When the convention center at Makuhari Messe opened its doors, our first meeting was with Q-Games’ Dylan Cuthbert. As is customary with this Kyoto-based team, every time you see them, they’re showing something new. We’ll be reporting on some new PixelJunk Shooter level reveals soon, but first -PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe is complete and ready to roll out this week (October 1) on PSP.

In this interview featuring new footage, Dylan details the new island, new trap tower, new enemies, and online play.

Hey PixelJunk fans,

Well, Q-Games has been busy again, and not just on PixelJunk. You may have noticed some new additions to the PlayStation 3’s XMB (Xross Media Bar) with the latest firmware update to version 3.00.

Well, we’re behind the “star dust” and if you haven’t noticed it yet, you’re in for a nice surprise. We wanted to implement something like the beginning of the movie Gattaca but they wouldn’t let us go quite that far, so we settled on the subtle but pretty dust effect you can see now. If you shake the Wireless Controller, you can move them about a bit, as if they are being carried by eddies in the wind.

Also, there are these new things called Dynamic Themes, and we’re proud to say that this is a system we were involved in developing. Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) wanted to spice up the background a bit and static pictures just didn’t cut the mustard. So we collaborated with them to make a system where developers can display what they want and animate and move them around. This definitely adds a little life to the PS3’s background so be sure to try it out.

In fact, go ahead and download our PixelJunk Monsters Dynamic Theme which is now available for $2.99 on the PlayStation Store. Soon you’ll have the little Tikiman running around amongst the trees behind whatever it is you are doing in the XMB. This is actually the very first theme ever made with the system because we used it to test out the features!

So go for it and grab a bit of PS3 history for yourself.

Oh and one more thing…PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe is coming to PSP very soon featuring a brand new island, more maps, new monsters & towers. We’ll have more info on that later!

What’s not on show at E3 however, is the internet co-op play we have implemented so I thought I’d spend a little time explaining what we have implemented as it is pretty cool.

To begin with, in order to meet up with friends (or strangers) you need some kind of lobby or chat room system so we have implemented that – you can create rooms freely, bookmark rooms to go back to easily, set up your preferences for what maps you want to play so people can search for your room more easily etc., all the standard stuff. There is a cross-translated menu for saying simple things no matter what language the other player understands and of course you can type messages in freely. Each room can have up to 8 players in it.

However, we’ve gone a little bit further with a feature we haven’t seen implemented before; when two people start up a co-op game a little running “ticker tape commentary” starts scrolling across the top of the chat window, so the people who aren’t playing yet can read a blow by blow account of what the two players are up to in their game. It’s surprisingly entertaining to watch while you are waiting for someone to start up a game with you. I’m hoping this gives the chat rooms a warmer, more community-like feel so people will enjoy just hanging out in their favourite rooms.

Within the game itself, you can talk to your partner-in-crime by using a new ring menu that gives you a set of simple icons you can string together that are surprisingly effective at conveying what you want your friend to do. It’s a lot of fun running around and directing the other player while you dance on towers.

I’m not sure when it will be going on sale, but when it comes out this game is a must-have for all law-abiding PSP owners everywhere, it’s dangerously addictive and now it has gone mobile you can play it everywhere!

We pulled out all the stops and decided to make this the ultimate version of PJ Monsters, so we didn’t just add a new island, we’ve gone through and added new monsters, new towers, and a whole new island. On top of that we’ve added loads of goodies, concept art, and a bunch of new tunes and even some art videos from Otograph. We’ve basically gone and packed it with everything we could possibly think of, so we are calling the game PixelJunk Monsters DELUXE!

The original islands are also in there but they have been “remixed” to include the newer types of monsters and get you to use the newer towers. I’ll write another blog entry in a short while where I’ll go through the new towers and their abilities, but they are a lot of fun to use and add a whole new layer of strategy to the game.

Oh… on a final note, we’ll be supporting WiFi multiplayer, so you can play with other people on their PSPs. There are some cool ideas in this and a fun little icon language to let you talk to each other while playing but just this alone requires an entire blog entry so I’ll come back later with more details and pictures of how it will all work.

Thanks to all the PixelJunk fans for their support, it keeps us motivated!

The patch will be releasing VERY soon, with Japan getting the first patch release on October 23. If all goes well with final testing, you will see the patch in SCEA and SCEE territories on October 30. If there are any delays to the above mentioned dates, we will be sure to update the blog to let you know about it, so stay tuned!

