Team Meat are working on a new Super Meat Boy game intended for touchscreen devices, this won’t be anything like the original Super Meat Boy though.

There have been rumors about an iOS game in the making at the Team Meat offices for a while now, as usual with these things there were many theories as to what this may be. Those rumors have now been quashed by Edmund McMillen who announced that the team of two have started work on a Super Meat Boy game for “touch devices”. Presumably this means iOS devices and perhaps further platforms as well.

This version of Super Meat Boy will be very, very different to the 2010 console and PC release though – it may not even be a platformer! Edmund explained via Twitter that it won’t play like Super Meat Boy but it will “feel” like it. There’s to be an entirely new “visual theme” as well apparently.

So there’s not really any clues as to what kind of game this may be…at all. It could literally be anything. Considering that Team Meat pretty much nailed the platformer, we’re hoping to see a similar mastery of the touchscreen controls, as well as the trademark cartoon gore and indie game references. We thought pretty highly of Super Meat Boy as you can read in our review so we’re really hoping they can make a repeat success.

We’ll keep an eye and an ear out for any further news regarding this new undertaking. Until then, you can find out more information about the original Super Meat Boy over on the official website.

Big news coming from the filmmaking fellows of Indie Game: The Movie, as they announce their unique documentary will be on display (and competition) at Sundance next month. The film has earned a selection in the World Documentary Competition portion of the festival and will make its world premiere there in January.

If there was ever a doubt in your mind that Indie Game: The Movie might not be as good as some of the trailers make it out to be then, well, it’s time to shelf those doubts right now. Apparently the duo the IGTM showed the film to Phil Fish, Jonathan Blow, Edmund McMillen, and Tommy Refenes this past Sunday in its full and, practically, completed form. BY the end of it, Phil had been moved to tears… If that’s not a ringing endorsement then I don’t know what is.

Super Meat Boy–a game we’ve mentioned a time or two on here before–is making progress to that beautiful, amazing release we’re all sitting on pins and needles for. A development update from Team Meat updates us that the alpha build of the game is close to finished.

What does that mean for all of us? I’ll let them explain:

“…in about a week super meat boy will be ready to submit for testing and we can go into the last month of heavy development before we hopefully submit a final build and secure an official release date.”

Goodness gracious. My anticipation for this game can be compared to the color system of our nation’s Homeland Security Advisory System. It never has, and never will dip below the yellow/ELEVATED level. (Current excitement level: red/SEVERE)

Super Meat Boy. It’s arguably the most anticipated game we have or ever will mention on this site; with legions of fans already on board thanks to the original Meat Boy release. Nearing a year of development time, the game is agonizingly close to its launch–and subsequent global takeover.

I was delighted to find a playable demo on the floor of E3 that I could get my sweaty mitts all over, and downright giddy to have Tommy Refenes (half of Team Meat) right there to guide me through.

The concept is simple, you assume Meat Boy, or any of the other host of unlockable characters including Alien Hominid, Gish and Tim from Braid, as you attempt to traverse levels of all shapes, sizes and difficulty to reach your goal: Bandage Girl waiting helplessly at the conclusion of each level. Once reached however, your love is quickly abducted by the villainous ass Dr. Fetus, who would just as soon spit in your cereal than let you be happy for a moment. That’s really the core concept, use your meaty hero to hug walls, jump off them, avoid danger and learn from your pratfalls to get it right the next time around. The game can get hard but never frustrating, there’s always a way to get through a troublesome part of a level, you just have to figure it out and execute when it’s time.

The controls are great, if you have a knack for the platfomer genre you’ll breeze through the first few levels without much trouble at all, but don’t worry trouble’s coming. I found that Meat Boy handles rather well with pinpoint landings, a boon considering the large amount of them. As you’d expect, timing is a huge component to not dying, experience is the name of the game and you’ll have to die to live on many of the levels.

SMB is deep, there’s stuff in this game we don’t even fucking know about. Sorry, I’m paranoid over the fact that I feel that I saw a lot of the game, and still know so little about it. Tommy tells me that there will be something amazing waiting for those who actually reach 100% completion, which will be no small feat. The features list appears to be endless so I’ll try to relate some that caught my attention:

Anytime you see something on screen other than gameplay you can skip right through (though I wouldn’t if you like being entertained.)

Dark World levels. I suck at them, as I apparently should. Each level in the game has a much more difficult Dark World version of it that can be accessed after completion of the standard version. Game Boy levels as well, I didn’t get a chance to play one but as I understand it they’ll equate to mini-challenges presented now and again to break up the standard level play.

