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.

Klei Entertainment have been proudly showing off their third game title SHANK at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, WA and with good reason. The small independent studio based in Vancouver, BC is developing and publishing their new IP all on their own. “It’s a difficult process,” says Klei founder Jamie Cheng who self-funded Klei by selling his shares from THQ and borrowing $10,000 from his brother. “But this way we get to do what we want, so if we want to add more blood… we add more blood," continues Jamie.

“This is the first time that we didn’t have to put in a long few nights of overtime to demo a game at a convention,” said Jamie about bring SHANK to the Penny Arcade Expo. And it’s obvious when you play the game that it feels very fluid and polished. The trailer (below) is pretty much what you play, right through to you either defeat or get defeated by the level’s boss.

When asked if the game would be coming to the Xbox LIVE Arcade, Jamie said that it could happen “We submitted the game very early on to the guys over at Microsoft to look,” as we noticed the Xbox 360 controllers being used by the PAX attendees at Klei Entertainment’s booth. We definitely hope it makes its way to the XBLA, but at this time there is no official confirmation

This over-the-top action/adventure, built with amazing control, great animation, and an immersive environment, is a 2D side-scroller featuring guns, knives, chainsaws and lots of bloody violent goodness!

XBLArcade.com stopped by the Slick Entertainment booth today at the Penny Arcade Expo to give Scrap Metal a go. We were introduced to it as “a top down racer similar in-style and gameplay to the classic Super Off Road,” says Nick Waanders as he shows us the controls for our attempt at the off-road track racing mission using a big monster truck. As we start, Nick points out that this is just one of many exciting asphalt and off-road tracks with lots of customizable vehicles.

Racing around the track, we soon discover that there are power-ups we can collect, such as nitro boost. The race is heated and we’re excited as we drift around corners while being shot at by opponents. Nick tells us that “you also have weapons at your disposal,” as we start to loose ground, falling from second place.

As we’re trying to catch our opponents, Nick states “the game will feature local and online multiplayer,” and that’s when we truly realize the potential of this addictively fun top-down racing game.

Today, Team17 and Microsoft revealed the Unreal remake of its 1991 Amiga shooter that will be distributed in three parts, spanning an estimated 15 hours of gameplay. The first part will include three, one-hour levels and an additional three-hour, co-op scenario, and is scheduled to hatch on Xbox LIVE Arcade sometime around the holiday season but possibly as soon as October.

Alien Breed Evolution is a top-down shooter inspired by the Alien movies and like the movie, you'll fight hordes of slimy Aliens through a series of chapters. In those chapters, you'll make your way through a derelict ship with plenty of dead people, doing your best not to join them. This course will lead you through progressively worse areas, as you follow in the wake of these monsters.

Team 17, the indie developer responsible for Alien Breed Evolution wanted to make sure we know it's not all fun and games. This trilogy project is said to be "one of the most expensive digital titles to-date," ringing out at about $2.5 million to develop.

Though we didn’t get any hands-on time with the game or even a confirmed date and price, we did manage to get a hold of some screenshots:

Darwinia+ was on the floor of the exhibition hall at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo in a sold out Washington State Convention & Trade Center in downtown Seattle, WA. at the Xbox 360 booth on Friday, September 4th, 2009 only. XBLArcade.com decided to strategically move in and check it out.

Darwinia+ is Introversion’s first venture onto the consoles and was created for Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade service. Darwinia+ is a fantastic bundle combining Introversion’s award-winning classic hit Darwinia and the action-packed multiplayer follow-up, Multiwinia. It’s a highly unique blend of stunning retro-arcade visuals and explosive real-time strategy gameplay, that make Darwinia+ an IGF award winning action-strategy classic.

Twisted Pixel Games gave us a sneak peak at their third downloadable title at the Penny Arcade Expo on September 4th, 2009 in Seattle, Wa., just hours before debuting the video trailer (below) to the public. Their newest downloadable title has yet to announce which platforms the game is going to be available on, but we can safely assume that it will arrive on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. However, Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley won’t be available for "about a year," according to Twisted Pixel Games co-founder Michael Wilford.

You play as Captain Smiley with his unlikely sidekick Star, who just happens to be stuck to his chest. “They are an unlikely duo,” says Michael Wilford “they hate each other”, which leads to some hilarious dialogue. The games consists of jumping Captain Smiley into different levels that are represented by comic books, where the art style will change as you begin each new comic.