The Q-Games team has been hard at work on the PixelJunk Monsters patch and has packed a TON of great features into this great game. I’ll give you a quick breakdown of some of the new features you will expect to see:

Game Difficulty settings
You can now choose between three different difficulties of gameplay! There is a Casual mode, the Regular/Ranked mode, and Hard-core mode. The great news here is that you can use any combination of difficulties to complete your progress through the islands! Is there one particular map that’s too hard? Try it in Casual mode. If you Rainbow the level, that rainbow counts and will remain on the map no matter what difficulty the other rainbows were achieved at! Only the Regular difficulty will register on the ranking boards, though.

Tower Menu selection
You can now set the default menu to appear when selecting a tower! How many times have you sold off a tower and run over to another tower to quickly upgrade it and accidentally sell it by mistake? I know I’ve done that many, many times. Now you can choose which option appears as the default, instead of the last action you selected.

Tower Balancing
Those of you who have purchased Encore know about the reduced cost on the Ice Tower, and balanced functionality of the Tesla tower. This patch applies those changes to BOTH islands, not just the Encore island.

Video Recording / YouTube Support
Ever since Q-Games included this feature into PixelJunk Eden, we knew it needed to be in Monsters as well. You will be able to record up to 10 minutes of gameplay and upload it directly to your YouTube account, or send it to your video folder on your PS3’s XMB.

XMB Custom Soundtrack Support
You can now make your own custom soundtrack to listen to as you play PixelJunk Monsters and Encore! I’ve personally been enjoying listening to the PixelJunk Eden soundtrack while I play Monsters, as well as listening to the PixelJunk Monsters soundtrack within Eden! It’s great how well those fantastic soundtracks work in other games.

With these features being added, and several other small bugs being fixed in the game, we think you’ll have a great time playing PixelJunk Monsters and Encore all over again.

I think that’s about it … But it feels like I’m missing something … Hmm … I can’t quite put my finger on what I might be forgetting. Wait a minute … I remember now …

TROPHIES
Trophies are now added for both PixelJunk Monsters and Encore. We weren’t able to retroactively apply Trophies to the previously played data, but Q-Games didn’t want to force people to play everything all over again. They came up with a great idea by creating Trophy Challenges. These challenges have specific maps with set rules or objectives that will reward you with Trophies if you complete them properly.

Recently, Jeff Rubenstein got to visit Q-Games in Kyoto (the lucky so-and-so) and shot an interview with Dylan to talk more about the patch for PixelJunk Monsters. Check it out …

It took a little while longer than anticipated, but we wanted to revisit those who answered our call for your PixelJunk Monsters + Encore co-op stories.

With PixelJunk Eden hitting the PSN this week, we know the PixelJunk love will be spreading in a whole new way, and that even more co-op tales are in the offing.

So thank you for your continued support, and we’ll see you back around here really soon!

When my boyfriend and I first started going out we used to play video games together a lot. Actually, we used to do everything together a lot but especially gaming.

Suddenly we were college graduates who had been going out for almost three years and were jobless, clueless and living in different states on permanent basis. You might be able to guess what happened next. We broke up. Eventually, we got back together but warily, and hoped we be able to find some time to reconnect.

One day we’re sitting in his room and he suddenly turned on Pixel Junk Monsters. He says he thinks it something we can do together. Five minutes in and I’m hooked because not only is it something we can do together but I’m just as good at it as him! Now we turn it on every time I visit. It’s our special thing. Oh yeah, and dancing to level up towers? Totally the perfect time to make out.

- Jasmine, NY

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For the past two years, I have been a dedicated gamer wife. Before I met my husband, Isaac, I had little to no knowledge of any games since I’d never played before. Because of him, I’ve become acquainted with many different worlds. But none so endearing as the world of Pixel Junk Monsters, or what I have affectionately nicknamed the “Tiki Babies game.”

The first time my husband asked me to play this game, I was reluctant to join him. This was mainly because I am terrible at strategy and I can’t do more than two things at once, a problem which leads to repetitive and hilarious videogame deaths.

But I was so taken with the cuteness of the game and the creatures that have to be guarded by cleverly placing and using weapons against the assorted monsters that I couldn’t resist. It took a lot of fumbling, but we made it though a few levels.

This has become one of our favorite games to play together. Sometimes we even dance the upgrade dance! It’s a great way to start our days together; it’s both loving and silly and we get a kick out of it.
Thank you for creating a game that both my husband and I can enjoy!

