London-based illustrator and animator James Gilleard has partnered with Chicago art/culture gallery OHNO!DOOM for an exhibition opening this Saturday, October 6th, featuring 18 original art pieces he’s created in tribute to Fumito Ueda’s PS2 classic, Shadow of the Colossus.

To mark the occasion, Gilleard’s given Venus Patrol permission to feature previews of all 18 pieces, which we present in ultra long gallery format below. Interested & local parties can view all the pieces live at OHNO!DOOM’s 1800 N. Milwaukee Ave. location (recently the site of a similarly amazing Adventure Time tribute show) — if you manage to make it out, take photos of the proceedings!

(more…)

As you may have already spotted over the weekend, Eirik ‘Phlogiston‘ Suhrke has just announced ‘Super Crate Box Special’, a newly arranged & re-mastered album of his original music from Vlambeer’s Super Crate Box, to be released this Tuesday at Phlogiston’s own site.

Also known as the musician behind Mossmouth’s revamped Xbox 360 version of Spelunky (buy the full 62-track [!]), Suhrke has given Venus Patrol the first full track off the album — the final cut of the Construction Yard arrangement — streamable via the player below.

Also previewable is the final album art at top, created for the album by artist, animator & game-maker Francis Coulombe, whose art also adorned Phologiston’s Game music 1 collection, featuring a number of tracks composed for games by Cactus & a handful of others.

Below the fold you can find the trailer for the album with snippets of a few more tracks from the album, which will be live on Phlogiston’s website October 2nd.

(more…)

With just two days remaining on their Kickstarter campaign, creator Zach Gage — creator of iPhone essentials Spelltower and Bit Pilot — has given us the drop on the bonus cards that will be included for all backers of Guts of Glory, the post-apocalyptic food-eating-contest boardgame he’s created with designer Jesse Fuchs and illustrator Jess Worby.

Glory‘s not the easiest game to introduce in a few short words, so I’ll let Zach explain it to the uninitiated through the video above, and simply add that it’s one of the smartest new card/boardgame designs I’ve seen in quite some time: an unusually funny and alluring narrative structured in a way that allows for chain-reactions that cause amazing reversals of fortune, and — most importantly — a highly accessible design that welcomes all players.

With these bonus cards — the full versions of which you can see below the fold, with commentary on each by Gage himself — the team have taken the opportunity to delve further into that post-apocalyptic narrative, with Gage adding that each contains “hints to the origins of the savage wasteland Guts takes place in.”

Watch the video above to acclimate yourself to the game, and consider pitching in to the campaign: while the funding has already been successful, the team are well within striking distance to include more bonus cards from an incredible line-up of guest artists, including local favorites Dustin Harbin, Lisa Hanawalt, the previously-featured Sam Bosma and more.

(more…)

With the Adventure Time Game Making Frenzy drawn to a close and submissions already in (more on that in a bit), we move straight on to the rest of the events coming to Fantastic Arcade in just a few short days with a special exclusive.

This Friday, September 21st, Venus Patrol will be presenting the first iteration of THE DANCINGULARITY, a free, interactive dance-party experience being put together for Fantastic Arcade and Fantastic Fest guests by Kokoromi, the game collective helmed by Heather Kelley, Cindy Poremba, Damien Di Fede, and Fez creator Phil Fish (also behind the poster above, inspired by Factory Records designer Peter Saville).

(more…)