With the Adventure Time Game Making Frenzy drawn to a close and submissions already in (more on that in a bit), we move straight on to the rest of the events coming to Fantastic Arcade in just a few short days with a special exclusive.

This Friday, September 21st, Venus Patrol will be presenting the first iteration of THE DANCINGULARITY, a free, interactive dance-party experience being put together for Fantastic Arcade and Fantastic Fest guests by Kokoromi, the game collective helmed by Heather Kelley, Cindy Poremba, Damien Di Fede, and Fez creator Phil Fish (also behind the poster above, inspired by Factory Records designer Peter Saville).

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Mega Man 2‘s Wood Man braces for attack, by former ‘Dude-a-Day‘ & Metal Gear tribute artist Andy ‘oktotally‘ Helms. [via oktotally]

The ghost of Nintendo fans past, a Sam Bosma tribute to Mike Mitchell, after the latter’s “quasi self portrait of my formative years“. [via sbmosma]

It’s been nearly 24 hours since the kickoff of Fantastic Arcade’s Adventure Time Game Making Frenzy, and so we present a quick round-up of the work-in-progress screenshots and videos that have been coming out of B.M.O., our game jam web platform. Late last night, we gave B.M.O. a global feed of all micro-updates from the developers for those that would like to follow along at home, even if you’re not taking part in the jam.

Below the fold, then, a few pictures from our local Austin Frenzy HQ, where a good crew of around 30 people have been rotating in and out in informal shifts, as well as the happily quite diverse pack of media.

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Above, the amazing & ever so slightly Lynch-ian keynote video from Adventure Time creator Pendleton ‘buenothebear‘ Ward, also featuring writer Kent ‘kentisawesome‘ Osborne, and designer Andy ‘skronked‘ Ristaino, which officially signals the start of this weekend’s Fantastic Arcade Game Making Frenzy, where one lucky winner will be given a fruity surprise by Pen himself.

As previously reported, the jam will last 48 hours and will be hosted by B.M.O., the Beautiful Mess Organizer platform created by Brett Chalupa.

We’ve also just announced one last secret rule for all the games to come out of the jam: they must contain an overt or secret appearance of The Snail, a character that’s appeared in pretty much every episode of Adventure Time over the past four seasons, whether you knew it or not.

Several of us will be in and out of Austin’s local Frenzy HQ all weekend, where Vlambeer‘s JW Nijman and Kitty Calis have set up shop next to VVVVVV & Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh, POP: Methodology Experiment 1 creator Rob Lach, and a handful more local developers in a now-disused yoga studio (which has the amazing/essential side benefit of providing a shower [for pit-hygiene]).

Our friends at BOOM! have also graciously supplied us with a fat pack of Adventure Time comics for inspiration, specifically issue #5’s Eleanor Davis variant cover, for awesome reasons that will become clear shortly.

We’ll have even more strange and amazing details about the jam coming in just a few short days, but until then, looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this weekend! Drop us a note if you’ve got something extra special you think we should see!

Able to give anyone who’s spent any time in the game an immediate fight/flight response, Valve quietly unveils an actual, life-size functioning Portal Sentry Turret, feature-complete with everything apart from the obvious human hazard.

Draw your own conclusions about what it means that the video was posted to the Facebook account dedicated to Valve’s online shop — there have been widespread reports of the company jumping into the hardware market, right? [via Realm Lovejoy]

Another location-specific update: Portland-area readers will want to clear off their Friday nights for XOXO Fringe‘s arcade, a free-to-the-public event starting at 7PM at Union/Pine, as part of the recently Kickstarted XOXO arts and tech festival, created by Andy Baio & Andy McMillan.

This very website curated the selection of games available at the arcade, which will include Messhof’s Nidhogg, Ed Key & David Kanaga’s Proteus, Noah Sasso’s Barabariball, Terry Cavanagh’s Super Hexagon, Die Gute Fabrik’s Johann Sebastian Joust, the very first look at the new game from Big Bucket, the team behind the 2010 iPhone/iPad/Mac game The Incident, and more.

In addition to the games, there’ll also be a live performance from Disasterpeace, the musician behind the soundtrack to Polytron’s Fez, which I can say from experience is an unmissable show.

Below the fold, I’ll stick video of all of the above for the uninitiated, so you can see what you’re getting into. I unfortunately couldn’t make it out to the event, so take lots of pictures for us! See the official XOXO Fringe site for more information.

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A fast update for Maryland-area readers that were bummed to have missed the Kickstarter: Scott C will be bringing the remaining Venus Patrol-reprinted stock of his “Great Showdowns (of the 8-bit Era)” to the Small Press Expo this weekend. The Expo will be held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center this Saturday & Sunday, where you can also grab the first editions of his new prints, including an amazing new Twin Peaks illustration that I kind of need.

Originally released in a crazy-limited edition of 30, this is really actually the last remaining versions of the 8-bit Showdowns that will be put into the wild, so take the opportunity while you’ve got it! Check the old Kickstarter page for previews of all 10 prints. [via PyramidCar]

[VP Rewind is a quick look back at the important events of the past week or two that should have been on Venus Patrol had it actually been alive.]

I’ve been semi-deliberately been keeping myself in the dark (no pun?) on developments with Giant Sparrow’s The Unfinished Swan, originally unveiled nearly four years back as an intriguing IGF Student Showcase proof-of-concept based around revealing world geometry by judiciously applying splatters of black paint to the world.

Now a full Sony Santa Monica production coming soon as a downloadable PlayStation Network game, this latest peek behind the curtain reveals a fantastically tender storybook backstory that gives the entire experience an unexpected emotional charge that I’m definitely not sorry I spoiled for myself. [via Giant Sparrow]

In what might be the greatest trade-show promotional move of all time, publisher D3 have shown off the swag they’ll be bringing to this year’s Tokyo Game Show: an official Earth Defense Force Insect Observation Kit, purchasable for the low price of ¥500, which I will be massively, sorely disappointed if a fellow journo/attendee doesn’t pick up for me.

If the amazingness is lost on you: the farm will be in promotion of Earth Defense Force 3 Portable, a PlayStation Vita remake of the elder Xbox 360 exclusive Earth Defense Force 2017 (the third iteration, but the first to come to U.S. shores), due out in Japan later this month.

The EDF series as a whole, which began with a discount-price original nearly 10 years ago, is a hugely under-appreciated B-game cult-classic: an action-shooter that pits you typically against little more than a stock-3D-model of an ant or a spider, sized up to 50-feet-tall, and then multiplied so there are hundreds coming at you at once. It’s an almost cardboard-thin but beautifully-balanced design made brilliant through perfect self-awareness of its own limitations.

In a surprise move, D3 has also just announced that developer Sandlot will be returning in 2013 with a brand new Earth Defense Force 4 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with the first trailer above coming in just hours ago, and a field of screenshots just in from Famitsu.

There’ll very likely be many more updates here coming over the next month as more details emerge, but in the meantime, you should familiarize yourself with the series, if you haven’t already, with a fast, cheap download to your 360, a decision I promise you will never regret.