- Beatriz, IL

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On television shows, they do all sorts of crazy things to test a couple’s relationship… getting them lost and having them navigate with a map, etc. The real test should be playing PixelJunk Monsters co-op together.

Let me start out by saying that my girlfriend hates video games. She thinks they are a complete waste of time… until Monsters. The adorableness eventually got to her and she gave it a try, and before long we were up until 4 am trying to get a rainbow on “Double Team”.

We’ve often debated why we both love this game so much. She believes the game brings out her maternal instincts (“Don’t kill the babies!!!” she often yells at me). I think I love it so much just to see the joy in her eyes as an arrow narrowly kills the last spider right before it is about to get a villager. Whatever Monsters is, it’s magic.

Thanks for creating such a fantastic game that has both brought us closer together as a couple and helped solidify our relationship by showing us how much fun we can have when working together.

- Jefferson, CA

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Early this year, I purchased a PS3 under the pretense of playing games of all sorts with my girlfriend. In my search to find something we could play together that was easily accessible, I stumbled across PixelJunk Monsters and purchased it from the PlayStation Store one lazy afternoon, not realizing the addictiveness or the enjoyment in store for us.

The quest has been fraught with casualties and arguments, including the countless times when I’ve yelled “Build on THIS tree, not THAT tree!” while gesturing emphatically with the controller. Each time, my girlfriend responds “WHAT tree, there’s nothing BUT trees in the FOREST!” Our playthroughs have not always resulted in heated discussions; the first time we figured out we could combine our dance powers to level up a tower faster, we broke out dancing ourselves in sync with our characters on the screen, hoping to hurry the process even more.

It’s been said that the couple that games together, stays together, and thanks to the endless entertainment given by PixelJunk Monsters, we’ll (hopefully!) be together a long time.”

- David, TX

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Okay, I’m not going to make any excuses for Sarah and me. Since showing her PixelJunk Monsters, it has occupied all of our time when we’re together, she adores it. We open a bottle of wine and settle into the couch for a few hours of rainbows and towers.
As a couple, especially a couple that plays games, we just have times where we want to do something silly for the sake of “just because.”

My award winning letter contains some Romeo-approved language like, “No golem as tall as a mountain, or army of overweight bumble-bees could prevent me from adoring you with the most precious gems. 5 gems for a kiss…” I even drew some characters on there, relying on my middle-school art skills. I gave the blue dancer some feminine touches like lips and a pony-tail.

She loved it. We laughed out loud. No excuses.

- Michael, TX

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Related Post:
- PixelJunk in the Trunk: Contest Winners (Part 1)

I’m back on the blog to thank all of you who answered our call for your PixelJunk Monsters + Encore co-op stories.

We love that the PixelJunk love is spreading and bringing gamers and non-gamers together. It sounds like many of you are clearly not alone in your PixelJunk Monsters addiction, and now we’re actually debating whether or not we need to form a support group on this very blog for some of you. Sure, we know what it’s like to duke it out over which tower to place on which tree. (Typical conversation between myself and Associate Producer Matt Morton: “No, not that one…THAT one!”)

And yeah, we know what it’s like to forget to call your significant other/friend/family member when the clock is already way past 2 am. (“OK so I’m this late already…why not just play ANOTHER round and get that rainbow, right?”). Go ahead…you can blame us. We’ll just turn around and blame Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games. Trust us…we’re been there, we’ve done that, and we’re paying the price, too. And loving it.

So all that said, we just want to say thanks for your support and your stories. We love hearing from you so keep ‘em coming.

We received dozens of stories from the PixelJunkies out there, and the following won shirts for delivering the first 5 entries:

• Russ, Illinois (pictured)
• Aaron, Tennessee
• Christian, Oregon
• Kris, Tennessee
• Trevor, California

Narrowing down the stories we wanted to share… that was the tough part. So here are our favorite PixelJunk Co-op stories (and pics!) Thanks to all of you that shared your experiences.

My name is Patrick and I’m 33 years old. My daughter, Lauren, is 3 years old. She loves watching her daddy play video games. When I played PJM, she would love to warn me what kind of monsters were coming next, and tell me to “build more arrows for the spiders, daddy!”. I completed the first edition by myself, and then had a great idea: why not let her try and help with the co-op? She can use a PS3 controller, so I thought, why not?

She has been having a blast. Her job is to “dance the towers” and “not collect anything” because that’s daddy’s job. It has been a real help, having her levelling up the important towers and building the odd arrow here and there. We have now completed the entire game (both islands) with rainbows using co-op.

