VIDEO: STREET FIGHTER, DECONSTRUCTED
The latest in Dylan Hayes‘ attempts to tear down Street Fighter to its constituent parts yields what I’m assuming is nothing more than low-bit collision boxes battling underneath an abstract sky. Only the dizzy birds, blood, and one lonely fish remain. [via Mike]
Previously:
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ONE SHOT: THE DYNAMIC TENSION OF TEAM FORTRESS 2’S SNIPER UPDATE
Valve channel vintage Charles Atlas for the latest in the continuing struggle between the Sniper and the Spy leading up to TF2‘s latest update. See the official page for an explanation of what’s going on here, though it does honest to god boil down to new jar-of-pee weaponry, ala the team’s April Fool’s gag [via Valve].
Previously:
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DON’T LISTEN, MAKE: 8 BIT WEAPON/SONY’S CHIPTUNE ODYSSEY LOOP/SAMPLE PACK
Also new on the 8-bit front: Seth and Michelle ‘ComputeHer‘ Sternberger of 8-bit Weapon (who you’ll recognize from Reset Generation‘s excellent score) have also written in with news that Sony has just officially released “8 Bit Weapon: A Chiptune Odyssey“, their loop and sample sound library.
Says the Weapons:
The library contains real sounds from each of the following computers/consoles: Apple II, Commodore 64, NES, Gameboy, and the Atari 2600. Each system library has everything from drums, bass and synth to special effects. Both Michelle and I have featured song demos built into the collection to boot! The sound library works with ACID, Ableton Live, Cubase, Garage Band, Logic, Soundtrack, and more!
As a bonus, Sony’s also throwing in MP3s of their Electric High EP, along with an exclusive track, for anyone who orders online. Listen to samples of the samples via Sony’s product page, and drop me a note via that ‘Send a Tip’ button at the top of the page when you’ve finished your latest EP/album.
8 Bit Weapon: A Chiptune Odyssey [Sony Creative Software, 8-bit Weapon, ComputeHer]
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LISTEN: THE CHIPTUNE/SINGING-SYNTH TECHNO-POP TRIBUTE, 8-BIT PROPHET
Japan’s finest chiptune label (and accompanying 8-bit news network), VORC, has written in with word of their latest collection, 8-BIT PROPHET: a tribute to Japanese 80’s “techno-pop”/new wave band TM Network, with a particular twist: rather than instrumental covers, all vocals on the album have been produced using Yamaha’s singing speech-synth Vocaloid.
As noted earlier, Vocaloid’s spawned its own personified singing idol named Hatsune Miku, made famous by endless versions of popular songs spread on Japan’s YouTube equivalent, NicoNicoDouga (hear her version of Portal’s ‘Still Alive’, though her pronunciation’s obviously a bit stilted in English), and the combined style of her signature sound with 8-bit backing is actually not a half-step off of YMCK‘s own happy low-bit pop.
The album will be out June 3rd, with Posca handling the CDs and hearjapan handling worldwide digital distribution: they’ve currently got a two-song sampler available now.
While you’re visiting VORC, also see: their Squarewave Surfers compilation, with 8-bit musicians worldwide covering songs like Tequila and Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (!), and Holy 8bit Night+, which gives Octoroc’s 8-bit Jesus a serious run for its holiday money.
