GRAND THEFT AUTO IV: SPECTRUM ZX STYLE, AND PAC-MAN GOES SHOPPING
Ah, it was a more innocent time, wasn’t it?
See also: ‘Pac-Man tries to go to the shops.’
Via UK TV writers (and Mitchell & Webb, Peter Serafinowicz collaborators) the Dawson Bros., via Robert Popper, co-creator of Look Around You and more fantastic UK comedy hits than I could possibly mention here.
Previously:
Weekend watching: Look Around You makes its U.S. debut – Offworld
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WE COULD BE THRILLED: IN-DEPTH WITH INFINITE AMMO IPHONE PUZZLER HEROES & VILLAINS
When last we heard from Infinite Ammo and their upcoming iPhone game Heroes and Villains, all we had to go on was their claim that the game would be “Lemmings meets [Blizzard platformer] The Lost Vikings meets Awesome.”
What did that mean? Now we’ve got a clear answer: the team has uploaded an extensive early look at the alpha version and it’s looking quite smart. The long and short of it, your team of Heroes (and/or Villains) are on a mission to — as you’d expect — keep the freely wandering citizens of the city (un)safe (Lemmings), and do so by swapping out characters for their individual powers (The Lost Vikings) like portal shooting, flight, seductive attraction, and super-stretchiness (awesome).
The video is necessarily rough, and Infinite Ammo make no bones about showing it off at this “pants down” stage, but have also uploaded newer screenshots showing the metropolis in more textured form, and adding to the excitement for what looks like, with all due continued spit polish, a fantastic addition to the iPhone library.
H+V: Alpha Milestone Video [Infinite Ammo]
Previously:
Infinite Ammo tease iPhone puzzler Heroes and Villains – Offworld
Infinite Ammo teases their Marian-ette – Offworld
Bringing Gamma home to you – Offworld
See more posts about: Infinite Ammo, Offworld Originals
ONLY ON OFFWORLD: INDIE GAME AND ARTIST ALL-STARS COLLIDE AT GIANT ROBOT/ATTRACT MODE’S GAME OVER II
As I mentioned at Offworld’s launch, one of my goals for the site was to see artists and illustrators from outside the games industry have more influence within, as it’s been in those moments that we’ve seen some of gaming’s most memorable experiences.
That’s why I’m tremendously pleased to be the one to announce that culture magazine/shop/gallery Giant Robot and upstart gaming label Attract Mode have partnered to bring four Giant Robot artists and four of indie gaming’s best developers together to create four new games for this year’s Game Over II exhibit at San Francisco’s GRSF gallery.
A follow-up to last year’s debut Game Over exhibit, this year’s show will cap off the end of the Game Developer’s Conference with a March 27th opening that — in addition to the return of Giant Robot’s curated games-related artwork — will have the newly created games on display for attendees to play.
Let’s Meet The Teams:
Saelee Oh, like many Giant Robot collaborators, is an LA-based artist whose delicate organic sculptures and illustrations have been shown across the country in both GR related group and solo shows as well as the Poketo-curated benefit for McSweeneys non-profit 826LA.
Anna Anthropy, also known as dessgeega or auntie pixelante, is the “freelance scratchware game creator, critic, and all-purpose pervert” behind recent indie low-res fast-draw Calamity Annie and “definitive chubby little dyke gimp platformer” (!) Mighty Jill Off.
For some years now, Deth P Sun‘s work has focused on a “mythological quest of anthropomorphic cats”: storybook scenes cut from stories never written that’s spread across his print, zine and gallery work. His latest output can currently be seen at Oakland’s Rowan Morrison gallery and in various Bay Area group shows.
Jonatan Söderström, better known as ‘Cactus’, is one of indie gaming’s most obsessively prolific auteurs, creating a raft of games over the past few years each ranging from two days to two weeks per, and from wonderfully low-bit Lynch-ian first person adventures to hyper-neon and 16mm constructivist shooters.
Souther Salazar‘s work carries a childlike innocence that can be seen across all his output from his dreamscape collages, clay sculptures and even the work he did for recent abovetheinfluence anti-drug ads (!). You can see recent examples of all of the above via this FecalFace studio visit, as he prepares for his latest exhibition at NYC’s Jonathan Levine Gallery.
