NICE SHOOTING: ERIC TAN’S DUCK HUNT TROPHY
Somehow I missed this entry in 2008’s i am 8bit show but VG Arts once again pulled in the slack by pointing me toward Eric Tan’s fantastically detailed Duck Hunt trophy… and now if I can just make it out of this post without re-treading the “I always wished you could shoot the dog” meme.
Game Over [Eric Tan, roundabout via VG Arts]
Previously:
Ben Marra's view from Vice City – Offworld
The love that dare not execute its algorithm – Offworld
Left 4 Love: Alexandria Neonakis' latest valentines – Offworld
Mui mui bella: Loco Roco in 3D – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
FLASHBANG LIVE-BLURSTING ALL OVER YOUR SCREEN
Oft-blogged indie devs Flashbang have kicked off a new Friday feature web-casting the office goings on which, from what I’ve seen so far, has included live banana eating and further discussions of lunch. But! The team promise some blurry looks at what they’re building in there:
Fridays with Flashbang! We’re going to run a webcam every Friday for your amusement. Fridays are actually our experimental days, so people will be working on all kinds of random stuff.
Drop by and give them an Offworld hullo via a live chat on the blog, and be sure to pester them relentlessly about what secret project ‘sweetarenashooter’ might be.
Flashbang/Blurst Offices on Live Webcam [Blurst]
Previously:
Gimme Indie Game: Minotaur China Shop, happiness in shattery …Riding the iPhone's Raptor Copter – Offworld
Flashbang let loose a little Blush – Offworld
Things We Lost In The Snow, pt 4: Raptor Copter hit the iPhone …
See more posts about: Blurst, Flashbang, Offworld Originals
ANOTHER DIMENSION: LEFT 4 DEAD IN TRUE 3D
Though honestly just part of nVidia’s drivers that support anaglyphic 3D views in a number of games (to varying degrees of success), gamerslastwill have posted directions to add new depth specifically to Left 4 Dead, which sounds like a capital weekend project, if I can just remember what I did with my glasses after testing out Polytron’s super HYPERCUBE.
3D Left 4 Dead? For free? Oh yeah, here’s how [gamerslastwill.com]
Previously:
Only on Offworld: Polytron/Kokoromi's Anaglyphic super HYPERCUBE …
Bringing Gamma home to you – Offworld
Left 4 Love: Alexandria Neonakis' latest valentines – Offworld
Left 4 Dead: Savage beyond belief – Offworld
Surly Hate Machine: Dance to everything Left 4 Dead's Francis can …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
CENTER OF GRAVITY: DUNCAN FYFE DOES GRAVITY BONE JUSTICE
If it wasn’t overly obvious, I was strained on the end of my leash in my initial writeup and recommendation of Brendon Chung’s indie PC game Gravity Bone, trying with all my might to not explore its smartest parts too deeply for fear of over-explaining the punchline.
But Duncan Fyfe’s recent thoughtful write-up is easily the best piece I’ve read on the game, and (be forewarned), he doesn’t take any shortcuts or dance around the point, so take the short time to give the game a runthrough first, but go with this poignant bit by Fyfe:
Gravity Bone is a 300-page novel that ends on page 60. Because the art style is so charming and pronounced, players might think that that’s the big attraction and therefore the extent of the game’s creativity. Gravity Bone’s purpose is to manipulate expectations by cutting them short, which is why it’s effective at all. Everyone who plays Gravity Bone gets played by Gravity Bone. If you remember the debate over Portal’s shortness from a year and a half ago, the consensus was that Portal’s brevity was beneficial. Here, it’s essential.
Rosetta [Hit Self-Destruct, Gravity Bone home]
Previously:
Gimme Indie Game: Gravity Bone – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
FROM PCS TO LBP: USER-GENERATED CONTENT THROUGH THE ERAS
Gamasutra’s got a nice history piece running as today’s feature on the impact of EA’s Pinball Construction Set on the industry as a whole. One of the first games with truly integrated mechanisms for user-generated content, the piece traces routes from PCS to later games like Adventure Master, Adventure Creator, GameMaker and onward to its current pinnacle: LittleBigPlanet.
As a bonus, dig that beauty of a gatefold package for the game, a relic from when EA packaged each of its titles as lovingly and thoughtfully as music albums of the day.
