Happy New Year from Q-Games in Kyoto!

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A Happy New Year from here in Kyoto, Japan, one of the earliest places in the world to greet 2009 (being a whole 17 hours or so ahead of the West coast of America for example).

pixeljunk

This blog entry is less about PixelJunk, which I’m sure you have all played and heard enough of this year, and more about the sheer amount of games I have been playing this year on my PS3.

To tell the truth, I didn’t buy a PS3 for my home until late last year (2007), because, well, we have plenty here at work and I felt I could get away with playing games “lightly”, ie. not playing them for hours on end until the wee hours of the morning.  However, I finally gave in and bought a PS3 to play PixelJunk Monsters at home and from that point on I have become a “core gamer”. 

Looking at the PixelJunk series you might not think I play normal full price titles, but I have always been quite a core gamer as it happens and I was simply going through a lull period at the end of the PS2 hardware cycle. On the PS2 one of my favorite games is Smuggler’s Run (the original) and if you haven’t played this I really recommend it, even if it is standard def and a bit lo-fi compared to games these days on the PS3.

Anyway, on to the PS3 itself. Early in the year, in-between marathon bouts of Monsters I found myself booting up a lot of games, but Burnout Paradise was one that really stuck out for me, thanks to their continuing support and addition of new content.  I, of course, took Niko through his paces in GTAIV, although at some points in the game I wish the “difficulty and fiddly” factor wasn’t so high and I could just be washed along with the story, so at about 20-30 hours in I gave up and moved on to Call of Duty 4, but for some reason, and contrary to the huge popularity of this game, I just didn’t end up coming back to play this very much – maybe because I don’t tend to play online. The realtime intro-movie is one of the best bits of gaming cinema I have ever seen though (until then the intro to Half-Life 1: Opposing Force was high up there in my mind).

And then came LittleBigPlanet, or rather, the first public closed beta program for Little Big Planet.  Right off the bat, I fell in love with this game – Stephen Fry was a brilliant choice for the voice-over with the way he makes up words to express the emotion of the game, in a similar fashion to the way you make up worlds to express yourself in the game. I have two worlds published and both are devilishly difficult I am afraid to say (as some people say PixelJunk games are I hear!). Try them out for yourselves- >  search for Comfy Sofa World and Gion Festival.

Following hot on the heels of LBP, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift became a firm favorite for me, the track design is really too good in this game – at first it seems like the trails you can take are difficult to understand but after a couple of races you soon learn to spot where to go and start taking short-cuts and risks and really enjoying yourself. This and LBP alone could have kept me going for months alone but then Fallout 3 came out…

Re-reading the above, I suppose that because I make PSN games for a living I tend to want to play full price games in my spare time, however I pepper my play time with more immediately addicting games such as the PixelJunk series and other download titles, this creates a good balance for me, and sometimes it is necessary to wind down. Grabbing a Spectra a night on Eden is a great way to come down after being scared witless playing Dead Space in surround sound and in the dark.

Here’s to an amazing 2009 for gaming as I am sure it is going to be, what with two or three more PixelJunk titles coming out, right!?

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72 Comments

6 Author Replies

  • Love your games.

    Happy new years

  • Sweet deal, happy new year!!!! Love Eden!!

  • Can’t wait for the new game details coming outta Q Games! I’m going to go online later today and try to find your LBP levels too. It’s nice to see how much developers appreciate the works of other development houses, Dead Space has been keeping me awake too. Thanks for all the community support Dylan and give a big “What up!” and “Happy New Years” to everyone at Q Games!

    Thanks for an awesome 2008, looking forward to 2009!

  • I actually played that sofa level one night when i noticed it popped up on the list. How odd that I can just play someone’s level and not even realize who they could be from :) (And yes your levels are tricky -_)

    Happy new year!

    • Yes, sofa world is a bit of an assault course.
      Also, the Gion festival level isn\’t finished yet but it has some funny moments – try and make it at least to the ninjas, the way they move makes me laugh every time.

  • Happy new year! Thanks for all the great games so far.

  • Happy New Year to everyone in Q-Games. Hope to see more games from you guys and, of course, buy ’em all.

    C’ya and Happy Holydays.

  • Very cool and I’m loving all of the PixelJunk games (even Racers!). Can’t wait to play what you have in store for us next.

  • great love you guys keep it up

  • Happy Holidays, I have to say I only own Eden and it was quite fun until I reached garden 7, it went all down hill from there. I suck real bad and I haven’t been able to advance :(.

    • With Eden the trick is not to panic, just take it steadily and relax. Also, don\’t get all the Spectra in one garden before moving on, spread your play a bit – that\’s how its intended to be played.

      Around the second week or so of January there will be a patch which makes (among other things) the large crystals replenish a whole half of your oscillator meter instead of a third.

      That should help you with garden 7.

  • 2 or 3 more pixeljunk games for 09 you say? that is amazing! I’ll have my money in hand and waiting.

    peace,
    Lh

  • Happy new years

    Also

    Pixel junk Monsters and Pixel junk Eden are my favorite PSN GAMES!

