whether you’re in a club or not, 4am always feels like the night has gone on forever, where there’s still a little time left before dawn. This late night feel better represents our current visual and musical style.

So what can we expect now?

Baiyon: PixelJunk 4am is something unique that has never been tried before, so we’re treading in new territory. We’re using the PlayStation Move in truly experimental ways to give people control of making their own style of music. Being able to stream your music live on PSN also gives people the chance to broadcast a new kind of online performance. We can’t wait to see people playing 4am deep into the early morning hours.

So there you have it, from the horse’s mouth so to speak. To get an even better sense of this “4am” atmosphere Baiyon is talking about, check out the completely new trailer we made above and see Baiyon himself creating an awesome track.

PixelJunk Shooter 2 is unleashing its FREE online battle demo via PSN now. Go start the download! Go on. It’ll be done by the time you finish reading this. :) We’re putting big bounties on the heads of higher-ranked players (especially those in our Sun League), and PixelJunk Shooter 2 staff will be in the mix. Join in the assault on our Veteran players this weekend.

So what’s in it for the Veterans? The PixelJunk team would like present you with a new battleground. From July 15th, we will be uncovering a hidden stage for PixelJunk Shooter 2′s online battles. This stage will be made available to all players for FREE as a salute to your battling prowess. I should advise you though that while dredging up this ancient stage, a few blocks might have come loose. You’ve been warned…

As an extra hat tip to our online battling brethren (both seasoned and fresh), we’re going to share some data with you on current popular item trends. From our statistics, we’ve calculated your expected “chance of winning” when equipping certain items:

Magma Resistance – 64.5%
Resurrection – 64.4%
Fluid Converter – 59.6%
Sticky Ship – 59.5%
Mine – 58.8%

As you can see, the Magma Resistance item (which lets you fly through magma) appears to be giving many people a slight edge.

Our Top 10 online battle players have also shown us some more unique play styles which are clearly working for them and deserve a mention. Some of the items in their arsenals were quite unexpected. Certain Top 10 players (we’ll let you figure out who) use the Camouflage or Fluid Converter one in three matches, and there is even a master Thief using the Snatch n’ Grab every two out of three matches!

So is that free Shooter 2 Demo download done yet? Then go get onto PSN for a weekend of intense 1v1 PixelJunk Shooter 2 online battling action!

Hey everyone!I am happy to announce a patch for PixelJunk Shooter 2. We’ve changed a few things. Read on for the full list:

1. There was a bug where some enemies would spawn right on top of you giving you that awesome “insta-death” you really don’t want in a game… well, we fixed it!
2. The online connectivity has been tuned to allow you to hook up with other players much more easily. Try it out!
3. If you get matched against a higher ranking player you get a nice large cash bonus (Q space bucks of course) if you win! This gives you a big incentive to challenge yourself more when you get matched up against someone who seems better than you. Hint: stay calm and use strategy, you can definitely take them!
4. We added an option to the pause screen that lets you take a break in the middle of a stage and come back later to finish it off. So when your mom calls you to the dinner table just choose that option, go eat your dinner *and* be nice to the environment by switching off your PS3!
5. Even if you kill a few survivors and get a game over screen you can “continue” – your score will be reset, but if you are just exploring and trying to get as far as you can this feature stops you from being thrown back to the start of a stage just because a few puny survivors happen to have gotten in the way of your missiles.
6. A message on the pause screen lets you know if there are any diamonds still hidden in the current screen. This is very handy when you are searching out that last diamond in order to unlock the awesomely cool secret last stage!
7. Acid walls aren’t as nasty anymore – we gave the giant alien whose insides you are exploring some antacid and he’s feeling a lot better now!

We have another PixelJunk announcement or two for over the next few weeks, so stay tuned…and enjoy the new-and-improved PixelJunk Shooter 2.

I’m back in Kyoto after a rip-roaring time at E3 where we revealed not one but two games: PixelJunk lifelike, which you can see a bit of in this previous blog post, and PixelJunk sidescroller — a title no one was expecting and took a lot of people by surprise just as we intended!

When we were wrapping up PixelJunk Shooter 2 a number of us here at Q-Games felt an undeniable urge to create a homage to the old school side-scrolling shooters that we grew up with…so we did and here it is! We went totally overboard on the special effects though and even threw in an incredibly realistic simulation of an old CRT monitor for good measure. The effect is so realistic that at E3 people’s heads were turning and we were questioned as to why we were using such an old TV! It looks really retro-awesome! :-)

Give the video a look to see it in action! We’ll be back soon to share more before PixelJunk sidescroller lands on PSN later this summer.

So, the wait is over. The sequel to the technically and critically acclaimed PixelJunk Shooter will be with us later today! It continues where the original left off, leaving you trapped in the deep dark bowels of an enormous alien entity. Fight through the backwash and encounter the weird and terrible monsters that are living in the alien’s gut, force your way through putrid stomach acid and strange slippery bubbly stuff, and be totally grossed out by thousands of iddy-biddy insects that come pouring out of strange pulsating larvae when you mix water with it.

Yes, this is a game you probably want to avoid playing immediately after eating, and you might feel a little queasy the next time you are staring down Sparrow-on-a-stick (a Kyoto traditional cruisine).

