The Behemoth hinted at something special last time we talked relating to the Castle Crashers second XBLA title update (available right now for 360 owners), and have more than delivered with the unleashing of new free and paid content for one of the most popular games in the digital distribution space today.

The update brings the Pink Knight as a free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace, with a dollar donated to the Keep A Breast Foundation to match each of the first 50,000 downloads. A really great way for a developer with some extra cash to donate to a good cause. I shouldn’t have to encourage you to go download right away.

The game has also added the Blacksmith Pack has also arrived for $2 on the Marketplace, bringing the mysterious blacksmith in as a playable character. On top of that, a new Team vs Team feature has been added to Player Match Arena mode, new avatar awards, more multiplayer functionality, a news ticker, and some notable bug fixes round out the jam packed patch. It’s a perfect opportunity to get back into one of the more enjoyable games I’ve played in years.

Here’s the full list of additions, changes and fixes packed in the update:

Castle Crashers XBLA Title Update 2 Changes

• Download the Pink Knight (complete with new weapons!) in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, FOR FREE!!!!!!! ($1.00 donated to Keep A Breast Foundation with each of the first 50,000 downloads)
• Download the Blacksmith Pack for 160 Microsoft Points. Once shrouded in mystery, the legend of the Blacksmith becomes a reality. Wielding miniature antlered frogs, burning hammers of justice and springboard contraptions, this warrior is much like William Wallace (ala Braveheart), but purple and definitely not Mel Gibson.
• Added a Team vs Team feature to Player Match Arena (as opposed to the current free-for-all).
• Earn two new Avatar Awards—Cardinal Animal Orb and Knight Helmet!
• Ability to check Player’s Gamer Cards in Xbox LIVE matches.
• Main menu News Ticker for all of your latest Castle Crashers and Behemoth Updates!

Notable Bug Fixes:

• Level 256 cheat resolved (more info available on request).
• Data copy glitch (more info available on request).
• Sandworm experience glitch (more info available on request).
• Wedding Crashers progression save now fixed when user leaves game play in flowery fields.
• Smoothed Alien Hominid’s Splash Magic when traveling over water.
• Slowed down Iceskimo’s power drainage from magic.
• More effects added to elemental attacks for Alien Hominid, Demon and Iceskimo!
• If your character dies, your Animal Orbs can no longer fight without you.
• Fixed floating characters in Beefy Arena when grabbed.
• Sandwiches can now be picked up after Volcano Boss fight.

[The Behemoth]

[Ken Ellis begins our foray into video coverage in a short but stout series of written and video recorded Comic-Con 2011 previews. We start off with an updated look at The Behemoth's latest: Battleblock Theater. Make sure to check out our revealing interview with Project Manager Emil Ayoubkhan for more info on all things Behemoth as well. Additionally, you can check out our production team's YouTube channel to watch all the indie game footage we were able to run down this past weekend in San Diego.]

This year at Comic-Con a lot of game developers brought game demos, but The Behemoth did one better and brought arcade cabinets of their upcoming release Battleblock Theater. If there was a better way of showing off a game, I don’t want to know it!

The games premise is that a race of tyrannical, but socially refined cats have captured a group of unwary individuals. These feline abductors have them run through deadly obstacle courses that are displayed on a “stage” so all the cat people can enjoy a spot of upscale theatrical fun. The theater theme to the game is used humorously with level intros done in the style of grainy silent film from the early 40′s and load screens displaying cardboard cutout puppets of your character jumping after cardboard gems. Even some level environment items appear as cutouts of grass or explosions.

The game is played as a one to four player game, with each having options for selecting their character’s look and a specialty weapon for them to use in the level like boomerangs or bombs. These weapons are friendly-fire-friendly, so watch out or you may send your friend into a shallow grave. Though not for long since each player has infinite lives and can come back continuously through a level. This plays out in the end of the level where each player is reviewed on his theatrical merit, so helping each other out or screwing your friend until the end is up to you.

As the game’s name suggests there is an abundance of blocks primarily because all the levels are constructed from a wide variety of the darn things. Lava blocks, Smoke blocks, Grenade blocks, and every which way blocks appear in the game to either help or hinder your progress. Couple that with a variety of enemies such as gentlemen cats, birds, ravenous deer-raccoons, and the dreaded walking toast. Don’t rely on your ability to respawn infinitely, as each level is timed and a bad time can cost you the better mark on your level review.

While a far cry in genre terms from their last beat-em-up title (Castle Crashers), Battleblock Theater looks like its going to be another hit for the fast growing company. Keep an eye out for it when it releases on the XBLA.

Photos and Video Captured by Kevin Harland.

Just got a chance to talk to stop by the booth of San Diego-based developer The Behemoth to check out how Battleblock Theater is coming along, as well as grab an interview with anyone who was willing from the team.  Most fortunately, ‘moth’s Project Manager and one of the original five team members, Emil Ayoubkhan was able to pull himself away from the constant transactions of the developer’s merch to throngs of eager Comic-Con fans and answer a few questions.

