THE MUNNY SHOT: ALBERT ART’S EARTHBOUND STAR, NESS
The latest games-vinyl toy crossover from Albert Art: this custom Ness Munny, star of the oft-blogged cult hit Earthbound, complete with to-scale backpack and cap. It’s the fourth games custom Art’s done recently, following his similarly nice work on Bomberman and Turbo-Grafx 16 underdog Bonk.
I Am EarthBound- Albert Art Custom “NESS” vinyl toy [Albert Art, via InfiniteLives]
Previously:
Offworld: Toys Archives
The Munny shot: Earthworm Jim edition – Offworld
Reactor-88's Dig Dug Dunnys – Offworld
Touma sharpens Animal Crossing's claws – Offworld
Roll your own Mr. Saturn Earthbound toy, Metroid hat – Offworld
Saturn-ine: another Mother/Earthbound treat we can't have – Offworld
Earthbound goods for the rest of us – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Toys
LADYADA’S DIY 8-BIT RETRO CONSOLE FUZEBOX
When you’re ready to graduate up from your Meggy Jr RGB: based on the “retro-minimalist homebrew game console” Uzebox Project, Ladyada’s Fuzebox is an even more self-contained, open-source DIY 8-bit console kit that sports the following specs:
Full 256 simultaneous output colors, 240×224 pixel resolution;
Tile & sprite support;
Two player ports, either with Super Nintendo or classic Nintendo controllers;
NTSC RCA composite and S-video out (PAL not supported at this time);
4 channel output mono audio for music and effects;
SD/MMC card support for future expansion;
Built on an Atmel AVR core, 64KB flash and 4KB of RAM;
Main microcontroller chip is preprogrammed with an STK500-compatible (sometimes referred to as Arduino-compatible) bootloader;
Write game code in C, using fully open source tools on any platform
The demo videos are all disappointingly, if understandably, hewing pretty close to clones of established retro hits — have any of you managed to create anything original with either the Uze or Fuze?
The kits are available from Adafruit Industries here, and both Ladyada‘s and Uzebox‘s forums have more talk on the games and the process.
Fuzebox: Open source 8-bit game console [Ladyada, via technabob, and belatedly via Tom]
Previously:
Pixel on with Meggy Jr RGB – Offworld
Wonderfully Door-key: Darius Kazemi's Meggy Jr RGB Rogue-like …
More Meggy Jr. mini-masterpieces: Make magazine's Dot – Offworld
Make Meggy music: Darius Kazemi's MeggySynth – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
LISTEN: TUGBOAT’S 8-BIT JAY-Z, KANYE, CHAMILLIONAIRE MEDLEY
Probably the greatest chiptune madness you’ll hear all week, Jesse ‘Tugboat‘ Novak’s 8-bit hip-hop medley moves from Jay-Z to Kanye via T.I., Chamillionaire and Ludacris without dropping a beat, or a bit.
[mejsaudio src=”http://venuspatrol.com/ofiles/remix-medley-1.mp3″]
The full tracklist:
Jay-Z – Dirt Off Your Shoulder;
T.I – What You Know;
Chamillionaire – Ridin’;
Ludacris – What’s Ya Fantasy;
Bonecrusher – Neva Scared;
Kanye West – Overnight Celebrity;
Ludacris – Move Bitch;
Lil’ Jon – Get Low;
Kanye West – Gold Digger
Researching further sent me spiraling down a rabbit hole: if you believe everything you read on the internet (and I have no reason not to, right?), ‘J-No‘ was also behind the Clash sample used in M.I.A.’s Paper Planes, which then led me simultaneously to this Black Nerd parody of Paper Planes featuring the Konami Code and Novak’s excellent Akon calls T-Pain video, and I’d better stop now or I’ll lose another hour to all this.
Tugboat MySpace [related J-No MySpace, Tumblr, all via ShotThen, thanks to TakingTigerMountain’s Cody]
See more posts about: Listen, Offworld Originals, Tugboat
OREGON OR BUST: STARVINGEYES’ SURPRISINGLY WELL PLAYED FALL OUT BOY TRAIL
Even though I know desperately little about Fall Out Boy’s music, they’ve got my attention for two reasons: they 1.) landed a favorite artist, Luke Chueh, to do the cover for their latest album, and 2.) their new starvingeyes-made advergame ‘Fall Out Boy Trail‘ is a startlingly elaborate recreation of Oregon Trail, with several new minigames added to the mix.
If you can forgive the product placement (the boys only eat McNuggets and only drink Vitamin Water), the modernization’s actually quite clever: you’ll stop off on tour dates to play low-bit versions of FOB songs ala Rock Band, and afterward gamble each member’s happiness meter by choosing one of several cliques (the emos, the rednecks) to party with, and do battle with surf zombies when attempting to ford any rivers.
For a promo: well played.
FALL OUT BOY TRAIL [starvingeyes, via Tom]
Previously:
Apple classic Oregon Trail coming to iPhone – Offworld
Virtual Apple ][: Browser embedded game design lessons – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
SISTERS OF RAPTURE: FIRST LOOK AT BIOSHOCK 2’S BIG SISTERS
As was rumored this week via cryptic clues being drip-fed to viral site SomethingInTheSea.com, retailer GameStop’s in-house magazine Game Informer has got an exclusive first look at 2K’s upcoming BioShock 2, with its just-revealed cover image showing the new game’s trademark enemy: the Big Sister.
The first game saw its narrative driven by the relationship between the vulnerable Little Sisters and their near-indefeatable Big Daddy protectors, which appears to continue in this prequel, albeit gender swapped. Little more is known about this game’s storyline, apart from the viral site mentioning frequent abductions by a “skinny monster with a single red glowing eye.”
