The Behemoth development studio is mostly known for its Alien Hominid game for the Xbox 360 Live arcade service. That is about to change with the upcoming release of Castle Crashers. The company recently talked about the weapons and characters in this game on its official blog. Know the details after the jump!

A report by Games Industry had Dan Paladin, The Behemoth's co-founder, calling on all publishers to give developers leeway in the development process and let them do their thing. "I would like to see the traditional publishing deal change. I would like to see publishers act more as distributors," he said.

 

Paladin spoke out at last month's Nordic Game Conference, stating that developers will probably all tell you the same thing over and over again - their publisher has removed an idea they wanted in the game or that a feature was changed in favor of the publisher because they had the money and owned the intellectual property.

"I do think you publishers have too much power over developers, for the most part. All publishers are different, but on the whole," said Paladin in an interview with Games Industry, ending abruptly. Independent game developer studio The Behemoth funded and distributed their own title Alien Hominid over various platforms all by themselves.

"That's why we risk everything up front, so we can take it in and it's all there; we trust our own judgement," added Paladin. Developers are often forced to adopt the ideas of their publishers, according to him, and causes the games that used to be really good early on become a disaster when released later.

"The problem is the people who aren't making the game are calling the shots on how the games should be made," explained Paladin, calling such a way of development as "armchair developing." He claimed publishers just sit on their chairs and think of an idea, and say, "Wouldn't this be cool?"

It would be really cool if the ideas really worked for the game, but more often than not, they don't turn out the way everyone plans. "Publishers aren't developers, so I think they should stay out of the creative process," he concluded.

Major Nelson just pointed out that even more Alien Hominid HD downloadable content packs are available in all regions. There are three new ones, two of which are picture packs (both costing 100 MS Points each), while the other is In-Game Content (150 MS Points):

• Angry Faic Picture Pack
• Boris's Revenge Series (Picture Pack - 5 Gamer Pictures)
• PDA Classic Pack 1 (includes 100 PDA levels)
  

Despite the release of the DLC, some have still been complaining asking about a patch update for the game. Project manager Emil from The Behemoth dropped by the Major's blog to let us in on some dev info. Turns out their first priority is getting to roll out the title update for Alien Hominid HD. Their current status:

It's pretty simple actually, we have submitted the update to Microsoft and are currently working with them to make sure all of the issues are A) Resolved, B) Not causing any new problems in the game.

Just sit tight, folks. We'll get the update sooner than you can say "Take me to your leader."

The Behemoth today announced the first shipment of exclusive handmade trophies honoring the top Alien Hominid HD players on XBLA. These trophies, built with "love and elbow grease" at the developer's studio, are being mailed out to players who have scaled the heights of the Alien Hominid HD leaderboards.

"We wanted to find a way to recognize the top players of Alien Hominid HD," said Alien Hominid HD producer John Baez. "Making some spiffy trophies here in the office from genuinely simulated gold seemed like just the ticket."

The trophies are all individually customized and bear the worthy player's GamerTag, high score, and the date etched into the trophy's base. You can check 'em out below.

 

By way of Major Nelson (his site, to be exact), we've picked up an update for more Alien Hominid goodies waiting to be purchased at Xbox Live Marketplace. The first pack under discussion is a new PDA Euro Pack, which features 100 Europe-themed levels gamers in the US may not have seen before. This pack currently sells for 150 Microsoft Points.

The other items up for grabs are two new Alien Hominid picture packs: The "Boss" and the "Super Soviet Series". The former package will feature pics of Alien Hominid's meanest in-game bosses, while the latter features pics of in-game Soviet favorites, like the Yeti, or the KGB Blimp. These pack contain 5 pics each, and will cost 100 Microsoft Points (each). Just log into Live if you fancy purchasing the latest updates to this highly popular XBLA title.

Bizarre Creations' Boom Boom Rocket's definitely off to a huge start in the Xbox Live Arcade. The title has already topped the XBLA charts for the week of April 9. Pretty impressive if you consider the fact that the game was only released on April 11. Everybody's favorite heroes in a half shell also continue their good showing, with TMNT 1989 Arcade getting the second spot.

