URSINE INCLINE: THE STUNT-JUMPIN’ BADNESS OF DREAMSOCKET/VANBEATER’S BEAR ON A WIRE
I’m still frankly undecided if Bear on a Wire — available now on the App Store [iTunes link] — rises above fantastically illustrated novelty to truly compelling gaming (made up of a mix of Trials HD-ish tilt controls and Tony Hawk-like button-combo stunts), but there’s kind of no denying that it’ll end up going down as one of the year’s best iPhone trailers, and probably also the year’s second best bear/vehicle mashup game.
Also very worthy of note: the project’s a collaboration with artist Trevor ‘VanBeater‘ Van Meter of TVM Studio, who you might also know from his CrappyCat character — recently brought to vinyl by Jamungo — and who I now fully realize needs to be doing a lot more work in games. [via yewknee]
Previously:
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WHAT LIES BENEATH: THE SEX LIVES OF FAMICOM PROGRAMMERS
First off, Kaoru Ogura, who ran off with some guy in the middle of the project. Yes, you, you bastard. Don’t show up at the office without showering after having sex 6 times the previous night. Next, Tatsuya Ōhashi. Yes, you, you bastard. Don’t give me your flippant shit — coming in late on the day we ship the ROM like nothing’s amiss. You can give me all the porn you want; I’m not forgetting that one. All that fucking weight you put on. No wonder you paid out 18,000 yen and still got nothing but a kiss out of it. Kenji Takano, Namco debugger. You are a part-timer; don’t dick around with the project planner. And finally, Kiyoharu Gotō, the biggest thorn to my side in this project. Yes, you, you bastard. Once I get a time machine, I’m sending you back to the Edo period. Go do your riddles over there.
And you thought Hot Coffee was racy: Longtime Japan gaming obscurity aficionado Kevin Gifford brings us a translation of the dirty underbelly hidden messages in cutie Famicom adventure game Erika to Satoru no Yumebouken.
The message, says Gifford, takes “waiting half an hour after the game’s ending and then inputting all sorts of button combinations on both controllers at the right time” to reveal. See it unfold in real-time here at YouTube.
Gifford’s got even more background and other messages via his Magweasel blog.
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ONE SHOT: GERALD DE DIOS’ SCRIBBLENAUTS HOT PURSUIT
It’s less than a week and a half away from the U.S. launch of 5th Cell’s crazily anticipated “conjure anything” DS puzzle game Scribblenauts, and Super Punch celebrated with an all-month art contest, where, you ask me, illustrator Gerald de Dios completely dominated.
Previously:
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ONE SHOT: DEATHSPANK ON THE REALLY HIGH MOUNTAINS
You’ve already taken a long look through the first images of Monkey Island/Maniac Mansion creator Ron Gilbert’s new action RPG/adventure DeathSpank, but he’s squirreled away one of his favorites to reveal via his own GrumpyGamer blog, in which DeathSpank “[makes] his way up these really high mountains with snow on the peaks called The Really High Mountains with Snow on the Peaks.”
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ONE SHOT: INDIA, INVADED
The faded stencil-painted technique leads me to believe it’s not an official Invader invader, but I think I appreciate it more for appearing centuries-old. [via MBF]
Previously:
- Hey London: see Invader's latest Rubikubism exhibit at Lazarides …
- One shot: Ingres meets Invader in Montauban
- Invasion in progress: video of Space Invader's 763rd Paris …
- Invasion NYC: photos from Space Invader's Jonathan LeVine Gallery …
- One shot: Snow fall, and Space Invader's 763rd space invader …
- Invasion of Milan: Space Invader art exhibit opens in Italy
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WHY I’M GOING TO INDIECADE (AND YOU PROBABLY SHOULD, TOO): PT. 1
What with all the vacation and GDC Austin goings on the past several weeks, it’s been far too long since I last made mention of the upcoming Indiecade festival/conference coming to Los Angeles (Culver City, really) October 1st through 4th.
What that means is that while the time’s growing close, there’s still plenty of it to consider coming down, as I will be, to see what’s frankly an impressive lineup of guests and exhibited games for this year’s festival.
