Iron Brigade, a game released during the height of human existence, the year 2011, is going through a few changes. After dealing with a few legal issues, developer Double Fine regained the rights to the intellectual property and promptly began work on a patch for the game's PC version.
Over the weekend we reported on Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight Humble Bundle. The developer invited the public to take part in their two week prototyping process, allowing anyone to vote on games pitched by their talented team. Contributors will be able to download the top five games, as well as two prototype games from previous Amnesia Fortnights. The reward for contributing more than the average dollar amount (about $7.30) is a prototype game called Brazen. This cooperative action title is the brain child of Brad Muir, who was the lead on Iron Brigade.
Iron Brigade (formerly known as Trenched) won many Xbox 360 gamers' hearts with its retro sci-fi setting, unique combination of third-person shooting and tower defense, trademark Double Fine charm, and of course: 4-player online co-op. Last week, Double Fine surprised us all by announcing the impending arrival of a PC version. Now Iron Brigade is on Steam at last, complete with Games for Windows Live support for the Achievement lovers out there. Good news: the game is just as great on computer as it was on consoles.
Do you know what we need to do? We need to play more Iron Brigade! Who doesn't want to stomp around in a WWII-era mech Mobile Trench while fending off waves of demonically possessed TVs? No one, that's who. It also features four player online co-op, funny salutes, and collectible hats. What's not to love?
Double Fine's excellent Iron Brigade is getting some stellar DLC. "Rise of the Martian Bear" will take the fight to the Red Planet, where players will be challenged with new enemy designs and levels. The video also gives us a quick glimpse of some new stylish paint jobs for your mobile Trench, as well as fresh outfits for your soldier.
Today I decided to check out the new Iron Brigade update. You know, the one that changes the game's name from Trenched to Iron Brigade. After re-downloading the title I was greeted with an error - one of those nice semi-paradoxical errors that technology loves to whip out on us simple folk:
What's cooler than a mobile trench? That's right, a space mobile trench. Double Fine's awesome third person mech shooter/tower defense game, Iron Bridgade, (originally Trenched) is heading to the cosmos in an upcoming batch of DLC. The new content has yet to be priced or dated, but we do have a name and some swanky new pics. Can we get a little drum role? No? Fine. Be that way.
It seems like less than a month ago we were reporting about Trenched getting renamed to Iron Brigade outside of the US. Hey, it was less than a month ago! And now we disocover that the Iron Brigade name is actually quite infectious. The US version of Trenched will lose its original name in favor of the international version in order to maintain multiplayer compatibility across all versions as well as to reduce brand confusion going forward.
DoubleFine's excellent mech/tower defense game, Trenched, will be coming to Europe. We just don't know when. Apparently, there's a trademark dispute with a Portuguese board game maker named Rui Alipio Monteiro. He trademarked his "Trench" board game back in 2007. The gentleman has also trademarked the title for video game versions of his concept. Monteiro has issued a statement which doesn't back down from his trademark claims. You can see the full statement over at Eurogamer. Double Fine is taking this all in stride, with Trenched Project Lead Brad Muir offering up this nugget of wisdom:
Combine tower defense, mech action, an RPG-like loot system and online four player co-op and you have Trenched. The downloadable game from Double Fine Studios is the latest from the developer with plenty of style. We take the latest Xbox Live Arcade game for a spin for our review.
On day two of E3 I got the chance to sit down with Double Fine's Brad Muir. Muir, for those of you who don't know, is the project lead for Trenched, a rapidly approaching XBLA title. I'm happy to say that Trenched looks, plays and feels like a Double Fine game. It's quirky, the art style and animations are captivating, and the whole experience feels well polished. To get the skinny on the story you can check out the intro cinematic here. Are you caught up? Good. Let's do this.
Double Fine's Brad Muir is a man I can relate to. The project lead for Trenched knows his way around a press release. Allow me to quote him:
