LEGO UNIVERSE MMO SAILS FURTHER INTO THE DISTANCE
Disappointing news comes from Lego’s direction this morning with the announcement that Netdevil’s forthcoming MMO Lego Universe won’t be making it to us for at least another year.
Lego lead Mark Hansen told MTV’s games blog the decision was less about tuning the game and “more strategic in relation to product launches that we have within Lego… [We have] new product lines that are coming out… We don’t want to make a big splash [with ‘LEGO Universe‘] in the market where its success could take focus away from [the other products].”
The company softened the blow with new media of the game including the err.. castle-swash-buckling image above, an extra minifig-meets-monsters shot, and, via MTV, an exclusive shot rife with ninjas, which just about covers all of the basic Lego food groups.
The announcement follows recent news which reverses the Lego -> games stream: toy sets based on Jordan Mechner’s Prince of Persia, or rather, Mechner via Ubisoft via Jerry Bruckheimer’s upcoming film adaptation, should be hitting shelves in spring 2010, on time with the release of the film.
As before, my best recommendation to counter-remedy all this waiting: the online collaborative builder/demolisher indie MMO Blockland. Squint your eyes and you’ll almost be able to see the little divets on each block.
Exclusive: ‘LEGO Universe’ Concept Art… With Ninjas [MTV Multiplayer]
em>Previously:
TT/Hellbent going pure Lego with DS Lego Battles – Offworld
What's it going to build then, eh: 'A Lego Orange' imagined – Offworld
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METAL GEAR’S KOJIMA GETTING LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT GDC
After announcing that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima would be keynoting the 2009 Game Developer’s Conference, organizers have sent word that the developer will also be the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony.
The award has previously gone to strategy game maker Sid Meier, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, Ultima creator Richard Garriott, Defender/Robotron creator Eugene Jarvis, Marble Madness designer and now wide-ranging consultant Mark Cerny, Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi, Sonic designer Yuji Naka and Sim-everything creator Will Wright.
Organizers say Kojima was chosen because his “contributions to game development have broken new ground and inspired the community to think about creating games in never-before-imagined ways… from giving birth to the stealth action game genre to showing game makers how to interact with their players by breaking the ‘fourth wall.'”
The Tim Schafer-hosted ceremony will take place March 25th during the Game Developers Conference, and will also include the main Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival awards.
Previously:
Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima keynoting Game Dev Conference …
Game Dev Choice Awards topped by LittleBigPlanet, Braid, Left 4 …
Tim Schafer returns to GDC Choice Awards, Harmonix honored – Offworld
The Offworld Guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
HAPPINESS IS A WARM FEZ: PREPARE FOR WONDERFUL
What kind of wonderful is about to happy with Polytron’s Fez? Speculation is running rampant that the key is in that ‘A’: specifically, that the image is tipping us off to an imminent announcement from Microsoft that the game is headed to the Xbox Live Arcade.
To test that theory, I pulled out my early IGF 2008 build of the game (as I do every few weeks when I need a re-up on sunshine) and found that– ah, wait, the ‘A’s been there from the start (that Fez is being created in Microsoft’s XNA and prefers an Xbox 360/Windows pad for optimal play has never been a secret).
That’s not to say that it’s not the trick up Polytron’s sleeve, anyway, but I suppose we’d just be as well off trying to strip hints off the hieroglyphics hiding in the preview shot from earlier this month. Wait, should we?
SOMETHING AWESOME THIS WAY COMES [Polytron]
Previously:
Annabelle Kennedy joins Fez creators Polytron – Offworld
Polytron affirm essential awesomeness – Offworld
Only on Offworld: Polytron/Kokoromi's Anaglyphic super HYPERCUBE …
Bringing Gamma home to you – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Polytron
LET MY BOARD AND ME BECOME AS ONE: THE WII BALANCE BOARD/GOOGLE EARTH MASHUP
With just a touch smoother scrolling (chalked up, surely, to the program itself), this could feel amazing: Germany’s Research Center for Artificial Intelligence has hacked together a Wii balance board with Google Earth to go surfing, as kottke says, “like the Silver Surfer.”
