Microsoft Acquires Twisted Pixel

Microsoft has announced its acquiring young development company Twisted Pixel.

Twisted Pixel is responsible for such games as Splosion Man and The Gunstringer. The company was founded in 2006, in Austin Texas.

Twisted Pixel has an incredible track record of innovative, critically acclaimed, and most importantly, fun, games, Phil Spencer, corporate VP of Microsoft Studios, said. Microsoft Studios is home to cutting-edge entertainment experiences, and the incredible creativity of the Twisted Pixel team will help drive further innovation around Kinect and Xbox LIVE.

Splosion Man is a popular puzzle platform available as a downloadable game from the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Players take on the role of an experiment that was given the ability to detonate at will. He must use his powers in the 2D world to escape the laboratory he was created in. The game also had a sequel called Ms. Splosion Man.

The Gunstringer is a newly released game developed for Xbox's camera control peripheral, the Kinect. In this shooter a skeleton marionette goes on a quest for revenge against the gang who betrayed him.

The acquisition won't mean much for the end customer, since most of the games Twisted Pixel released were for the Xbox 360 and XBLA.

It is really exciting for us to solidify our long-standing relationship with Microsoft Studios, who we consider to be the leader in digital distribution and creating new innovations in gaming like Xbox LIVE and Kinect, Michael Wilford said, co-founder and CEO of Twisted Pixel. As part of the family of Microsoft Studios we look forward to bringing even bigger and richer experiences to Xbox and Twisted Pixel fans around the world.

This seems like a good move on Microsoft's part. Twisted Pixel is an adept company working well with the newest Xbox features and distribution models. Splosion Man was a popular game and a perfect XBLA download.

Twisted Pixel seems to understand the limitations and strengths of different platforms such as the Kinect. A lot of the problem with the Kinect is letting players move in traditional gaming worlds while being able to interact with the game. In most Kinect games, avatars must stay still because players don't have an infinite amount of space to walk in their living rooms, unlike game characters.

The Gunstringer solves this problem in an innovative way. Gamers moved the marionette with one hand, leading him with the string handle, while shooting with the other. It was an elegant solution that gave the game much of its flavor and charm. It will be interesting to see how Twisted Pixel does with some bigger budget games and more support from Microsoft.