Thanks PixelJunk, for making a game so wonderful and simple my 3-year old daughter can play!

-Patrick, Ohio

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When my boyfriend was applying for a new job, he kept making a comment that confused me.

“If I get this job, I’m buying a PlayStation 3. I’m doing it”.

I looked around our apartment, with it’s three computers, Wii, Nintendo DS, HDTV, and Tivo. Why would he need something else to divert his attention from me?

“But it can play Blu-Ray discs!”

As someone who still cherishes her ten year old copy of Newsies on VHS, I wasn’t impressed. But I encouraged him to get it anyway. New job, right? So the PS3 arrived so after, and along with it, Grand Theft Auto IV. Niko and I took an immediate disliking of each other.

“Baby, how is that cab driver going to feed his poor family? His children will end up thugs now.”

My developing dislike of the PS3 was inversely proportional to my boyfriend’s obsession with it. Seeing his two loves at odds, my boyfriend had the brilliant idea of introducing me to PixelJunk Monsters.

“What is it?” I was suspicious.

“Look! It’s cute! They dance! And it’s two players!”

I gave it a shot. At least we’d be playing together, right? And I fell in love. I felt mighty, like a god, protecting the adorable stupid village people who refused to stay safely in their hut. It was a spiritual thing, I think. The PS3 and I have achieved an unlikely friendship thanks to PixelJunk Monsters. Now if they would only get Newsies on Blu-Ray…

-Julia, Texas

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I have two boys, age 9 and 10. We’ve been gaming together for the last five years. We play multiplayer games on our own PCs, such as Team Fortress 2, Battle for Middle Earth, etc. We never really played console games together until I got PixelJunk Monsters.

The first time we all got together in front of the TV and played it was a magical experience. We all sat on the couch together, huddled in front of the TV, playing this amazing game. We’d pass the controllers back and forth, taking turns on alternate levels, laughing, getting frustrated, and high fiving when we finally rainbowed a new level.

It never sunk in how much the game meant until Valentine’s day.

Being newly divorced, Valentine’s Day was difficult for me. I was pretty depressed until my younger son came home from school and gave me an envelope. It was on a day when my ex was going to have the kids for the next three days.

I opened the envelope and there was a hand-made valentine inside. It said:

“Dad, I miss you and can’t wait to play PixelJunk Monsters with you on Monday. Happy Valentine’s Day. Love, Kyle”

-Brian, Michigan

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My wife and I are huuuuge PixelJunk fans. My wife isn’t a “gamer” but she does enjoy games like Zuma, The Sims 2, and Peggle but her all-time favorite game (she said this to me the other day) is PixelJunk Monsters! We had been planning to buy a small dog around the time of the release of PJM and one day while we were playing the name “Pixel” jumped into my mind as the name we would give our future dog. Well we got the dog and she is now named “Pixel.” We play PixelJunk Monsters religiously. In the beginning I would tell my wife where to build and what to do, but now she is the one telling me what to do! She even plays when I’m not home and has almost completed the single-player campaign by herself. Overall PixelJunk Monsters is our favorite game to play together and we will continue to play it. We will never forget this game (we have a constant reminder running around our house everyday) and we hope that you guys enjoyed our story.

-Patrick, Connecticut

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OK, that’s it for Part 1. Look for more PixelJunk pics and stories soon!

Still spreading the PixelJunk Love,

Deb Mars

It’s Deb Mars here, and I’m back on the blog to announce that we’re having a give away. Oh yeah, that’s right…a give away. It’s about time we put some PixelJunk in your trunk.

As many of you know, we recently released PixelJunk Monsters Encore and just last week we put out the official PixelJunk Monsters Soundtrack on PSN. We hope you’re all enjoying the new levels and the awesome music. In case you missed out, be sure to go to the PlayStation Store and pick it up, and also be sure check out a very cool interview between Q-Games and Otograph here on the blog.

OK so here’s the deal: We’ve seen a large number of comments about fans playing PixelJunk Monsters and Encore in co-op mode with their wives/husbands, girlfriends/boyfriends, partners, non-gamer friends, you name it. Personally, I’d love to see Dylan Cuthbert, president of Q-Games, be able to sit down and play with the Queen of England, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Anyway, it seems that we’re not the only ones feeling the PixelJunk love, and it’s clearly bringing people together and making relationships stronger. Or maybe not. Who knows? Maybe you’re getting pissed off at each other for not getting that last rainbow? Or maybe you’re actually able to smile at the glory of finding common ground again with that special someone as you dance on those trees, collect those coins, save your flock and clear all those levels.

