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Microsoft entangles Twisted Pixel

Developers of 'Splosion Man and The Gunstringer to develop exclusively for Xbox 360.

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Today, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Texas-based developer Twisted Pixel Games to work exclusively with the Xbox 360. The move will see the developers brought to Microsoft Studios to continue development of their games for Microsoft's platform.

'Splosion Man put Twisted Pixel on the virtual map.
'Splosion Man put Twisted Pixel on the virtual map.

Twisted Pixel, founded in 2006, is known for bringing the generally well-received 'Splosion Man to Xbox Live Arcade, following up with the sequel Ms. 'Splosion Man. The firm's latest game, Kinect-enabled title The Gunstringer, was also met with positive reviews.

The company also brought The Maw and Comic Jumper to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Before the acquisition, Twisted Pixel was also a registered developer for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Nintendo DS but had only ever actually released games on the PC and XBLA.

Earlier this year, Twisted Pixel was involved in a public plagiarism spat with Capcom regarding 'Splosion Man and the Capcom title MaXplosion. MaXplosion was released by Capcom onto iOS devices, with many--including Twisted Pixel's CEO--pointing out a number of similarities between it and Twisted Pixel's title. It also emerged through an interview that Twisted Pixel had pitched the idea of 'Splosion Man to Capcom, only to be rejected. Capcom defended its position, stating that the mobile division was a completely separate department and had no knowledge of Twisted Pixel's pitch or the game.

Twisted Pixel now joins Lionhead Studios and Rare as Microsoft-exclusive developers.

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blackace

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@mikeyvp87 This isn't a good thing. Microsoft has had a terrible track record with it's acquisitions. ****************************************************** Really?? Bungie and Turn 10 have done pretty well. Even though Lionhead Studios and Rare haven't focused enough on their other IP's (ie. B.C. and Killer Instinct), they have made a sizable profit with games like Banjo N&B, Kinect Sports, Viva Pinata and Fable 1, 2 & 3. It's strange how no one complained when Sony acquired Sucker Punch & Media Molecule.

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Soothsayer42

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This sounds cool... What kind of game they make? Arcade style or something big

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Avatar image for scratchisme
scratchisme

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@chilly-chill haha okay. Agreed then.

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rarson

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Who didn't see this coming?

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megakick

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MS should release Killer Instinct for XBLA

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cjf187x

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@darth_3pio I'll second that. Do not want an on the rail Fable utilizing kinect, changes the franchise into a kids game...definitely needs some new innovation that does not include kinect.

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thribs

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This is some sad news!

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soaduk

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@James00715 and anyone else who says their 1st party has been a joke...bungie?!

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darth_3pio

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In reference to the Lionhead Studios post below, do want Black & White 3.

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steelmouth

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gud move ms now please aquire AAA developers,ps were the hell are Lionhead Studios and Rare, it seems lionhead only ever does fable as for rare i ant heared anything from them in years, u realy are disappointing us guys,with Gears comming to an end we need somthing else something new somthing fresh something AAA Thank You

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chilly-chill

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@scratchisme I meant moving on from now.

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scratchisme

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Way to go Microsoft, but don't stop there.

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scratchisme

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@chilly-chill A little bit late for that one. See top left for details.

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Avatar image for mayceV
mayceV

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well MS its a good stat, Now go open 7 more studios. dedicate them to PC XBLA or 360 development then you'll have a 1st party that isn't a laughing stock :)

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chilly-chill

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They do good work I just hope they steer clear of kinect as a whole.

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SolidTy

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[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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Brettsky128

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I want a sequel to Comic Jumper.

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gshell

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congrats to the twisted pixel team....too bad won't be seeing some of your games on ps3 but i have a 360 as well so it's cool.....msoft 1st party is a joke so this acquisition makes sense.

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strawberry9

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great acquisition. Microsoft needs more exclusive games for sure and Twisted pixle will benefit from having a big time publisher behind them.

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cipo89

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Yeah... I don't like this one bit.

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Vodoo

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Rare turned into a Kinect only dev because they obviously are not capable of making good games anymore. Their N64 days are looonng gone, and like others have said, so is the original talent. I think MS should close the studio and burn it to the ground. It's a big money-pit that produces little-to-nothing. Have you seen Rare's campus in England? That place must cost a fortune.

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Haasdude

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I'm not too concerned about their future. On the plus side - Twisted Pixel now has the financial backing to pump games out at a faster rate. I can only hope that Microsoft stays pretty hands-off and lets them do their thing.

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Haasdude

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[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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twztid13

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i hope they don't kill them by making kinect only games. TP is an awesome dev that deserves to be able to make games for people who don't buy into gimmicks, or have small apartments!

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PixelAddict

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Um... yippee?

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deathstream

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Everyone is mentioning Rare and no one is mentioning Bungie which thrived under Microsoft. And if Twisted Pixel's Kinect games are as good as Gunstringer, who cares if that becomes their focus? And to those asking MS to let Rare loose- the Rare that made those classic games is dead. The talent has moved on.

