2d-boy posts

Valve has already put Unreal Tournament III on sale until March 15 and let folks play the full game for free this weekend. However their regular Steam weekend update is still in play and today they have put 2D Boy's terrific puzzle title World of Goo on sale for just $4.99. That's 66 percent off its normal price of $14.99 on Steam.

That's not all the Steam news today. The official Criterion Games web site has posted up word that their racing game Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box will soon appear on Steam. The racing game was released in full by publisher EA last month in a trial version. You can download the full trial game right here at Big Download.

2D Boy, developers of the physics puzzle game World of Goo, has released a demo of the game for Linux. Additionally, there's also a patch that updates the Windows release to version 1.3, which fixes bugs and improves stability. Lastly, there's an updated Mac demo available for download.

Download World of Goo Linux Demo (31 MB)
Download World of Goo v1.3 Patch [Windows] (10 MB)
Download World of Goo v1.2 Mac Demo (31 MB)
Check out all World of Goo downloads

Several days ago we reported that family-oriented PC game publisher Brighter Minds had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company had become known as the retail publisher for World of Goo, the acclaimed puzzle game from developer 2D Boy. Indeed, the retail version of the game was selling well enough that it made a brief appearance on NPD Group's top 10 best selling PC games list a couple of weeks ago.

The Escapist is now reporting that a spokesperson for Brighter Minds has now commented on their recent business issues, saying, "This was a voluntary bankruptcy," and adding, "...this allows us to reorganize and become a much healthier company." Unlike other recent moves by companies to go into bankruptcy, Brighter Minds does not intend to lay off any of its employees, with the rep saying, "We do not foresee this move having any effect on our business whatsoever."

Earlier this week, we reported that World of Goo made the top 10 best selling PC games list for US retail stores for the week ending January 17. We mentioned at the time that the retail version of 2D Boy's acclaimed puzzle game is being published by Brighter Minds. Well, it appears not even the high sales of World of Goo is keeping Brighter Minds for filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

According to our sister site GameDaily Biz, the publisher filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 28 which means it can stay in business while it reorganizes. Little else is known about what's going on at the company and how it will affect its deal with 2D Boy for retail distribution of World of Goo.

We know that the team at 2D Boy has had success with the downloadable version of their acclaimed puzzle game World of Goo. Now it appears that the game is reaching out to retail stores as well. The NPD Group's latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in the US has the title show up at the number 10 spot for the week that ended Jan 17.

World of Goo, which is being published in retail stores by Brighter Minds, replaces Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 on the list compared to the previous week. Otherwise there's little that has changed from the last list aside from a jump for Fallout 3 from 9th to 3rd place.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2.The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
4.World of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
5. Spore - Electronic Arts
6. Left 4 Dead - Valve/EA
7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
8. World of Warcraft - Blizzard
9. Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
10. World of Goo - 2D Boy/Brighter Minds

It's always good to know that even the head of one of the industry's biggest game franchises can be a fan of a small independent title. In this case the big exec is Peter Moore, the current head of EA Sports. And the game is World of Goo, the acclaimed downloadable puzzle title from 2D Boy.

Of course the game was made by former Electronic Arts team members and Moore states, "There's a lot to learn from the EA alumni who started 2D Boy and built something as creative and unique as World of Goo, with such a small team and little money." Moore believes that EA Sports can learn something from the innovation that World of Goo brought to games and EA Sports is planning to offer a number of small downloadable games for consoles. And what about the PC which EA Sports almost abandoned in 2008? Moore states, " I also know many of you await our plans on PC this year, and I think there are learnings here as well, beyond just downloads for console gamers, for going online to deliver compelling experiences to the PC community as well."

For those of you who can't get enough of the charming game, World of Goo, the developers 2D Boy release game's official soundtrack, completely free for people to enjoy. The package also includes album notes and artwork. World of Goo is an independently developed game where players use balls of goo to solve physics based puzzles.

Download World of Goo Soundtrack (85 MB)
Download World of Goo Demo (32 MB)
Download World of Goo Mac Demo (32 MB)

The annual Video Game Awards on Spike TV are over and a number of games available on the PC won many of the major catagories in the event. Most notably, Valve's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead won for both Best PC Game along with Best Multiplayer Game (it lost the Best Shooter catagory to the Xbox 360 title Gears of War 2).

Bethesda Softworks' title Fallout 3 got the nod for Best RPG and 2D Boy's unique puzzle game World of Goo won the event's first ever Best Independent Game Award. NHL 09 won for Best Team Sports Game (one of only two Electronic Arts sports titles they released for the PC this year). Shawn White Snowboarding got the Best Individual Sport award (Ubisoft just released the PC version). Lego Indiana Jones won for Best Game Based On A Movie Or TV Show.

As for the show itself, it definately had its up and downs; from Jack Black's over-the-top intro of Double Fine's Tim Schafer as the highlight to Neil Patrick Harris flubbing the winner of the Best Independent Game award as its lowest point. In fact only a few actual awards were given on camera with a very quick montage of all the rest of the winners given out in a few minutes of screen time. Spike TV needs to dump the musical acts and make their video game awards show more about the awards.

One of the big indie game sleeper hits has been 2D Boy's remarkable puzzle game World of Goo. However it looks like most of the folks who have played the full PC version of the game haven't been good enough to actually pay for it. According to a comment string on Rock Paper Shotgun, the developers have said that 90 percent of the full copies being played on PCs are pirated versions.

One of the 2D Boy team members, Kyle Gabler, stated they arrived at the number by "...looking at unique ip's that have contacted our leaderboard server for any reason, at least once." However he seems to have a good attitude about the whole situation, saying, "I know it sounds like a gruesome number, but we like to tell ourselves 'those people wouldn't have bought it anyway'. The good news is, some have mailed us, telling us they bought the game because they first pirated it and liked it. Hurray for (some) humanity!"

[Via Joystiq]

Developer 2D Boy has released a Mac demo for World of Goo. The demo lets you play the first level of the game. Players must manipulate goo balls to build structures and solve puzzles in this unique and challenging independent game. Don't forget to check out how the PC and Wii versions stack up against each other.

Download the World of Goo Demo [Mac] (32 mb)
Download the World of Goo Demo [Windows] (32 MB)
Read the World of Goo Review