Or, if you please, the same interaction can be used in Second Life, or — as made the rounds earlier last year — World of Warcraft‘s Azeroth, but there’s nothing better than their tour-glide over Munich from 300 feet.
Wii Balance Board interactions [German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH, via kottke]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ASK YOURSELF, HOW DID WE GET HERE: HOW ‘INDIE’ HAS EVOLVED
Gamasutra is running a nice piece from former IGF grand prize finalist Andy Schatz looking at how the “indie” landscape has evolved, tracing its route initially from the doors opened by casual hits like Diner Dash and Zuma to teams creating portal alternatives for games that didn’t fit that casual mold.
But Schatz says, rightly, that the past two years have seen indie gaming hit critical mass, and that the category is now less about economics and more about the experience:
Gamers and customers now see indie games as the poetry, the short stories of the gaming world. They are different, they are thoughtful, and they make you appreciate nuance.
As 2D Boy’s (World of Goo) Kyle Gabler said in his recent Global Game Jam keynote, the best games made in game jams “introduce one new concept to gaming as fast and as clear as possible.” This is largely true for all of indie games as well. The finalists in this year’s IGF competition also tend towards this concept.
Why is this important? Because in the past, indie games didn’t mean anything to customers. We, the developers, knew what it meant — it was important to us because it meant that we were unfettered. But customers didn’t have expectations about what an indie game was.
Customers do have expectations now. Indie games are games that, by definition, don’t fit into any other box. They cost from $0 to $30. They are “cool” — knowing about them is “cool.”
Hit the link for the full evolution and where Schatz sees indie gaming going in years to come.
Opinion: The Evolution Of Indie [Gamasutra]
Previously:
World of Goo's Kyle Gabler gives top 7 Global Game Jam tips – Offworld
The Offworld Guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival – Offworld
Only on Offworld: indie game and artist all-stars collide at Giant …
Ragdoll Metaphysics: 2008 And The Indie Renaissance – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ONLY ON OFFWORLD: DUBLAB DEBUTS ADVENTURE’S VINTAGE ARCADE VIDEO “POISON DIAMONDS”
We here at Offworld are big fans of LA radio collective Dublab and its unbelievably stellar line-up of associates. Most recently, its VisionVersion project — in which its “collective of directors film amazing artists performing live in exciting locations around Los Angeles” — has spawned a fantastic set of videos featuring Offworld top-fave bands like Why? [watch here] and Daedelus [watch here in awe of his Tenori-On like magic Monome box].
So we’re quite excited to partner with Dublab to debut the latest in its VisionVersion line, Wham City artist Benny ‘Adventure‘ Boeldt doing a live version of his low-bit-inspired hit “Poison Diamonds.”
It’s not just the sound that’s near and dear to our hearts, though: the video was filmed at Glendale, CA retro-gamer paradise Vintage Arcade Superstore and is coated in appropriately fuzzy Betamax corruption. That the track opens and closes with a Roy Batty sample from Offworld’s namesake is just icing.
See more of Dublab’s VisionVersion lineup via its official page, let its dubstream be your new favorite internet radio station, and don’t miss Computer Jay’s bent Atari 2600 performance from the dublab archives. Thanks much to Frosty and Gus for hooking this up!
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
76 TROMBONES: THIS MORNING’S NOBY PARADE
Stick with me just a little longer — it’s only two more days now, which must be what this big love-blossoming parade is all about.
