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News from Double Eleven

Introducing… Frozen Synapse Arenas – Vote Now!

By | Frozen Synapse Prime

Frozen Synapse Prime on Steam will feature brand new exclusive content, in form of Frozen Synapse Prime Arenas!

FIVE unique match types with their own battlegrounds designed specifically for Arena mode will be added to the game and you have the chance to vote on which ones make the final game!

Maps, squads and unit placements are not random in the new Arena matches, but created and balanced specifically for some awesome new multiplayer showdowns.

The Arena maps were conceived by our most devious designers, to challenge players to strategize a little differently, combine the strengths of your squad in new ways, and utilize the terrain like never before.

Which way will you turn in the tightly confined corridors of Claustrophobia? How can you make use of the Rocket Launcher in Necropolis to turn the tides of battle? Where will you position your Snipers in Crossfire? Which team will come out on top in the lawless town of the Dustbowl?

All Arena matches can also be played in Dark mode and against the AI in Skirmish mode.
For the first time, you the fans have the opportunity to help determine some exclusive content for Frozen Synapse!

We’ve picked a few of our favourite Arenas to be included in the game, now it’s your turn to pick the final 2!

Which Arena maps would you like to see go into the game? We’ve shortlisted 5 for you to vote on; Claustrophobia, Crossfire, Dustbowl, Maelstrom and Necropolis. Take a look at each Arena map, the squad positions and choose your favourites.

The two that get the highest number of votes will be selected as Frozen Synapse Prime Arenas and will be available when the game launches!

The Voting Rules…

Place your vote below and then if you like Tweet us your favourite Arena and why using the hashtag #FSP[NameOfArena] – for example #FSPCrossfire to @DoubleElevenLtd. You can also Tweet to ask our designers questions on the Arenas or anything else to do with Frozen Synapse Prime on PC.

We’ll keep you up to date with which Arenas are winning each day of the poll.

Voting will end on Tuesday 4th November at 5:00pm GMT.


PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate coming to PlayStation’s June Instant Game Collection

By | PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate

Double Eleven in collaboration with Kyoto based Q-Games are delighted to announce that PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate will launch as part of June’s Instant Game Collection, making it free for PlayStation™Plus subscribers on PlayStation™4 and PlayStation™Vita.

Developed by Double Eleven, PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate is a twin stick shooter with equal elements of action, exploration, and puzzle solving. The game combines Shooter 1 and 2 into one title with PS™4-ized graphics, also adding cross-play support. For the first time ever PS™Vita owners can play against PS™4 owners in the same game.

In Shooter Ultimate, players interact with environments that run an advanced fluid dynamics simulation needed to solve puzzles, overcome enemies, and progress through many unique levels. Learning how to combine water, lava, gas, magnetic oil and even stomach acid with your ships special power-ups is essential to progressing into the unpredictable depths of Apoxus Prime.

“We don’t ever just port a game, we work to improve the whole experience of the game when we bring it to a new platform and Shooter Ultimate is no exception, everything feels fresh and new”, said Mark South of Double Eleven.

Dylan Cuthbert, of Q-Games said “Double Eleven have done an incredible job with this title, the PS™4 visuals are eye-poppingly gorgeous and the controls are slippery slick, fans of the original are really going to enjoy the changes.”

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate was made possible by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Strategic Content initiative that continually seeks to bring the best new content to the PlayStation. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Shahid Ahmad said “At PlayStation, we’re excited to see PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate Edition coming to PS™4 and PS™Vita. It’s been inspiring seeing this project come to fruition. Titles like Shooter Ultimate underscore our commitment to support the best of the independent game creators out there. Double Eleven and Q-Games are renowned PlayStation developers and their previous collaboration PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate for Vita was received with critical acclaim.”

Lee Hutchinson, of Double Eleven said, “The PS™4 version has undergone a complete visual overhaul, we’ve introduced real-time lighting, normal maps, and really souped up all the visual effects. You can see the difference immediately! The fluid now looks very volumetric and “full-bodied” and we’ve also re-vamped the user interface to match the new look. We were joking that with all the changes and additions, this could have been called PixelJunk Shooter 3! Oh, and at last, due to popular demand, Shooter now has a platinum trophy!”