The History of the Pinball Construction Set: Launching Millions of Creative Possibilities [Gamasutra]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
GLORIOUS RETRO CARNAGE: WYLD FILE’S HALLUCINOGENIC VIDEO FOR BECK’S ‘BAD CARTRIDGE’
Just officially uploaded by Audio Dregs co-founder Eric Mast (in case you missed it on, say, the early video UMD), the video for Paza’s 8-bit remix of Beck’s ‘E-Pro’ — a project Mast took on as Wyld File, his collaborative company with art collective Paper Rad.
Mast, more commonly known by his pseudonym E*Rock, is the brother of Evan Mast, most recognizable as the marginally less hirsute half of Ratatat and 100% of Offworld (and Flashbang) favorite E*vax.
For more excellent — but infinitely less games-ey — Friday morning watching, see E*Rock’s video for Ratatat’s Cherry and those at the Ratatat site linked above. Or, more appropriately, ‘Kiptok’s fan-video below for Ratatat’s Imperials, which interprets the song’s brilliant over/under-water hook via glitched-up footage of Ecco, Sonic and Mario.
See more posts about: beck, Offworld Originals
OBAMA COMES TO STREET FIGHTER, SLINGING FIERY HOPE-BALLS
While Capcom is busy ramping up anticipation for its soon to be released console version of Street Fighter IV with new DLC costumes, one other fighter is making his brawling debut: Barack Obama, who will be a downloadable character not for Capcom’s official release, but Street Fighter Online Mouse Generation, the free-to-play, play-by-mouse online oddball offshoot released by Daletto earlier last year.
As seen in Gpara’s preview, the significantly beefier (and, er, toothier) Obama lets loose furious “Yes We Can” fireballs, and shares a Valentine’s Day release with bow-wrapped chocolate versions of the game’s female fighters.
LOVE LOVE on Valentine’s YES! WE CAN! [Daletto, google translation, via Tiny Cartridge]
Previously:
Obama: Famicom-aniac – Offworld
Obama's new Tauran Shaman of staff – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
GET HOTTED UP OVER PAC-MAN OVEN MITTS
The logical follow-up for your retro-infested kitchen after you’ve got your paws all over Fred & Friends Space Invaders ice-cube-trays (recently spotted by the Gadgets boys)? On the other end of the temperature extreme, an official Pac-Man silicone oven mitt.
Totally sold.
Previously:
Space Invaders goes icily crystalline, pixelaciously cubed – Boing …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
VALVE ANNOUNCE FIRST LEFT 4 DEAD DLC
Valve have just sent word that Left 4 Dead, one of Offworld’s still most-played games, will be getting its first dose of DLC this spring with the “L4D Survival Pack.” Details are still scarce, but Valve says the pack will introduce a new ‘Survival’ multiplayer game mode, as well as two new campaigns for Versus mode.
On top of that, Valve says an SDK update will be making its way to the PC around the same time, that will allow for the creation of new custom Left 4 Dead campaigns, and a ‘critic’s choice’ edition of the game will ship this spring as well, bundling the game with that Survival Pack.
Left 4 Dead home [Valve]
Previously:
Why Left 4 Dead has the best tutorial ever… and why you never …
Left 4 Love: Alexandria Neonakis' latest valentines – Offworld
Ragdoll Metaphysics: Left 4 Dead, The Thinking Man's Braindead …
Left 4 Dead: Savage beyond belief – Offworld
Surly Hate Machine: Dance to everything Left 4 Dead's Francis can …
Left 4 Dead: the twits don't stand a chance – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
MOSS GETS MODERN: GTA’S MOST WANTED AMERICA
Olly Moss’s countdown continues with his latest redesigned cover, this time a visual pun that says “Niko Bellic tries to live the American dream and gets dragged into a world of crime.”
Grand Theft Auto IV [Videogame Classics set]
Previously:
Olly Moss's Penguin-inspired Videogame Classics covers – Offworld
Olly Moss brings a touch of class to Black Mesa – Offworld
Olly Moss's Man With The Golden Gear – Offworld
And then there were four: Olly Moss takes on Silent Hill – Offworld
Moss creates a monster: Something Awful takes on retro-classic …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Olly Moss