But wait… PixelJunk Shooter 2 isn’t all about dieting and worm control! It has vast new worlds to explore that aren’t part of an organism’s digestive track, and new technologies too, such as the Hungry Suit and the Light Suit and a whole load more. Use the new R3 spin-attack to wipe out chains of enemies at a time and revel in the destructive mayhem you can dish out with the upgraded charged missile! But all this wanton damage is in a good cause as those survivors still need rescuing and only YOU can save them!

On top of all this fun, we have added a completely new online versus mode which I have gone over in a previous post, but let me tell you, it’s just oozing with “addictability”, with twenty unique wonderful weapons to earn and use in the battles I really hope everyone gives it a go. It’s not overly aggressive and is a bit of cute cat-and-mouse fun, so even those PixelJunk fans out there who have never played online before, I urge you to give it a few tries (besides, one of the trophies requires you to go up at least one league in the online mode so that should be a good enough lure).

Anyway, I shouldn’t keep you too long, you’ve got PSN wallets to fill and Shooter 2s to download! See you online! (my ID’s PixelMeister so if you encounter me in your league battling, be kind and let me destroy you!)

P.S. There is something extra special for those of you who collect all the treasures… I shan’t spoil it though, last one there’s a ninny!

Over and out! …now where did I place that damn magma ball blaster…

Compared to the original, this game is packed even more full of lovely gushing liquid action across three entirely new worlds, and there is a whole new game in itself with the online versus mode we have put in there (over 20 weapons and abilities for you to use against your opponent!). This is why it has taken a little longer than expected to get this into your hands, but we’re really happy that now, after winging its way through the digital tapestry called “game submission,” it has been approved for release!

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks as we have some very interesting things to announce and remember to tune into our PixelJunk Radio podcast if only to hear us talk in dulcet tones!

If you have any questions about Shooter 2, fire away below and either myself or Ariel will attempt to answer them!

You may have already heard, but PixelJunk Shooter 2 has the most insanely fun online Versus mode that has ever been created. Rather than just do a simple battling-type system, we created a special cat-and-mouse type game which has you and the enemy take turns as cat or mouse, either scouring the stage for the other player or running away from him. The trick being that the “mouse” is invisible to the other player unless he views you directly, so you can sneak around collecting the survivors and transporting them to your base. Each survivor that goes into your base is an extra point. But watch out: When it is the other player’s turn to play mouse they can steal them back if they are cunning enough.

Carefully laid out on top of this really addictive core game is a league system that earns you “money” that you can use to buy crazy and special items for use in battle (you only have to buy them once and you can use up to three types at any time per battle). The ultra-slow but ultra-smart homing missile is one of my favourites (it doggedly tracks the other player and is difficult to shake off!), as is the “Time Slip” item that rewinds the positions of both players for a few seconds. There is a limit on the number of uses of certain items within a battle, so a lot of strategy is involved and it has a seriously good “just one more go” factor – if you win, you will climb into new leagues to get bonuses so you can buy even cooler weapons (with 20 to choose from!) and more maps to play on. I can see many, many late nights being caused by just this part of PixelJunk Shooter 2.

But on top of all this we have created a whole new set of three worlds with new liquids, puzzles and some brilliant new enemies and bosses, packing even more fun into the regular adventure mode too! So PixelJunk Shooter 2 is not only our first true sequel in the PixelJunk series, it’s also our first PS3 online-enabled game and the combination of these two things means it is simply bursting at the seams! Oh, and remember to look forward to the new “suits” for your ship of, course!

Anyway, no more chit-chat. Check out the trailer above and see what I mean!

Let me be the first to say this, but PixelJunk Racers is *not* a racing game – it is more like a PixelJunk reaction-based party game based loosely on slot-car racing. There are all kinds of different rules to play with, for example in one rule all you do is hold the trigger down to “puff up” your car, release the trigger and your car flies along the track like a balloon, the goal is to get as far as you can without hitting anything. We support up to 7 controllers and it makes for a superb game to play with friends around. In another mode you can only keep your speed up by “eating” the other cars (by hitting them and destroying them). For anyone who enjoys fun rules with a bit of a driving motif, this should be right up your alley. It is one of our favourite games in the PixelJunk series — it’s a personal favourite of mine and the one that kickstarted it all off.

On top of this we added a new global scoreboard called Driver’s Points which add up as you play the online score attack modes. This should give everyone a nice long-lasting challenge, especially as to enhance this further we have added ghosts of the other players in the high score rankings that you can play against. You can only select ghosts from either your friends’ list or from the other players near you in the high score table so as you go up through the ranks you should be able to see some incredibly skilled play from some of the best players out there. It makes for a very addictive challenge.

Before I forget, 2nd Lap is totally FREE to existing owners of Racers, and you get to keep the original (difficult) Racers for posterity (it doesn’t overwrite it). PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to get this upgrade a whole two weeks before everyone else too, with also a 25% discount (those lucky folks!) Regular PSN users will soon catch up though, two weeks isn’t too long to wait I hope – it will be available on Aug 24th for just $6.99!

Whether you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber or not, if you’re an existing owner of Racers, be sure to get the FREE upgrade to 2nd Lap. All you have to do is click the FREE button on the 2nd lap product page, add to cart and install… that’s it! For those that are new to Racers, you will automatically be upgraded to 2nd lap at the time of purchase.

Anyway, it’s time for me to get back to work finishing up PixelJunk Shooter 2 (looking pretty cool btw!), I’ll be back in a little while to talk it up and perhaps even to discuss our latest collaboration with Baiyon of PixelJunk Eden fame, so see you soon!