Q-Games Update: Star Dust, Dynamic Themes & Our Favorite Little Tikiman…

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PixelJunkies Monsters Dynamic Banner

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.

PixelJunk Monsters Dynamic Theme

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!

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107 Comments

6 Author Replies

  • Can we PLEASE have atleast 1!!! Dynamic Theme for free plzzz, WORLDWIDE!
    I heard that the Afrika Dynamic Theme wass exclusive for Japan and for FREE!!
    But I don’t like account spamming and certainly don’t wanna start, plzz = (

  • Love the new theme. I wish people would stop complaining. Instead, we should be asking for a God of War III theme!!!!!! Or a Metal Gear Solid 4 one. Anyone remember when snake is smoking during the loading time? That would be the best theme ever! Loving the new PJM theme. It’s pretty sweet.

  • Super StarDust and Echochrome, will be great for this:)

  • Please add some free themes!! Thanks :)

  • $2.99 is way too much. Charge $0.99 and you will get more sales and end up making more money.

    Oh, and do you guys have anything to do with the Dynamic avatars?

  • Gattaca is awesome

    /thread

  • I’m really loving the dynamic themes! <3
    Are you guys open to suggestions? I downloaded the God of War 3 image from the official website that is shown on the title screen from the E3 demo (the one with Kratos to the left of the screen) and have got it set to my background.
    It would luck incredible to have that as a dynamic theme, seeing him breathing with the flags rippling in the distance.

    Make it happen :)

  • Happy 8th anniversary Q-Games. :)

  • There is no way I’ll pay for a dynamic themes for a game I already own, it’s insulting.

  • I just looooove the pixelJunk games. Now, can I have that new awesome looking Shooter for free? Pretty please?

  • Some things i think you guys should improve on:

    – FREE dynamic themes worldwide, or atleast software for those who want to create their own.
    – Fix the friend list boxes or atleast present them in a way that makes sence.
    – Why the lack of avatars? If you announce it for the 3.00 update, why ignoring a support for it?
    – Also, make dynamic themes for anything outside of gaming aswell, like nature themes f.e. water drops, water falls, oceanic scenes, rain, sunrises. Basically, would like to see you guys thinking outside of the box for a minute.

    Thanks in advance

  • Was thinking about getting a theme, but 2.99 just seems to much. now if they was .99 i would probably buy an animated theme.

  • ah yes. pixeljunk monsters deluxe. it has almost been forgotten by many, but looks like an AMAZING UBER-TASTIC game. i can not wait for this game to come out, and i do also really want the Monsters theme. any plan for an Eden theme? maybe one with some plants moving back and forth slowly. i’d buy that for sure!

  • Awesome stuff! You guys have done some really amazing things for the PS3. Keep up the great work!

  • Cool stuff, now if you guys can make the dynamic theme to be a selectable visualizer that would be great :)

  • Yeh, I agree that $3 is too much. But I brought this and LBP theme already. Hopefully, we will get less expensive ones in the future.

  • Hi,I love your games. are you going to release a new expansion for monsters ?. about the theme, it is missing the tiki babies.

  • It’s really disappointing that the first dynamic PS3 theme “ever created” isn’t free. I’d have thought the best way to entice people into purchasing these themes would be give one out for free to demonstrate why it’s worth paying for. Not to mention there is not a single dynamic theme, neither free nor premium, available for download for us European PS3 owners.

    Anyway, good job anyway. I like the look of the ‘star dust’ background and I’ve checked out the free Afrika theme from the Japanese store so I can definitely see the potential for some great themes. Hopefully some of those will be free.

    One thing you guys could do is to make dynamic themes unlockable items in games. I’d love to see an unlockable PixelJunk Shooter theme so please at least consider it.

  • can u guys make one for free plzzzz

  • Why can’t these be made by users? If an average joe can get a dev kit can he ask Sony to put it on the store for free or put it up on the internet for download?

  • I thought $2.99 was a little steep, but being as the first dynamic theme was for one of my favorite games on the PS3, I gave it a try and love it. Very cool.

