SAMUS YARN: DEADCRAFT’S METROID AMIGURUMI

---

5.20.2009

Brandon Boyer

1 Reply

Well spotted as usual by Jenn at Infinite Lives, this cocklewarming set of Metroid amigurumi, custom made by Deadcraft-er Nissie, deadlocked in a cute-war with karaimame’s Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max crafts.

More games crafts (including an adorable Old Snake) via Nissie’s flickr, and buy/commission your own via her Etsy account.

ONE SHOT: THE EL LISSITZKY-INSPIRED GAME DESIGN OF PROTONAUT

---

5.20.2009

Brandon Boyer

5 Replies

One of the upcoming indie games I’m looking forward to the most: Greg ‘aeiowu‘ Wohlwend (designer of previously featured infographics game Effing Hail) and Andy Moore take what was originally a platformer modeled around chemical bonds, and suddenly morph their mockup into this grainy, constructivist El Lissitzky-inspired design.

Creator Matt Bradley totally gets it and submits this video of DM-Spectrum, his Unreal Tournament 3 deathmatch level that could easily be the best thing I’ve seen all week (Trico aside, of course).

Plus! It’s not all for show: Bradley adds:

The cubes also serve a purpose. They help to keep the level paced. Each coloured cube represents a different area of the map. These areas are colour-co-ordinated to match the cubes. When a player is in one of these areas the corresponding cube lights up notifying other players. As one learns the map they should be able to find enemies without too much hardship.

Games industry: much more of this, please.

Coming soon from indie dev Mark ‘Messhof‘ Essen, The Thrill of Combat, a game that promises to mash-up an early 80’s PC port of Choplifter, the glitched-up terror-core of GDFX, and every urban legend you’ve ever feared about waking up in a bathtub full of ice.

The story, explains Messhof? “You have quotas to meet. Use your helicopter to seek out donors and incapacitate them with your laser, then drop down and remove their organs.”

Messhof’s not a name I’ve brought up on the site yet, but, if you haven’t guessed by now, he’s one of the few indie devs that dabbles in a glorious fuck-you no-fi style that at times manages to make even Cactus’s more recent output look like the safest idea Nintendo ever had (a high compliment to both).

Side note: if Thrill‘s dirty beats in the video at top strike your fancy, GDFX has the entire 28 minute ALTERED EGO piece it’s ripped from available as a free download via his MySpace [direct sendspace link].

The Thrill of Combat [Messhof]

As you might’ve gathered over the past six months, I’m not normally one to jump on any old rumor, mockup, or grainy video oddity, even in the name of curiousity. Take that as you will as I post the video above, which — until Sony officially announce it themselves — I won’t say is 100 percent legitimate, but suffice it to say jives with everything I know about the game so far.

Team ICO’s Project Trico HD Trailer [PlayStation LifeStyle]

Since I conjured his name in the last post without explaining any further, I suppose it’s time to re-dredge up Cabel Sasser‘s video masterpiece from late 2006 for those that haven’t seen it. It’s not a bit stale two and a half years later, particularly that glorious soaring finale.

Sasser, a true 64-bit renaissance man, is co-founder of Mac software house Panic (creators of Transmit and Coda), and the — publisher, I guess? — responsible for bringing both the official Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy T-shirts to life, and — as above (or over here, which has earwormed me for days, and I don’t even fully understand the context) — an ace composer when he sets his mind to it.

Oh, and he had a pixel-art infused wedding so tastefully and gorgeously designed that I swoon with the vapors just showing it off to people.

Media Molecule recently mentioned that they’d be working more closely with artists to bring new sticker packs and content into LittleBigPlanet, but Sony is also extending that, they have announced, to levels themselves by “inspiring individuals and interesting personalities,” under a new ‘LittleBigPlanet Originals’ campaign.

The first level, shown above, comes from studio artist and Family Guy affiliate Joe Vaux (who previously combined both undertakings at LA’s “Family Guy C.R.A.P. (A Collection of Rare Art Pieces)” exhibit), and will continue with more levels by Sarah Burke (presumably the Canadian skier?), and Nathan Cabrera (profiled on the Mother Boing in 2003).

Play the levels by searching for PSN username ‘LBPOriginals’, read more about Vaux’s thoughts on creating the level via the PlayStation blog, and see his original iam8-bit piece Reset below.

LittleBigPlanet “The Patch” – Family Guy’s Joe Vaux [PlayStation.Blog]

ONE SHOT: TAN NUYEN’S SUPER FAMICOM INTERSECTION

---

5.19.2009

Brandon Boyer

1 Reply

“Just Super“, part of Tan Nuyen’s Nymphographics series [via TinyCartridge].

Somewhere in between WiiWare debut favorite LostWinds (for its vulnerable directly-controlled character and 2D platforming), Crayon Physics (for its elaborately pieced together machinery), iPhone scribbler Trace — and, as always, a tip of the hat to the visionary Harold and the Purple Crayon — Danish indies PressPlay have revealed the first video for their self-published WiiWare debut, Max and the Magic Marker.

While a platformer at heart, PressPlay have said that the Crayon Physics nod goes deeper than the paper surface: its physics go so far as to create heavier objects out of those made with more ink, a resource that can be returned by erasing earlier drawings. The best part, though: the way Max and the game’s world pop in and out of marker-doodled outlines when you pause to draw your own additions.

The studio hasn’t yet revealed too much further information on the official site, outside naming fellow Danish/Balkan/klezmer-y hip-hop group (!) Analogik as the composers of the game’s soundtrack, who, on further streaming, turn out to be kind of awesome.

PressPlay say they hope to have the game out by this fall, “hopefully.”

Max and the Magic Marker [PressPlay]

NEW FALLOUT 3 DLC: THE WASTELAND GETS EVEN WIDER STILL

---

5.19.2009

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Continuing, for now, to keep their promise of a game that never ends, Bethesda has just announced two more expansions to Fallout 3‘s Wasteland, with Point Lookout, a “massive new swampland area filled with new quests and content,” due in June, and Mothership Zeta, in which players will “experience an alien abduction first hand and find out if they’re tough enough to survive,” coming in July.

At the same time Bethesda has announced that PlayStation 3 Vault 101-ers will finally be getting their chance to take advantage of the widened Wasteland with the last, first DLC package Operation: Anchorage, coming in late June, followed every 4-6 weeks thereafter by The Pitt and Broken Steel, the most recent pack that finally did away with the end-game and level cap.

And, finally, for those that have been waiting and don’t want to fiddle with the content drip-feed, October will bring the release of a Game of the Year edition of the game that will include all five packs for the same price as the original release.

Fallout 3 [Bethesda]