At the completion of each level, the game snaps to an optional replay of your success, and if you happened to die a lot–like me–all of your failures as well. This makes for a hilarious scene of several (if not dozens) of Meat Boy’s launching in failed attempts as one eventually cuts ahead of the pack to reach Bandage Girl. It’s not huge, and nothing that would make the game by itself, but it’s the little things such as this that are generously poured all over the game that makes it an absolute ‘ya-gotta-play-dis’ not just for platformer fans, but for the gaming populous in general.

Super Meat Boy is currently targeted for later this year, with an Xbox 360 launch first, followed shortly Refenes assured by a PC, Mac (unconfirmed but mentioned) and WiiWare release.

Here’s a handful of links to indie coverage across the web, today’s collection includes Wolfire Games chatting about Overgrowth, Tommy Refenes chatting and getting his game pulled from the App Store, and the story behind how Clover dev Binary Tweed got the name.

Bunny Brawler: Wolfire Talk Overgrowth (RPS)
“It’s time to talk about cute animals kicking each other to death. We haven’t covered upcoming indie action game Overgrowth much on RPS, which is a sad side-effect of its much-adored precursor Lugaru arriving before the Hivemind had coalesced into being. Let’s correct that now.”

Machinarium Creator Working On Fantasy Puppet Film (GSW)
“As you’ll see in this trailer, Machinarium creator and Amanita Design founder Jakub Dvorský’s talents aren’t limited to game development.”

GDC 2010: No More Giggles (TIGSource)
“A week after Tommy Refenes (Super Meat Boy) declared the Apple App Store to be the Tiger Electronics handheld of this generation (part of the Indie Game Maker Rant session), Apple has removed his zit-popping game Zits & Giggles from the App Store.”

Announcement: Nordic Game Indie Night, Presenters (Indie Games)
“The Nordic Game Indie Night is a one-day event that is held on the eve of the Nordic Game 2010 Conference, which runs from the 28th to 30th of April in Slagthuset, Malmö, Sweden. The event kicks off with a two-hour long presentation by developers, with Jonatan “cactus” Söderström and Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren already confirmed as speakers for the evening.”

What’s In A Name: Binary Tweed (Joystiq)
“Every once in a while, we bring you the story of how a developer or publisher settled on the name for their company. Today we bring you the harrowing tale of Binary Tweed, the developer behind Clover: A Curious Tale.”

File this under suspicious. A few days after indie developer Tommy Refenes devoted his GDC rant to trashing Apple’s App Store, the app he used to highlight the problem, Zits & Giggles, was pulled from the store.

One of the problems with Apple is that the company hasn’t always been clear about its actions, especially regarding App Store approvals. So only the people who pulled the app from the store know why it was removed.

There are two reasons I can think of that the app would be removed.

The first is that the app violated some part of Apple’s secret code regarding apps, but had flown under the radar until the rant pointed a lot of attention Zits & Giggles‘ way. Refenes said he had been raising the price of the app every time he checked on it, and it was up to about $400.

Apple has removed at least one app for being priced stupidly high. The company removed the app I Am Rich because it charged $999.99 and did virtually nothing. So there is some precedent for removing expensive apps.

The second is a more worrying possibility. The removal could be retribution for Refenes’ rant. And if Apple pulled his app in retaliation, then they’ve validated his argument.

Which is funny, because I don’t really agree with Refenes. The App Store is terrible for a lot of reasons. It takes a big cut of developers’ revenue, it’s full of low quality games and apps, and, as evidenced above, it’s an inscrutable gatekeeper.

But Refenes doesn’t make any logical connections in his rant. He starts out saying the App Store is awful, but doesn’t support the argument. He tries to argue that the iPod and iPhone are the Tiger Handhelds of this generation, but only succeeds in proving that bad ports of popular games, like Mega Man 2, Sonic and Street Fighter IV are similar to those crappy handhelds.

Popular titles are always going to be big sellers, even if they aren’t suited to the medium. First-person shooters still control like crap on consoles, but how many came out even before Halo introduced a moderately useful control scheme?

And his experiment with Zits & Giggles, which resulted in 14 people buying it at $299, doesn’t prove that the App Store is a failure, it just proves that some people have too much money to spend, or don’t read the prices, or put more value on expensive things. It reflects a tiny fraction of the App Store userbase.

To draw the conclusion that the people who buy games on the App Store aren’t gamers from those two examples is a bit of a reach.

If Apple had left things alone, the rant would have been remembered for the amusing story of a crappy app selling a lot of copies at an exhorbitatnt price. But now Apple is likely to suffer the Streisand effect.

Regardless of why the app was removed, people are going to assume that it was removed because of the rant.

Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe public outcry will get Apple to change their ways and open up the app approval and removal processes. But if history is any indicator, all the complaints will fall on deaf ears.

[Hat tip Ben Abraham]