”The concept art was designed by our new Lead Concept Artist, Brandon Ford," who was also at the Twisted Pixel Games booth “but the idea is from the mind of Josh Bear”, another co-founder.

Not much is known about the game at this time, as Twisted Pixel Games is staying tight-lipped about the gameplay details. “It’s a work in progress,” says Michael Wilford. “This is the first time we have revealed anything about one of our games this early on in the development process.”

As part of XBLArcade.com’s coverage of the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, WA this year, Twisted Pixel Games donated us a couple of MAW plushies to giveaway on the site. Seeing as how The Maw was honored with the Audience Choice Award in the 2008 PAX-10 showcase of independent games, we thought it would be fitting to re-introduce you to this great title! So, if you couldn’t make it to PAX this year, or you were not able to pick-up one of these cute, little, purple guys up; we’re giving you a chance to win one!

The Maw is a full featured 3D action/adventure game for Xbox LIVE Arcade! Returning from a routine mission, a Galactic Bounty Hunter ship crash lands on a strange planet, leaving the captured Frank (our hero) and a tiny glowing blob in a cage labelled "THE DEADLIEST ORGANISM IN THE UNIVERSE" (known as Maw) as the only survivors. Aware of the risks, but concerned about traveling around alone, Frank hooks the strange blob to a plasma leash from the wreckage. Making their way towards the communication tower in the distance, they must escape from the bounty hunters out to cage them, as well as the unknown dangers of the new planet they are on.

In celebration of PAX, even if you can't make it out to Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend, Xbox LIVE is helping your Avatar dress the part with new Penny Arcade Avatar Marketplace clothing. Available starting today, Xbox LIVE members can now show their Penny Arcade pride with the latest designs inspired by the webcomic. With 17 designs, ranging from shirts to hats for both sexes, these are sure to be a popular sell. Especially with the 80 Microsoft price tag!

The Xbox LIVE Indie Games is brimming with so much excitement this year that it needed its own booth. XBLArcade.com will be stopping by booth #141 to check out the game finalists from the Microsoft Dream-Build-Play Challenge, which awards indie game developers with a share of $75,000 and an opportunity to receive an Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing contract. The game finalists represent the best design, graphics and gameplay innovation from over 350 contest submissions. We’ll let you know what we find there.

In just six years, the Penny Arcade Expo has grown from a small gathering of gamers and fans of the Penny Arcade web comic strip to the largest consumer video and PC game event in the US. And all of that growth has been done just with word of mouth and a desire for gamers just to have a lot of fun. Last year's event at Seattle's Washington State Convention and Trade Center brought in over 58,000 attendees.

This year, XBLArcade.com will be on the floor at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, WA covering all things XBLA related. We’re going to get the scoops on what’s coming up for the Xbox LIVE Arcade, interview the people behind those games, take lots of exclusive photos and videos, and giveaway some free swag!

Please, check back often over the September 4th-6th as we will be keeping you up-to-date with the many happenings at PAX this weekend.

Title Update and Leaderboard Wipe Coming to Splosion Man.

Frank Wilson, CTO of Twisted Pixel Games, learned today of an exploit that enabled cheaters to post impossibly good scores in his latest Xbox LIVE® Arcade game ‘Splosion Man. With cold precision, he initiated a response: Splodejement Day.

On Tuesday, September 1^st, at approximately 2 a.m. PDT, a title update will be released to permanently seal the exploit, and select scores will be wiped from the leaderboards, so that only legitimate scores remain. This purge will be in time for the “Speedy Splode” trophy contest, where the player with the best time in the single-player level 3-8 during the week of September 6^th to 12^th will win a unique ‘Splosion Man statue and an autographed poster by the developers.

When asked, Mr. Wilson had this to say about his custom-built leaderboard-clearing application, which he affectionately calls Splodenet: “It goes on-line August 31^st, 2009. Human decisions are removed from leaderboard defense. Splodenet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Pacific Time, September 1^st. There is no score but what we earn for ourselves.”

Twisted Pixel also stated that this title update will not add avatar accessory awardable support to ‘Splosion Man, as the timing of that release is up to Microsoft.