Q-Games

Q-Games is a video game developer based in Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. It has a mixture of foreigners and Japanese nationals on staff and works closely with both Nintendo and Sony.

Foundation
Q-Games was founded by Dylan Cuthbert, who previously worked at Argonaut Software and helped create Starglider and Starglider 2 for Argonaut Software, then X and the first Star Fox for Nintendo. He also developed Star Fox 2 to completion before heading off to work at Sony America to make Blasto on the PlayStation. After this, Dylan moved back to Japan to work at Sony Japan, where, in early 1999, he developed the Duck in a Bath technical demo (Ducks demo) that showcased the PS2's power to early developers and publishers. Following that, he developed Pipo Saru 2001 and then left Sony to start Q-Games Ltd. in Kyoto in September 2001.

History
The first few years were spent accumulating staff and developing behind-doors technology projects for a number of clients including Sony and Microsoft. At E3 2004, they showed two graphic technology demos for the PlayStation Portable and then internally began development on two games, one for the Game Boy Advance and one for the Nintendo DS. These titles have since been announced as Digidrive (part of the bit Generations series of puzzle games for the Game Boy Advance) and Star Fox Command respectively. Both have since been released.

PixelJunk
PixelJunk is a series of downloadable games for the PlayStation 3. They are available for download and purchase on the PlayStation Network Store worldwide. PixelJunk games are presented in 1080p full HD. PixelJunk made its worldwide debut on 11 July 2007 at E3 2007, held in Santa Monica, CA. At TGS 2009, Q-Games confirmed that it's extremely unlikely these games will ever appear on the Xbox 360.

The concept behind the PixelJunk series was to take innovative ideas for games and create something fun and reasonably priced for PlayStation 3 users. Work on games developed under the PixelJunk label is carried out by small teams over a few months.

The first game in the PixelJunk series is PixelJunk Racers, which was released worldwide on the PlayStation Network Store in August 2007.

PixelJunk Racers is a puzzle action game which can be played by up to seven players on the same console. Players choose from ten tracks and over a dozen play modes. Players control the action from overhead as the race unfolds. The track can get crowded—some races can feature up to 80 cars on the track at any one time.

The second game in the series, a tower defense-style game called PixelJunk Monsters, was released worldwide on the PlayStation Network Store on January 24, 2008.

The third game in the PixelJunk series, an atmospheric platform game titled PixelJunk Eden, was released July 31, 2008 exclusively on the PlayStation Network Store.

The fourth game in the PixelJunk series is called PixelJunk Shooter. The game uses impressive liquid physics to manipulate magma, water, ice and "the black stuff" to solve environmental puzzles.

DSiWare
Q-Games has again collaborated with Nintendo, by releasing three games the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare digital distribution service.

Trajectile (known as Reflect Missile in EU) was released on November 24, 2009 in Europe, January 4, 2010 in North America, and January 20, 2010 in Japan for 500 Nintendo Points. It is a puzzle game similar to Peggle. The objective is to shoot ships into waiting enemies, while avoiding or destroying obstacles. Bouncing or adding an arc to a shot is done by dragging and releasing the stylus. The game was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers noting the value in "500 levels for 500 points".

Starship Defense (known as Starship Patrol in EU) was released on December 18, 2009 in Europe and January 18, 2010 in North America for 500 Nintendo Points. It is a tower defense game, similar to a previous effort, PixelJunk Monsters.

X-Scape (known as 3D Space Tank in EU) was released on May 31, 2010 in North America and July 16, 2010 in Europe for 800 Nintendo Points. It is the sequel to X for the Game Boy. X was the first game designed by Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert. The story concerns your commander from the first game going corrupt becoming Emperor, the reason is unknown.

Other projects
As well as games development, Q-Games still develops technology directly with Sony Japan for the PlayStation 3. The PS3's XMB (Xross Media Bar) interface, background and music visualisers were developed by Q-Games and they are credited with 3D Graphics Technology in the About PS3 section of the PS3's OS.

PlayStation Home
On September 24, 2009, Q-Games released their own developer space for their hit series, PixelJunk in the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, PlayStation Home to the Japanese version and on October 9, 2009 to the North American version. The "PixelJunk Museum" (Japan), or "PixelJunk Exhibition" (North America), features the games PixelJunk Eden, PixelJunk Monsters, and PixelJunk Racers. For PixelJunk Eden there are glass wall art displays, for PixelJunk Monsters, there are displays of familiar characters from the game, and for PixelJunk Racers, there are displays of two different race cars. There is also a virtual shop in the space selling PixelJunk virtual items. In Japans version from September 24, 2009 to October 9, 2009, near the shop, there was a panel that took users to a virtual version of Q-Games TGS 2009 Booth. Called the "Q-Games virtual public TGS Booth", it was a virtual recreation of the Q-Games TGS 2009 Booth that had a free t-shirt and a video screen. On December 17, 2009, they released another exhibition room to the "PixelJunk Exhibition" space. This room is to display PixelJunk Shooter and is called the "PixelJunk Shooter Mother Ship Hangar."