INTANGIBUILD TRAINING ‘KNITTING HEROES’ WITH WII-MOTE ENHANCED KNIITIING
Though there doesn’t appear to have been much activity on the site since mid-2008, after coming across the project today I’m tentatively hopeful it’s still moving forward: artist Rachel Beth Egenhoefer and scientist Kyle E. Jennings have partnered to create KNiiTTiiNG, a Wii-mote enhanced, presumably PC-based application that would use motion control to teach the basics of knitting via minigames and on-screen tutorials.
Egenhoefer explains:
The more we started to work together and play silly Wii games, the more the ideas started to come. We thought about the craze of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero and then thought we’d make our own type of “Knitting Hero”. Users follow the knits and purls as they move up the screen challenging the player to knit in rhythm with the game, and without dropping a stitch! In Dance Dance Revolution the player produces a dance (or something like a dance), and in Guitar Hero the player creates an actual song. In KNiiTTiiNG however, you can only knit a virtual cloth object which comes back to my ideas about tactility and code, while also bringing in elements of pop culture and scatological video games.”
The site teases three patterns: a tea towel, ‘sensible’ hat and octopus toaster cover, but we might also suggest more game-centric further add-ons: pixel-patterned DS/PSP cozies? Partnering with mad-teaparty’s Xiola for Katamari hat patterns? The possibilities are endless.
KNiiTTiiNG!! [Intangibuild, thanks Kristen!]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
LLAMASOFT’S GRIDRUNNER+++ GETS APRIL DATE FOR XBOX LIVE ARCADE
A month after ruing the fact that Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade team were “sitting on” his submitted demo, Llamasoft head Jeff Minter has announced (alongside an excellent review for Space Giraffe PC) that the Xbox 360 remake of his cult retro shooter Gridrunner will see release via XBLA in late April.
In signature Llamasoft fashion, Gridrunner blends psychedelic light-synth overtones to a simple auto-shoot mechanic, as you can witness for yourself in its original PC and Mac form, or, more socially via its conversion to a Facebook application.
And, best of all, Minter also revealed earlier last year that the Xbox Live Arcade port, as above, would include emulated versions of the original Vic-20 and C64 titles that earned Minter and Llamasoft their reputation, for a release that promises to be as good a newcomer’s introduction to the Llama-legacy as you can find.
Space Giraffe PC gets awesome 92% review [Llamasoft, Gridrunner PC]
Previously:
Llamasoft's Space Giraffe released for PC – OffworldLlamasoft taming PC port of Space Giraffe – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
LISTEN: 2D BOY’S FREE WORLD OF GOO SOUNDTRACK
Update: Well, now that we’ve gone and killed his website, Kyle has sent along word that there’s a temporary mirror at the 2D Boy’s site, which you can find here. Attack!
The best present we could have received today: World of Goo devs 2D Boy have released the game’s soundtrack — truly one of the best in recent memory — as a free download via designer and composer Kyle Gabler’s homepage, with notes on the inspiration for its various tracks. Gabler explains:
The majority of the instruments you’ll hear are computer instruments, with a few live performances on top to add a bit of warmth. For the older music, I used one of those Sound Blaster cards that let you load samples into memory. More recently, I’ve been using the freeware sfz soundfont sampler. I have an m-audio keystation 49e midi keyboard for picking out melodies. Influences include Danny Elfman, Vangelis, Bernard Herrmann, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, and all the big movie guys. I grew up listening to them, and they remain a big influence in everything I write.
It’s hard to pick a favorite, each one conjuring very happy memories of different game highlights, but embedded below, this being Offworld and all, the most obviously Vangelis inspired, ‘Inside the Big Computer.’
[mejsaudio src=”http://venuspatrol.com/ofiles/20.%20Inside%20the%20Big%20Computer.mp3″]
Music from World of Goo [Kyle Gabler, via 2D Boy]
Previously:
At the core of the World of Goo – Offworld
2D Boy's World of Goo: The community updates – Offworld
Ragdoll Metaphysics: Ten Things That Made Me Glad To Be A Gamer In …
The Offworld 20: 2008's Best Indie and Overlooked – Offworld
See more posts about: 2D Boy, Listen, Offworld Originals, World of Goo
I WANNA BE A BIG BANG: ARKEDO’S BIG BANG MINI DEMO HITS THE WII
Previously mentioned as one of my most anticipated DS titles for the first half of 2009, Arkedo’s Big Bang Mini is not only shipping to retailers this week, but, publisher Southpeak has announced, has hit the Wii’s Nintendo Channel DS Download Service as well, so you can try an extensive demo of the game ahead of time.
