LISTEN: STALIN VS. MARTIANS OFFERS SOUNDTRACK MP3S, OPENS PRE-ORDERS
Have they gone too far? I think it’s possible they might’ve gone too far*.
Either way, with pre-orders just opening on “all leading digital download portals worldwide” for Dreamlore/Mezmer’s upcoming PC arcade/ real-time-strategy game Stalin Vs. Martians, the devs have also created a new page for fans with free downloads of a number of the soundtrack selections you’ve seen in previous video teasers.
Included are original teaser trailer composer Ilya Orange’s tracks Chastushki and My Pocket Stalinizer (!), a track from the Jerry-Lenin-headed “legendary Russian glam-rock band” Lady’s Man (says Dreamlore: “You wouldn’t believe, but Lenin is not a pseudonym, it’s a real surname.”), and — of course! — Hong Kong-based twee pop band My Little Airport, with a song title even Dreamlore haven’t bothered to translate from the original Chinese (my favorite of the bunch).
Find all the musical gifts here — the game is due for release on April 20th.
*(Whether or not you agree might have everything to do with your take on Lazytown.)
Stalin vs. Martians home [Dreamlore Games, Mezmer game home]
Previously:
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GIMME INDIE GAME: THE CATASTROPHIC INFOGRAPHICS OF JIGGMIN/AEIOWU’S EFFING HAIL
The next logical step after infographics, the fairy tale music video? Infographics the game. Collaboratively created by indie devs Jiggmin and Greg ‘aeiowu‘ Wohlwend of Intuition Games, Effing Hail‘s cleanly textbook-illustrated graphic conceit is the instant draw, the game’s just as interesting an exercise in indirect control.
Your task is simple: control an updraft of air to keep falling hail in the upper levels of the bee-, sea-, dee- and effing-spheres so that it has time to grow into massive stones, which you then let fall free to crush an increasingly complex ecosystem of houses, skyscrapers, planes, satellites and civilians themselves below.
The game is only hampered by its just-on-the-side-of-too-restrictive time limit, though, granted, it’s intentionally about making the most of that time, and, like Katamari, can quickly snowball (no pun) into a near-unstoppable winning streak under the right conditions.
It’s a steep uphill climb to learning those conditions, but unleashing massive destruction does do nicely as its own reward. The game could still do well with a tutorial or unlockable sandbox mode (again, like Katamari) as stress relief after racing against the clock, but, even without, is one of the best indie developments of the month.
Effing Hail home [Intuition Games, Jiggmin]
Previously:
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SKELETONS ALIVE: AARON MEYERS’ SPORE CREATURES NOW IN AUGMENTED REALITY
Taking his original skeletal creations one logical leap further, Aaron Meyers has used the Spore API and ARToolKit to produce augmented reality versions of the day’s top 100 Spore creatures, or simply step through the gallery one by one in your browser via the basic Flash visualizer.
Spore Skeletons [universaloscillation]
Previously:
Fragile things: Aaron Meyers' API-driven Spore skeletons – Offworld
Data-mashers at the ready: Maxis opens the Spore API – Offworld
Pixel art Spore creations – Offworld
EA details Spore's 2009 PC, Wii, DS expansions – Offworld
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WILL WRIGHT DEPARTS EA FOR LONG-TIME SIDE PROJECT, STUPID FUN CLUB
In a surprise announcement, EA has just sent out word that Sims and Spore creator Will Wright has officially left the company in order to focus on his Bay Area side project, The Stupid Fun Club, a venture he co-founded several years ago with Mike Winter.
EA will be investing the SFC, owning equal parts with Wright himself, and, says the release, “has the right to develop game concepts that spring from Stupid Fun Club projects.”
As it turns out, I actually spent the better part of a day getting a first hand tour of the Fun Club in the summer of 2006, and can report that it is as absolutely magical place as you might expect: imagine a toned down version of JF Sebastian’s toyland workshop from Blade Runner constructed with early-oughts technology, and you’re getting close.
I’ll update in the next few days with a full report of the things I saw there, or at least the ones that I’m allowed to talk about.
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MEET ROCK BAND UNPLUGGED, AMPLITUDE-LITE FOR YOUR PSP
You can almost hear him straining not to mention when you read back over it now: in January, Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos mentioned in an interview that the studio would love to return to its earliest music game roots, say, with a new version of Amplitude.
And while not precisely a direct connection, with the unveiling of the first trailer for their previously announced portable debut, Rock Band Unplugged, it’s clear that we’re getting something just about as close as it comes.
While they’ve dropped all of the psychotropic futuristic abstractions, it’s like reuniting with an old friend to see that familiar “carpet” of tracks (as above) stretched across Unplugged, now more literally representing the four signature Rock Band instruments.
And while the trailer always jump cuts just at the moment when they might switch lanes, you can see the approaching end of the self-contained “phrases” that, like Amplitude (presumably, anyway!), will then auto-play that instrument and allow you to build up songs in the same way.
Most importantly, though, is the press release’s mention that not only will you be able to buy songs in-game directly from the Rock Band store, but that its first selection of exclusive songs will then later propagate to the console versions, suggesting that this is the start, at least, of the unification of the Rock Band catalog as a true cross-device musical platform.
