The new version of MonsterUp has been submitted to the Marketplace. It is a minor release with a few bug fixes here and there and a few tweaks you might not even notice. It addresses some complaints that have been submitted by our gamers. We told you we listen :)

Look for it in a few days’ time.

It is now live in the Marketplace. Enjoy!

We are announcing our new game, which will be available in the Marketplace before the end of June.

Its name is Galaxium and it is a traditional space shoot em up. It will be quick and easy to learn and play, it will feature our signature tight gameplay, many powerups, multiple opponents, epic space battles, and it will be released for free. That’s right, our first free ad-supported game is almost out there.

There will also be an ad-free version available for $0.99. We try to follow many traditional shoot em up recipes and added just enough to make the game fun to play. The game will also follow the same beat-the-highscore mentality of MonsterUp providing unlimited gameplay with ever-increasing difficulty. VertexLink will also be present, allowing online scoreboards for you to prove your Galaxium superiority to your friends (and enemies).

MonsterUp is out signature game right now, and is loved by many, as we can see from the reviews we receive (we are currently at 5/5 stars as we have been for months). For a while now we have been in touch with Microsoft in order to discuss the prospect of MonsterUp turning into an XBOX Live game. After a thorough discussion we had with Brandon Watson, responsible for the Developer Experience team for Windows Phone 7, he forwarded our request to the XB Live team. He also promised that specific guidelines will be set in the future for developers to be considered for XBOX Live status.

Fast forward to May, we received a response from Michi Story telling us that

“After reviewing the product concept with our team, we have determined that it is not a strong fit at this time based on our current product/portfolio strategy. As we continue to expand our consumer base, we will adapt our product/portfolio strategy accordingly therefore I would recommend that you keep us informed of your development efforts over the coming months.”

While this is quite unfortunate for the many MonsterUp gamers who requested this to be an XBOX Live game, many of them going as far as to say that MonsterUp should be XBOX Live enabled _instead_ of Doodle Jump, is it their network and their decision.

The only consolation we have right now is your support, like the support we got from people from wp7connect.com, who wrote the following about this:

So it isn’t a strong fit at this time. I wonder what constitutes it not being a strong fit. Is it the fact that the people who are paying for the game are actually enjoying it? Or is it the fact that Doodle Jump, a similar game was already scheduled for release? Having played a number of the games in the Marketplace, I know that many of the Xbox Live games are not worthy of the Xbox Live title and certainly not worth the price.