o–o [Namco]
Previously:
It's a stretch: Explaining Katamari creator's new Noby Noby Boy …
Ask a stupid question: Takahashi finally ‘explains’ Noby Noby Boy – Offworld
Happy Holidays from Offworld (feat. Keita Takahashi) – Offworld
Another new look at Noby Noby Boy – Offworld
Noby Noby Boy stretches further into February – Offworld
It don't mean a thing: another last look at Noby Noby Boy – Offworld
Why can't I stop: Noby in the sky with stripes – Offworld
Today’s drip-fed Noby dose: Noby tastes the rainbow – Offworld
Noby's wakey-wakey: You Have To Break The Mushroom – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
NOT WHAT I NEEDED: YOU GOT YOUR RIC OCASEK IN MY EARTHBOUND EDITION
The bigger story here: trusted sources tell Starmen.net — clearinghouse for all things pertaining to SNES cult hit series Earthbound — that the game’s spring 2008 ESRB rating was not a sign it would be hitting the Wii’s Virtual Console, but was, literally, “a mistake,” and that the game is seemingly inextricably bound in a legal battle because of copious pop culture references and samples Nintendo of Japan is stubbornly refusing to allow Nintendo of America to fix.
(The question unanswered: what about the “time and circumstances” make now the moment for Starmen to let this out of the bag?)
But of more pertinent interest: which references and samples, exactly? To that end, Starmen spinoff blog Earthbound Central has put together a list of some of the most unexpected samples hidden deep within Earthbound‘s soundtrack.
A sampling: background clicks and synth pads from Ric Ocasek’s ‘Keep on Laughin’ show up in the Moonside area theme, ‘Jackie’s Cafe’ contains warped bits of both the Little Rascals/Our Gang theme, and, of all things, a bent version of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Though EC doesn’t overtly say that this is specifically what’s causing hand-wringing with Nintendo’s lawyers, presumably this is enough of a start.
EarthBound Music Similarities [EarthBound Central]
Previously:
Mother 3: Behind the Music – Offworld
Mother 3 musical toe-dip into Bach, Vivaldi, Satie… Batman …
Mother 3 translators start Earthbound Central blog – 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
NYC GAME-DESIGN INSPIRED SCHOOL QUEST 2 LEARN OPENING FALL 2009
New York’s Institute of Play has officially announced the foundation of Quest to Learn, a new school for “digital kids” that will be accepting its first 6th grade class this fall, which “uses the underlying design principles of games to create highly immersive, game-like learning experiences for students.”
The Institute explains:
Games work as rule-based learning systems, creating worlds in which players actively participate, use strategic thinking to make choices, solve complex problems, seek content knowledge, receive constant feedback, and consider the point of view of others.
As is the case with many of the games played by young people today, Quest is designed to enable students to “take on” the identities and behaviors of explorers, mathematicians, historians, writers, and evolutionary biologists as they work through a dynamic, challenge-based curriculum with content-rich questing to learn at its core.
It’s important to note that Quest is not a school whose curriculum is made up of the play of commercial videogames, but rather a school that uses the underlying design principles of games to create highly immersive, game-like learning experiences.
Games and other forms of digital media serve another useful purpose at Quest: they serve to model the complexity and promise of “systems.” Understanding and accounting for this complexity is a fundamental literacy of the 21st century.
Institute of Play executive director Katie Salen is one of the school’s designers: you may know her as co-author — along with Gamelab‘s Eric Zimmerman — of Rules of Play, one of the best texts encapsulating the fundamental language of game design.
The school is currently looking for both teachers and students, and, it says, will be expanding “by a grade level annually through 2015.”
School for Digital Kids: 6th-12th grade [Institute of Play, thanks Drew and Alex!]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
READY FOR THEIR CLOSEUP: MIKKO WALAMIES’ ROLANDO ART
Officially added to illustrator Mikko Walamies’ online portfolio: his designs for Hand Circus’s killer iPhone app Rolando, which means gorgeous high-res zoomed out maps (suitable for wall-papering), and closeups of the game’s cast, including my favorite tongue-biter of them all.
Walamies’ apparel and print sections also house some gorgeous designs.
Game Design: Rolando [MW82]
Previously:
Touch me I'm slick: ngmoco/Hand Circus's Rolando – Offworld
HandCircus preparing more Rolando for the iPhone, Lite version …
Rolando gets papered – Offworld
See more posts about: Hand Circus, Mikko Walamies, Offworld Originals, Rolando