In third is Mumbo Jumbo's casual game Luxor 2, while the fourth and fifth spots are occupied by and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Worms, respectively. You can check out the full top ten list below, courtesy of Major Nelson. Remember, the list is based on full versions purchased.

1. Boom Boom Rocket
2. TMNT 1989 Arcade
3. Luxor 2
4. Castlevania: SotN
5. Worms
6. UNO
7. Alien Hominid HD
8. Jetpac Refuelled
9. Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
10. Texas Hold 'em

So, now that you've seen the figures, what are you guys playing this week? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Alien Hominid is one hard game. All of us here at QJ have taken turns at it on Xbox Live and that's pretty much the general consensus around here. Tiger of Global Donimation (no, that's not a typo) concurs with us, and he's even playing the PC version (the keyboard controls are psychotic compared to the already-hard console version).

Instead of just whining about it and crying himself to sleep about it, though, he went and did something better: a Wiimote mod for Alien Hominid. According to Tiger, while his previous GlovePIE scripts were just proof of concepts, this one is "out of necessity" as "the level of frustration increases exponentially when using the keyboard as the developers originally intended."

If you've felt the same way, download the script below. If you don't have GlovePIE yet, you can get it here. Also, check out this video of the script in action.

Download: Alien Hominid GlovePIE script

What is game developer The Behemoth best known for? Alien Hominid for one and of course, pure unadulterated mayhem. Their new side-scroller Castle Crashers is promising to deliver that plus so much more.

We have two gameplay videos of Castle Crashers shown at the Game Developers Conference (GDC): Barbarian Bash and Castle Destruction. Barbarian Bash features four players and a boss that even Goliath would be afraid of. Castle Destruction on the other hand features two players going against hordes upon hordes of enemy soldiers. (The rain of arrows reminded us briefly of 300.)

Anyway, notice that different colored knights have different special attacks and weapons. We noticed the boomerang and bow and arrows alternates with the sword. Special attacks include the ice shards and the green plumes that we assume to be poison.

There hasn't been any word as to when the release is exactly (in Xbox Live Arcade) but rest assured that we'll keep a close eye on Castle Crashers by The Behemoth. We'll stop rambling for now and leave you to enjoy the videos.

The other castle crashing video right after the jump!

Game developer The Behemoth is responsible for Xbox Live Arcade titles Alien Hominid and up and coming beat 'em up multiplayer Castle Crashers. During the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007, The Behemoth received the Audience Choice Award for Castle Crashers. Creator Dan Paladin, himself, went up the stage and claimed the award.

Quite unexpectedly though, Paladin then mentioned to those who are in attendance that Castle Crashers is being pushed back to 2008. He mentioned that the game still has "about a year of development left". Back in July of 2006, it would be remembered that The Behemoth promised an early 2007 release.

When asked why the game's going to be delayed, Paladin commented that the boosts in the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) size limit allowed them to include even more content and features to Castle Crashers, making it a fuller and more satisfying adventure overall.

Major Nelson once again informs us about the Xbox Live weekly activity for the week ending February 26. Guess who's on top? Yeah, you need not guess, you probably know the answer. Gears of War is still at the zenith in the Xbox 360 Top Live Titles department, followed by Crackdown and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas.

As for the Top Arcade titles category, Alien Hominid HD emerged on top, followed by Paperboy and UNO. Here is the Xbox 360 Top Live Titles and Top Arcade Titles for the week of February 26.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (UU’s)

1. Gears of War
2. Crackdown
3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
4. Call Of Duty 3
5. GRAW 2 MP Demo
6. Madden NFL 07
7. Crackdown Demo
8. Lost Planet
9. Oblivion
10. GRAW

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)

1. Alien Hominid HD
2. Paperboy
3. UNO
4. Texas Hold 'em
5. Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
6. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
7. Contra
8. Heavy Weapon
9. Geometry Wars Evolved
10. DOOM