    I probably won’t go and spend another $2.99 on just a theme until its for another game that I loved as much as, or more than, LBP, though… like inFAMOUS or MGS4, possibly Uncharted.

    Also, I hope premium avatars aren’t too much… $0.49 sounds good, depending on what they do, that is. At any rate, I just want a feature to use unlocked trophy tiles as avatars. How cool would it be to show off that trophy tile for the game you platinum’d before your friends and embrace your inner geek? Plus, it’d open up a HUGE library of avatars with very little work.

    Either way, great job with 3.00 – a few things irked me, but here’s hoping those are easily remedied in the future.

  • come do something free theme…or u can give in Qore…

  • $2.99 for a dynamic theme? Yes you can have my money :D

    Seriously I’ll gladly toss money your way, as if any studio deserves it, you guys take the cake. Pjm and Eden are both amazing psn games, and shooter looks just as spectacular, keep up the great work guys.

    Ever since monsters, your games have become an instant day 1 for me without question.

  • First off THANK YOU Q-GAMES for your continued support of the PSN with the Pixel Junk series and your hard work on the XMB itself. Now maybe you guys could talk Sony into letting you do another music player vizualizer, loved the planet Earth one. Only after you guys have finished putting the final touches on Pixel Junk Shooter of course. With all that said it really feels good to be back online again especially after four months with no internet.

  • Please tell me that Pixel Junk Deluxe will be playable on the PS3!!!!

    Im not sure if this can be done, but it would make me SO happy!!!

    @ Dylan, will there ever be more expansions for PS3 Pixel Junk Monsters I would be more then happy to pay ANY price to get some more levels!!!!!!

    • Only plans are for PSP at the moment. At some point in the future we want to make a proper sequel, a Monsters II, but that is a bit of a way off I think.

  • Any Release Date For PixelJunk Eden Shooter, shooter won’t be better than eden, Nothing will ever beat eden, Oh and is there a chance of the pixel junk eden encore soundtrack, i’m dying to get that to listen to garden 12 and 15 on my PlayStation 3, best songs in eden all round.

  • I will happily give $3 to Q-Games. I’ve purchased every Q-Games title with the exception of Racers, and I plan to continue doing so. These guy’s deserve the money as they continue to pioneer software for PSN and the PS3. Keep up the good work guy’s.

  • So far you guys have the best dynamic theme on PSN!

  • Need a Hitman Dynamic Theme, with Agent taking out people with a sniper rifle through random shots. During the nighttime, he wears night vision goggles.

  • Remember that we’ll be lucky to sell even a few thousand themes and so the cost of developing the theme (3-4 weeks of coder/artist time, checking, testing etc) will still far exceed any money we make from it.

    It may not be you as a developer who makes the decision on the price, but how hard is it to understand that if the price was lower, it would sell more. You sell 2000 for 2.99 and the gross income is 5980. 4000 for 1.99 and the gross income is 7960. Sony makes their cut on every sale most likely so its not a direct difference in net profit however more money is more money.

  • when they coming out

  • $2.99 for a dynamic theme is WAYY!!!! too much… the price for dynamic themes needs to be capped at $0.99-$1.49

  • will third party publishers be able to make dynamic themes of there own? or maybe even indie guys? that would be awesome

  • ¿PJMD on UMD? ¿Will it make it to Europe? =D

  • Though I am disappointed in the first theme not being free; like @36-KazeEternal, I recognize the work and cost put in so I find $2.99 a deal coming out. Hopefully this pricepoint can be maintained. I thank you guys for all your work on this as I was actually getting tired of static backgrounds. I literally had stopped using them just to have the wave back and some movement, lol. I welcome the animation, static or controller affected (*hint*shoulder buttons are unused on the XMB*hint*).

    I can’t wait to see what your breakthrough brings in from other developers. Hopefully a (cost effective) way may even be found to unlock a free tag-along theme for future popular titles similar to how some games unlock Home items.

    PS: I want a PJM Tiki Mask for Home. :)

  • Wish we could create our own themes. Things like these are what will cause the ps3 to be hacked- developers and sony trying to charge for something ppl think should be free. I got the Afrika theme but it ain’t too great with the colors hiding text in the xmb, so is there any other theme available on psn?

