"Ms. Splosion Man," the follow-up to Twisted Pixels' hit downloadable title "Splosion Man," hits Xbox Live Arcade today. The explosive platformer's 50 included levels should keep you occupied during these hotter-than-hell (seriously, it is so hot here) weeks. Not satisfied with just giving you those 50 stages, though, Twisted Pixel has announced that additional content will show up in-game thanks to Xbox Live's Title Managed Storage function.
What is Title Managed Storage, you ask? Well, TMS is a function built right into the Xbox Live system. You may remember when "Super Meat Boy" was able to upload new levels and content on the fly through their Teh Internets portal? Basically, TMS affords games a certain amount of storage space to where the developers can upload a sort of patch, without the need for you to download an actual update. Pretty awesome, and something more developers should use to their advantage.
Twisted Pixel will post weekly challenges – accessible from the "Ms. Splosion Man" main menu – that take existing levels, but add new rules or content. Even better, completing those challenges could reap some real-world awards.
"From time to time, we will be awarding real prizes and other fun stuff to the top finishers, and sometimes random players, from the Challenge's leaderboards," said Twisted Pixel's Jay Stuckwisch, via press release. "We are finding it harder and harder to 'one up' ourselves with new ways of giving away free stuff to people who buy our games, but TMS has opened an exciting new door for us."
So, that's free new content, plus the chance to win prizes just for playing said free content; not too shabby. In a world of $15 map packs, it's nice to see a developer who really appreciates you playing their game.
If you want to check out more of "Ms. Splosion Man," there's a brand new launch trailer to watch over at the newly revamped site. Also, be sure to check out our look at Microsoft's Summer of Arcade line-up.