Team Buttfighters break out of the magic circle with LAZA KNITEZ!!

Chivalry isn´t dead. It´s just respawning

COPENHAGEN, DK, March 20— Team Buttfighters is taking LAZA KNITEZ!! out of beta and making it available for free to the public.  What’s more, the developers will-release a custom built arcade cabinet at this year’s Nordic Game Indie Night, May 23rd 2012.

LAZA KNITEZ!! is a game firmly in the tradition of the Golden Age of Arcades.  It has bright, crazy graphics and an even wilder premise—four players take each other on in a brutal, fast-paced deathmatch “for the fate of all possible futures” that just gets faster and faster as the game goes on.

The Knitez gallop through space on their trusty speeds and use their lances, powerups, and, naturally, LAZAZ to prove their dominance.  Twenty years ago, LAZA KNITEZ!! would have been swallowing up quarters next to classics like Joust and Defender.  But LAZA KNITEZ!! does something that those classic games couldn’t do: it reacts to players.

LAZA KNITEZ!! breaks out of the magic circle—that infamous divide between the world of the game and real life.  Most games only take input from the player by the artificial means of buttons and or joysticks.

LAZA KNITEZ!! on the other hand actually listens to players—when they get into the game and start shouting about all the action on the screen (and they will!) the game responds to the decibel levels they produce and gets faster and introduces more powerups.  The game is a blast all by itself, but by responding with even more stimulating play every time the players really get into it, it creates a positive feedback loop that is almost certain to get players riled up.

“It’s about getting players to really be there, in front of the arcade machine, bumping shoulders,” says lead designer Jonas Maaloe.

Maaloe, Jonatan van Hove, Tommy Rousse and Mads Johansen have been rigorously balancing the game.  “What that means, is that we play a ridiculous amount of LAZA KNITEZ!! because we love playing it.”  The team is planning on sending the custom cabinet on a U.S. tour of museums, barcades, and conventions.

Even if there’s nothing quite like playing it on the cabinet, LAZA KNITEZ!! works on just about any computer.  It’s even been designed so four players can play on one keyboard!

Visit www.lazaknitez.com today to play the final web release!

Press Release by Tommy Rousse