Either way, we want to know. Tell us your story about playing PixelJunk Monsters co-op. We’ll be sharing the best in a future PixelJunk post. Oh, and if you’ve got any pics of you and your special someone playing PJM together, send those in too. We’d love to see them! The senders (to pixeljunkcouples@gmail.com) of the first five qualifying PixelJunk Monster tales that we receive (under 250 words, please!) will get two (2) amazingly cool t-shirts – one for each of you. Wear them with pride!

Now for the gratuitous legal disclaimer: To enter, you must send in your qualifying story no later then June 11 , 2008 at 11:59 PM (PST). Limit one entry per person and valid e-mail address for the duration of the promotion. Contest is only open to U.S. residents ages 13 or older who meet the terms set forth above. The senders of the first five qualifying applications that we receive will win (2) t-shirts each. Prize fulfillment is at Sponsor’s discretion and based on availability.

Still spreading the PixelJunk Love,
Deb

Hello, it’s Dylan Cuthbert from Q-Games, the company behind PixelJunk, and I’ve decided to write another blog entry to coincide with our upcoming release of the PixelJunk Monsters Soundtrack. Yes, you heard right! We are going to be the first people ever to release a soundtrack on the PSN store and it’s because we have been inundated with requests from all the fans out there! Here’s a sample track:

So today’s blog is going to be slightly different so I can simultaneously introduce you to Otograph, who made the music, and Kentaro Yoshida, who is studio director here at Q-Games and has worked hard as Producer on all the PixelJunk titles. Yoshida has a long history, having worked as an artist on all the Panzer Dragoon games for Sega, including “Orta” (for which he was art director) and he also worked for a few years at Sony Japan during which time I met with him and we made the duck-in-a-bath PS2 tech demo together. Anyway, today I am acting simply as translator because I have persuaded him to interview Otograph for the blog, so here we go:

Yoshida: To begin with please tell us a bit about yourselves, the genre of music you make and what you have been up to recently.

Otograph: We are creative unit consisting of two people, Iura Takashi and Oshima Sachiyo. We formed in 2004 and work to express ourselves in art as well as music, without limiting ourselves to any particular medium. We are often told our music doesn’t really fit in a particular genre, and that is probably because instead of specializing in one style, we place more importance on moments of touch and visual sensation to inspire us.

From 2007 we have been involved in a young modern artist group called “small-ness” and have been holding exhibitions here in Japan. We are planning to show this exhibition outside Japan in the near future. Also, we are considering holding our own independent Otograph exhibition.

Yoshida: It’s interesting but there seem to be many artists and musicians in Kyoto, why do you think this is so?

Otograph: Well the truth is both of us just happened to have been born here and we also went to University here in Kyoto. But we do think Kyoto is a very relaxed city that lets you concentrate on being creative and this might be one of the reasons. We also have a lot of artistic friends here. To use a phrase from Buddhism, Kyoto is a city with many threads of destiny. Of course, nowadays, no matter where are you are there are many ways to get your message across to the world. We plan to expand out of Kyoto at some point but wherever we go it will always be a very important place for us.

Yoshida: Ok, so name some of your all-time favorite games!

Otograph: Well, we like different games, Iura’s favorite game is Wizardry 1 thru 4 and Oshima’s favorite is the original Game&Watch Donkey Kong!

Yoshida: You’re making me nostalgic. Tell me your favorite musician.

Iura: There are so many musicians that I greatly respect so it is very difficult to choose a favorite. However, recently I have been listening to nothing but Wes Montgomery.
Oshima: Glenn Herbert Gould. The grain and quality of the sound is really beautiful.

Yoshida: Please tell us about the experience you had making music for Monsters.

Otograph: Well, first of all we were approached by Mr. Tominaga [Dylan side note: "Tomi" is the main director of PixelJunk Eden by the way] of Q-Games who would always came to our live music performances. We were interested in collaborating so we prepared a sample track (the raw material for “bye bye Monsters” which is on the soundtrack), and Q-Games signed us up. The rest is history!

Yoshida: I think this is the first time you’ve been involved in making music for a video game. So how was it?

Otograph: We progressed quickly with the music before the design for the game was finalized. After hearing the initial description of the type of music Q-Games was looking for, we were given a lot of freedom to create whatever we liked. Then, when the game started coming together we were nicely surprised at how the music, art and the player’s movement all fit together so strangely well.

