JAYIS OPENS VOTING FOR 2008 BEST OF CASUAL GAMEPLAY
As I plug away on a bigger feature due later today, I’ll point you this morning to the fifth annual “Best of” feature from casual/web powerhouse blog Jay Is Games, which has opened for public voting and contains an absolutely overwhelming list of browser/downloadable/freeware nominees that should tide you over for a good long while.
Best of Casual Gameplay 2008 [Jay is Games]
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TIGSOURCE BABYSTEPS TOWARD AN ALL-INDIE STEAM/APP STORE
TIGSource’s Indie Game Database has been growing at a very healthy rate — having just now reached over 500 entries — and, to help foster further growth, the group has added a REST API to help spread its exhaustive cataloging. The most exciting development to come out of its new accessibility, though, is TigBox [PC only .zip].
According to TIGSource’s Jeff Lindsay, he and indie dev Ivan Safrin have been “toying with the idea a Steam or iTunes Store app for indie games” since the 2008 GDC, and TigBox is the first ‘v0.01 alpha’ step in that direction. The app currently only consists of two tabs — Your Games, and Get Games — and works by grabbing a list of the top rated TIGdb games, which can be automagically downloaded and installed with a double click.
I couldn’t get the app to actually, erm.. work (it creates folders for the games like a champ, but seems overly temperamental on which files it then wants to download or not), but the TIGers admit it’s more a proof of concept rushed out at the last minute. Either way, it’s certainly one of the most important projects to keep an eye on in 2009, and a fantastic idea to unionize and legitimize the motley crew of worldwide indies.
TIGdb Advances [TIGSource]
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MS PAINT THE GAMES OF 2008
Even though it’s primarily full of the hokey amateur charm you’d normally expect from threads like these, there are some entries in the NeoGAF forum’s “favorite videogame moments” MS Paint thread that are genuinely a little jaw-dropping.
Recreate your favorite videogame moments using MS Paint: 2009 Edition! [NeoGAF]
Previously:
Ye olde anagram game challenge – Offworld
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JAMES KOCHALKA’S MONSTER MII: DORGIE’S LITTLE OL’ ACCIDENT EDITION
[James Kochalka‘s Monster Mii is a regular Offworld feature, with a new Mii monster each time for you to download to your Wii. Once there, they’ll give you creepy stares from the sidelines of your Wii Sports, lap you rudely during your Wii Fit jogs, and in general liven up your Plaza and gaming day.]
For our third edition of Monster Mii, we bring you Dorgie, whose dry-cleaning bill is only matched by the size of his heart (we recommend ‘favoriting’ him in the Mii Plaza for a quick change of dungarees).
To bring him home to your Wii, enter the Check Mii Out Channel’s Posting Plaza, click ‘Popular,’ then the ‘Search’ button at bottom. After that, hit the arrows at top right and enter in the code: 6513-2494-4351.
Previously:
James Kochalka's Monster Mii: Zex's Sexy X-mas edition
James Kochalka's Monster Mii – Kzorx
[James Kochalka‘s daily diary strips, which run at AmericanElf.com, have just entered their tenth year and been collected in three print volumes. He is also the author of more books and comics than you can count on both hands, including some that are excellent for children, and others not so much. All are excellent. James also plays rock and roll and Game Boy rock as James Kochalka Superstar, and recently exhibited artwork at Giant Robot’s GR2 gallery.]
See more posts about: James Kochalka, Monster Mii, Offworld Originals
WIIWARE CAVE STORY GETTING NEW DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
Hidden in amongst an otherwise innocuous post by Nicalis, one of the team behind bringing Pixel’s certified indie platformer darling Cave Story to WiiWare, is news that the game will be getting more than just an updated facelift for its console port:
We’re still working away at Cave Story trying to make sure it’s faithful to Amaya-san’s original while adding a few things for the console release. One of these new additions, I’m happy to announce is Download Content. I think we received enough e-mails demanding it that we’re doing our best to include some new surprises in the WiiWare release.
If, by some stroke of madness, you haven’t experienced the game by now, please feel free to immediately leave this website for Mirai Gamer’s fan site, where you can find ports for just about any imaginable platform.
