Gridrunner+++ shapes up for April

By Robert Purchese Published 20 January, 2009

Plus plus plus Jeff Minter made it.

Game developer Jeff Minter has said Gridrunner+++ will be ready for Xbox Live Arcade release by the end of April.

The exact date and price are yet to be revealed, but Minter is unlikely to stick with the Space Giraffe price of 400 Microsoft Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80) as he believes this made the game look cheap.

Gridrunner+++ is not the final name, either; it's a way of showing that this as the third iteration since 1982.

Lots has changed since then, such as Michael Jackson, so Gridrunner returns to life with "beautiful abstract visuals" and challenging but approachable gameplay, according to Minter.

As you might expect, though, players control a spaceship and blast away at approaching baddies, and also pick up "sheepies" for power-ups along the way.

We caught up with Llamasoft founder Jeff Minter back in December to chat about Space Giraffe on PC and farm animals and stealing reindeer from Scotland.

Head over to our Jeff Minter interview to find out what he had to say.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • penhalion #1 3 years ago

    So he's making the game more expensive because he thinks the last game he made was too cheap. Is he really in such blind denial that he still hasn't accepted that space giraffe (the first release) was simply unplayable by most sane people who hadn't taken drugs or large amounts of alcohol before hand!

    What makes things worse is that it sounds like he's going to do another unviewable psychadelic colour wash on this new grid runner game.

  • IkariW #2 3 years ago

    Who cares.... Minter is a prehistoric relic from a long and best forgetten age in video games.
    And his games were an 'Aquired taste' even back then!

    Mostly rubbish....adstract for the sake of it....unplayable....tests of patience...

    Think this will pass me by, like his last 'Effort' to re-live his 'Glory' years....

    Ikari


  • Weezer #3 3 years ago

    Why the sheep, Jeff... why? Not everyone has your love of even-toed ungulates. How about making a power-up in the shape of... oh, I dunno... a circle, maybe? Or a spinny 3D cube. Or basically anything other than another fucking quadrapedal ruminant.

  • quantumsheep #4 3 years ago

    Back off, Weezer!

    ;)

    I never was a huge fan of gridrunner, but loved Space Giraffe. If anything, I won't buy this at 800 because, for me personally, I'd only be willing to spend 400 to see what all the fuss is about.

    Still, I *might* get it if the Demo's better than the SG one...

  • schnide #5 3 years ago

    Ho ho ho, look, it's Jeff Minter! He wears furry ponchos and lives on a farm! What? He programs consoles? Even with such a retro outlook on both life and gameplay? How does he manage to do all that and stay relevant?

    Oh.

  • Toothball #6 3 years ago

    I enjoyed Space Giraffe. Can't remember seeing Gridrunner before, but I imagine I'll check this out for the potential bewilderment.

  • speedjack #7 3 years ago

    Looking forward to this.

    I loved SG and without a doubt its the best 400 points I've ever spent on live arcade.

    I am also neither a hippy nor a smoker of 'recreational' cigarettes but I am partial to the odd beer.

  • FHUTA #8 3 years ago

    as long as it's as insanely good as Space Giraffe, but with some logical up front presentation and tutorial then hopefully it'll do well

  • homerramone #9 3 years ago

    Minter is a prehistoric relic from a long and best forgetten age in video games.
    Actually I recall there bieng lots of good games around about the 1980-1990 era.

  • schnide #10 3 years ago

    And which of those do you still regularly play Homer?

  • RedSparrows #11 3 years ago

    I think I had a Llama game on my Amiga. It was unbelievably crazy. Llama jumping shooting golden bolts of whatever at...things. it was hilarious.

  • Flub #12 3 years ago

    It's not a 360 version he's talking about. It's the PC version.

  • SpeedyThing #13 3 years ago

    Although I was none-too-impressed with SG, Gridrunner++ is a lot of fun.

  • Dromedary #14 3 years ago

    Where's Stuart Campbell?

  • tarjeiba #15 3 years ago

    Wow. The way some people hate Space Giraffe is just astonishing. Of course, people have just as a big right to express displease with something, as others have to state it as the second coming. I have no problem in seeing how Space Giraffe isn't for everyone, it's just that statements like "simply unplayable by most sane people" is just wrong. It's challenging, yes, unfair, no. Two of the best games on Live Arcade are priced 400 points, Space Giraffe and Geometry Wars - I'd gladly pay triple for both does.

    This will be one of 2009's top releases for me, and Space Giraffe was my first "Minter game" - what does that make me?
    Edited by 2 at 20/01/09 @ 20:06

  • canIdoyabombsforya #16 3 years ago

    IkariW
    "Who cares.... Minter is a prehistoric relic from a long and best forgetten age in video games. "

    Also known as the 'Golden Era', when Video Games had a larger percentage of the toy and game market than they do now.



  • SinisterDexter #17 3 years ago

    I was a teen during the 'Golden Age' of videogames, and while nostalgia is a wonderful thing the truth is there was an awful lot of dross out there. Modern titles like Braid and Geometry Wars hark back to this era but manage to feel fresh and relevant due to their finely tuned gameplay and design.

    Space Giraffe on the other hand just felt like an anachronism, a denial of the last 20 years of gaming evolution. JM's latest reiteration of a geriatric title shows he hasn't had an original thought since the 80's...

  • muscleblade #18 3 years ago

    "GR:AW which was Robotron crossed with robotron crossed with Smash TV"

    GR:AW? Never heard of it.

  • LFace #19 3 years ago

    This makes me wish I had a 360, I love Gridrunner and play it quite a lot through the flash Facebook App someone ported it to. Please port over to PC Jeff... ignore all these mardy arses who moan about the visuals being too trippy. Leave them to their washed out grey/brown Gears/Halo rubbish and let us enjoy your work as its meant to be!

  • Retroid #20 3 years ago

    It's incredible the amount of hate and bile he attracts from people who've probably never touched his games.

    Bloody maddening.

    /Won't bother pointing out his current score on Space Giraffe ^____________^