Quarrel Message Board

Denki, the developers of charming land-grab word game, Quarrel, have a new, free browser game all about saving people from certain doom. Save the Day is a "save 'em up," twitch arcade game built for consoles in HTML 5 but playable completely on the web.

"A lot of platforms, engines and developers talk about aiming to deliver console gaming experiences in the browser but - to date - few have delivered," producer Sean Taylor says. "We see Save the Day as a benchmark, proof that you can make a browser game which not only looks like it belongs on XBLA or PSN but plays like it too."

Give Save the Day a try right here.

Offline, you can use whatever words you please. Online, you can try--but you might not succeed.

Quarrel is a word game (imagine a mix of Risk and Boggle) with a massive problem: an inconsistent, utterly mystifying word filter.

Try typing in “help,” “start,” “hung,” or a variety of so-far unpublished words during an online game on Xbox Live Arcade and prepare to be told, without explanation, the word can’t be used.

You can see why this might be a problem for a word game.

The filter does not exist in offline games, so long as family settings are flipped off. It’s mandatory when playing through Xbox Live.

Quarrel uses the official Scrabble dictionary, which you could buy for yourself right here. It also features unacceptable words, yes, but we're talking swears and the like.

Microsoft's own self-created filter layers on top of that. Quarrel developer Denki admits to being aware of the filter before the game went live on Microsoft’s service, but had no idea how problematic it would eventually become.

“Did we know the far reaching implications of the filter before we launched?” said producer Sean Taylor over email this morning. “No. If we knew then what we know now, would we handle the pre-release awareness for this issue differently? Absolutely.”

Edge Online first reported on the word filter, and I've been trying to find out more ever since.

Even now, Denki has not been provided a complete list of unacceptable words, with Taylor characterizing the filter as a “dynamic list on Microsoft’s side,” and affirming it has "never seen it and do not know its contents.”

Microsoft has not yet commented on the situation to me, despite repeated attempts to secure an explanation. I’ve been told a statement from the company may be coming but nothing yet. I'll be sure to let you know if that changes.

The easy (if messy and clunky) solution would be to publish the list of unacceptable words.

“Microsoft clearly has reasons for censoring the words they do but we haven't discussed that with them,” said Taylor. “What we're focused on at the moment is working with Microsoft to provide a suitable solution.”

The “suitable solution” will come in the form of a patch in the near future. Taylor did not have a timetable for this patch, nor would he elaborate on the details of any proposed solution.

“Suffice to say that it will fix the current word filter issue,” he said.

Quarrel is not the first to encounter issues with XBL’s word filter. Former Giant Bomb intern Nick Robinson tried to upload a replay from Driver: San Francisco on Xbox 360 with the title “Glitch,” but it was rejected for text issues.

Ubisoft ended up responding to Nick’s issue over Twitter, pointing the blame in a familiar direction.

“That's definitely a new one on us! we use the console's profanity filters,” said the company, “so that one may be down to MS/Sony...”

We now know that’s likely true, it’s just a matter of what Microsoft does (or doesn’t) do about it.

Quarrel is also available for iPhone and iPad, and does not have the word filtering issue on those platforms.

To celebrate the release of Quarrel on XBLA, publisher Ignition has temporarily dropped the price ... of the iOS version. Don't spend too much time thinking about that -- instead, enjoy the excuse to pick up Quarrel Deluxe this weekend for a dollar.

The XBLA version remains at its full price, but, like, full price is five dollars. As we approach a 1200 MS Point ($15) standard for games, five bucks is not bad for a bit of wordplay.

Microsoft's language filter on Xbox Live is strangling the linguistic skills of Quarrel players, banning such words as "help," "train," "balls" and "shaft" from being played. While we can understand the potential risque-ness of some of these words -- especially "help," which we're sure was added at the request of the XBL customer-service team -- without context we don't see the harm in them.

These words are fair game in singleplayer (with the Family Setting turned off), but Microsoft adds an extra filter to Live play, developer Denki's Gary Penn told Edge: "Quarrel uses the Collins official Scrabble dictionary comprising over 110,000 words up to eight letters in length, including a huge collection of words deemed 'offensive' by Collins, such as 'arse', 'shit', 'wank' and '*crag*.'"

Other banned words include "start," "skid," "poop," "hung," "dice" and "god." We're stumped on how to use "dice" in an offensive manner, but we've seen "fag" flung around Xbox Live chat with alarming, unfiltered regularity, so we're not going to try to figure out Microsoft's regulation process here.

What do you get when you combine Risk with Boggle? Relentless volleys of weaponized letters. And fun!

Bringing Quarrel to XBLA seems like a no-brainer. The game's done very well on iOS, and it was intended for Microsoft's platform in the first place. But in a post on Denki's official blog, managing director Colin Anderson says that the game (which began as the prototype above) was rejected by "almost every games publisher in the world. Sometimes twice; occasionally three times."