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mikeyvp87

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This isn't a good thing. Microsoft has had a terrible track record with it's acquisitions.

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lanmanna

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Acquisitions are NEVER good(not just in the game industry), unless the acquisition is of a company that isn't doing good financially. Hopefully Twisted Pixel doesn't end up being the next Rare. After Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, it was all downhill for Rare.

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James00715

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Every dev that has joined Microsoft morphs into a shadow of its former glory. Lionhead has focused on Fable series which for the most part has had mixed response. Rare the great Nintendo developer now turned into a Kinect-only developer. Ensemble Studios one of the premier strategy game studios shut down by Microsoft even though it was still profitable. I'm sure there's others I have forgotten about. Twisted Pixel will most likely follow the same path.

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GameShtopper

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@blackace- Nintendo didn't acquire The Pokemon Company, they created it. Same for Sony with Polyphony Digital.

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blackace

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Chiyo18 Posted Oct 12, 2011 11:27 am PT i don't find this to be important, interesting, or exciting news, since the company never released games for anything other than xbox and pc anyway. this just makes me feel like they're reminding people that twisted pixel is only on ms platforms, rather than announcing some worthwhile information. ****************************************************************** Did you say the same comments when Sony announced that they acquired Polyphony and Naughty Dog, or when Nintendo acquired Retro Studios & The Pokémon Company? lol!! Step away from the podium please.

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Bangerman15

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stop letting rare make these lame kinect sports games, wheres a new PD, kameo, or Banjo game??

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MrMisanthrope

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Supabul: You've got it completely backward. Rare is Microsoft's Kinect/Avatar studio precisely *because* they can't handle an IP post-Nintendo: Conker bombed, Banjo bombed, Perfect Dark was terrible, Kameo bombed *and* was terrible, etc.

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Aurey

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Finally MS is learning the way to have more exclusives, Sony's been doing this for a long time and it proved to be an effective strategy. Now go and buy Valhalla Game Studios, please.

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rome_tx

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Uh oh.

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Chiyo18

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i don't find this to be important, interesting, or exciting news, since the company never released games for anything other than xbox and pc anyway. this just makes me feel like they're reminding people that twisted pixel is only on ms platforms, rather than announcing some worthwhile information.

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shadowhunter0

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we all know what is going to happen they are going to disband twisted pixel or force them to make crappy kinect game but who cares all they make is crappy games anyways

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deactivated-5a5f623fa2551

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Good move by MS. Good news for so-called 'core gamers who own an Xbox, too. I wasn't a fan of Twisted Pixel's early stuff, but the dev team has been on fire this year.

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Harrymanhunter1

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lol I misread the topic as "Microsoft entangles Twisted Metal" and I was like WTF?! but then I say it was Twisted Pixel and was relieved :P

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blackace

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That's a good acquisition Microsoft, but you need to acquire about 10 more companies to make exclusive content for XBL and XBox 360 (and 720 in the future). **************************************************************** @001011000101101 I guess they will be forced to make crappy Kinect games from now on... too bad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Gunstringer wasn't crappy. It looks like they will be making both XBox 360 and Kinect games in the future. Microsoft needs more talent like that under their roof. This is great news. I would like to see Rare start making more XBox 360 games again. Microsoft needs to split them up so 1/2 are doing Kinect and avatar games and the other half of Rare is making regular Rare games, like Killer Instinct 3, Battletoads and Perfect Dark Zero 2. Sure Rare has made some decent Kinect games like Kinect Sports, but they need to go back and make some new IP for the 360 as well.

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maximumbarmage

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Seems an odd move after Gunstringer bombed so badly.

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HollowNinja

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If they continue to release for the PC, then this doesn't bother me.

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ronnet

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Smart move. Sony has more firstparty developers, incl. many developers that make more casual platform titles. From a gamer's perspective Microsoft probably doesn't need more than those. Most people here would rather see another shooter-franchise I imagine. However from Microsoft's point of view this is a smart move. Get them while they're young and develop the same kind of loyality as Sony has with their firstparty-developers.

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Grim_Reaper007

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Speaking of Rare... we ever going to see a Kameo 2?

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Supabul

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RARE and Twisted Pixel now Kinect software studio's. Imagine if MS let RARE and Twisted Pixel loose on Xbox 360, some new ips would be awesome, both these company's know good gameplay RARE could create ip's to rival Nintendo franchise's for Xbox Conker, Jet Force Gemini, Killer Instinct, Kameo 2, Banjo 4, Perfect Dark where are these franchise's gone

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deactivated-60c3d23d2738e

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Love Twisted Pixel.

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conkerton

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My fun did not go hard while reading this... I'm really hoping it was just a title lock rather than a complete Rare take over.

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Icehearted

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Under Microsoft's thumb now, and Microsoft declared last E3 that Kinect was their primary focus. Seems pretty clear how this could end up.

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Megavideogamer

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Twisted Pixel, Hopefully this will be a good thing for them? Just don't "pull a Rare"

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