Finland’s Petri Purho needs little introduction as the developer behind recent IGF winning PC and iPhone hit Crayon Physics Deluxe. Prior to that, Purho had given himself the challenge of continually coming up with new 7-day game ideas (from which Crayon Physics sprang) at his Kloonigames blog, creating a portfolio of games from Jimmy’s Lost His Marbles to Jimmy’s Lost His Toilet Paper.
Hellen Jo is the artist behind the recent Sparkplug Comics debut Jin & Jam about “two unlikely companions that meet and forge a friendship stronger than nicotine addiction,” and had her work featured in Giant Robot’s December Post-It Show, where artists created new art on post-its affixed to the wall, which patrons could then buy and directly take home. Aside from her comic, you can see some of her fantastic watercolor illustrations via her blog.
Derek Yu is another indie dev whose renown has grown exponentially lately with the release of his brutally difficult and brilliantly rewarding rogue-like platformer Spelunky. He’s also best known as one of the co-founders of premier indie gaming community TIGSource, and as part of the Bit Blot team behind underwater Metroid-esque adventure Aquaria.
Let’s Have A First Look:
While the teams are still working to put together their respective games for the show, Offworld does have the first look at Saelee and Anna’s collaboration, which highlights the strengths of both artists (Saelee’s painterly backdrop overlaid with Anna’s signature expressive pixels) and gives you an idea of what kind of mash-ups magic we’ll be seeing.
Offworld will continue to cover developments as the show approaches, and be sure to check both Attract Mode and Giant Robot for their own respective Game Over II coverage. For more information on the GRSF gallery, contact them at (415) 876.4773, or drop by at 618 Shrader St., San Francisco CA 94117.
See more posts about: Cactus, Offworld Originals
MOBILE KATAMARI GETS VALENTINE’S GIFTS, IPHONE GETS NO SUCH LOVE
Though I wasn’t given any accompanying media, I feel I must dutifully report that Rolling with Katamari — Namco’s isometric mobile phone version of the game everybody loves — is receiving a free downloadable level starting today.
The level will feature special Valentine’s items to roll, including “Jewelry (wedding rings, bracelets, necklaces), Chocolates, Cows with heart-shaped markings (one is called ‘Wild Thing’ and the other is called ‘You Moooove Me’), Teddy bears, Roses, and Conversation hearts.”
The iPhone version, however, (despite recently getting its own Exquisite update) has been left to wander lonely as a rolling star, though the fact that Namco is continuing to support the mobile game with new content makes me hopeful its iPhone version will also see continual updates in the future.
Rolling with Katamari home [Namco]
Previously:
iPhone Katamari gets Exquisite addition – Offworld
Katamari rolls onto iPhone – Offworld
It's a stretch: Explaining Katamari creator's new Noby Noby Boy …
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OH F#?!: CURSEBIRD CREATOR BRINGING TWITTER TO CALL OF DUTY THIS WEEK?
This is certainly one of the most potentially interesting surprises I’ve heard in some time: NetworkWorld is reporting that 19 year old Richard ‘Fantastic‘ Henry, creator of Twitter expletive-tracking web-app Cursebird, has been hired by Call of Duty 4 developer Infinity Ward to create another “Twitter-related project.”
What could this be? Something similar, perhaps (or inspired by, even?) to friend of Offworld Tom Armitage’s Left 4 Dead Twitter-bots? In-game messaging brought directly to your mobile/desktop?
No one’s talking quite yet, but it looks like the wait won’t be long: Henry tweeted just yesterday that the project is ‘hopefully launching this week.’
A few clean words from the creator of Cursebird [NetworkWorld, via Multiplayer]
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CALL OF DUTY 4, GTAIV, LITTLEBIGPLANET TOP 2009 BAFTA NOMINATIONS
Following its announcement that ‘Pong pioneer’ Nolan Bushnell will be this year’s ‘Fellowship award winner’ for “outstanding achievement through a body of work,” the UK’s BAFTA award committee has announced the finalists for its main game awards, with Activision’s Call of Duty 4 topping the list at seven nominations.
Grand Theft Auto IV came up next with six nominations, and both LittleBigPlanet and Fable II with five, all not including the publicly open ‘Game Award of 2008’ category, which includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Guitar Hero World Tour, Left 4 Dead, LittleBigPlanet, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Wii Fit, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
As with the Game Developers Choice awards, I was happy to see Mekensleep’s excellent but under-recognized Soul Bubbles get a nomination in the handheld category, and Shawnimals’ original DS tower defense game Ninjatown in the awards’ strategy category.
