Hi PixelJunkies! I’m Matt Morton, Associate Producer at SCEA Santa Monica Studio and I’ve had the great fortune of working on the PixelJunk series since the very first title, PixelJunk Racers. We’ve been working hard to keep spreading the PixelJunk Love (as Deb Mars calls it) and wanted to give you a heads up on the upcoming patch for PixelJunk Monsters and PixelJunk Monsters: Encore.
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 …
Awesome News.
Custom Soundtracks FTW!
oh and trophies as well!
Cool sounds good
Nice update!!
Thanks..
I’m all over this. Great game.
Sweet! Love this game, another reason to go back. Thanks!
YEEEEEEES!
awesome, awesome, awesome!
all that’s needed is an online co-op feature
This IS what I have been waiting for! Thank you so much. Just wish it was coming out tomorrow :)
This is beyond awesome news! Thank you for the patch for, IMO, the best PSN game out there right now.
Can…not…WAIT!!!
Nice, but i’d just like to say that we need ‘FRIEND INVITE’ in GEON !
Nice, you guys rock. Everything you do is impressive. I haven’t managed to 100% Eden yet, and now you’re going to force me to boot up Monsters again…
I’m not bragging or anything but I achieved all rainbows last week on both islands…
I’m ready for the trophies challenges now!!!!
Great stuff. I would love to give Monsters & Encore a second round. Thanks for the update. Keep ’em coming.
Sounds great, haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet, might as well wait for the patch now.
Was able to get all Eden trophies, maybe I will be able to add all Monsters trophies as well.
Amazing ,the tophies challenges adds more replay value.
And the casual difficulty is a godsend for me
Im so happy :D
good work Q-Games.
Oh… I forgot to ask, is there going to be more upgrades later? like new levels or a level creator?
That would be awesome!
@16 jcasanova
I would pay for a online addition.
Even without new levels, playing with someone online would be awesome in PJ Monsters.
I would love some PixelJunk Monsters/Eden-themed avatars…when can we expect more avatars, Sony? We are in a serious need for NEW AVATARS!
Great patch, btw. Will be getting the game now, definitely. :D
Great news! Can’t wait for the patch!
woaaa so much stuff added. I love it!
YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!
Every day, I wake up hoping me and my dad can get back into PJ:Monsters and the trophies totally gave us a reason. Thanks so much, Matt, Deb and the rest of the team! I can’t wait till the update goes live.
Keep up the great work!
I can’t wait to finish this game now, been waiting for the trophies.
Thanks for the Pixel Love!
Purring in anticipation!
:P
SUH-WEEEET! Can’t wait!
I really like the trophy approach. Glad you all added playability as opposed to making people do it all over again. I will be buying ENCORE now because of this!
Also, does the PixelJunk Campaign apply to the US? That is, I haven’t bought ENCORE yet, but will that purchase net me PixelJunk Racers, too? Or does that only apply to Japan until November 4?
Very cool.. I’ve told Dylan this before.. but I think Racers is a lot better than people think. You have to look at it as being a puzzle game not a racing game.
Maybe more people would buy Racers if it gets a patch like this.
So Matt, what are the chances we’ll ever get a hard copy package of PixelJunk Monsters & Eden as a collection?
Or perhaps separately on UMD for PSP?
PixelJunk love <3
Looking forward to this page being up and in English: http://www.pixeljunk.jp/library/Monsters/patch.php
Matt,
Are you tied to the Eden promotion where whoever purchased Eden last week would receive Encore for free? I still haven’t received my code and it’s been way more than the 3-5 days that Sony told me. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
Can’t wait for the update. Thanks for the continued support of this game. You guys are great!
AWESOME…I can’t wait to play through the first half and go back and finish Encore. I have kept myself busy with sooo many great releases lately that I never finished Encore :(
Tight
Great to hear. One of my favourite PSN titles. Keep up the great work PixelJunk.
Quick question- can trophies be gained while playing 2 player?
This is a free patch, right?
Awesome! I’m most excited about the easier difficulty. I was never able to complete it due to the hardness of the game! I’m also excited about custom soundtracks, moreso than the trophies. Great update!
@35 Gorvi
Free indeed… and you have XMB ingame music,trophies ,youtube support.
sweet…and it’s for free baby!!!
Cant wait. I needs me a gimpin’ patch.
I R TEH SUX AT PJM
Trophies are good too.
Anybody knows what’s the “Burn-in protection” option on the pause menu???
Getting a rainbow without crossing the bridge will be a great challenge!!
@40 it makes the bright white PJM sign at the bottom of the screen less bright. It helps your TV not get that little sign permanently burned in.
Great News!!
Custom soundtrack is awsome. The casual difficulty is a must for me (I love this game but am not very good at it outside of co-op). With the new difficulty setting I think it’s time I purchase Encore tonight.
And I love the way you seem to have implemented trophies. Not giving them away for something everyone is going to do anyway, but making them an uniqe challenge.
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! Great work guys!
Why can’t we get it tomorrow?!?? I needs my patch lol
All I have to say is FINALLY…
Can’t wait for this patch, and thank you :)
Great news!!
i love that game
Cant wait to hear more about your next project, PixelJunk Dungeon? ;)
Can we log into the japanese psn and do the update this thursday in the US?
I have been waiting for this patch for awhile now. I hope there aren’t any delays.
Thanks you for this awesome patch that is coming. I got Pixel Junk Monsters on sale back in the July sale and I have really enjoyed it. I was waiting for these trophies to come along =).