And Hello Again! [Nicalis, WiiWare port homepage]
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MICROSOFT RESHAPES BOKU AS KODU FOR XBOX 360
The best part of Ballmer’s CES keynote last night? It wasn’t the old hat Halo sequels and Xbox Live Primetime games — it was the announcement that not only would Microsoft’s game-maker studio codenamed Boku be officially released as Kodu, but that the suite would become an integral part of the Xbox 360 Community Games channel.
First demonstrated in March of 2007 and again brought to light in October of 2008, as above, the kit is meant as an introductory course to games programming (but done purely via the controller with simple formulaic logic): more LOGO (and including a turtle of its own) than LittleBigPlanet (to which it’s been most often and annoyingly/lazily compared).
What’s not clear yet is just how it’ll be delivered and how its sharing functionality will integrate into Xbox Live, but its bright pixel-organics (actually strikingly similar to Tibori’s Dotter Dotter art I mentioned in December) are a very welcome development, and there are few things on my 2009 radar I look forward to playing with more.
Kodu – Microsoft Research [press release, live project demo]
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ROCK BAND BUCKING THE SEQUEL TREND IN 2009
The best games news I’ve heard out of CES thus far? Via Crispy Gamer, Harmonix’s Alex Rigopolus bucking the sequel trend and maintaining development focus on Rock Band as a pure platform, very much as it should be:
“We’ve actually made a choice to break out of the annual release cycle for Rock Band this year,” Rigopolous told the assembled press and industry members. “[This is] partly because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer. We’re trying to take a long term view.”
That doesn’t mean Harmonix hasn’t given up on standalone releases — in October the company announced a new deal with The Beatles to provide a custom one-off Rock Band-esque exploration of the band’s back catalog, slated for release later this year.
Harmonix’ Rigopolous: “Rock Band 3 breaking the annual cycle” [Crispy Gamer]
Previously:
Going deep on music with Harmonix – Offworld
Expect new Guitar Hero releases for the next ten years – Offworld
See more posts about: Harmonix, Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
PIXEL ART SPORE CREATIONS
I think it’s been entirely too long since I last checked on Spore‘s creature scene — Shacknews points out these two curated Sporecasts featuring nothing more than massive doses of reconstructed classic pixel art, which honestly would be a delightful surprise to run across in the middle of an otherwise dark galaxy.
Spore Creatures Go 8-Bit [Shacknews]
Previously:
Sporesculptor opens for 3D printed Spore creatures – Offworld
EA tosses new parts into Spore patch – Offworld
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MUD HISTORY GOING DOWN WIKI’S MEMORY HOLE
MMO news outlet Massively points out a growing controversy with a number of Wikipedia entries on various classic MUDs coming up for deletion and disappearing despite majority votes to save them, and the support of MUD creators and supporters like Richard Bartle, Raph Koster, and Scott “Lum the Mad” Jennings:
What makes this whole discussion so frustrating lies in how the MUD community has preserved their own history. Many of the facts and tales of the games comes through something akin to the oral tradition — many users who have written about, blogged, or related their thoughts to others via community sites. Because of this, there is no main verifiable source to connect these MUDs with. Without a verifiable source, one of the main tenets of Wikipedia, all of these articles can come under fire. With the MUD community in decline, many of the older articles can’t even be linked to or referenced — providing only more problems with keeping these entries in the system.
MUD history dissolving into the waters of time [Massively, via Margaret]
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OXFORD RESEARCH: TETRIS BLOCKS TRAUMATIC MEMORIES
Today’s best scientific news: playing Tetris could alleviate traumatic memories, provided (and in the highly unlikely case that) you play immediately following a painful event:
The researchers who published their findings in the Public Library of Science One journal showed 40 healthy volunteers that included traumatic images of injury from a variety of sources, including adverts highlighting the dangers of drink driving.
After waiting for 30 minutes, 20 of the volunteers played “Tetris” for 10 minutes while the other half did nothing. Those who had played the computer game experienced significantly fewer flashbacks over the next week.
Dr Holmes and her team believe that the computer game helps block the brain from storing painful memories as long as it is played immediately after the event…
The Oxford team chose “Tetris” because it involves moving coloured building blocks around and uses a large part of the mind. They are unsure whether other computer games would be as effective.
No word from the team on what to do when the trauma itself is the nightmare of inescapable re-occuring Tetris dreams.
Playing the video game ‘Tetris’ could reduce trauma, claim Oxford University [Thanks, Mr. Swyve!]
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