Poking around in my Steam account the other day, and what did I see? Well, as you might have guessed by that big screenshot up there, a listing for Ms. Splosion Man popped into my library. I’m not entirely sure why – no one else I spoke to has seen it. You can see the screenshot in full here. It didn’t actually launch, and since then it has been replaced with the equally mysterious “ValveTestApp105420”, but I reckon it’s a safe bet that at some point there will be a PC release for what was currently still only announced for an XBLA release.
Twisted Pixel’s first game, The Maw, was released on the almighty grey box back in 2009, but since then they’ve been Xbox exclusive. If they signed an exclusive contract with Microsoft, perhaps after three games (the original ‘Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, and kinect waggle-em-up “The Gunstringer”), they are now free to come back into the PC fold.
I really liked ‘Splosion Man on the console toy. Like all of Twisted Pixel’s games, it’s bursting with character and charm. The platforming and wall jumping is tighter than Mario’s dungarees, and smashing through glass is endless fun. I hope the sequel doesn’t have any rubbish boss fights though.
We contacted Twisted Pixel to find out more, but they have yet to get back to us. Don’t tell them you heard it from me, and make sure to act surprised when they officially announce it.
05/07/2011 at 09:44 Squishpoke says:
Only one game on the Steam account? tsk tsk.
EDIT: I see it might have been a photoshop job. That image wasn’t there before. :P
05/07/2011 at 09:46 John Walker says:
The addition of the pic is a photoshop by me, because all that grey space on the site was upsetting me.
05/07/2011 at 09:47 Decimae says:
It’s the only thing in his favourites, and he’s only showing his favourites, probably for making it look more clean.
05/07/2011 at 09:48 Lewie Procter says:
@Decimae exactly that.
05/07/2011 at 09:50 Calneon says:
Or because Lewie doesn’t want us to know how very many games he has!
05/07/2011 at 09:51 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
Presumably he’s got a press account, which means he has basically every game in Steam.
Or he added Notepad to his steam account, and renamed it just to troll us :)
05/07/2011 at 09:53 Skusey says:
I thought that he had added it to his favourites to not accidentally announce Half-Life 3, or whatever. But that now seems outlandish and crazy, but conspiracies are fun. And John, your photoshop skills are as good as ever.
05/07/2011 at 09:56 Lewie Procter says:
No press account, but I did get a promo code for The Maw, so presumably that is why this game appeared in my account.
05/07/2011 at 16:23 shoptroll says:
Those certainly are the right Ms. Splosion Man achievement images….
link to xbox360achievements.org
Hmmmmmm……
05/07/2011 at 09:52 SquareWheel says:
I really enjoyed The Maw, looking forward to what these guys can churn out.
05/07/2011 at 10:02 Teddy Leach says:
D’aww, I never had that.
05/07/2011 at 10:09 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
’splosion man was a fun game, but—like Super Meat Boy—I never got on with it on the Xbox. I’m just not used enough to the controller; years of platform games on the PC has attuned me to twitch responses with a keyboard.
This is a definite purchase if it does actually make an appearance.
05/07/2011 at 10:19 The Sombrero Kid says:
I loved The Maw Demo, never got round to buying it though, that’ll go on the wishlist till after my wedding me thinks, i’ve resisted all the Summer Sales so far! Valve are bad people to tempt me with that.
05/07/2011 at 17:07 Wulf says:
I absolutely loved the Maw. It was an unusual treat because it was both charming and clever. I snapped it up and all of its DLC when it first came around and I still don’t regret that.
05/07/2011 at 10:22 Jimbo says:
I still can’t look at that Splosion Man logo without seeing a Nazi flag. I don’t know whether that reflects badly on them or on me.
05/07/2011 at 10:34 theleif says:
And now it’ll be the same for me. Damn you.
05/07/2011 at 10:53 Eukatheude says:
Indeed.
05/07/2011 at 13:16 8-bit says:
oh ffs now I see it too. thanks for that. :(
06/07/2011 at 00:54 kyrieee says:
Swastika is the name, but yes I see it too :U
05/07/2011 at 10:59 Kadayi says:
I think it’s fair to say that anytime now it’s a case of a third party ‘360 Exclusive’ they really mean ‘360 (timed) exclusive’ . Tammy needs shoes after all. Sadly little chance of seeing Double Fine rather excellent looking ‘trenched’ though as apparently Microsoft are the publishers on that one unfortunately.
05/07/2011 at 11:02 mlaskus says:
Reply fail. :(
05/07/2011 at 14:51 shoptroll says:
So when I was at PAX East in March I swung by the Twisted Pixel booth and talked with one of their developers (I believe it was “Chainsaw”) and asked why they didn’t bring Splosion Man to the PC. He said that they have an exclusivity agreement with Microsoft currently which is why everything’s been locked to that platform.
With the upcoming Limbo release being foreshadowed by a leak on Steam I would certainly hope this means we’ll be seeing the rest of Twisted Pixel’s games on PC. They’re great people and I’d love to give them some money. Also, who doesn’t love donuts?
Now… if only someone would knock some sense into Double Fine ;)
05/07/2011 at 16:08 rocketman71 says:
I’d love both for Ms. Splosion and hubby to grace our computers via Steam. Come on, Twisted Pixel!
05/07/2011 at 17:00 Hatsworth says:
But I love boss fights! What was the issue with them?
05/07/2011 at 17:10 icupnimpn2 says:
Twisted Pixel trusted you with privy info and the first thing you do is go off hollerin’ to the whole internet.
Lew’s lips sink ships.
05/07/2011 at 18:17 Ennui says:
Is this on a press account? I haven’t seen any sign of it on mine :( it does have The Maw though…
06/07/2011 at 01:40 Cryotek says:
Just bought The Maw after checking out the demo. Pretty fun little game. Simple but so far worth a few dollars.