Look out for the game in just a week, in the mean time check out @DoubleElevenLtd for the latest, and share your thoughts with #ShooterUltimate.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2014/05/29/playstation-plus-june-nba-2k14-dragons-crown-pixeljunk-2/

PixelJunk Shooter is now available on PC, MAC and Linux!

By | PixelJunk Shooter

Double Eleven announced the impending release of PixelJunk Shooter earlier this month, as part of their on going collaboration with Kyoto based developer Q-Games. The day has finally arrived to flick the switch from pre-order to launch and Shooter is now live!

Today, the indie-developer and publisher has brought the original PixelJunk Shooter to PC, Mac and Linux. This simultaneous, triple platform release also serves as milestone for Double Eleven, who has been building it’s operations to allow it this level of coordinated release.

In PixelJunk™ Shooter, players pilot their spacecraft through a range of cavernous environments in a bid to save the scientists trapped underground. Making your way through the game requires you to solve environmental puzzles by manipulating fire, ice, water and even a strange black magnetic liquid. All while coming under fire from a vast range of enemies and all set to a buttery soundtrack!

Double Eleven’s first update to the PixelJunk franchise was PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate which has earned a respectable 87% on Metacritic.

PixelJunk Shooter is available via Steam and selected partners on the 11th of November. The game is on sale for $8.99/£5.99/€6.99 with a special launch discount to celebrate the release for all those who have been waiting for the game.

Be sure to follow @DoubleElevenLtd for future announcements and updates!

PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate is coming to Steam, with pre-orders available now!

By | PixelJunk Monsters | No Comments

Following the news of the collaboration between Double Eleven and PixelJunk creators Q-Games, we are excited to announce that, PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate is making its way to Steam very soon!

This edition of the tower defence classic will create the definitive PixelJunk™ Monsters experience for Steam Fans. It will be available on PC initially, with Mac and Linux to follow.

Dylan Cuthbert, Q-Games CEO said “We are delighted to see PixelJunk Monsters hitting Steam with all of the content, features and functionality that we have created over the years in one package.”

In PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate, players control Tikiman who must protect his helpless babies from waves of incoming monsters. You’ll build weapon towers in the right places and at the right time in order to kill enemy monsters and earn coins and gems. These can be spent on creating more towers, upgrading existing ones, or to research powerful new towers. Monsters come thicker and faster as the waves advance, building the legendary challenge the game has been known for giving.

In addition to the single player story mode, PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate will leverage the Steamwork’s Cloud technology for online play, as well as Auto-Updating, Leaderboards, Achievements and more. Additional announcements will be made nearer to release!

It has been a rollercoaster moving into the publishing arm of the business and getting our first title – PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD for PlayStation® Vita – published independently, so moving onto Steam shortly after has been awesome! It marks another milestone for our studio, being our first PC title ever released. Steam has been a great partner throughout the development of Monsters, and also in seeing it out this summer.

PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate is slated for worldwide release on August 26th and pre-orders are available now on PC via Steam, with a 15% discount until the game releases on August 26th.

Visit Steam to purchase, or for additional PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate updates visit www.double11.com and also via Twitter on @PJMonsters and @DoubleElevenLtd

PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD Aavilable At 20% Off For PlayStation Plus members!

By | PixelJunk Monsters | No Comments

PIXELJUNK MONSTERS: ULTIMATE HD AVAILBLE AT 20% OFF FOR PlayStation Plus members!

The wait is finally over and the release is upon us! We are pleased to officially announce for two weeks Plus members are entitled to a 20% discount off the normal price!

Instead of paying the normal price of $14.99, Plus members can score it for only $11.99!

That’ll get you:

  • The 21 Tiki Island levels and 24 Challenge levels from the original PixelJunk Monsters PS3
  • From the Encore expansion Toki island with 15 levels inspired by arcade classics and the third island, Tum Tum providing a huge amount of replay!
  • From the Deluxe Edition a fourth island, Gati Gati with 11 more stages
  • Not to mention trap towers, gem towers, scuttlers, fire monsters, flying balloon monsters, unlockable content and more!
  • We think that’s a lot of game! So grab yourself a bargain! It would also be great if you could follow us at @PJMonsters to keep up with latest updates and find out about some really cool giveaways!

