TAKARA TOMY BANKS INVADERS
Combining Japan’s apparently resurgent enthusiasm for electronic novelty banks and our own ongoing love affair with All Things Invader during Taito’s seemingly bottomless and endless treasure trove of 30th Anniversary tie-ins, CScout’s Japan Trend blog brings news of Takara Tomy’s just released Space Invaders cocktail cab bank.
While it doesn’t actually play so much as count your 100 yen coins with a new on-screen invader each time, its attention to detail, with the itty-bittiest instructions panel and color overlay (making it Space Invaders Part II, for the pedants), still manages to get a lustful rise.
Space Invaders retro tabletop game bank [Trends in Japan – CScout Japan Blog]
Previously:
You've got to spend to save – Offworld
Space Invaders evolve on Japan's mobiles – Offworld
Space Invaders about to Get Even on WiiWare – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
AN UMBRELLA FIT FOR A ZOMBIE APOCOLYPSE
Though presumably it’s just a happy accident, ThinkGeek’s newly offered ‘Umbrella‘ umbrella is the perfect gift to say “let’s ward off the drizzle, and the undead, together.”
Umbrella Umbrella [ThinkGeek, via Wonderland]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
LEFT 4 RACCOON CITY
From one Umbrella to the next: while it doesn’t quite ‘snap into’ the parodical punch of the previously mentioned Macho Man mod (or, indeed, the nauseatingly glorious ‘sexy beast’ Boomer thong), Zac-UK and jonmag’s meticulous recreation of Resident Evil‘s Raccoon City (an obvious and fitting crossover if ever there was one) looks as though it’s shaping up quite nicely:
The campaign places the four survivors on the abandoned streets of Raccoon City after a truck crashes into their car. You head on foot to the police station in hope of rescue. Upon entering the station you receive help from an injured cop who points you in the direction of the sewers to escape the infested city, however the 4 survivors soon end up discovering the reason behind the infection when they come across a top -secret high tech research facility owned by the ‘Umbrella’ Corporation.
[Bioh4zard 2 via Kotaku]
Previously:
Left 4 Dead: Savage beyond belief – Offworld
Left 4k Dead: Left 4 Dead in 4KB of Java – Offworld
Ragdoll Metaphysics: Left 4 Dead, The Thinking Man's Braindead …
Why Left 4 Dead has the best tutorial ever… and why you never …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
FLASHBANG RELENTLESS-LY TEASE NEW GAME
Flashbang’s latest tweet on via their official Blurst account is my new maddeningly opaque “what are they building in there” tease: the company says flight404’s generative and rhythmically pulsing beast, which bursts into a jet black flock of ravens on every kick, is apparently “one of many visual inspirations” for their next game, which makes me wonder if they’ve actually kicked the “mythical/extinct creature plus outlandish physical activity/heavy machinery” habit.
[Relentless, The REV, via Blurst]
Previously:
What's he building in there: Introversion's Subversion – Offworld
Gimme Indie Game: Minotaur China Shop, happiness in shattery …
Riding the iPhone's Raptor Copter – Offworld
See more posts about: Blurst, Flashbang, Offworld Originals
JOLT REVIVING ZORK AS BROWSER-MMO
Today’s guardedly optimistic revival: casual MMO developer Jolt (they of the recent Google Maps enhanced long-distance trucker MMO Trukz [which friend of Offworld Mathew Kumar recently detailed]) have announced a revival of Infocom’s foundational text adventure Zork as a browser-based casual MMO.
Though they haven’t yet detailed how the game itself will operate, they have said Legends of Zork will provide a persistent world for all its players, who will take the role of a “laid-off salesman and part-time loot-gatherer, as he explores the Great Underground Empire.”
Reassuringly, it looks to be as much a labor of love as any: the game’s blog notes that “Double Fanucci also makes an appearance, in the form of a full deck of 174 Fanucci cards that you can collect and use to improve your skills,” and furthermore says that its multiplayer return will extend to grouping for tougher quests and arena battles.
The young and the rookies can have a look at Matt Barton’s exhaustive History of Zork feature via Gamasutra, or play the first three games in the franchise online via ReZork to bone up as we anticipate the game’s launch.
