LITTLEBIGDADDY: SUPMAN098’S CUSTOM BIOSHOCK 2 BIG DADDY DOLL
And one last fantastic Monday morning custom toy: ‘supman098’s Big Daddy Dolly, as spotted in the teaser trailer for 2K Games’ forthcoming Bioshock 2 might just trump Harrison Krix’s Little Sister syringe as the best fan made tribute to the series.
Big Daddy Dolly by supman098 [deviantart, via technabob]
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REFILL YOUR 8-BIT HEART METERS WITH MATCHING PROXIMITY-AWARE SHIRTS
A cheap gimmick to be sure, but also undeniably kind of awesomely charming. Also available, a bit more sadly, as a single shirt and transmitter pack that can be placed near a more inanimate love.
8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirt [thinkgeek, spotted by m,appeal via oddee]
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POST-GDC: ROBIN HUNICKE’S 6 EASY IDEAS TO FIX PLAYSTATION HOME
Richard Lemarchand’s microtalks turned out to be one of the finest and most inspiring sessions of GDC, and the one session archetype I hope will turn into a new long-lasting tradition. Taking its cues from the Pecha Kucha tradition of ’20 slides auto-advancing every 20 seconds’, it was a rapidfire series of speakers giving rapidfire ideas on the concept of “play.”
Of all the speeches, perhaps the most practically focused was Boom Blox producer Robin Hunicke’s series on “Simple Game Mechanics for Real and Virtual Play Spaces,” or, put more simply (and reduced maybe a bit unfairly), what Sony can do to fix their PS3 virtual world Home.
Hunicke was disappointed to learn, she said, that her assumptions about the space — that, coming from a game publisher, this virtual world would “blend the best of free expression, openess and structured activity” — were quickly stymied when she found that by and large the most prevalent pastime in Home was “dudes… harassing any female avatar,” and attempting to create their own emergent “fun” by exploiting collision physics to do things like standing on benches and sitting on railings and other avatar’s shoulders.
So, imagining herself as queen of Home for a day, she came up with easy ideas to bring her overarching “4 C’s” of game design — Creativity, Collection, Competition, Community — to the space and imagined new ways for people to interact. (more…)
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LISTEN: RUTGER MULLER DOMINATES KORG DS-10 WITH CHEAP DIRT
Following the previously blogged LSDJ/LGPT dub ep from Simon Mattison, the latest album from netlabel mp3death is Cheap Dirt from Rutger ‘DS-10 Dominator’ Muller.
As you might expect from his alias, Muller’s album was composed entirely on a single copy of Korg’s DS-10 synthesizer, and, he adds:
No post-processing of the audio has been done. All sounds are synthesized, there’s no sampling involved. Genres covered are: minimal, techno, electro, acid, dubstep, uk garage, drum n bass, ambient, etc.
mp3death add, in their own typical quasi-poetical fashion:
Enchanted with drum & A computer on
and jupiter is cut everything else,
turn the Most synthesizer preset
bass and then boost that notoriously famoussessions by soundsystems
no midi control so your beat can offer
that paradoxically mix primitivistic
lo-fi and comfortable again.
Listen to the stream below, particularly the standout downtempo track “Sea Son” (skip to track six) or download the entire album via archive.org.
cheap dirt by ds-10 dominator [archive.org, mp3death label, rutgermuller.nl, via disquiet]
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THE ONE-SHEET SKATING BRILLIANCE OF PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES VIRAL DEBUT
I was entirely set on passing off PopCap’s new viral video for their oft-blogged Plants vs. Zombies as little more than cutely disposable, but then, 30 seconds in, it suddenly turns so inexplicably and sublimely bizarre that I can’t stop hitting replay.
Plants Vs. Zombies home [PopCap]
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ŠVANKMAJER DOES GOO: PORTLY PIG’S CLAYMATION CREATION, THE PAINTER’S SIGN
Created by Portly Pig Studios as part of GameTrailers’ ongoing Life Imitating Goo / Goo Imitating Life Contest, The Painter’s Sign channels World of Goo via the macabre real-world/clay stop-motion vision of Jan Švankmajer, and is more or less a shoe-in to take the top prize.
The Painter’s Sign [GameTrailers, photos of the set creation, Portly Pig MySpace, via 2D Boy]
Previously:
- Listen: 2D Boy's free World of Goo soundtrack – Offworld
- Scream real loud: the playable origins of World of Goo – Offworld
- 2D Boy's World of Goo: The community updates – Offworld
- Indie Games Summit: Ron Carmel explains 2D Boy by the numbers …
- Indie Games Summit: 2D Boy/Polytron's top 10 ways to market your …
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LISTEN: CELEBRATE BRAID’S PC RELEASE WITH ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK, REMIXES
As Xbox Live Arcade flagship title Braid makes its PC debut (or mostly, anyway, the Steam release seems to have been delayed to tomorrow, check Impulse, Greenhouse and Gamersgate for the download and demo), artist David Hellman updates to note that an “official” soundtrack has been put together for sale with all of the tracks licensed for the game.
With contributions from Jami Sieber, Shira Kammen, Cheryl Ann Fulton and two remixes by Jon Schatz, the album is being offered for download at a variable rate — set your own price between $5 to $18 — or on CD for an extra $6 on top of that (UK and Euro prices also available).
Sieber, Kammen, Fulton and Schatz – Music from Braid [Magnatune, via David Hellman]
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THE NEOGAF COLLECTION: A CRITERION APPROACH TO GAME COVER DESIGN
While it’s clear that not everyone has the same grasp on what makes a Criterion cover a Criterion cover, there are enough that do in this latest collective burst of creativity from the NeoGAF forum that makes it very worth mentioning.
My favorites? See above, especially the Eric Carle-ish open question of Noby Noby Boy and pointillist death-burst of Killer 7.
NeoGAF Collection Collected gallery [via fimoculous, original neogaf thread]
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ANOTHER LOOK AT KNYTT CREATOR’S WIIWARE DEBUT NIGHT GAME
Keeping up a media “blitz” as understated as the game itself, IGN has posted an extended look at Night Game, the forthcoming original WiiWare title from Nicalis, the same studio behind the WiiWare remake of cult indie hit Cave Story.
As noted in the accompanying interview, the music for Night Game is being provided by Chris Schlarb, one half of I Heart Lung, who have recorded a few albums for indie-game loving Offworld favorite label Asthmatic Kitty. Head to Lung’s Asthmatic page for more samples.
NIGHT GAME VIDEO ON IGN [Nicalis]
Previously:
Dark was the night: the first look at Nicalis's WiiWare Night Game …
Offworld: The Offworld Guide to IGF 2009 (pg. 4)
WiiWare Cave Story getting new downloadable content – Offworld
A deeper look at Knytt Stories – Offworld
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IAIN REEKIE’S POSTHUMOUS GRIM FANDANGO CUSTOM TOYS
They might come a decade too late to cash in on the game’s release, but Iain Reekie’s custom sculpey figures of main character Manny and speed demon Glottis from Tim Schafer’s LucasArts swan song adventure Grim Fandango would still make an excellent posthumous mass produced toy, if anyone’s willing to procure the license.
Glottis & Manny custom figures [Iain Reekie, via SuperPunch]
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