Indiecade’s doing a slow-strip reveal of exactly who and what will be on display for the long-weekend happenings, but for my first post on the goings-on and why I’ve decided this could be unmissable, here’s what we know for sure:
Friday will see a full day of conference sessions, including Greg Wohlwend and Mike Boxleiter of Intuition (behind games like Fig. 8 and Protonaut, I Wish I Were The Moon and Today I Die‘s Dan Benmergui, former MIT media studies program director Henry Jenkins on “expression and game literacy”, and, best of all, a conversation between Katamari Damacy‘s Keita Takahashi and flOw/Flower creator Jenova Chen, moderated by new thatgamecompany dev Robin Hunicke.
Tomorrow I’ll take another look at what Indiecade has in store, but for more specifics on attending either the conference/festival or both, see the official Indiecade website.
Previously:
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ONE SHOT: DANCE DANCE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Via b3ta Steampunk challenge contender dunk3d, via Tiff.
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STAY AWAY: ON KURT COBAIN’S GUITAR HERO APPEARANCE
There’s a good chance you’ve already seen this by now, as it’s been making the tear-stained rounds for the past couple days, and I’ve only held off in posting it because I still can’t quite put my finger on why it’s as depressing as it is (can you?).
I don’t have much personal emotional stock in Cobain’s death — as tragic as it was — and the co-opting of dead entertainers for advertising, promotional, and otherwise ‘estate-of’ toe-curling purposes has its own long and storied history.
I suppose it’s just that Cobain himself never got to reach/steadfastly rose above the point of self-parody that makes MJ and EP so ripe for posthumous caricature, and it’s probably got a lot to do with how clearly lovingly the ‘Unplugged’ sessions avatar was created straight down to the last thread of his Jeremiah the Innocent T-shirt (and it seems worth noting here that even Daniel Johnston’s own tortured struggles are now yours to purchase in vinyl toy and fanny-pack form, though at least Johnston has lived to give what stamp of approval he can).
Either way, this is an image-control warning shot for all future performers. Read the fine print before you consent.
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HEAD ON: HUDSON REVIVING BONK’S ADVENTURE FOR XBOX 360/PS3/WII
Despite Hudson’s claims that the character stars in one of its “most widely requested platformers”, ‘Bonk’ still remains (unfortunately) not exactly the most household of franchise names. Although he did make side-quests from his native home on the ill-fated TurboGrafx-16 to the Super NES, GameBoy, and later an import-only (and minorly excellent) revival on GameCube and PS2, he’s still played the sixth-or-seventh prehistoric fiddle to Nintendo and Sega’s more iconic figures.
But after the Virtual Console re-releases of his earliest adventures, the company’s giving him a new push with Brink of Extinction, a new downloadable adventure for WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade due in Spring of 2010.
Sporting a much more cohesive look than the last aforementioned paper-cut and textured revival, the company says the new version will include online co-op play in its story mode, and will see his traditional meat-eaten powerups take him into one of eight different yet-undetailed forms (though I’m guessing the West still isn’t quite ready for his effete kiss-blowing transformation from the import version of Bonk 2 [see 1:45 or so of this YouTube]).
Hit the jump for a better look into his new lovingly recreated world. (more…)
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CAVE STORY: DEREK YU’S SPELUNKY COMING TO XBOX LIVE ARCADE
The biggest late night bombshell that could be the most excellent news of the week: creator Derek Yu has simultaneously announced that his long-in-development procedurally generated 8-bit platformer Spelunky has officially hit its 1.0 milestone for PC, and is now freely downloadable from its new home at spelunkyworld.com.
But that’s not the bombshell bit: that would be the greyed out icon for an upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, which Yu (and his newly established studio moniker Mossmouth) has confirmed will be arriving in 2010, adding:
It’s going to be much more than a straight port of the PC game – I’m planning on stuffing it with new graphics, audio, and other features for XBLA users. With all the other great independent games on XBLA or coming to it, I’m hopeful that Spelunky will feel right at home there. I think it’s a cool platform and I’m excited about what I’ll be able to do to make the game special.
If you haven’t played the game since I last mentioned it here in December, you’ll be surprised to see just how much its evolved, just how much more rich and complex it is, and — even through it’s as punishing (if not more) than it ever was — it’s still one of the most vital indie developments of the past five years.
See more posts about: Derek Yu, Offworld Originals, Spelunky, Xbox 360
