Today, while wandering the floors at the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo being held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, we came across a very interesting and unique game called The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. Now, in all honesty, we did know the game was going to be there, and that it is coming out on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. We just didn’t know what to expect.

“Mr. P.B. Winterbottom is a nefarious gentleman with a fancy for pies,” says Paul Bellezza, the producer of the game. In fact, his obsession with pie started when he took a bite of a mysterious Cherry Chronoberry pie. And just as the name implies, he becomes unstuck in time in the 1920’s silent film era of black and white. There he employs his time clones from his past and future selves to propel himself around the screen in order to collect pies as fast as he can.

“The clones will simply just stand there and do nothing, unless Mr. P.B. Winterbottom swats them with his cane, or jumps on them to reach a higher ledge,” says Paul Bellezza as we give the game a try. “If you hold the trigger button while your running and then release it, your clone will run in the same direction you were facing for the exact amount of time that you are,” continues Paul.

Each level can be solved in a number of ways. “You could replay the same stage multiple times and complete it differently each time,” says Paul. And after playing the game, it appears that speed will be a defining gameplay aspect with leaderboards.

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom has quite the story behind it’s development and how it came to be what it is today. The game actually started as a student thesis project at the University of Southern California. It then made the rounds in various indie game shows and was even selected for the Independent Games Festival. “The game kept gaining more and more exposure,” says Paul Bellezza. “Eventually, 2K Games took notice and picked the game up under it’s 2K Play label.”

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom has garnered several independent awards and nominations from IGN.com, GameSpot and the Independent Games Festival for its unique art style and inventive gameplay mechanics. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom will be making it’s way onto the Xbox LIVE Arcade in early 2010.

If you want to know more about the game, check out www.winterbottomgame.com.