One final note, we haven’t confirmed release dates for Australia and Japan. As soon as we know we will share it!

Get the game here (US): Buy PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD!!

PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD – not long to wait now!!

By | PixelJunk Monsters | No Comments

We announced PixelJunk™ Monsters’ arrival on the PlayStation® Vita back in June and we were met with an amazing response from fans and the press, waiting with bated breath to see the tower defense classic come to life on the portable handheld. Well, the wait is officially over and we now have official release dates for the game!

PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD will be available on the Sony Entertainment Network on the 30th July for customers in North America for $14.99.

Players in Europe will be able to join in the fun on the 31st July for £9.99 / €12.99, as will the majority of Asia with a Japanese release date to be announced soon.

PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD game has been faithfully recreated for PlayStation®Vita in high definition, with 30+ hours of gameplay, online and ad-hoc co-op play and everything you loved about all the previous editions. Our very talented team put a lot of work into making this the definitive edition of Monsters!

Seeing the game in stores in just two weeks’ time marks our first independently released title as a studio, an epic milestone for us! To celebrate, we will be announcing some very cool giveaways, so feel free to follow us at @PJMonsters, where more info will follow shortly!

Exclusivity comes to an end as we split from Sony XDev!

By | Double Eleven | No Comments

For those of you who follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you will already be aware of our split from Sony XDev. Late last week we announced the end of our exclusivity with Sony, which can only be described as the end of an era. The response from our fans has been very positive so far, wishing us luck for the future as we push into publishing on the PSN platform. As you can imagine, this is a super exciting time for us, onwards and upwards!

We gave our exclusive to Games Industry International and you can read it here:

Double Eleven splits from Sony XDev as it continues publishing push | GamesIndustry International

LIMBO for PlayStation Vita is on the way!!

By | Limbo | No Comments

Another exciting chapter for the team here at Double Eleven….we have developed the debut mobile console version of LIMBO for Playdead on the PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita™).

LIMBO was originally released in 2010 and garnered many awards including “Best Indie Game” in the 2012 PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards and Apple’s Design Award in 2012.

LIMBO is the next big title after LittleBigPlanet™ to come through the Double Eleven doors. The original version of the game saw three and a half years of meticulous development and is an extraordinary artistic accomplishment.

“LIMBO for us is the gaming equivalent of a priceless painting. Rarely do all the right ingredients come together in the industry to allow for the creation of a game like LIMBO, as it did for Playdead. We feel truly honoured to be the first external developer to work on LIMBO, and bring it to the PlayStation Vita. The team has worked tirelessly to ensure all the details, subtleties and nuances have been preserved from its home console legacy ”, says Mark South, COO at Double Eleven.

“This version of the game is for the first time being made externally”, says Dino Patti, Playdead CEO told us. “In the way we work there is normally no room for outsourcing, but the talented team at Double Eleven has convinced us that this was the right decision.”

Shahid Ahmad, Senior Business Development Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe commented, “Having the first mobile version of LIMBO on PlayStation Vita is part of our enduring commitment to ensure it has a strong, competitive catalogue of quality titles. Both Playdead and Double Eleven have shown a tremendous amount of energy and attention to detail in re-creating the PS3 experience on PlayStation Vita.”

We were truly honoured to be the first external developers to create a version of LIMBO. Naturally we have done our utmost to make it excellent and do justice to the game. We hope that you will enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed developing it!

The PS Vita version of LIMBO is released June 5th, don’t forget to check it out!

NEW: D11 TEAM PROFILES

By | Double Eleven

We’ve been celebrating our wonderful team with the recent new ‘Double 1-to-1s’ blog interviews, and it’s great that they’ve been so well-received. In order to avoid flooding you with interviews – and constantly nagging our staff to answer our questions! – we’ve decided to release these in a timely fashion, with a rumination gap between each of a week or two.

We do want to show off the full roster of lovely people that work for us, though, and without waiting for each of their interviews to come out. So, we are happy to introduce our new Employee Profiles: simple bite-sized introductions to each team member.

These permanent fixtures will reside in the About Us section of our website. Head over there now to see the first batch we’ve put up. We’ll be adding more and more as they are written, so come back frequently to check for updates.