Jeff Minter has let slip his next game headed for the 360 on his Live Journal. Following hot on the heels of Space Giraffe, Gridrunner++ is now in development and going pretty well for the Arcade.
The game is already up and running, as Minter explains:
"Work-wise, I'm now into the redesign of GR++ for XBLA. I already have it running modified for the different aspect ratio and working off the x360 pad as opposed to the mouse, and I'm changing and extending the gameplay; it'll be a much more involved game than the PC-only predecessor. I'm getting all the gameplay working first then I'll overhaul the graphics; we'll likely go for algo generated 3D shapes rather than the hand-drawn sprites of the PC original."
For those not familiar with the game, the player controls a spacecraft, and it is the player's job to destroy everything that tries to attack the ship. As you'd expect, if an enemy touches you, kaboom goes your ship.
It's an intriguing concept, although one we are now fairly familiar with on the Xbox Live Arcade. Can it compete with the likes of Geometry Wars? Chances are it can when Jeff Minter is involved.
Ken McKown writes: The From A to Z series lets our editors go back and take a look at games from past generations that are classics, overlooked gems, or just titles they remember fondly. The idea behind this is to pick five games from each letter of the alphabet, once a week to showcase. This delivers 26 weeks and 130 games to talk about. Hopefully it sparks some conversation, and of course plenty of memories.
Our first series will focus on Sony’s first entry into the console business, the PlayStation.
Let’s continue with the letter “G”.
Ah Gran Torismo! I remember playing the demo for it a ton as a kid. My father, who isn't even a gamer would even play it. He was into how "realistic" it as and how fun it was at the time. Good times!
But yeah, another great list of great games.
Hardcore Gamer: As of today the PC version is 100% free. Gridrunner++ plays just as well now as it did in 2002, and its pixel-shatter stylings make it look right at home with today's indie-retro gaming. Gridrunner++ is 4MB of pure reflex-based gaming perfection, and still holds up as the greatest arcade shooter ever made.
20 Games In 40 Minutes from veteran games journos Jon Denton and Chet Roivas. This week: Why Trials Evolution is the best XBLA game ever, why Fez is unravelling our brains, and why getting pissed in The Witcher 2 is amazing. Also: Killer Shigsy.
More crap for the XBLA.. Who the hell want's games that look like they should be played on an Atari 2600.
Space Giraffe was absolutely awful! It was like a hippie puked on a Tempest machine..
I loved it on the C64, and hope he somehow throws the classic version on there as well.. gCM