Anyone out there playing Fret Nice? I’ve been waiting for the guitar-driven platformer for quite some time now, but because it’s for the PlayStation 3, and all my Rock Band gear is for the Xbox 360, I’ve yet to experience the final product. An XBLA version has been promised, though no release date has been given.

I actually played the original prototype when it first made its public appearance at the Independent Games Festival, back at GDC 08! And I still believe it should have gotten all the attention and praise that Audiosurf received instead. Anyhow, back then, Fret Nice looked totally different:

Then somewhere along the way, it got a massive change in art direction:

At first, I was very much turned off, mostly due to being reminded of Quiznos’  ”internet, lol!” ad campaign from a year or so prior. But Phil Fish pointed out that it did look completely different from any other indie game out there (still does), and over time the new look grew on me. Mostly due to how it eventually reminded me of something I used to watch on Liquid Television back in the day.

Wait a minute; I just took another look at that Siliconera link and just noticed a control scheme for the regular DualShock 3? Hmmm… Makes it far more accessible, sure, but somewhat defeats the purpose of the game as well.

Guest post by Matt “Fort90” Hawkins