In the process, I ended up with a boat load of good stuff that fans of the developer definitely will want to hear. While we’ll save most of what’s happening with BBT for Ken’s preview, I wanted to pass along some info Emil shared that may be lesser known or even not known at all. Well, for all I know at least.

The first thing I noted was the upgrade in size and appearance of the developer’s booth compared to their set-up last year. As you can imagine, they’ve seen some significant growth over the past several years as a company. Emil told me (at current) the company has two offices located in San Diego, along with a satellite office in Philidelphia where a lot of the Newgrounds stuff is handled. They are now employing 19 staff, most of which were on hand to show-off the custom built Castle Crashers and Battleblock Theater arcade cabinets and, of course, sell lots of different stuff to an onslaught of fans both young and old who are looking to show their love for the team’s IPs.

So what are all the team members working on at the moment? BBT first and foremost, but they are diving much deeper into the iOS space after dipping toes with a port of Alien Hominid’s retro-fun and simple mini-game Super Soviet Missile Master. No solid information as of yet, but I was told to expect several new efforts from the developer for both iPhone and iPad over the next year or so, with initial announcement details coming soon.

He also confirmed that Castle Crashers PSN has been a huge financial boost for the company this past year and that the game in general continues to sell at rate that seemed to take him beyond words. Nothing particular on the hard numbers, but it can be deduced that the company is doing very well because of the well crafted and hilarious multiplayer beat ‘em up.

Oh, and I should mention that a title update is planned for the XBLA version to catch it up to PSN’s added content. When pressed whether the new update would contain any new content beyond what the PSN version brought, Emil simply told me that nothing has been announced as of yet, and that there will be an announcement coming soon regarding that potential goodie. Look at for that possibly as soon as PAX Prime; we’ll see ourselves when we head up to Seattle for next month’s event.

Which leads me into the next topic I bothered Emil with: Are we ever going to see The Behemoth’s games come to PC?

It turns out that Valve’s Steam contingent had paid Emil and the rest of the crew a visit no less than an hour or two before I popped in. Great news, as it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand Steam’s interest in their titles. Especially when you throw in the fact that one of those happens to be the top selling digitally distributed XBLA game ever. That fact is apparently drawing constant attention from publishers who would like nothing more than to assimilate; but The Behemoth likes itself just the way it is, and all things considered, why the hell wouldn’t they?

He did admit that a lot of what many consider their indie status had dissolved over the past few years with the great commercial successes they’ve had, along with a few forms of backing from Microsoft (specifically with general level of exposure.) However, when I asked if they still had full control of their schedule and IPs the answer was an emphatic yes, which was enough for me to decide they are still quite relevant for DIYGamer’s coverage. Regardless, here’s a good example of why they don’t need much exposure help from the likes of us at the moment:

Well everyone, a handful of the DIYGamer contingent sets off for Comic-Con this morning, with a car full of audio and video equipment no less.

Off the bat I freely admit there’s not a lot of actual “on schedule” indie game love going on at the eccentric and massively over-produced event. However, I’ve been busy as always setting up interviews with indie devs and other industry types and will be attending a few developer-related panels to make up for a small but exciting line-up of announced games for us to check out.

That would be The Behemoth’s Battleblock Theater (much has been updated since last year’s preview), thatgamecompany’s Journey, and Twisted Pixels’ The Gunstringer. There’s always the hidden gems too, as exhibitors from all over the world come to show off their products; never know what you’ll get (a publisher with a half dozen Japanese indie titles to show off as an example from last year.)

We’re bringing a full production crew to test out our audio/video capabilities on the road for this one. So expect some new content in those departments along with plenty of pictures straight from the event (any indie cosplay we will be snapping, where my Meat Boy’s at?)

Check back each day for new coverage, image dumps, and more! Should be a great warm-up for PAX Prime next month, where we’re guaranteed to be up to our elbows in indies and the cool folks who made them.

The single most requested character for The Behemoth’s Castle Crashers, Pink Knight, will be joining the battle on PlayStation Network on February 8th. Pink Knight was born out of “popular demand, rumor, and Tom Fulp’s Beard,” reports the blog. The playable Pink Knight will come with the Lollipop and 4 other brand new weapons. The Behemoth goes on to warn fans of the ensuing adorableness.

Arguably, the best part of this package deal is the humanitarian angle. The blog states the Pink Knight Pack will be available on PSN for $1.99, and 100% of The Behemoth’s revenue from Pink Knight pack sales will be donated to charities devoted to Breast Cancer Research.

The Behemoth also sends a message to its XBLA fans. They are working hard on a title update for XBLA that will also have the Pink Knight as a playable character. In the coming weeks, they’ll have some more updates as to how and when this update will occur and what will be included.

