8-bit junkies rejoice!  There are some feisty developers toiling away in Rotterdam that found inspiration where you found an obsession.  Codeglue is betting that their brothers and sisters in (pixelated) arms will enjoy the 2D-styling of their upcoming Rocket Riot.   However, simple 8-bit inspiration cannot blunt the challenge of building a next-gen worthy product.  Lucky for us, they feel up to the task and are nearing the completion of the game.

I got a chance to pick the brains of a few members of the Codeglue collective to get some perspective on their history, their game, their process, and most importantly Rocket Riot's invisible ninjas.

Read on to learn more and check out more snaps of Codeglue's base of operations.

I recently had the pleasure of posing an excruciatingly serious series of questions to the most serious man in the XBLA world: Denis Bourdain.  Anyone that has had contact with Mr. Bourdain knows that he hates the spotlight, despises talking about games, and generally lives the life of a hermit.  And so, I count my lucky stars that I was able to track down this elusive and evasive man to peel back those layers of shyness.

Without further ado, cue the interview.

XBLArcade's LunarDuality: Denis, thanks for risking contact with the outside world in order to answer my questions.  First question: What's the biggest lesson you learned in the aftermath of Mad Tracks' release?  And how have you applied that wisdom to Things on Wheels?

Denis Bourdain:

1. Buy a larger coffee machine (from 10 to 16 bars!)

2. Spend more time on the multiplayer lobby system (why do I know you were thinking about this?).

3. Ask the community what they want – after all, we’re doing this for them, why not include them in the process?

4. Don’t confuse people with a wide genre. I think the ‘mini games + racing’ gameplay of Mad Tracks was too wide for some casual players to grasp. We’re stripping ToW to racing only.

After the break find out how Denis feels about NASCAR, desert islands, and whether lawnmowers will be featured in Things on Wheels. 

To prove my post title correct, I present two new screenshots from Things On Wheels.

Looks pretty.  And shiny.  Anybody excited yet?

While you think about it, go check out the interview with Dennis Bourdain of Load, Inc. over at (where else?) TeamXbox.  He talks fridges that spit ice cubes, being inspired by ReVolt, flunking lobby design in Mad Tracks, splitscreen in ToW, and what he would do if he was restricted to 150MB on XBLA*.

*ToW currently stands at 900MB of uncompressed data and it's not done yet.

[via TeamXbox]

Devon Kofsky (aka DaKing240) has the XBLA skinny from GDC.  How?  Well, he's there.  I'm not jealous.  I swear.

Moving on!

GDC Day 1 brings news that NinjaBee's Doritos game will be light on the advertising.  And thankfully, they decided to code in the fun after previous complaints.  Also, Freeverse mentioned that DLC is on the way for Marathon.

And apparently the best advice for those getting stuck on levels in N+ is go and have a beer and come back later.  Law willing, of course.  Oh, and DLC is coming for N+ too.  Without further ado, here's the N+ interview.

If the Zanthue video wasn't enough to demonstrate the sense of humor that Ryan Ellis and Void Star embody, then how about this quote:

"We joked once that we are not indie developers we are undie developers because we are all working from our homes. And sometimes that means not having to put on pants, wink wink."

Nothing I can really add to that.  So, if you want to learn more about the man that spouts such poetry, check out the full interview.

[via Get Out!, thanks Danh]

Axiom: Overdrive maintains a high level of mystery as of yet.  Luckily, Reflexive Entertainment has been kind enough to give us some new screens of the game.  Then I realized that I had asked Russell Carroll (Director of Marketing, Reflexive Entertainment, Inc.) some brief questions about the game back in October that I never had the chance to post.  Between the screens and the mini-interview we might just be able to piece together what this game is all about. 

So, enjoy the screens now and (intentionally cryptic and vague) answers to my questions after the break.  Then, let me know what you think about this game's potential in the comments.

Today, you will all likely be downloading a demo to Chair Entertaiment Group's freshly released game Undertow.  The game has garnered quite a bit of attention for an XBLA game -- probably stemming from their use of Unreal Engine 3 to create some beautiful bubbles as well as delivering the first ever 16-player XBLA multiplayer experience.

To get a peek at how Undertow was born and what Chair has in store for us (now and in the future) I pounced on an opportunity to interview Donald Mustard, Creative Director for Chair.  We discuss the future of Undertow as a game (and possibly more), the upside of the 50MB XBLA limit (yes, some developers like it), and how unbelievably quickly Undertow went from pie in the sky to a fully playable prototype.

Hit the jump for the full interview and to get Donald's top tips to help you get your Undertow experience off on the right foot.  (Oh, and click on any of the concept images here for the bigger version.)

People like me have it pretty good.  We get XBLA games pretty much every week because we happen to have an address that ends in "U.S. of A.".  The Koreans are not so lucky.  Along with the Japanese, they are commonly left out of the fun of each week's XBLA release due to those pesky licensing laws.  But even the Japanese get XBLA games more frequently than the Koreans.

Luckily, there appears to be a Korean-centric title coming to ease their pain.  What kind of crazy bizarre fun-filled game are they getting?  Why, an English Training program.

Oh.  Nevermind.  The Koreans are still getting the shaft.

[via Gamasutra by way of Siliconera]

Tim Schafer is my hero.  Yes, I played his games back in the LucasArts days and I adored Psychonauts (good thing people who missed out on it can easily snag it in December).  And now he's teamed up with another creative genius, Jack Black on the upcoming Brutal Legend.

But that is one majorly stupid excuse for not making XBLA games.  Dagnabbit Tim!

Here's the Tim Schafer quote that's gotten me all anispeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous (and has caused me much pericombobulation):

We talk about making Xbox Live Arcade games all the time. Who doesn't want to make Xbox Live Arcade games? It's like when you see a Great Dane taking a giant shit and then you see a poodle taking a little Tootsie Roll shit. The poodle is so cute, but at the end of the day you're still picking up shit. Seriously though, we'd love to make Xbox Live Arcade games, but we're really busy now.

Too busy?  Nooooo...

[via Gamasutra]

David Edery, Worldwide Portfolio Manager for XBLA, has spoken to Develop Magazine about the ups and downs of developing on and for XBLA.  There are plenty of choice quotes to pull but I have only pulled five.  I'll let those truly interested read the whole two-part article (Part 1, Part 2).

To whet your appetite (or just upset you) I've got some teaser quotes after the break.  Read 'em, comment on 'em, comment on something else entirely -- whatever floats your boat. 

[via Develop Magazine]