'Fez' trailer teases ever-closer release

(All rights reserved - Polytron Corporation)

Super-cute, tricksy platformer Fez has moved a step closer towards release as an Xbox 360 download, with Trapdoor Inc picking up publishing rights and the game's Pax East trailer hitting the net.

Retro-style graphics hide an ingenious twist - as with Super Paper Mario (Wii) or Crush (PSP), players flip from one axis to another as Fez' adorable bonnet-wearing protagonist clambers toward each level's goal.

Fez won the Independent Games Festival's prize for Excellence in Visual Art in 2008, and had been expected as an Xbox Live Arcade release in 2010.

A playable demo at the recent Penny Arcade Expo in Boston raises hopes for an honest-to-goodness Xbox 360 deployment this calendar year.

Other well-known independently developed games that have found their way onto console download services include Limbo (360), Super Meat Boy (PC & 360), B.U.T.T.O.N. (360), World of Goo (PC iOS & Wii), Cave Story (Wii), Joe Danger (PS3) and Flower (PS3).

Watch the Fez Pax East Gameplay Video at http://vimeo.com/21082507 or on the Fez developers' website, PolytronCorporation.com.