  • Happy New Years !!!!
    Keep making great games like you do. I love them

  • Gotta say that your games are truly weird yet fantastically wonderful!
    Cheers! And i agree, Smuggler’s Run was awesome! hehe…
    Can’t wait to see whats more to come in 2009!

  • the title Comfy Sofa World makes me think of the first episode of Invader Zim. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should :).

    Happy new year!

  • Kudoa to Cuthbert in Kyoto!!

    Happy New Years!

    I so look forward to what’s next from Q-Games in ’09. ;]

  • Dylan,
    Is there anymore content coming for Pixel Junk Monsters or Eden?

    Anything else in the works?

    HAPPY NEW YEARS! :)

    The 2009 gaming year =s one happy PlayStation owner already.

  • Keep up the good work guys! Maybe you guys could do a title that has online play next. Or maybe… PixelJunk Monsters Online! That would be pretty epic…

  • Dylan, your games are the best. My whole family loves ’em. I’ve played PJM probably more than any other game (besides maybe Warhawk) this generation. Keep up the great work, you guys are awesome!

  • P.S. more pjm levels please!

  • Cant wait for the next pixeljunk game! The next one is the the dungeon one right?

  • Happy New Year.

    It would be nice to see a PixelJunk Racers Trophy patch. What a nice belated Christmas present that would be. ;)

  • Happy New Year Dylan! Can’t wait to see what PixelJunk games are coming this year! I’ve had a blast with Racers, Monsters, and Eden.

    I’d love to see a PixelJunk RPG… :)

  • Will there be a Store Update today

  • it would be nice if they patched in proper controller options, sixaxis controls suck.

  • oh also and easy mode in EDEN, because i suck at that game hard!

  • Less chat, more PixelJunk Monster expansion packs!

  • Keep spreading the PixelJunk fun!!

    I’m waiting for your next games (and a level creator for PJMonsters!!!!!!).

  • At least you’re a developer that sticks to the PS Blog tradition of listing your favorite games (unlike a certain Burnout dev).

    Happy New Year!

  • Happy New years to you guys as well, I absolutely fell in love with Monsters and Eden, I achieved 100% in both which Eden was no easy task, I can not wait for your new games, see you around!!

  • Happy holidays Dylan and the q-games team!
    You guys deserve a break after your work this year, enjoy it! :)

  • When will the U.S get the Eden patch?

  • @Jeff

    This is extremely off topic, but do you know what ever happened to the game Eyedentify? There’s really nowhere else that i think i could ask this, so i just picked the first thread. ;)

    I don’t suppose you know anything about it, huh? Does it even exist anymore? …I haven’t even heard its name since E3 2005.

  • When is the Eden patch out? I’m stuck :D
    i.e it’s to hard.

  • Keep up to good work!
    Can’t wait to see your next game! :)

  • Happy New Year to you Dylan and everyone at Q- Games.

  • is there gonna be a PSN update today? lol

  • no store update?

  • I saw you playing Fallout 3 just last night! I look forward to seeing your Junk Dylan!

    P.S. I hope you were serious about the two or three titles :)

  • Is there a PSN Store update today? Just curious.

  • PixelJunk Dungeons? Want!!!!

  • Thanks for the answer Jeff. I didn’t think so neither. But I still had to ask.

    Have a Happy New Year and keep up the great work!

  • Hey Dylan, love your games, super excited about PJMonsters PSP, but hey, can you let us know when the PJ Eden patch is dropping for the US? I’m sure it won’t be until you all get back to work after your well deserved break, but I was just curious, thanks!

  • Hi I would just like to say THANKS for the great games in the past year. My roommate who was never a core gamer is now hooked on the PS3 due to the game FALLOUT 3, he absolutely loves it. He plays on the ps3 probably twice as much as I do and that is saying something. So keep games like that coming and you’ll keep him happy. Again THANKS FOR THE GREAT YEAR.

    Hey Jeff, get anything really really cool for Christmas? Hanuka?

    Oh and Jeff, can I be on that Street Fighter team that you will be having setup soon to battle against Microsoft and the PC gamers out there?

  • @43

    He didn’t make Fallout 3, he is just saying he plays it lol.

  • I seem to recall reading that your goal is 3 games per year…does 2009 include the PSP PJM or is that one in addition to the 3 PSN games?

    I always used the fact that I played PJM on a 24″ SDTV for the reason I suck at it…my 46″ HDTV Xmas present hasn’t made me any better!

  • Ready for PixelJunk Dungeon. 4-player co-op please?

  • Could we please have a patch to allow co-op online play for PixelJunk Monsters? This would allow my girlfriend and I, who love the game, but are 1200 miles apart, an opportunity to play together…

  • I gotta say, those pixel junk games are difficult.

  • Especially Eden.

  • Ever so brilliant yet humble. You have an amazing series in your hands, yet you spend the majority of your post complementing the other games.

    And I was actually under the impression that the PixelJunk series was just a four game deal. THREE more? You, sir, have my money. :D

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