MTV Games, Harmonix and EA Hit The Road On June 9 With Rock Band Unplugged For The PSP [Harmonix]
Previously:
Sony announces LittleBigPlanet, Rock Band for PSP – Offworld
Harmonix head Rigopulos on PS3 Amplitude, iPhone plans – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME: THE SHORT AND THANKLESS LIFE OF THE GOOMBA
Kei Houraku’s ‘Goomba’s Lifetime’ may be the deepest reflection on the inner lives of game characters ever conceived.
See also, Super Luigi Bros., a short film on the underappreciated toils of gaming’s most famous also-ran.
super mario bros. judgement world [via auntie pixelante, both]
Previously:
We're born alone, we Harvest alone, we die alone – Offworld
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ICH BIN TIMELAPSE: THE INSTALLATION OF I AM 8-BIT’S BERLIN EXHIBIT
In other art/game developments, designer Jude Buffum has uploaded this time-lapse video of the setup at I Am 8 Bit’s Berlin-based exhibit Ich Bin 8 Bit, put together at the Neurotitan gallery as part of the Pictoplasma character design/art conference.
The gist of this show, similar to earlier Giant Robot exhibits, was that all artwork was produced on Post-Its affixed directly to the wall from artists like Jorge R. Gutierrez, Sandra Equihua, Gabe Swarr, Jim Mahfood, My TarPit and Buffum himself.
See more posts about: Jude Buffum, Offworld Originals
GAME/ART: SEE THE ARTWORK FROM GIANT ROBOT’S GAME OVER/CONTINUE EXHIBIT
Now that I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m probably never going to be able to pony up for the APAK piece, no matter how deep my desire, I suppose it’s safe to note that Giant Robot has published all of the artwork from its Game Over/Continue? show to peruse and purchase.
Current favorites? Apart from the APAK, Snagg’s sewn-vinyl Atari cartridges, Lawrence Yang’s ‘Apocalypse’ series (especially Pac-Man), and Cupco’s Mario Samurai Armor. Also, Jay Howell’s completely left-field ‘High Five Myself‘ (for what, beating a level? finishing a game?) is all the more brilliant when you head over to his blog and see the following:
Oh shit, just looked the flier for the GR-SF show next month and everybody did video game art. Well, mine will be something else… You get what ya get and don’t have a fit.
Game Over/Continue? gallery [Giant Robot]
Previously:
artXgame: see the 4 games of Giant Robot’s Game Over/Continue exhibit – Offworld
Giant Robot, artxgame announces Game Over/Continue? exhibit – Offworld
Only on Offworld: indie game and artist all-stars collide at Giant …
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GOOD TO BE BAD: NISA’S PSP DUNGEON-MAKER HOLY INVASION OF PRIVACY, BADMAN
Inching the PSP ever closer to Sony’s long promise of the hardware du jour for the experimental and bizarre, import RPG stalwarts NIS have announced that they’ll be localizing Acquire’s Yuusha no kuse ni namaiki da. (roughly translated variously as “For a hero, you’re pretty impudent/audacious.”) with the similarly unwieldy title, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?
Originally released in Japan in late 2007 (and having already seen a 2008 sequel), its hook lies somewhere along the same line of games like Bullfrog’s Dungeon Keeper or (vaguely) the PSP’s Dungeon Maker, albeit refreshed with more obvious retro-graphic appeal.
In it, you play the unseen creator of a subterranean dungeon (represented by a pickaxe that can carve out the labyrinthine tunnels) all in an effort to create an ecosystem of monsters that can resist a chain of invading heroes all trying to bring the dungeon’s overlord (the titular Badman) back to the surface.
It’s all slightly more intuitive and approachable as it sounds — having played through the original import demo version a number of times — and should be one of the handheld’s most interesting titles of the year (particularly given the PSP’s relatively light lineup detailed so far): at very least, it’s a game now solidly on my radar.
Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? [NIS America]
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TODAY’S BEST THIRD PLACE: EXPLORE JAMES PATERSON’S ROTTEN FRUIT TARDIS
It might not be a game, per se (he calls it a “software environment”), but either way it’s my favorite place to play today: if you were around and following the birth of Flash as a legitimized art tool nearly a decade ago, you’re probably familiar with the work of James “Presstube” Paterson.
Most notably, Paterson and then frequent collaborator Amit Pitaru made several forays into the music world with their insertsilence work, creating an interactive video for Bjork’s Pagan Poetry, and working with anticon-related bands like Buck 65 (both on his fantastic Pope video, and later the entire packaging for his Square album) and Sixtoo (Paterson formerly did the visuals for Sixtoo’s Ninja Tunes showcase tour, and collaborated on an ambient DVD with both Six and Evil Pupil, viewable here).
Paterson’s latest creation, shown above, is The Rotten Fruit Tardis, which you can interact with fully here and which will be updated continually as the latest full incarnation of his presstube site.
It’s organic, vaguely disquieting, and not entirely outside the visual realms of, say, Edmund McMillen and his work on Coil and Aether, and it’s one of the best spaces I’ve recently explored.
The Rotten Fruit Tardis [Presstube]
Previously:
Gimme Indie Game: Glaiel and Schubbe give us Closure – Offworld
Edmund McMillen gives us No Quarter – Offworld
Offworld: The Offworld Guide to IGF 2009 (pg. 2)
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