VIDEO: THE ORGASMIC, ULTRA-VIOLENT HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES
Oh, and let’s just get this one out of the way, too. You know, normally I might give a video that climaxes with a tri-tone Game Boy Mario humping an orgasmic Lara Croft’s leg (bleeding then into invaders and even Pong paddles getting in on the action) a kneejerk pass, but directors, uh.. MUSCLEBEAVER, somehow make it work.
The ‘BEAVERS say the animation — which wraps up the evolution of games into five minutes of insanity effect ultraviolence from Mario to Monkey Island to DOOM to a bucolic Azeroth nightscape — was worked up as the prologue to a German documentary on World of Warcraft addicts, but no word on whether the full docu ever made it to air. [via ZenAlbatross]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
POLE POACHED: KING OF GAMES’ POLE’S BIG ADVENTURE T-SHIRT
It’s been some six months since I last mentioned Sega’s meta-comedy WiiWare game Pole’s Big Adventure, and by now, it would seem the chances of it making its way stateside are close to nil, but the game’s continued to be a surprise favorite in Japan despite apparently resting itself on one-off gags, riding the charts for at least several months after its initial release.
Other signs of its on-going appreciation: local top games/design/fashion label King of Games has just revealed its first Pole design (following two more by Super Channel), a varsity ring-T featuring the moose-outfitted Poacher, and comes packed in its own special canvas bag — reminiscent, KoG says, of the ones school gym uniforms would come in. [via TinyCartridge]
Previously:
See more posts about: Fashion, King of Games, Offworld Originals
ON THE BRILLIANT IRRELEVANCE OF CACTUS’S DEATH PARTY BACKSTORY
My favorite part of Cactus’s video for Death Party, the followup to his 2008 game Shotgun Ninja (available as part of the Cactus Arcade package [zip]) isn’t the continuation of its pre-retro graphics with more decidedly modern mechanics, it’s the deep storyline he gives it on his blog, like a throwback to Atari/C64 back-of-the-box hyperbole:
A small guerrilla squad, called Death Party, undergoes rigorous training to be sent on a mission to take out the mysterious dictator ruling their home land. But how will they uphold their morale as they discover the citizens have all been turned into mindless addicts from drugs introduced into the local water supplies? They soon find themselves in a battle against an over powerful enemy, fighting for no one but themselves. Meanwhile the plot of their adversary seems to expand beyond their wildest imagination.
As usual, it’s always a bit premature to get hopes up for Cactus games that may or may not see the light of day, but, he says, there’s still hope for a few additional levels and a release soon.
Previously:
See more posts about: Cactus, Offworld Originals
THE POST IT CROWD: PETRI PURHO’S POST-IT-RENDERED INVADER SHOOTER
And so, the cycle is officially complete: from games, to their Post-It note stop-motion animated equivalents [2], now to games rendered in Post-It-Vision, as Crayon Physics creator Petri Purho releases his first entry into the revivified Experimental Gameplay Project’s debut competition.
Post I.T. Shooter — as he’s called it, in a not-so-subtle nod to Graham Linehan’s IT Crowd (the game’s main character is named Moss) — is an extension of the fractal invaders we saw Purho toying with last month, and sees you pitted against invader after oversized invader, all displayed in a jerky, faux-hand-animated Post-It note style.
It’s more difficult than you’d imagine, if only because those oversized pixels don’t leave much room for careful maneuvering — especially as the chipped-at invaders fire more and more frantically — but for a week-long experiment, you couldn’t ask for much more genuinely audacious artistic design.
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ONE SHOT: LEFT 4 (SHAUN OF THE) DEAD
A first-pass rough draft of Shaun’s living room, as modeled by the team behind Left 4 Winchester: a Shaun of the Dead mod for the PC version of Left 4 Dead which, despite some hang-ups, is apparently still on its way.
The current plan is a five-map campaign that’ll take us from Shaun’s Pad, to Mum’s House, to Lizz’s Flat, to the Winchester itself for a final showdown, where the jukebox will, of course, summon the horde. Apart from some obvious metaphorical zombie-differences to be solved, this should be a new all-time favorite mod, provided the team can manage to hold it together.
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, One Shot
LITTLEBIGWATCH: THE RETRO ILLUSTRATED GHOSTBUSTERS STICKER-PACK BLOWOUT
Your last look at the Ghostbusters DLC pack coming this Thursday to LittleBigPlanet, offered here because I mean, really, how wicked is that retro-illo Stay Puft at top left?
And, as a bonus, a closeup and personal view of the extra costumes teased last week, my favorite still the (what we’re now calling) “universal no” ghost.
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
WEEKEND WATCHING: EVEN FURTHER INTO THE NIGHT WITH JASON ROHRER, CHRIS CRAWFORD
I linked a preview version of this earlier in the week, but thanks to commenter ‘littlebugger’ for letting us know that he’d uploaded the full hour-long episode of Passage creator Jason Rohrer and design vet Chris Crawford meeting on arts program Durch die Nacht mit (Into the Night with), which everyone seems to be agreeing is one of the best games design chats they’ve witnessed in a while.
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Weekend Watching
ONE SHOT: COMMANDER VIDEO, MEAT BOY STYLE
Franchise creators Gaijin Games show off Bit.Trip series mascot Commander Video as he will appear in Edmund McMillen, Tommy Refenes and Jon McEntee’s indie-cameo-packed Super Meat Boy WiiWare remake.
Previously:
See more posts about: Bit.Trip, Gaijin, Offworld Originals, One Shot
BROWSER BATTLE: CAPCOM, GAMETAP BRING STREET FIGHTER II CE TO KONGREGATE
Just launched in celebration of the release of a PC version of Street Fighter IV: a new, browser-based Flash version of Street Fighter II CE, put together by GameTap for Flash portal Kongregate. [via Capcom]
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ONE SHOT: THEY MIGHT AS WELL BE UN-DEAD, IF THE RAIN COMES
Into each (reanimated) life, some rain must fall: Valve show off the first look at “Swamp Fever”, the Left 4 Dead 2 campaign being unveiled at San Diego’s Comic Con, happening later this month.
Presumably, the point they’re trying to hammer home is the claustrophobic environmental effects that inclement weather will bring, and/or that the horde really don’t like getting wet.
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
