Listen UP 4/10/2009

How awesome is this? After hearing guest hosts Nick Suttner and Patrick Klepek mention Groov on previous podcasts (thanks guys!), host Garnett Lee checked it out. What resulted was 4 minutes of praise-heaping (and constructive criticism, of course) from the guys at 1UP and John Davison of What They Play on the latest episode of Listen UP (formerly 1UP Yours). Garnett was even cool enough to have included it in the show description! A couple awesome quotes from Garnett:

"I love music and game integration...and this is one of the cooler ones I've ever seen."

"If you're into music rhythm games and you like twin-stick shooters, it's a no brainer. Just go get it to support the guy who made because its really really cool and I really like it."

So sick! Check out the episode here or on iTunes.

GamePro Community Game of the Month

GamePro Arcade, the downloadable-game web branch of the well-known print mag GamePro has named Groov their Community Game of the month for March 2009! Read all about it here!

Funkmasonry Industries particularly agrees with author Andrew Ramsey's "buy" verdict...

Groov "a diamond in a VERY rough rough"

While there certainly are many other awesome games on the service (see the post below), we appreciate being singled out as an example of "people doing actual GOOD THINGS with the [sic] XNA" by gaming blog Prime Gamer. Read the entire article, which focuses more on the influx of non-game applications on Xbox Live Community Games, here.

Groov Named "Must-Play Community Game"

In an article featuring 11 games which it called "the best and most innovative indie productions that'll charm both your heart and wallet," DigitalSpy.co.uk had these fine words to say about Funkmasonry Industries' own such production:

"The most noteworthy shooter on the service, this clone ofGeometry Wars is actually a covert music synthesizer. Defeated enemies chime out musical samples, such as deep base cords, trumpet samples or synth voices in time with your piano key projectiles to create a soundtrack to your survival. While it can be played as a standard twin-stick shooter with a novel twist, it's very possible to time attacks to create your own music, especially as slowing down the pace encourages survival and that creative streak."

To read their take on 10 other great games on the Community Games service, check out the full article here!

Funkmasonry.com Officially Re-Launches!

This site has been undergoing a lot of changes over the past few days, but all the planned pages (for now) are finally online and ready to go. Let us know what you think!