「8-BIT PROPHET – TM Network Tribute Generated by Chiptune + Vocaloid」 [VORC Records, MySpace, YouTube]
Previously:
- Listen: YMCK's Bowser-busting hardcore Mario remix – Offworld
- Listen, too: Another PicoPict YMCK NES mega-mix – Offworld
- Katamari Damacy coming to DSi as… a block puzzle game? – Offworld
- Octoroc releases the full 8-bit Jesus – Offworld
- 8-bit Jesus, the NES themed chiptune holiday album – Offworld
- Listen: Pixelmod Records' Merry Pixmas Compilation – Offworld
- Offworld: Music Archives
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THE BATTLESTATIONS: PACIFIC INDEX: EIDOS HUNGARY, BY THE NUMBERS
The team behind just-released action game Battlestations: Pacific provide a crazy charming Harper’s Index-style breakdown of their development process by the numbers. An excerpt:
Oldest member of the dev team: 49yrs
Youngest member of the dev team: 23yrs
Average age at Eidos Hungary: 31.41yrs
Official Eidos Hungary Parties: 5
Average number of coffee mugs left on the balcony overnight: 12
Number of devs playing guitar: 6
Number of monitors per developer: 1.5
Biggest TV screen in the office: 62 inch
Number of Imperial Japanese naval flags in the office: 3
Number of 48-star US flags in the office: 3
Number of British White Ensign flags in the office: 2
Amount of milk used for coffees during development: 3240 litres/856 US gallons
Amount of bottled water consumed in the office during development: 17680 litres/4670 US gallons
Number of developers who created all FMV’s in the game: 6
Devs reading Battlestations.net & other forums at least once a day: 16
See the full breakdown for more, including a log of Total Gross Register Tonnage resulting from sunken ships during dev and testing.
Battlestations: Pacific – The Facts, The Stats, The Truth. [Battlestations.net, via Margaret]
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ONE SHOT: WINONA NELSON’S HYPER-REAL SUPER MARIO BROS 2
A new perspective and a new style manages to make Shy-guys as gnarled and horrifying as maybe we should have seen them all along. Art by Winona Nelson, concept artist at Giants, MDK and Armed and Dangerous developer Planet Moon. Nelson offers offers prints for sale here, but released this image in ultra hi-res for you to print yourself, spotted by Infinite Lives.
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TIME-SHIFTING PLATFORMER BRAID RELEASED FOR THE MAC
Console-less and PC-less Mac user still waiting for your chance to play Number None’s time-shifting platformer Braid? The wait is over: Penny Arcade Adventure devs Hothead have just announced the release of the game to their digital download service Greenhouse, alongside a free demo.
Braid [Greenhouse, Number None]
Previously:
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VIDEO: SPACE INVADERS, THE CARNIVAL GAME
Hit the UFO, win a giant stuffed Gloomy Bear invader. Created for Red Bull Music Academy’s Guten Touch interactive art installation by Multitouch Barcelona, the group behind the recent ‘Hi’ human interface project, and who are chasing my one true heart by consistently using Lullatone as their video soundtracks.
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YOUR BIT.TRIP:CORE CHIPTUNE GUEST STAR: BUBBLYFISH
Bit.Trip creators Gaijin Games have just let slip that NYC chiptune star Haeyoung ‘Bubblyfish‘ Kim will be bookending their latest WiiWare rhythm-pong game, Core, doing the same title- and end-screen musical duties that Bitshifter did for their debut game Beat.
Above: my video of Bubblyfish performing at Kokoromi’s 2007 Gamma256 show in Montreal — give it a minute or so to really hot up. To hear more, see Kim’s home page and MySpace, and BBTV’s BlipFest 2008 coverage and interview.
Special Guest Star for BIT.TRIP CORE! [Gaijin Games]
Previously:
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TWO YEARS LATER: NEW DETAILS ON THE LONG-DORMANT KATAMARI DAMACY ONLINE
Just when it’d almost fully receded from your memory (the last we heard of it was in January of 2007), andriasang notes a new article on the Korean-exclusive massively multiplayer Katamari Damacy Online.
Unfortunately, the update only goes so far as to profile two new playable cousin characters, and a vague storyline, as translated by andriasang, that concerns “a black hole that forms after the King decides to hold a picnic,” which players will seal off with their rolled up katamari.
The game is apparently, though, due for release in Korea this year by local external developer Windysoft, with no word from anyone on when or how or if it might make it out of that country.
Katamari Damacy Online Resurfaces [andriasang]
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