  • I appreciate the continued effort by Sony and Q-games to improve functionality of the XMB. So, thank you. However, when you go to messing with the look of the XMB there needs to be an option for users to keep the ‘classic’ view. The friends list backgrounds are almost as annoying as the ‘star dust’. So c’mon with 3.01 and fix some of these great “fixes”

  • @ 33

    Thank you for explaining it, hopefully that will keep people quiet from complaining.

  • i wish this and the littlebig planet themes for free. I am not paying 3 bucks for a theme.

  • This was a waste of a blog post.All you tell us is that PJM Deluxe is coming “very soon”and nothing about Shooter

    -SUCKS CRAP-

  • You’re telling me that Sony gypped us out of cascading hair, nail clippings, and skin flakes on our XMB backgrounds!? AARRRGGH!

  • “Dylan Cuthbert replied on September 5, 2009 at 4:22 am
    Remember that we’ll be lucky to sell even a few thousand themes and so the cost of developing the theme (3-4 weeks of coder/artist time, checking, testing etc) will still far exceed any money we make from it.”

    Oh ok, I had no idea. In that case, I will definitely pick this up. I have everything else Q games has put out!

  • I quite liked the news feeder, but damn – seeing that plain no-news-ticket on this post is badass.
    Seriously, i now see why people don’t like it. That seriously looks really good.

    Man, we need a way to turn it off…

  • I know it was probably SCE’s pricing and not yours (you guys are too smart for that)… but $2.99 is too much for just a theme, dynamic or not. It’s past the curve, i.e. at $1 you’d sell more than 3 times as many…

  • I’m a bit confused as to how there will be no profit on these themes, correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t these largely made up of existing assets already charged for in the games that they are promoting?

    The LBP one for example (yes I know it’s not yours), sackboy, the planet and run animations are from the game. Yes I know there would be planning, previs and some minor coding but really, no profit? The Afrika theme was free, I’d hazard a guess and say it was filed under marketing and promotion, which is basically what it is.

    In comparison to making a game, the cost would be extremely low. The PJ Monsters theme costs nearly a third of the cost of the game yet I’d doubt it cost Q-Games nearly a third in development time or money.

    Profit is largely dependent on how many downloads it gets which no one really knows at this stage.

    I think next time a new feature is promoted prior to release it needs to be made quite clear on it being a premium feature as opposed to being a ‘gift’. Then people won’t feel as if they’re being taken for a ride.

    Some people are happy to pay the price, those that aren’t won’t feel duped if they’re aware of it before hand. Everyone’s happy and there’s no ill feeling.

  • Dude! PLEASE tell me how you disabled the ticker!
    It looks ugly on an SDTV and I’d like to know how you got rid of it. ;~;

  • Sorry, but $3 is too much when I can get free non-animated themes that look as good.

    Sony should make the SDK or whatever that is behind the animated themes consumer-able. At least then we could see how well they go against $3 themes. :|

  • “Remember that we’ll be lucky to sell even a few thousand themes and so the cost of developing the theme (3-4 weeks of coder/artist time, checking, testing etc) will still far exceed any money we make from it.”

    Then don’t do it! Nobody asked for this so GTFO with your “dynamic themes”.

  • I’ve downloaded the theme (I’m from Holland) and I really, really love it! I’m not planning to download all released dynamic themes but this one and LBP are far my most favorites ;)

  • “Dylan Cuthbert replied on September 5, 2009 at 4:22 am
    Remember that we’ll be lucky to sell even a few thousand themes and so the cost of developing the theme (3-4 weeks of coder/artist time, checking, testing etc) will still far exceed any money we make from it.”

    Huh? Am I supposed to believe that a theme takes so much to make that you need to sell it? Here I was thinking 1 guy could easily do it in one day IN HIS FREE TIME. Meh. How many themes do you need to make before it becomes easy or is it like developing a game now? If companies can’t do it for free then give those who can the opportunity to.

    I even think you guys expect to make money off this which is why you sell it. Dynamic themes are new and have several ps3s to be used on so the time is prime to sell one of the few themes out there

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