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Local multiplayer curio collection Sportsfriends is due this autumn on PS3, PC, Mac and Linux, and I had a chance to catch up with half of its development team at XOXOfest in Portland, Oregon to see how things were shaping up with two of its four games: Johann Sebastian Joust and Super Pole Riders.Poleriders has already made the rounds as a free Flash title by QWOP creator, Bennett Foddy, but this latest version of it tightens up the hilariously awkward competitive vaulting gameplay. The goal remains the same: hit a ball tethered to a horizontal rope into your opponent's goal. Welding a cumbersome, bendy pole, you'll have to launch your body into the ball to smash it across the screen. Due to the peculiar controls and disarmingly complex physics engine underlying it, this seemingly simple concept tends to result in insanely drawn out bouts of physical comedy as the two players leap, slip, kick, and tumble their way to glory.
Aside from a visual makeover and the fact that the game now runs in 60fps, one of the main differences in this new version is that you can use the analogue sticks on a DualShock to control your pole, which allows for a freer range of movement than simply up and down, as was the case with the original release. "Now you can stand up on your pole and perform other high-level tricks and techniques," Foddy explained.
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