It’s been about two months since Awesomenauts launched on PlayStation Network, and we’re thrilled to see that the community has grown to be so active and vibrant. Teaming up with Sony to make Awesomenauts part of May’s PlayStation Plus offer has really helped to get our multiplayer platforming-shooter off to a running start. And now, we’re almost ready to launch the first big update for our game!

In this update, we’ve addressed two key concerns that we’ve heard from the community: balance and content. After two months of solid playing, we can confirm that the balance in the original version is pretty good, but not perfect. With this patch, we’re taking a couple of steps to further improve this balance, and bring it closer to where we want it to be. We’ve buffed some characters, and nerfed those who deserved it.

This patch doesn’t just bring boring stat changes, though. We’ve got some new characters for you, too! Coco Nebulon and Derpl Zork will join the original six Awesomenauts very, very soon. What we haven’t told you yet though, is that they’re going to be free!

So, let’s talk about Coco Nebulon – our first female character. She’s a space-surfing chick who comes from the watery world of Okeanos. She is great at harassing enemies with her Ball Lightning, which moves through everything and can be detonated at the press of a button. Whenever the tables turn, she also has a great move to punish chasers: a trail of slowing, damaging lightning particles. Basically, she’s great against everything that moves (but weaker against enemies that stand their ground).

And that’s where Derpl Zork comes in. His primary special skill is to turn his Combat Walker into a static turret with a heavy cannon that deals massive damage. Of course, he’ll be stuck in place until he transforms back — so running away from him shouldn’t be a problem. That is, unless Derpl uses his other ability, which places ensnaring traps on the battlefield. Derpl usually sits around in a field of traps, ready to blast anyone foolish enough to run into him.

Finally, Derpl has one last ace up his sleeve against enemies that try to get within range: the Trap skill actually changes into a Nuke-launching ability while in Turret mode. A large, homing Nuke that deals massive AOE damage — what’s not to love?

Coco and Derpl are both a lot of fun to play, and they add a lot of new teaming possibilities with the original ‘Nauts. We hope you guys have a lot of fun devising new strategies and tactics with these new characters, not to mention all of the skill and item changes we didn’t mention here. And for anyone who needed even more encouragement, we’ve added 5 more prestige levels!

We’ll see all you on the online battlefields soon!

Imagine Eighties Saturday morning cartoons and platforming shooters made sweet love. Awesomenauts is what their love-baby would look like! Awesomenauts is an online, class-based side-scrolling shooter that blends intense platforming combat with lethal skills and strategic team-play to produce a unique DOTA-like competitive experience. Matches are played out online or offline in 3 vs 3 and you’ll coordinate attacks with your buddies and gather Solar to unlock and upgrade your weapons. You’ll ultimately strive to outsmart enemy players, pushing your way through turrets and waves of droids to destroy the enemy base.

You’ll be able to play as several unique Awesomenauts: Clunk, a giant rocket-launching, self-destructing robot; Yuri, a jetpack-rocking, mine-throwing, bad-mannered monkey; and Froggy G, a watery breakdancer who dazzles his opponents. Each character fulfills a unique role within a team, and their abilities can be customized with many upgrades as you storm the online arena!

Life as an Awesomenaut is best enjoyed with friends, so we’ve included splitscreen play! In fact, you can play with up to three people on the same console and dominate online and offline matches as a team. We want as many people as possible playing Awesomenauts, and hope the game will have a large community. That’s why we’ve teamed up with PlayStation to make the game free for PlayStation Plus subscribers throughout May! And we’re preparing to support the game with new characters and items in the near future to make sure the game stays fresh.

In Awesomenauts you can always get straight into the action; the game has full drop-in support where humans can replace bots at any time during a match. Have friends come online while you’re already in a match? No problem, just send them an invite and they can drop into your game straight away. You’ll never have to wait in lobbies for a match to start!

We are really excited to test our mettle against you all online. There’s only a week to go until you can gear up and see if you’ve got what it takes to be an Awesomenaut. Hope to see you online! We’ll be playing for sure, so check out Twitter.com/RonimoGames and Facebook.com/Awesomenauts to stay up to date on any playsessions we’ve got going on.

Use your power, show your might! Win the cosmic war, the Awesomenauts!

This colorfully action packed 2D online multiplayer battler with split-screen gameplay is releasing on May 1st. You’ll storm the game’s online battlegrounds and unlock loads of new abilities and characters for your arsenal. For more details on Awesomenauts come back to the blog a little later today — developer Ronimo will have more details on the game and will stick around to respond to your comments and questions.

PSN hit Trine 2 joins the free games selection in May, boasting widespread critical acclaim and a dazzling fantasy world. Don’t miss out on one of the prettiest titles in gaming — grab Trine 2 for free on Plus this month. Not enough for you? How about getting Rock of Ages for free when it releases on PSN? The acclaimed mix of tower-defense strategy and rolling ball physics (trust us, it’s fun will keep you in stitches with the game’s quirky humor and ultra-addictive gameplay modes.

May also brings the free release of PS one Classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania Chronicles. For many of you, Castlevania: SotN needs no introduction. If you’ve never had a chance to experience what many fans consider to be the definitive Castlevania game, you now have no excuse. Castlevania Chronicles, on the other hand, is based on the original Castlevania but is no less engaging than SotN, especially given its blistering challenge. Gamers who are looking for a classic challenge need look no further!

Saints Row The Third will be available on 5/8 as a PS3 Full Game download. If you missed out on this insane open-world epic last fall, you may want to jump on it as it will have a 20% discount when it releases.

If you’ve had your eye on PixelJunk 4am, you’ll be happy to hear that Plus subscribers get exclusive access to the game’s beta! All PlayStation Plus subscribers will get access to the online viewer where you can watch performances built in this musical PlayStation Move experience that immerses you in the creative flow of making music. Select Plus subscribers will also get access to the performance beta, so watch your PSN messages to see if you’re selected.

There’s a ton more coming this month that isn’t yet on the list below, including free minis like Velocity and Floating Cloud God, exclusive discounts coming towards the end of the month and more. If you’re not yet a Plus subscriber, you can snag your subscription by clicking here or purchasing it on PlayStation Store.

Remember, some content and/or release dates outlined may change including the addition or removal of content. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or continue the discussion on the PlayStation Community forums in the Official PlayStation Plus Update thread.

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