Hey PixelJunkies, the date has been set in stone – PixelJunk Shooter 2 will be released exclusively to PlayStation Network on March 1st! The glowing previews should begin flying in soon too (fingers crossed)!

Compared to the original, this game is packed even more full of lovely gushing liquid action across three entirely new worlds, and there is a whole new game in itself with the online versus mode we have put in there (over 20 weapons and abilities for you to use against your opponent!). This is why it has taken a little longer than expected to get this into your hands, but we’re really happy that now, after winging its way through the digital tapestry called “game submission,” it has been approved for release!

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks as we have some very interesting things to announce and remember to tune into our PixelJunk Radio podcast if only to hear us talk in dulcet tones!

If you have any questions about Shooter 2, fire away below and either myself or Ariel will attempt to answer them!

Long time no post! Here at Q-Games we’ve been ultra-busy finishing PixelJunk Shooter 2; unfortunately it took a little longer than we expected but that’s because of a number of (very cool) reasons!

You may have already heard, but PixelJunk Shooter 2 has the most insanely fun online Versus mode that has ever been created. Rather than just do a simple battling-type system, we created a special cat-and-mouse type game which has you and the enemy take turns as cat or mouse, either scouring the stage for the other player or running away from him. The trick being that the “mouse” is invisible to the other player unless he views you directly, so you can sneak around collecting the survivors and transporting them to your base. Each survivor that goes into your base is an extra point. But watch out: When it is the other player’s turn to play mouse they can steal them back if they are cunning enough.

Carefully laid out on top of this really addictive core game is a league system that earns you “money” that you can use to buy crazy and special items for use in battle (you only have to buy them once and you can use up to three types at any time per battle). The ultra-slow but ultra-smart homing missile is one of my favourites (it doggedly tracks the other player and is difficult to shake off!), as is the “Time Slip” item that rewinds the positions of both players for a few seconds. There is a limit on the number of uses of certain items within a battle, so a lot of strategy is involved and it has a seriously good “just one more go” factor – if you win, you will climb into new leagues to get bonuses so you can buy even cooler weapons (with 20 to choose from!) and more maps to play on. I can see many, many late nights being caused by just this part of PixelJunk Shooter 2.

But on top of all this we have created a whole new set of three worlds with new liquids, puzzles and some brilliant new enemies and bosses, packing even more fun into the regular adventure mode too! So PixelJunk Shooter 2 is not only our first true sequel in the PixelJunk series, it’s also our first PS3 online-enabled game and the combination of these two things means it is simply bursting at the seams! Oh, and remember to look forward to the new “suits” for your ship of, course!

Anyway, no more chit-chat. Check out the trailer above and see what I mean!

We are looking for PS3 owners in the Los Angeles area to help us test the latest and greatest installment to the PixelJunk series — PixelJunk Shooter 2: The Belly of the Beast!

We want to get a solid mix of PixelJunk enthusiasts, as well as people who are new to the franchise. The purpose of these focus tests will be to help us balance and polish the game to make sure it’s as fun and exciting as it can be. As you can guess, we’ve got a TON of exciting things to offer in this sequel to the already amazing PixelJunk Shooter, but we need your input to help make it the absolute best it can be!

As you can guess, we’ve got a TON of exciting things to offer in this sequel to the already amazing PixelJunk Shooter, but we need your input to help make it the absolute best it can be! What will we need from you? Your honest opinions on the game as you play through segments of each of the three new environments and encounter new challenges along the way. You will also get to go head-to-head against other testers and experience the online Battle System in which you fight 1-on-1 taking turns being the hunter or the hunted!

If you are in the local Los Angeles area and are available this Friday, December 3rd, we want to hear from you! We will be hosting three sessions at 1:00pm, 3:00pm and 5:00pm so when responding, please let us know which session you would like to attend. Expect each session to run about 90 minutes. Seating is extremely limited and we expect the available slots for testing to fill up fast!

As a “Thank You” for helping us out, we will give each of our testers a brand new PlayStation Move starter bundle to take home.

Requirements for application:

• Have reliable transportation to the testing location.
• Be 18 years of age. If under the age of 18, you will need your parent or legal guardian present for the entire duration of the session.

If you are interested, here’s what you need to do:

Send an email to PJS2Test@gmail.com.

In the email please state the following:

• Full Name
• Age
• Email address for confirmation purposes.
• Phone number for confirmation purposes.
• Time of session you are interested in.
• Let us know if you are a PixelJunk player or not. Not to worry if you aren’t, as we need all kinds of testers!

Thank you, and we hope to hear from you soon!

Q-Games and Dylan Cuthbert are cooking up plenty of new tricks for PixelJunk Shooter 2, the follow-up to the 2009 PSN title that mixed retro-styled audio-visuals with progressive gameplay mechanics. But once I picked up the controller at last week’s NYC PlayStation media day, I discovered that PixelJunk Shooter 2 expands upon this formula in several key ways.

Light and dark. I quickly learned that darkness is not your friend in PixelJunk Shooter 2. Traveling though a dark area for more than a few seconds will attract invulnerable apparitions – the spectral remnants of a “lost civilization” — and almost instant death. Faced with a long, shadowy tunnel, I turned my cannons on a nearby phosphorescent mushroom. While it bobbed like a metronome, I was able to stay within its small orb of light to pass through the tunnel unscathed.

That’s when I discovered another threat lurking in the darkness: worm-like parasites that latched onto my ship’s hull and slowed my movement to a crawl. Once exposed to light, the worms quickly wither and die — but their slowing effect can spell doom when you’re desperately trying to escape the ghosts.

New elements. By and large, the original game tasked players with manipulating magma and water (plus that magnetic black fluid found near the end of the game) to advantageous effect in order to rescue stranded explorers. But being set inside the “Belly of the Beast,” PixelJunk Shooter 2’s various substances have a more organic theme: I saw a caustic bile-like fluid as well as a mysterious purple ooze.

Eden…found? In another sequence, I encountered vast clouds of a smoke-like substance that caused my ship to spin like a top and careen helplessly out of control. Trouble was, I had to traverse the cloud in order to reach the end of the level. What to do?

While spinning, I used my grappling hook on an oddly shaped object placed nearby, which caused me to swing around and around like a kid on a merry-go-round. By releasing the grappling hook at the right time, I was able to propel myself out of the cloud and safely into the level’s exit. PixelJunk Eden fans will feel right at home!

My first hands-on experience with PixelJunk Shooter 2 didn’t last long, but it also gave me a chance to track down answers to a couple of PlayStation.Blog reader-submitted questions, which I’ve posted below.

plaztiksyke asks: Will PixelJunk Shooter 2 have a longer campaign than the original?

Q-Games is still hard at work on PixelJunk Shooter 2’s development process. From what I’ve been told, they haven’t yet nailed down the set number of levels and environments for the final game, though the game’s overall length is expected to be roughly comparable to the original game.

I was also reminded that PixelJunk Shooter 2 will also include a new competitive arena, as well as a “ghost attack” mode, both of which will add further gameplay options.

plaztiksyke asks: Who’s doing the music for PixelJunk Shooter 2?

High Frequency Bandwidth will be returning to create new music tracks for PixelJunk Shooter 2.