Space Giraffe imminent

By Robert Purchese Published 20 August, 2007

"It will scare people."

Psychedelic Live Arcade title Space Giraffe has cleared certification and will be released any day now.

Game creator Jeff Minter spilled the beans on his blog, where he said an allocated Wednesday release was all he was waiting for now.

Until then, Space Giraffe will be tested by various volunteers from around the industry. The most recent was Microsoft Game Studio release manager James Cope, who was responsible for getting Crackdown out on shelves.

"Space Giraffe is different again, it purposefully overwhelms you. It is a new type of game and it will scare people," said Cope.

"Learning to see, listen and feel the game a player is rewarded with a very beautiful and special experience that we haven't experienced in videogames for a long time; the whole of Space Giraffe is more than the sum of its parts."

Space Giraffe is a beautifully bizarre arcade shooter in a similar vein to Tempest 2000. However, Minter and the Llamasoft team remain adamant it is significantly more than an update, and one we'll be able to enjoy for 400 points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80) just as soon as Microsoft says so.

Unfortunately Microsoft was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.

Head over to our Space Giraffe gamepage for all our coverage to date.

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 (32) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • ne0star #1 5 years ago

    Be interesting to see how this turns out given the fact the official xbox magazine gave it 2 out of ten.

  • rashes #2 5 years ago

    It did?? It's supposed to be a jazzed up tempest.... that alone should lift it above average...
    Well if its crap he might stop moaning so much in Edge about modern games !

  • mingster #3 5 years ago

    2/10 thats a bit harsh..

    it can't be that bad surely?

  • kincaide #4 5 years ago

    2/10??? What issue was it in? I refuse to believe it's that bad ....

  • Balboa #5 5 years ago

    Some quick searching dug this up

    It sounds like he found it hard, and wasn't very good at it. If I reviewed games like that, Ninja Gaiden would have gotten 2/10 from me.

  • ccfb #6 5 years ago

    Reviewer caught out by MS's own online stalking service?

    http://ww w.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.p...

  • lennon #7 5 years ago

    So its an updated Tempest.

    /Cheers

  • Kiigan #8 5 years ago

    I think James works for Realtime Worlds, not Microsoft. Unless he's moved since I last spoke to him.
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/07 @ 11:53

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #9 5 years ago

    JUST RELEASE THE FUCKING THING YOU WANKERS.

  • coach_mcguirk #10 5 years ago

    £3.40?

    Blimey!

  • JohnnyWashnGo #11 5 years ago

    Oh boy - brings back memories of Tempest 2000 on the Jag.
    I think I will be playing that later tonight now :)

  • Dreddnaught #12 5 years ago

    "Learning to see, listen and feel the game a player is rewarded with a very beautiful and special experience ..."

    Get a room you two !

  • M83J01P97 #13 5 years ago

    It's almost 'unplayable' according to both the UK and US OXM magazine, which might not mean much really... but it's not very often decent or evn half-decent games get really terrible review. Even odd little indie titles like Space Giraffe are normally given a fair review by the major press.

    So yeah, things are not looking good for this title.
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/07 @ 12:16

  • mingster #14 5 years ago

    Ok if you want an updated jaguar tempest 2000 for the PC go here:

    <a href="http://typhoon.kuto.de
    ">http://typhoon.kuto.de
    </a>

    that is all.
    Edited by 2 at 20/08/07 @ 12:35

  • mingster #15 5 years ago

    After reading the Neogaf 'detective' piece about the reviewer of the OXM.

    It turns out he didn't manage to get a single achievement and only had a score of 6 mil by lev 31 which seems to point towards him starting on level 30 getting a bonus for finish level 30 and dying on the next level.

    A normal score for getting to level 30+ is 40Million+ if you started from level 1 and you should have clocked up at least a couple of achievements by then.

    Sounds like the reviewer was an imbecile and started on the harder levels.

  • Dizzy #16 5 years ago

    That 2/10 guy just never played the game. Looks like he just masturbated for a couple of hours, wrote a review and got the $$ from the magazine. Nice work :) I guess he underestimated the cult following Jeff has ;)

  • mingster #17 5 years ago

    I'm not doubting the game is visually 'messy' and busy.

    But i 'm sure with a bit of perserverance you'd soon start to be able to pick out bullets / enemies from the noise.

    If it was fundamentally broken and unplayable then how come there's people who have scored over 100M+ on the online hi-score table?