Hit the jump for the full list of nominations. (more…)
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DREAM TEAMS: UFC REMIX BRINGS PUNCH-OUT!! TO LIFE
I would never miss UFC fights if it was always like this: the uppercut stars totally make it. See also: ‘lookoutawhale’s similar UFC as Street Fighter II.
lookoutawhale’s YouTube channel [via VG Arts]
Previously:
Video: Real-life Mario Kart – Offworld
Super Mario in real life – Offworld
See more posts about: Meta, Offworld Originals
METAL GEAR CREATOR HIDEO KOJIMA KEYNOTING GAME DEV CONFERENCE
GDC organizers have sent word that Metal Gear, Zone of Enders and Boktai creator Hideo Kojima will be giving GDC’s creative keynote this year, focusing on “conquering various development obstacles with creative game design, using the driving game design philosophies behind the Metal Gear series as reference.”
Interestingly, event director Meggan Scavio says that Kojima has been invited to keynote the conference for a number of years, but this is the first time he’s actually accepted. The announcement hints at, and I’m hoping that this will be the case via the allusion in the keynote’s title, “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible,” that Kojima will focus on some of the fourth-wall breaking techniques he’s employed in his various games, from the original Metal Gear Solid‘s back-of-the-box and DualShock vibrating events, to the sunshine-catching solar panel in vampire-hunter Boktai‘s Game Boy cartridge.
Kojima will be joining a keynote lineup that already includes Nintendo president Satoru Iwata on “Discovering New Development Opportunities,” and ngmoco head Neil Young’s mobile games keynote on “Why the iPhone just changed everything.”
Offworld will be attending GDC this year, and will be covering all things GDC in coming weeks.
GDC Keynotes [Game Developers Conference]
Previously:
Metal Gear's December Surprise – Offworld
Metal Gear Ac!d coming to mobile phones – Offworld
Tim Schafer returns to GDC Choice Awards, Harmonix honored – Offworld
Game Dev Choice Awards topped by LittleBigPlanet, Braid, Left 4 …
The Offworld Guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival – Offworld
Unfinished Swan, Feist make IGF Student Showcase finals – Offworld
Fieldrunners, Edge top 2009 IGF Mobile finalists – Offworld
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ACME’S MUSHROOM KINGDOM NOVELTY TOYS: THE PAPER PAPER MARIO AUTOMAT
There are times I fear what might happen if I ever get the gumption to bring my printer out of its mothball storage: the last thing I need is a room further littered with tiny paper creations, but now the urge is overwhelming.
Following his excellent and deviously complex blue Mario Kart shell and Giga Bowser, deviantart user ddi7i4d has created an automaton of paper Paper Mario which — as you’d expect — jumps up and knocks a coin out of his question box. An excellently devised creation that’d do Chris Ware proud.
Paper Mario Automat [Nintendo Papercraft, via Tiny Cartridge]
Previously:
Life-size papercraft Link hat (and hair) – Offworld
Getting crafty: Hattori's Kid Icarus diorama papercraft – Offworld
Getting crafty with Foldskool and Cubecraft – Offworld
Angles we have hung on high – Offworld
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RE-LAUNCHED BETA BRINGS BATTLEFIELD HEROES BACK ON TRACK
EA/DICE’s Battlefield Heroes is one of EA’s most noteworthy in a string of calculated risks: it’s one of the publisher’s first dips into the free-to-play/ad supported realm, particularly in the West, in an attempt to capitalize on alternative revenue streams.
It was also — though I’ve long been barred from going into too many particulars — as refreshingly accessible and fun as it looks, and one of the games that was lurking in shadows and well on its way to pounce directly onto my top games of 2008 list: if the game had made it out in 2008. Late last year, EA closed its beta and sent the game back into DICE’s ovens for a bit more work, leaving everyone to wonder when we might see it again.
Well, the answer, EA has just announced, is tomorrow, as DICE re-launch the closed beta for everyone that was previously supplied with a beta key. The developer is also opening registration for new beta players: to do so, create or login to your EA account and visit the beta sign-up page here. And I do suggest you do.
Closed Beta starts February 11th [Battlefield Heroes]
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