The acquisition teams at game publishers liked it, apparently, but the finance and marketing departments ... not so much. They suggested, says Anderson, that the game was too difficult, that it was broken because you sometimes had to beat opposing players with fewer letters to make words, or because gamers in general "just don't buy word games."

Obviously, the iOS version proved that untrue, and Anderson hails the release of the game on XBLA as a chance for gamers to show "the game industry" that it was wrong. The only question left is if XBLA gamers will find themselves under Quarrel's spell just as much as their iOS counterparts.

We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games.
Quarrel was originally planned for XBLA, and then all the publishing deals fell through. Then Ignition took it on and began working with developer Denki on an iOS release -- which ended up coming out first. That makes this XBLA version, which was the original version, a re-release. Weird!

What isn't weird is playing this on XBLA. It's still just as difficult to battle over territory by quickly spelling out anagrams, and just as satisfying to capture your opponent's soldiers by doing so. The combination of fairly quick board-game design and online play is an obvious winner, giving it a decisive advantage over its portable counterpart. Even if you're playing alone, new modes offer experiences not found in the iOS release.

The iOS competitive word game Quarrel is coming to Xbox Live Arcade, Joystiq reports. The game was initially developed for XBLA, but was moved to iOS due to financial troubles at its development studio. It'll come out on Jaunary 25th and cost 400 Microsoft Points, or $5. (It is currently free on iOS.) More »

Ignition Entertainment and Denki are following up the acclaimed iOS release of the word game Quarrel with the long-awaited XBLA version on January 25, for 400 Microsoft Points ($5), Joystiq can announce exclusively. The XBLA release features the same character art, style, and gameplay as the portable iteration, as you can see in our gallery below.

However, this console version features something very important that the iOS one didn't: online multiplayer for 2-4 players! No longer are you at the mercy of Quarrel's surprisingly punishing AI; instead, you can test your anagrammery against your friends. Those friends will have to be remote, as Quarrel's multiplayer is online-only.

This XBLA release was the original version of Quarrel. Denki was working on it until 2010, when finances forced the developer to cut staff. Ignition stepped in last year and rescued the game by taking on publishing duties.

If you've been playing the free version of Quarrel, and you're ready for a new collection of virtual wordsmith-generals to be drubbed by, take note: From 12:01am PDT tomorrow (3:01am EDT) through Sunday night at 11:59pm PDT (2:59am EDT), Quarrel Deluxe is on sale, marked down from $5 to the magic iPhone price point of 99 cents.

That takes away some of the sting from the purchase, leaving only the sting of having all your territory captured by an AI who is just better than you are at coming up with big words on the fly.

Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Quarrel. "If you're an Independent Developer, and you're not selling games directly to customers yet, start worrying, because this industry is changing beyond all recognition." - Denki founder Colin Anderson

After failing to find a publisher for its Xbox Live Arcade word puzzler Quarrel, developer Denki laid off much of its staff and got to work on abandoning its "old business model" so it could start selling games directly to customers. And while that Xbox Live Arcade version has been done for some time, and has finally found a publisher in Ignition Entertainment, it's the new iOS version that Denki is releasing first ... last Thursday, in fact.

Quarrel is a polished word puzzler that bills itself as equal parts Scrabble and Risk, and it works like this: You face-off against computer-controlled opponents, trying to capture every territory on the map; however, unlike Risk, battles in Quarrel are fought with words. At the beginning of each match, both players will be given the same eight letters, an anagram shuffled up beyond recognition (my last round was PANELLED). The number of letters you're able to deploy in battle depends on how many troops you have on each territory. My six-troop territory played PLEAD, worth 10 points, against the AI's six-troop PEEL, worth a measly seven.

We've been looking forward to Denki's word game/war game mashup, Quarrel, for a long time, even long before playing it at E3 this year. Finally, after years of uncertainty about the game's fate, developer Denki announced a release date (for the iOS version at least) and it's this Thursday. Publisher Ignition confirmed to Joystiq that the date applies to North America, and not just the game's native European territory.

Quarrel will be released as a universal (iPhone/iPad) app. Two versions will be available on the App Store, a free game called Quarrel and a paid version called Quarrel Deluxe. "Quarrel caters to those who are new to our lovely word game or otherwise want to try it before buying it," the developer explains. "If the trial pleases you and your budding interest turns into a real love for it, you can upgrade to the full Quarrel extravaganza within the app with one easy In-App Purchase." Quarrel Deluxe is simply the full version paid in advance.

Quarrel challenges two players to build the longest word out of a jumble of letters in order to capture territory on a map. Ignition also plans to release it on console download services later this year.

Imagine a battlefield where soldiers duke it out with letters, putting themtogether to form words that strike down their enemies. Thisridiculous premise is the basis for the upcoming downloadable game Quarrel. Coming out this fall, this word game takes classic board games like Risk and Boggle and mashes them together to create a clever digital board game...