Pirates vs. Ninjas is "best looking" on XBLA

Loud indie publisher Gamecock believes Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball will be the best looking title on Xbox Live Arcade.

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz about the company's European plans, boss Mike Wilson said he reckons XBLA is better established than PlayStation Network.

"Everyone who's into independent games is pretty excited by Xbox Live. [Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball is] due in February and it will be the best-looking title on the service. It might take off bigger than a lot of these boxed games have done," said Wilson.

"Sony really wants this Pirates vs Ninjas game we're doing for Xbox Live and we're platform agnostic, so if we're investing in a title let's give it a chance wherever there is one.

"The market's not there yet but it will be, and it's nice that you don't have this 150MB limitation. It will be interesting to see how it emerges."

Wilson also revealed that previously announced World War II action game Sabotage has been renamed to Velvet Assassin to avoid clashing with EA, which is now publishing Pandemic title Saboteur.

"Both games have similar timings and a similar genre," said Wilson. "This new name gives a little bit more of a hint of what the game is about. It's a more descriptive thing, the game has a female lead character based on a real WWII female saboteur."

Gamecock was formed in early 2007 by Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, both formerly of Gathering of Developers. Similar principles carried across, like developers owning the rights to their games and helping the publisher pick titles and establish marketing campaigns.

"It's a basic ego check at the door. We're a publisher - we think we're cooler than the other publishers - but what really counts is all these developers making the games," said Wilson.

You may be familiar with Mike Wilson from his recent argument with Quake co-creator John Romero, who said Gamecock was Wilson up to his old tricks, stealing credit from the indie developers while partying until dawn.

But not so, replied Wilson in an open letter, picking apart each of Romero's points and pulling some punches of his own.

Pop over to our Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball and Velvet Assassin galleries to bone up, as it were.