Xbox 360 classic gets updates alongside new Game Four.
Indie powerhouse The Behemoth has confirmed that an updated version of Xbox 360 smash Castle Crashers will be coming to Xbox One this year, ahead of its new title, the long-in-development Game Four.
Castle Crashers Remastered will feature a 5x increase in texture sizes; an uncapped 60fps framerate; a series of performance updates to gameplay and online multiplayer and a new minigame called Back Off Barbarian which will be exclusive to the Remastered edition. It is, we are told, a simple but compulsive mini-game for up to four players in which you use the d-pad to avoid enemies.
The game was announced during Microsoft's E3 conference, alongside the enigmatically-titled Game Four, which the studio has been working on since the release of its last game Battleblock Theater. There's a (spoiler-filled) chunk of that below; we'll have some new footage shortly once the video team have finished going through the Ubisoft stream.
Later this year PEGI will become the legally enforceable ratings body for games in the UK, completely replacing the BBFC. Wherever creative content is legislated in this way, friction is inevitable. And almost always, controversy arises because a rating is seen to be making it too easy for inappropriate material to reach the jam-stained fingers of our innocent children.
A new playable character hits ace indie side-scroller Castle Crashers next week. He goes by the name of The Pink Knight and he comes in the name of charity.
Been waiting patiently to see what Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth has up its sleeve next? Well, you'll have to wait a little longer. Its follow-up, BattleBlock Theatre, has just been pushed back into 2011.
Castle Crashers has been crowned game of the year by Xbox Live Arcade users, Microsoft announced overnight, after 185,000 people cast their votes in a recent service poll.
In a fit of festive good cheer, in no way inspired by self-promotion, Microsoft has released figures for the most played Live and Live Arcade titles of 2008.
Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth has very nearly finished that patch to fix various multiplayer connection problems with the Xbox Live Arcade game.
This, we were told in September, would arrive "as fast as possible". Presumably they forgot to add "compared to a clumsy child".
"We're working with Microsoft to get the title update out as quickly as we can," The Behemoth told Xbox 360 Fanboy. "Sadly, we can't get into details about the certification process, but we've resolved the game's issues with data loss and networking in addition to other bugs.
Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth is "working with Microsoft to get a patch out as fast as possible" to fix multiplayer connection problems.
"When we went through testing, Microsoft approved all our network code and we had no problems at all. There are those things in real-world scenarios that we couldn't account for," art director Dan Paladin told Joystiq.
Castle Crashers launched last week on Xbox Live Arcade, but connection problems have been rife - and despite giving the game 8/10 we admitted that the inability to get a co-op game going for more than a couple of levels was a drawback, particularly as Castle Crashers is clearly designed to be played with friends.
I've just watched an owl poop itself to death. Moments later, a deer is similarly afflicted and takes off across the screen like a rocket, leaving a light brown vapour trail as it goes. It's important that you know these facts, because whether or not you find them funny will dictate how you'll respond to Castle Crashers' epic medieval multiplayer adventure. It's a lot like a jacuzzi, you see. There's nothing to stop you enjoying it by yourself, but it's even more fun with other people. And if those other people happen to be a close-knit group of like-minded friends - the sort of friends who find an owl's bowels hilarious, for instance - then you have the ingredients for a very special evening's entertainment.
Much like The Behemoth's last Live Arcade effort, Alien Hominid HD, this is a resolutely old-fashioned side-scroller. Where it differs is in a much less brutal learning curve, a vastly increased amount of peripheral stuff to play with and a generally more rounded gaming experience.
Whereas Alien Hominid was all about blasting, Castle Crashers is all about the hack and slash. You choose a knight from an initial range of four (additional characters can be unlocked) and set about avenging a gross intrusion into your quiet castle life. An evil wizard has barged in, eaten all the Mini Cheddars, stolen a giant crystal and kidnapped four princesses to boot.
The Behemoth has announced that Castle Crashers will cost 1200 Microsoft Points (GBP 10.20 / EUR 14.40) when it goes on Xbox Live Arcade on 27th August.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (30th July) and Bionic Commando Rearmed (13th August) are part of Microsoft's "Summer of Xbox Live Arcade" month, apparently, and that means we also get release dates for Braid, Galaga Legions and Castle Crashers.
Those of you looking forward to The Behemoth's Castle Crashers might want to clear your mouths for a sharp intake of whatever's floating in front of your face: it's not coming out until 2008.
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