YE SHALL RECEIVE: M.U.L.E. REMAKE IN DEVELOPMENT, IPHONE VERSION TO FOLLOW
When a remake of EA’s cult strategy game Archon was first announced for the iPhone, I made a humble request that multiplayer classic M.U.L.E. be next, and while I won’t take even an atom’s worth of credit, Raph Koster has spotted news that a remake is indeed in the cards.
Melanie Bunten Stark, daughter of original M.U.L.E. creator Dan Bunten, has just launched Ozark Softscape — a new site dedicated to the Bunten legacy — and joined the World of M.U.L.E. Facebook fan-page with news (from May, actually) that the licensing process was underway so that work could begin on an online version of the game. More interestingly, Bunten Stark also posted more recently to say that an iPhone and mobile version were also being planned.
There’s no word on precisely who will be handling the remake, though it looks to be closely overseen by the Bunten family children, and if I could only have one re-iterated request, it’d be that whomever is involved might think about tapping Niklas Jansson and his brilliant remake character concepts (above) for the updated version.
Follow the Facebook page, the World of M.U.L.E. site proper, and the official Ozark site for updates as they arrive.
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ONE SHOT: SUPER GEM FIGHTER (PILGRIM MIX)
Bryan Lee O’Malley nails a perfect pastiche of Capcom’s Super Gem Fighter (Mini Mix) promo with this Scott Pilgrim cast poster. Just too good not to link up, really.
Update: Should you want to get your hands on one of your own, O’Malley writes that it’ll be available at PAX for $5 apiece, with all proceeds going to Child’s Play, and it should be available online eventually.
[New Scott Pilgrim Cast Poster – thanks Simon!]
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HEY SAN FRANCISCO: COME SAY HI AT THE 8BITSF SHOW THIS SUNDAY
My adventures here in the Bay Area are winding to a close, but, as I mentioned as I was leaving, I’ll be going out with a bang this Sunday night seeing Anamanaguchi, Mr. Spastic, A_Rival, Crashfaster and Starpause, as part of Dutycycle’s first 8bitSF show, 7-11:30 PM at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge, 375 11th St.
If you’re not quite sure what you’d be getting into, you can download a 10 song sampler EP here, and start early with us as friend of Offworld DocPop and 8bitSF host a burger-laden pre-party at Zeitgeist starting Sunday at noon.
See 8bitSF’s post for full information, showtimes, and directions to the DNA Lounge, and be sure to come say hi! See you all there.
Previously:
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POLY-AMORY: NEW FOOTAGE OF XBOX LIVE ARCADE PLATFORMER FEZ
There’s a good amount of both padding between there and here and very light questions from the TV crew, but skip to the 6 minute mark on the video above to see G4’s recent profile of Fez creators Polytron for, if nothing else, new footage of the game’s world — including a wicked bullet-time rotating explosion — and musician Jason ‘6955’ DeGroot disappearing into his hoodie. [via Polytron]
Previously:
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T-SHIRT: SPLIT REASON’S GHOST BUSTING ADVANTAGE
Remember that scene in Ghostbusters 2 where they spray the Statue of Liberty with slime and then control the animated statue using nothing more than a simple two button NES Advantage arcade stick? Did you ever wonder what the control scheme for that would be? There’s a shirt for that.
Busters Advantage T-Shirt [Split Reason]
Previously:
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ONE SHOT: VERA BEE’S LITTLE BIGDEBUT
Just released (and somewhat overlooked) in the last round of weekly PlayStation Network/Little Big Planet updates: the Vera ‘Bee’ Brosgol sticker pack, whose can-can/carny/freakshow illos are a very welcome stylistic change of pace from the LittleBigWatch-ed norm. As Media Molecule themselves noted, her Snow-Bo cartoon has been a darkly cute must-watch YouTube staple.
Previously:
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THE MUNNY SHOT: MATTHEW ELLISON’S TINIEST COLOSSUS
What’s big and small at the same time?* Matthew ‘servotron‘ Ellison’s custom Shadow of the Colossus Munny, complete with itty-bitty Wander (who you can see in better detail via his original SpriteStitch post). [via Fidgit]
[*actual answer, a la Armando Iannucci: a big egg.]
Previously:
- The Munny shot: Albert Art's Earthbound star, Ness
- The Munny shot: saaio's Zelda: Twilight Princess Midna Munny …
- Manny Munny: Kitt Walker's custom Grim Fandango vinyl
- The Munny shot: Earthworm Jim edition
- Offworld: Toys Archives
- LittleBigWatch: Media Molecule show off Shadow of the Colossus DLC …
- Colossal find: the last Shadow of the Colossus art archive you'll …
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TWEET (#3457557053)
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HEY SAN FRANCISCO: I’M COMING TO YOUR TOWN
A quick housekeeping note: in just an hour or so here I’ll be on vacation through the end of the month, leaving Austin for the night-time wiles of San Francisco*. Steven, Lisa and Rob from over Gadgets‘ way will be keeping the site buoyed with the occasional post, as you will have already noticed, and I’ll inevitably be popping in and out throughout next week if I stumble on something too amazing to not share.
For any Bay Area readers (games industry or no), I’m always happy to hear any suggestions for things to see and/or do throughout the week: send me a note at brandon@offworld.com or @brandonnn on twitter, should the need arise!
I know for sure a few of us will be seeing Anamanaguchi et al. at the upcoming 8bitSF show on the 30th — I’ll do a proper post later in the week as a reminder for anyone interested (as you should be).
Otherwise, play nice while I’m gone.
[* night-time wiles here represented by Chiho Aoshima’s City Glow]
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RETRO EFFECT: A DAY IN THE STUDIO WITH THE MAKERS OF METROID
The North Austin office-park studios of Metroid Prime creators Retro — should you be one of the few to make it past its reception area — are a warehouse-sized web-work of narrow labyrinthine hallways, intersections temporarily roped off to ward against your catching any glimpses of current-project concept art.
Take that alongside first-hand tales of the original founders’ predilection for near military-grade security systems, and it’s not hard — if you’re actively forcing the metaphor — to picture yourself inside the very game that put them on the map, and entertain the notion, at least privately, that maybe later, with the aid of some hard-won knowledge, you’ll be able to loop back and gain access to those previously out of reach areas.
A peculiar mix of brushed steel and magenta-painted drywall, the hallways are lined with ephemera of the studios past decade of output: promotional Prime posters autographed in silver by the overseas internal team with which Retro partnered, but it’s not until you hit the complex’s cafeteria wall that the studio’s true love for the franchise that fell in their lap becomes clear. There, you’ll find a wall-sized rendering of the dread Metroid itself, just above the water-cooler refills, displayed in pixels made of hand-painted NES cartridges.
The story of Retro is the story of Metroid — though that’s not how its story began — the two are now and forever fused. With the upcoming release of Metroid Prime Trilogy, all three of the GameCube and Wii Prime games collected on a single disc, what you’re really receiving is a glimpse at a nearly a full decade of the company where I’m standing. (more…)
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