Isn’t it amazing how people take firm resolutions only to give them up all half a bottle of wine later?

Because this is the whole story behind iPad Twin Blades, the very first iPad optimized game IN THE WORLD. Forget about major publishers, we ain’t just porting our game with a crappy x2 pixellated zoom: we will offer native HD graphics and it’s gonna kick ass.

I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone just yet but in all this excitment I forgot myself and sent a screen to pocketgamer picturing one of the bosses of the update.

(click on the image for iPad resolution)

Obviously the build is still under heavy work – and we’re prioritizing the update more than the iPad version, but it is looking great in the emulator already!
The update will feature bosses, new environments, a story mode, a mini map to let players chose whichever level suits them best and several NPCs. As we stated previously said update will be free to all of you who have already purchased the game.

The update is scheduled for release end of february on the iPhone & iPod touch, and end of march on XBLIG and the iPad. Stay tuned for more screens very soon!

Twin Blades has been nominated at the International Mobile Games Award in the Excellence in Design category (now how poach is that).

Whilst the Excellence in Design is awarded by a panel of judges you can vote for Twin Blades as the “People’s Choice Award” by clicking on the logo above (registration needed).

The final results will be announced at the Mobile World Congress amidst hundreds of escort girls and a recreative drugs banquet – although it could be a panel of industry representatives and a sandwich buffet, the promotional brochure is hardly readable.




So the good news is: it takes place in Barcelona.
And the bad news is: it happens in mid-february.

At the heart of winter I think I’ll give it a pass – when it comes to cerveza I’d rather have mine mildly-warm on a sunny beach rather than very cold on a bench.

So we’re sending Jeff instead. Farewell Jeff, send us a postcard when you get there.

The game is performing quite well on Xbox Live Indie Games. In fact it’s the most downloaded game in several countries including Japan!

In your face, Rate My Avatar !

Twin Blades has been nominated in the best graphics category for the second (and last ) round of the best app ever death-fight.

Only one click is necessary to cast your vote, and you can change it afterward (which of course you won’t do, hmm?).

Vote for
Twin Blades
in
Best Game Graphics

Mako said he’ll draw a topless version of the nun if we win.

The contest is over, and we have drawn the winner thanks to a very complex algorithm (Mako’s 3 years old daughter picked a name from a hat).

I hope you’ll enjoy the subtle cruelty of the process as much as I do. In essence it gives “Beat Mako and get rewarded for it…BY HIS OWN DAUGHTER”

We’ve been very impressed by your performances, some of you went as far as to break the 4.5 million mark – a 4x fold to our concept artist’s ridicule 1.1 mil. You all pwned him good.

And the winner is…

Congratulations Aldex! We’ll get in touch with you shortly.

And to all of you whose name wasn’t drawn rejoice, for we have other sweet stuff coming along – stay tuned for more very soon!

Those of you who have been following since the beginning know of our habit to be late to celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, Halloween etc. Rest assured that for 2010 we took the firmest resolution to abide to our persistency in punctuality failures.

Thus we’re happy to wish you all a happy new year 2010, 6 days behind!

We’ve got plenty of things going on, the most urgent of which being the upcoming updates for Twin Blades. Now rest assured that we have read carefully all your feedbacks and are actively working on adding cool stuff to the game.
We’d like to take this special occasion to thank all of you not only for buying Twin Blades, but also for your kind words and enthusiasm – its been really heart-warming to see people appreciate our game so much and its really pushing us forward.

So thank you 2009, its been a kickass year for the Press Start team: we’ve been rejected over and over (and over) but in the end you showed us the light – and a little bit of glitter too.

[JeffEdit: OMG Phil, so cheesy!]
[PhilEdit: 'tis the last time I give you administrative rights!]

Jeffrey Wilson published an interview on 2D-X dealing with Twin Blades’ origins and our views on 2D gaming in general. As a little bit of the nun’s shameful creative background is unearthed the words ‘old Italian porn’ are coughed up.

Read PSS’ interview on 2D-X.com

Sure we can’t take if offline now, but on the bright side it brought us our very first porn start follower on Twitter, hurray!