If you do, what you’ll discover is that while it shares PS2 launch title puzzler Fantavision‘s vivid romanticization of fireworks against a jet black sky, that’s where the similarities end. What Big Bang Mini really is, at its fuse-lit core, is an introduction to the thrill of hardcore bullet-hell shooters wrapped in a more palatable and familiar metaphor. (more…)
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
LOUIS & BILL & ZOEY & FRANCIS: THE REAL FAB FOUR
And the day’s last dose of Helvetica porn: following Meat Bun’s similar Nintendo dream team shirt, which followed Amsterdam studio Experimental Jetset’s iconic original, Zazzle user ‘bigdukesix’s tribute to his “band (of survivors)” of choice, the boys and girl of Left 4 Dead.
Louis & Bill & Zoey & Francis. T-shirt [via Tom, via Wonderland]
Previously:
Left 4 Dead: the twits don't stand a chance – Offworld
Screaming for Hitekkai: Meat Bun's new T-shirt designs – Offworld
Polygraph's Kakuna T-shirt casts harden – Offworld
Look a little bit like Little Mac – Offworld
A new Hanes Beefy-T awaits – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
GETTING CRAFTY: HATTORI’S KID ICARUS DIORAMA PAPERCRAFT
Nothing says ‘presidential inauguration’ like papercraft, and Hattori obliges with this wicked Kid Icarus diorama that captures everything good about the game minus the Eggplant Wizard.
[Kid Icarus Papercraft, via Nintendo Papercrafts, via Tiny Cartridge]
Previously:
Getting crafty with Foldskool and Cubecraft – Offworld
Life-size papercraft Link hat (and hair) – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
TOUCH ME I’M SLICK AGAIN: AREA/CODE RELAUNCHES DROP7
In mid-December I was delighted to discover that Manhattan developer area/code had stealth released a port of Chain Factor — the Flash puzzler they’d created in partnership with CBS tv drama Numb3rs as part of a promotional alternate reality game — to the iPhone as snap7.
As it turned out, it was a bit too stealth for my own good: just hours after I’d posted it, the app had to be removed from the store. But now, a month later, it has re-emerged under its new name Drop7 at a re-introductory $0.99 price, and comes as very, very highly recommended as it did to start: it’s been one of my most regular smoke-break and long-trip iPhone companions since.
The only downside is — gasp — my high scores have been removed in transition, and I know I’ve had at least one absolutely brilliantly executed Sequence mode run where I scored well higher than my original 87k.
To learn more of what the game’s about read my original writeup, and find the game on the AppStore here.
Drop7 [area/code entertainment, iTunes link]
See more posts about: area/code, Drop7, Offworld Originals, Touch Me I'm Slick
OLLY MOSS’S PENGUIN-INSPIRED VIDEOGAME CLASSICS COVERS
Like AtomicToy’s Dude-A-Day project, I happened across designer Olly Moss’s fantastic Swiss-inspired movie posters last week and wondered what he might come up with in the games realm, and now I see I didn’t have to wonder long.
Taking a cue from classic Penguin book covers, I’d like to think Moss’s newly created ‘Triforce on the brain’ Zelda cover and his ‘projectile dysfunction’ Goldeneye design would have brought a happy twinkle to Germano Facetti‘s eye.
Videogame Classics [Flickr, via Super Punch, via Tiny Cartridge]
Previously:
AtomicToy’s Dude-a-Day Games Dudes – Offworld
Ben Marra's view from Vice City – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Olly Moss
BROWSER BRAWL: STREET FIGHTER COMES TO YOUTUBE
Well spotted via Destructoid, Patrick Boivin’s Youtube Street Fighter, a fully playable (as playable as, say Dragon’s Lair), stop-motion version of the arcade classic done up with cleverly hacked overlay buttons and a frighteningly complex array of all various outcomes.
See more posts about: Meta, Offworld Originals
NGMOCO PROMISE WORD-FU, MORE TOPPLE BY MID-FEBRUARY
More good iPhone news following Infinite Ammo’s: reigning App Store champs ngmoco have let slip that their first post-Rolando games coming in the next 30 days will include Word-Fu, a tossed-out Scrabble tile wordfinder (a much more ‘traditional’ casual outing for the dev) — which you can see via TouchArcade’s MacWorld party spycam footage above — as well as a new version of its debut “fast app” brick-stacker Topple, to be known as Topple Too.
Previously:
Touch me I'm slick: ngmoco/Hand Circus's Rolando – Offworld
ngmoco shows off iPhone's Dr. Awesome, Dropship – Offworld
Rolando gets papered – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
