Hydrophobia

Australian Ratings board accidentally lets news out that there is a second Hyrdrophobia game in the works.

If you have to pee really, really badly, well, you probably should head to the bathroom anyway, but reading this post about savings on water-themed Xbox Live Arcade games certainly won't help.

onPause writes: Today Microsoft announces a pretty major promotional Sweepstakes! Gamers who purchase the Xbox LIVE Arcade game Hydrophobia during the 'Deal of the Week' promotion, will automatically be entered into a vacation drawing. Read on.

Hydrophobias developers, Dark Energy Digital, seemed to be a little bit angry with a few early negative reviews of their game. But today the company announced a large update intended to fix the bulk of its issues. And now, the games creative director has admitted that they were perhaps a little too defensive of Hydrophobia when it was first released.

In an unprecedented move by developer Dark Energy Digital, the Xbox LIVE Arcade downloadable title Hydrophobia will be re-released tomorrow with bucket-fulls of tweaks under the name Hydrophobia Pure. Now, it's not uncommon for developers to tweak their products with downloadable updates, but this is the first time in recent history that a completely new title has been applied to what may very well be an entirely new game. And with the list of significant updates reaching into the hundreds (reproduced below), one can only imagine the transformation.

Hydrophobia was a huge disappointment. Not only was it a terrible game by itself, but also a bad way to kick off Game Feast, Microsoft's fall promotion that included titles like Super Meat Boy and Pinball FX 2. If you need further proof, read our review. That said, the developers have listened to the thousands of complaints and plan to release the Pure update on Xbox Live tomorrow. What makes this significant are the numerous changes that may in effect transform Hydrophobia from dud to gem. Depending on how this goes, we may re-review the game. John Artest (RunDLC)

Hydrophobia developers Dark Energy Digital weren't happy with certain poor reviews of their game to begin with. But now, they've apparently had a change of mind.

Ex: Microsoft's Game Feast starts today on Xbox LIVE and is a month long festival that delivers four magnificent new Xbox LIVE Arcade games. The game in that line-up is Hydrophobia from Dark Energy Digital and should probably be considered the part of the feast where drinks are ordered because it features water. Lots and lots of water.

VG247 writes: An Edge rep has issued a statement contradicting Dark Energy Digitals claim that the mag hadnt played the game before awarding Hydrophobia 3/10, telling VG247 it completed the entire title and all its bonus content. Weve been talking to Dark Energy Digitals PR representative this morning and have clarified that our reviewer played the entire game, along with the challenge room stages (referenced in the section of the review headed Theres something in the water) which become available once youve completed the adventure episodes, said the Edge spokesperson by email. British Hydrophobia developer Dark Energy Digital hit out at the XBLA titles review in the latest edition of the UK magazine yesterday, telling VG247 it believed the game hasnt even been played. DED creative director Deborah Jones said the company was extremely frustrated at the Edge verdict.

NowGamer: The scores are in for the latest issue of games, with reviews of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Quantum Theory, Hydrophobia, Halo: Reach, Dead Rising 2, Ninety-Nine Nights II, and more...