    I think it is a typical Minter game and will have the usual cult following.
    And as usual will have a lot of people who just don't 'get' his games and think they are trippy nonsense.

  • speedjack #18 5 years ago

    Can't wait for this. There hasn't been a decent shooter on XBLA since Mutant Storm... and only 400pts ? I'll take two!!!

  • penhalion #19 5 years ago

    I totally agree wth the 2/10 score. It's virtually impossible follow the action once things start getting all psychadelic. If you are going to do tempest then for frak sake just do tempest. Don't try to screw the player with deiberately impossible to see enemies and bullets!

    Good luck to anyone who buys this. I'm sure some of you will like it.

  • ccfb #20 5 years ago

    "If it was fundamentally broken and unplayable then how come there's people who have scored over 100M+ on the online hi-score table? "

    Where are these tables of which you speak?

  • kangarootoo #21 5 years ago

    You know, I can take or leave being scared. I see it more as icing, or maybe even some raisins. What I require from a game however (the sponge of the cake so to speak) is entertainment. If its not entertaining, I don't much give a rats ass what else it is.

    I'm feeling pretty cynical about this one to be honest, but that much is probably clear. I hope I'm wrong.

  • Flub #22 5 years ago

    I think people are putting far too much stock in OXMs "review". It's a total rag. Plus it's an XBLA game. Download the demo and try it for yourself.

    On that note. When do Eurogamer plan to do a review? It's up on Partnernet. Go for it guys :)

  • Crea #23 5 years ago

    I have personally spoken to people who have played this and they said it was brilliant. Of course, this being the internet, my word carries f**k all weight, but I genuinely trust the judgement of these people.

    I predict Space Giraffe to be awesome.

  • Slim #24 5 years ago

    2/10 for something that costs £3.50 would mean it has to be compltely unplayable and of no merit whatsoever. Someone clearly needs a flogging.

  • kangarootoo #25 5 years ago

    @ManicMinerUK

    Is that sarcasm? I checked the screen, and I could only see two of what I think might be bullets. It all looked pretty messy to be honest. Maybe its clearer when its moving as you suggest.

    "I really don't know how much more obvious they could possibly be!"

    Well I have a few ideas.

  • evild_edd #26 5 years ago

    400mp...imminent release...original IP for XBLA...

    ...I believe the appropriate interweb phrase is something along the lines of:

    w00t!!! \0/

    *ahem*

  • RexRunti #27 5 years ago

    I think he's talking about the three crosses on the gid.

  • Stoatboy #28 5 years ago

    Nope - it's the three splodges nearer the bottom of the pic - 2 in the 3rd lane from the right, one in the fourth. It's odd they appear quite yellow in the youTube vids I've seen too - but in-game they appear much more vivid blue/red which they pulse between. They are generally very visible, which is intentional because the game awards bonus points for shooting them, causing them to bounce off the back of the web. The game wants you to see them because one of the major causes of death is being lured into the path of a bullet that you could see perfectly well in pursuit of points, but misjudging the timing.

  • JunoBlaster #29 5 years ago

    Oooh, just in time for my 40"Samsung 1080p telly.

    Sweeeeeeeet!

  • cawley1 #30 5 years ago

    I cannot wait for this, it will be the first time I have taken my Stepson's 360 on-line to download, so I don't really care what any review says.

    As for busy screens and difficult to see stuff, I have to say that Tempest 3000 on the Nuon suffers from some of these issues, the original Jag version is still the best Tempest if you ask me.

    Download Typhoon 2001 if you are looking for a quick fix on your PC, it's f'ing brilliant!

  • InternetRed #31 5 years ago

    In two days we can just download the trial and give it a whirl. Then, we can all make out decisions. People liked "boom boom rocket", and i hated it. People aren't that fond of Marathon 2, and i'm loving it (tm).

  • clockworkzombie #32 5 years ago

    Here is a thing from the llamasoft website.

    [link url=http://www.llama soft.co.uk/blog/?p=4
    ]http://www.llama soft.co.uk/blog/?p=4
    [/link]

    my fav quote.

    "Think of Geometry Wars as a 9.99 Standard Family Box sensibly rationed in the back garden, with the Firework Code rigidly observed, watched through the windows just in case the kiddies get scared. Space Giraffe is like strapping on a jet-pack and soaring and swooping around the Sydney New Year display while ripped to the living tits on mescalin"