It would be interesting if this requested character was actually a product of the growing number of girl gamers (and those who like or recognize pink). Maybe The Behemoth will reveal just who’s been releasing and castle crashing all this time.

In related Behemoth news, the Castle Crashers Tournament of Champions has completed its qualifying rounds and picked the top 100 fighters. The prizes for this tournament are quite extensive. The blog lists all that is at stake:

“The first prize of the Tournament of Champions is a (24K) Gold Xbox… Second prize will also win an Xbox, though not of silver — a Castle Crashers themed Elite. Third place will drown their nearness to victory in 250 squishy chickens. Everyone in the top 100 will win a prize, and the top 24 will get a special bonus, as well.”

Good luck, Castle Crasher-ers! And thank you, The Behemoth, for the considerate research donation!
Source: Behemoth blog

Good news from the motherland! Newgrounds guru/XBLA developer The Behemoth has revealed it has been working on an iOS version of Alien Hominid HD’s ‘from Russia with hate’ mini-game Super Soviet Missile Mastar.

The best part: When it arrives, it’ll be totally free (as opposed to regular free.)

The game has players guiding missiles toward us hotdog loving capitalists. Maneuver through obstacles such as planes, helicopters and birds in an effort to heat up an otherwise chilly conflict.

While no solid release date has been provided, the 8-bit title—barring any approval process snafus–should arrive for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad sometime in the next month.

[The Behemoth]

This past weekend, Steam and several other digital distributors had a variety of discounted offerings as most of PC publisher Paradox Interactive’s catalog had been put on sale. A few of these games were included in our latest Indie Game Sales feature, as during the vast majority of development they were considered to be independently funded–and as such fall under what we cover on DIYGamer.

In cases such as this, where a publisher’s name is tagged to a game we feel might fall under our admittedly amorphous coverage blanket, it’s simply our duty to exercise due diligence and figure out where the funding for the game came from. If we conclude the finances came from the developer itself, then we’re free to write on it. There’s still a ton of grey area and this certainly doesn’t explain or justify every game that’s been included/omitted from these pages, but it gives us a floor to walk on so to speak.

We’re a young and ambitious site, some of our golden rules are set and some are still evolving on the subject. In the end we’re human, and many times we’ll error on the side of inclusion if there’s no readily available information stating that the game has received funding outside of the developer’s pocket. If it’s found out at anytime that it proves to be otherwise, we’ll be the first to admit fault and correct our mistake–including full omission of the title in question if need be.

Let’s use developer The Behemoth as an example. Microsoft is considered the publisher of Castle Crashers while The Behemoth is listed as both the developer and publisher for their previous title Alien Hominid. For both games–and presumably their upcoming third effort BattleBlock Theater–the dev claims on their website “Our development is 100% self-funded with support from fans who support our cause!” with a link to their games and merchandise. Taking them at their word that indicates that Microsoft only puts funding toward the exposure of Crashers, not the development.

In that case, I consider the game to fall on the right side of our line. Some wouldn’t, and they’d be tough to argue against, but I don’t feel that if one game receives more marketing support than another it should be forced to give up its indie badge and gun.

It’s undeniable that indie games are as popular as they’ve ever been. More than ever before, the indie scene has been brought closer to the typical gamer’s foremost interests. This has been accomplished through all walks of effort and perseverance from more individuals than we may ever know our give credit to. It leads me to beg the question: Why should an indie game lose its tag when the mainstream shows interest in it?

A notable point of contention in what I’ve written above is that we still cover partially-funded games that come from developer’s who were previously indie/independent such as Runic Games (Torchlight), Frozenbyte (Trine) and ACE Team (Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages.) All three developers have been picked up by publishers to develop sequels (or in ACE’s case a completely new IP) of their successful independent predecessors. Must our coverage halt right then and there because of this? Honestly, the jury is still largely out on the point, but let me explain why I personally feel compelled to write on it for both myself and our readers.

We like these games, and we like the people who developed them. We’re interested in what they’re cooking up next. For me it comes back to questioning why we must stop following a developer’s path simply because a publisher has picked them up based on their past independent success. That success is what enabled them to make their next game one way or another, if they look to a publisher to relieve some of the stresses they had to deal with during independent release (outside of development of course) should we then turn a blind eye?

Obviously, if the developer is ever wholly absorbed by their respective publisher and ceases to be some form of individual entity then there’s simply no argument, it can’t and shouldn’t be posted here.

All that said, and there’s still hundreds if not thousands of individual cases that could be argued either for or against in this never ending debate. There isn’t a single authority who correctly and absolutely categorizes what is considered indie in the vast sea of games and projects out there. So instead we research facts and rely on what are gut says a lot of the time. Not an exact science, but no one has ever claimed it to be.

Again, this is just one man’s (still developing) opinion on a very, very complex subject.