Yoshida: What did you find difficult about working on Monsters?

Otograph: 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, and with just the music, our goal was to arouse the sensation in people to create puzzles.

Yoshida: So what is your opinion of the final product – PixelJunk Monsters?

Otograph: Well actually, we only got around to buying a PS3 just a few weeks ago and now we are totally addicted to Monsters! Of course we play-tested the game a number of times during development but the final tuning that went into all of the stages is exquisite! When we close our eyes we see those pink tower level meters and gems floating before us. :-)

Yoshida: If you have the chance again, what genre or type of game would you like to be involved in?

Otograph: Well, PixelJunk Monsters was a very fresh but at the same time somehow nostalgic-feeling game, so next we’d love to work on a game style that has never been seen before and is totally new and different. Right now, we are very interested in puzzle games, or games that make you exercise your brain.

Yoshida: I think there are probably a lot of people in the West who heard your music for the first time when they played Monsters and I’m sure you have gained many fans. So finally what would you like to say to them?

Otograph: To everyone who listened to and enjoyed our music, we are hugely grateful to you all! We will endeavor to challenge ourselves more and more so keep cheering us on!

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Well, that wraps up the Q&A. Thanks to Yoshida and Otograph for taking the time to give us some detailed and thoughtful answers…I enjoyed translating them. Remember everyone, the soundtrack is available this Thursday May 22 on the US store for just $2.99. Support us and we’ll support you!

What we’ve learned from Part 1: We’re all fans of Lost, fan mail rocks, Dylan’s marriage is fine, Encore hint revealed, coinage of new word “WikiTiki.”

We’re happy to announce that the game will be releasing this Thursday, May 8th for $5.99. And we promised you some juicy new info about the expansion. Well here is what we can tell you: There is a secret landmass located between Tiki & Toki Islands. Suffice it to say you won’t get any of us to dish on this one. But if you clear all stages, well…you’ll find out.

And now back to the interview:

6. (Matt) What was your first “epiphany” gaming moment when you realized this was going to be your career?

(Dylan) When I made a Pac-Man clone on my friend’s ZX-81 (an old 8-bit computer made by an English boffin called Clive Sinclair). I found it fun programming the AI for the little ghosts in BASIC. It was awful AI and took up way too much CPU time, but it started me on my long and winding path to make games for a living. That was about 1982 and I was ten years old.

7. (Matt) What game did you wish you made & why?

(Dylan) Out of existing games by other people? The original Made in Wario/WarioWare. I had an idea that was almost exactly the same which I pitched to Sony Japan in 1998 but it got lost in the rush to make the rubber ducky bath demo on the PS2.

Out of non-existing games? I really want to make a character-based side-action shooting game with platformer elements, but right now our line up for PixelJunk Series 1 is pretty much decided so maybe that will have to wait for Series 2.

8. (Matt) What career would you be in if you weren’t in the games industry?

(Dylan) A novelist, probably sci-fi. I really like Iain Banks stuff. If I failed at doing that I think I would open up a proper fish and chip shop in Kyoto during the day, and a really cool laidback bar in the evening. Maybe those three things should be my retirement plan. I’d also really like to make some kind of tv drama – something really dramatic and dark – for Japanese TV as all their stuff is so light and frilly. They could never do something like Lost or Prison Break…everyone smiles too much.

9. (Matt) If you could play co-op mode on Monsters/Monsters Encore with anyone, who would it be & why?

(Dylan) The Queen of England. Why? Well, it would be a hell of a laugh and I think she’d enjoy it, too. The Kings and Queens of the world don’t get to wage war anymore so we should encourage them to release their stress by playing RTS games. (I am watching another TV series besides Lost called The Tudors and it is really good.)

10. (Matt) Can you honestly, in all truthfulness, really get rainbows on everything?

(Dylan) Me personally…oh yes, definitely. It takes a few tries for a few of them, but I am quite the master. I know how the towers fire and where best to place them for maximum damage. Sometimes you can even time the building of a cannon tower so it pops up just as a big crowd is passing by and fires right into the middle of them inflicting a lot more damage than when if it fired as soon as the crowd hit the radius line. My wife also got all rainbows, by herself, not in cooperative play.

(Matt) Seriously?

(Dylan) Seriously.

…
Still always spreading the PixelJunk love,
-Deb, Matt, Dylan and the whole team at Q-Games