New footage of the game is expected to land at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference. Take Two’s recent quarterly report scheduled BioShock 2 for a release before the end of the year, but, like Beaterator, made no commitment on the launch platforms.
Somethinginthesea.com [2K Games, via Game Informer]
Previously:
Come to Big Daddy – Offworld
Little shocks: IG Fun show off iPhone/mobile BioShock – OffworldI feel a wreck without my little china sister – Offworld
Portal gun maker's new BioShock syringe – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
CALL OF DUTY 4 TAKES HOME 3 BAFTAS, MARIO GALAXY GETS BEST GAME
After being nominated in seven categories, Activision/Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4 took home three awards in the UKs just-completed 2009 BAFTA Awards, for Best Gameplay, Best Story & Character, and the audience voted game of the year award sponsored by UK retailer GAME.
It was beat out for best multiplayer by Valve’s Left 4 Dead, and in the judge-awarded Best Game category by Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy. Elsewhere Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet picked up the Artistic Achievement award, Boom Blox took home Best Casual Game, Spore left with Technical Achievement, and Nintendo/Level 5’s underdog DS puzzler Professor Layton took home best handheld game.
In the event’s student/indie One to Watch category, student team DarkMatter Designs took home the award for their platform/puzzler Boro-Toro, which can be sampled via the game’s website.
Click through for the full list of winners (each in bold). (more…)
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ROCKSTAR/TIMBALAND’S MUSIC APP BEATERATOR BACK ON TRACK FOR 2009 RELEASE
Long taken for dead, the latest quarterly report from publisher Take Two has listed Rockstar Games’ Beaterator as back on track for a release at an unannounced date before the end of October. For release on unannounced platform, as well, actually, though what exactly to make of that is still up for wild guesses.
The Beaterator project originally appeared in 2005 as a Flash based music sequencer on Rockstar’s website — a curious sideproject for the Grand Theft Auto maker — and was announced in early 2007 as an upcoming PlayStation Portable release, with producer Timbaland said to be on board to help produce the app’s sound samples.
Shortly thereafter, though, the game quietly slipped off Take Two’s schedule, and hadn’t been heard of since until today’s report. It’s platform, however, is now listed as To Be Announced, and the company hasn’t clarified anything in its on-going conference call, so insert your guess here: a PlayStation Network release on PSP or PS3? Now a DS app? Could it be Take Two’s iPhone debut?
Beaterator home [Rockstar, original Flash version]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
KILL IT WITH CROWBARS: ANNA THE RED’S HEAD-CRAB BENTO
Anna the Red quite rightly saw her bento fame blossom after her December dip into games like Katamari Damacy, but I honestly haven’t seen any finer game food (bento, cup/cake, or otherwise) than her recent Half-Life headcrab delights.
bento#37 Headcrabs from Half-Life [Anna the Red, via .tiff]
Previously:
Katasushi Damacy in a Bento Box – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
JAPAN’S GAMES PRESS INSTITUTION FAMITSU LAUNCHES IPHONE MAG
How do you know your platform is gaining credibility in Japan’s gaming industry? When — even as the tech industry wrings its hands over its sluggish adoption — games press institution Famitsu devotes an entire new publication to it, as it has this month for the iPhone.
The first issue of Famitsu iPhone is due in tech shops and exclusive-iPhone-carrier Softbank’s retail outlets this Friday and will be given away for free. The publication will debut with coverage of I Love Katamari, Square Enix’s tower defense game Crystal Defenders, and an exclusive interview with Hideo Kojima on Metal Gear Solid Touch.
Famitsu doesn’t specify whether future issues will expand to a full, paid publication, but it does promise that while “some people still do not have an iPhone, if you read this you will want the iPhone.”
Famitsu iPhone announcement [Famitsu, google translation, via andriasang]
Previously:
Touch Snake: Kojima opens iPhone Metal Gear site – Offworld
A Metal Gear you can touch – Offworld
Katamari rolls onto iPhone – Offworld
iPhone Katamari gets Exquisite addition – Offworld
Offworld: iPhone Archives
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ON PEGGLE’S PECULIAR APPEAL
Offworld favorite columnist Clive Thompson’s got a great new piece looking into the peculiar appeal of PopCap’s popular pachinko/pinball/plinko mashup Peggle, well timed with the game’s ongoing multiplatform blowout (having just been released on the DS and arriving tomorrow on Xbox Live Arcade).
Thompson chats with PopCap VP Greg Canessa, who surmises that the more interesting underlying discrepancy between the game’s hardcore and casual audiences is purely perceptual:
For a casual gamer, Peggle seems too heavily based on luck. You aim the ball, but once you’ve dropped it and it hits the first peg, all bets are off: It bounces and careens through the forest of pegs in crazy, zigzagging patterns. For casual players, there doesn’t seem to be a clear enough correlation between how they aim and the results.
But hard-core gamers see the game quite differently. When they look at the Peggle board, they see the Euclidean geometry that governs how the ball falls and pings around.
“They’ll be sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, if I bounce the ball off that peg it’ll hit this other peg and jump over here, where it’ll take out two other colored pegs,” Canessa said.
I’d been doing some of my own idle thinking on the game’s appeal recently and came to the [probably dullard’s] conclusion that its smartest design decision was to never punish the player and make nearly every interaction a reward — straight down to the fact that a gutterball shot that misses every single peg and flies straight off the screen earns you a medal (great job!).
Click through to Thompson’s full column, though, for more on the hardcore/casual divide.
Getting Lucky: Hard-Core Gamers Penetrate Peggle’s Physics [Wired]
Previously:
PopCap's Peggle overload spawns art contest – Offworld
PopCap's Peggle Extreme now free on Steam – Offworld
Frond of the dead: the first look at PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies …
28 Weeds Later: Plants vs. Zombies will indeed feature plants …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