Legends of Zork – The legendary adventure returns, to your browser.
Previously:
The irony being no-one even reads them anymore – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
PIXELJUNK EDEN GETTING A WELL-DESERVED ENCORE
Q-Games head Dylan Cuthbert has blogged to Sony’s official PlayStation outlet to note that their previously promised patch for Offworld 20 highlight PixelJunk Eden will be available tomorrow, adding a new multiplayer camera and a still undetailed “new control system.”
Even better, Cuthbert says an “Encore” version of the game is in development, offering only a teaser that the new expansion will add “crazy stuff,” though the notion of new Baiyon tracks (note that the Eden musician/designer has just released a new EP, Tachikanae) is more than enticement enough.
PixelJunk Eden: Tending to Our Lovely Gardens [PS.blog]
Previously:
Pixeljunk Eden, Osmos top 2009 IGF nominations – Offworld
PixelJunk Eden patch promises mercy – Offworld
Sony's own inspired holiday sales – Offworld
The Offworld 20: 2008's Best Indie and Overlooked – Offworld
See more posts about: Baiyon, Offworld Originals
DOTTER DOTTER’S KIRBY REVERSI
The latest in Tibori’s Dotter Dotter series: the most adorable imagined version of Reversi ever created, featuring Kirby and rival Meta Knight.
The Kirby reversi [Dotter Dotter]
Previously:
Dotter Dotter's 3D pixelcraft – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
GMOD THEATRE PRESENTS: ‘GRIGORI GRIMOIRE’
It’s Presto for the City 17 set: ‘fncypntz’s ‘Grigori Grimoire’ is officially my new favorite GMod happening. See also, the amazing Super Gmod Kart and Team Fortress 2 Heavy’s 2Girls1Cup Reaction.
Fncypntz’s channel [YouTube, via WeGame via Oddbob]
Previously:
Garry's Mod life – Offworld
Doom 3: Repercussions of Evil: another Garry's Mod masterpiece …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
MOTHER 3: BEHIND THE MUSIC
In what can only be described as a heroically meticulous post (and an early front-runner for games-related blog post of the year), Dan Bruno (QA tester, coincidentally, for Rock Band creator Harmonix) has dissected the battle music in the recently fan-translated Mother 3 to better come to grips with its combo system.
It was one of the game’s most surprising secrets: each enemy you come across in its turn based battles has a unique theme song, and their own signature ‘heart beat’ that coincides with the theme. As you attack the enemy, continuing to press the button along to their beat results in continued combo attacks that, if sustained, lands some 50 percent more damage.
The trick, though, is that harder enemies come with harder beats and sadistic time signature trickery. Bruno transcribes one of the most difficult, “Strong One (Masked Man)”s 29/16 signature, and quips that its rhythm “would make Dave Brubeck cry.”
Mother 3’s battle music [Cruise Elroy, via Waxy]
Previously:
Mother 3 translators start Earthbound Central blog – Offworld
Harvey James's Mother 3 fan art vanguard – Offworld
Tomato releases Earthbound Zero 'easy patch' – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
BEAT: MY GOD, IT’S FULL OF BITS
Today’s biggest treat: following yesterday’s scraps on forthcoming WiiWare series Bit.Trip and its initial block bouncer Beat, publisher Aksys has lifted the veil and let loose full gameplay video, which is even more wonderful than I had imagined.
Less a tennis-for-two and perhaps a bit more Breakout 2600: The Musical (well, minus the actual block-smashing, and then filtered through Stephen Malinowski’s fantastic Music Animation Machine), Gaijin seem to have beat Taito at their own game and given us the Space Invaders Extreme-esque retro-futurist version of Arkanoid we’d hoped their DS port might be.
Even better, Aksys have uploaded Desention, the video clip’s phoned-home chiptune, as an mp3 [direct link]: every part of this Bit.Trip seems custom built specifically to tickle Offworld’s fancy.
BIT.TRIP BEAT [Aksys Games]
Previously:
Gaijin Games taking the Wii on a Bit.Trip – Offworld
See more posts about: Bit.Trip, Gaijin, Offworld Originals
