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A Kingdom for Keflings: NXE, Avatars, And The Future of NinjaBee

LunarDuality — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:56:25 -0500

This marks the third and final part of our A Kingdom for Keflings interviews. Today, Steve Taylor is back on the hot seat to answer some more questions about how the decision to include Avatars affected Keflings and also what might be next for NinjaBee. And I even snagged a shot of NinjaBee's Valerie Cope standing alongside her Avatar in a world of Keflings and also a shot of the premium theme for A Kingdom for Keflings. Good stuff.

Hit the jump for the full interview and when you're done make sure you go get the AKFK demo (if you haven't already) and see what all the fuss is about.

Growing Pains And Community Games

LunarDuality — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:22:58 -0500

Perhaps you're like me and waited until this morning to hop on Live to check out Keflings and all the other new content on Live this morning. If so, perhaps you've also run into an error message every ten seconds while trying to demo or buy content. Welcome to the growing pains period of the upgrade. Live is officially being slammed.

That said, I'm sure you are still just as excited to dive into all the new stuff and these hiccups are usually ironed out within a day or two anyway. So, let me just say that (despite not talking much about it recently) I highly recommend you check out the new Community Games section in Games Marketplace. There you will find a nice variety of brand new XNA community generated games costing as low as 200 MSP. All games have a free demo though so go ahead and try 'em and let us know what you think. Might this truly be a gaming revolution born of the people?

Hit the link if you're stuck at work and wanna decide which games to download before you get home.

[via XNA Creators Club Online]

Stay Up Late For The NXE And Keflings!

LunarDuality — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:59:28 -0500

The folks over at NinjaBee just tipped me off to the fact that they are going to be hosting a wee launch party tonight on the Xbox.com forums to celebrate the release of the New Xbox Experience alongside their game A Kingdom For Keflings. And what's more, besides talking about the game they plan on doing some cool giveaways. What's to lose? You know you're waiting up anyway.

Festivities begin at 6PM Eastern in the official AKFK forums at Xbox.com and last until the game launches. Go check it out and tell 'em I sent ya!

A Kingdom for Keflings: Art Interview

LunarDuality — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:49:14 -0500

Now that we know a little more about the way A Kingdom for Keflings is played let's find out how the crew at NinjaBee arrived at the finished style of AFKF. For that, there's no better person to ask than Brent Fox, NinjaBee's Art Director. Luckily, he's taken a few minutes out to answer my questions.

After the break, discover more about the process of making a game's world metamorphose from visual concept to finished product. We talk about artists, iterations, avatars, and even that mysterious NinjaBee style.

A Kingdom for Keflings: Gameplay Interview

LunarDuality — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:31:35 -0500

As promised, here is the continuation of our A Kingdom for Keflings coverage. Keep an eye out this week for more info on the game leading up to its Wednesday release along with a surprise or two along the way.

I got to catch up with Steve Taylor, president of NinjaBee, to chat about Keflings. Hit the jump for part one of the interview. Today's topic was gameplay so Steve and I talk about cities, hats, animal cruelty, and I even sneak in a question about downloadable content. If you're a more visual person there are some screens to keep your eyes busy.

New Arcade Hits, Banjo Kazooie, and a Keflings Demo

LunarDuality — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:55:41 -0500

Hear that? It's the silence of the Microsoft crew regarding this week's slate of XBLA goodness. Gears of Wars 2 will do that to a PR team. That said, there are some XBLA announcements worthy of our focus.

First, today is the day that all those that pre-ordered Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, myself included, can snap up the title and the pre-order bonus: a download code for the XBLA version of the original Banjo. Those without a pre-order will have to wait two weeks and slap down 1200 MSP.

Second, if Banjo is not your thing, perhaps Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Feeding Frenzy, or Worms HD might interest you at their new Arcade Hits price points. Each of those games has been dropped to the criminally low price of 400 MSP (or 5 of your US dollars).

And if that's not enough XBLA goodness for you, go buy this month's Official Xbox Magazine which has a demo for NinjaBee's A Kingdom for Keflings. Though, perhaps being asked to purchase the full game over and over is just too much of a tease to handle. Selecting that option just gives you an error. Not that I tried.

A Kingdom for Keflings on Nov. 19th with Avatars!

LunarDuality — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:05:45 -0500

In case you missed the "official" announcement, here's the skinny. NinjaBee's upcoming XBLA game, A Kingdom for Keflings will be available alongside the New Xbox Experience on November 19. And, what's better, Keflings will take advantage of one of the biggest new features in the update, namely Avatars. You will be able to use your Avatar as, well, your avatar in the game. And it's not just some floating icon. The Avatar will sport tailored animations and "social emotes" for use in the game.

At this point we should not be surprised that NinjaBee is helping Microsoft celebrate another first. They were there at launch with Outpost Kaloki X, and they ushered in DLC achievements and user generated maps with Band of Bugs. NinjaBee's presence at yet another Xbox 360 milestone seems like an foregone conclusion. And so it goes with the NXE and the introduction of Avatars.

We'll be throwing up all kinds of content about Keflings (not to be confused with Gelflings) in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

This Week: Vigilante 8: Arcade

LunarDuality — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:07:22 -0500

Apparently Vigilante 8: Arcade has finally passed certification and is headed straight into your living room. Gamerscoreblog has officially announced that the 70s-style auto combat game has begun revving her engine in preparation for this Wednesday. The original Vigilante 8 appeared on the original Playstation more than ten years ago, but this version has apparently upped the ante in virtually every way. With single player and both coop and competitive multiplayer (online and local) and one of the best looking XBLA engines out there, anyone gearing up for this one?

(Vigilante 8 is rated T for Teen and will cost 800 MSP)

[via Gamerscoreblog, Xbox.com page here, Official Site here]

Also This Week: Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader and Marble Blast Ultra DLC

LunarDuality — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:28:15 -0400

It appears that the 1200 MSP game is no longer the rare occurrence it once was. Oh how times have changed. This week sees the release of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2 (1200 MSP) and Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader (also 1200 MSP). Penny Arcade might be cheaper than last time (a pleasant surprise) but I certainly did not expect 5th Grader to have such a high price. One man's treasure and all that.

As for the Marble Blast Ultra DLC -- This "bonus" level will be a multiplayer level that will also add an achievement to the game. I am assuming that this DLC will be free based on the lack of price listed at Gamerscoreblog, but we probably should avoid getting our hopes up too high considering the history. That said, I have not played Marble Blast Ultra in some time so perhaps this is a reason to dust it off.

[via Gamerscoreblog]

Next Week: Penny Arcade Episode 2

LunarDuality — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:14:28 -0400

Hothead has let the T. Kemper out of the bag and announced that Penny Arcade Episode 2 is coming next week to XBLA. And what's more, it's cheaper! Episode 2 will only set you back a mere 1200 MSP. Okay, so it's not "mere" but you can't argue that it's not cheaper. Hmm, too many negatives in that sentence. Moving on.

Course, if all the current and future holiday titles have your wallet begging for mercy, you could always act out your own Penny Arcade Adventure...papercraft-style! And if you are particularly crafty, you might even win a copy of the game and more.

[via Hothead Games, thanks PeeKnuckle]