GIMME INDIE GAME: GLAIEL AND SCHUBBE GIVE US CLOSURE
This one’s been on my to-do list for several days now, but I’ve only just got around to it, and now comes as highly recommended as I imagined it would. Developed by Tyler Glaiel and artist Jon Schubbe, Closure is, like Gravity Bone, a game where the less explained the better, other than to say that it’s a sort of a playable version of the WYSIWYG rule, topped off with an ambient ‘Eraserhead’ soundscape that leaves you dreading the dark as much as you ever have.
If you haven’t already, also try Glaiel’s Aether, the plaintively nostalgic game he co-created with Edmund McMillen in late 2008. The initial learning curve is fairly steep and will take some adjusting to, but feeling my entire body relax once I understood I’d broken through gravity’s bonds was a bit of a magical moment, and its universe is fantastically realized.
Closure [Newgrounds, via TIGSource]
Previously:
Edmund McMillen gives us No Quarter – Offworld
Edmund McMillen's Meat Boy getting revamped for Wii, PC – Offworld
See more posts about: Gimme Indie Game, Offworld Originals
HACK, BOY, HACK: A FALLOUT 3 CODEBREAKER
As single use sites go, it doesn’t get much more useful than this, and just in time for the imminent arrival of Operation Anchorage: HACK-BOY takes a list of Fallout 3 terminal words and — with a bit of codemagic and a touch of in-game guidance — susses out the correct answer .
A cheap cheat, to be sure, but much more efficient than my preferred method of “keep guessing until you’re one attempt away from a logout -> exit -> login and try again,” or, like, using actual logic.
Previously:
Fallout 3's cold war – Offworld
Bethesda releases Fallout 3's Garden of Eden Creation Kit – OffworldThe Wasteland gets a little wider – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
RAVE CITY: THE CORNER OF D.A.N.C.E. AND MAIN
A little Monday morning epileptic error to get the week started right: I’m not sure which game this screenshot will end up being part of, but I’m almost positive it won’t be as excellent as this bug could’ve made it. For best results, mix with this.
The Error Party Shader [I Get Your Fail]
Previously:
I Get About 55 Percent Of These Fails – Offworld
See more posts about: Meta, Offworld Originals
SEGA SETS ITS WIIWARE POLE IN MOTION
With the veil finally lifted on Sega’s WiiWare title Pole’s Big Adventure, it’s clear producer Takao Miyoshi (Phantasy Star Universe) is going for a deeper retro feel than even recent revivals like Mega Man 9, harkening back to the NES’s earliest days.
The initial clip shows the basics of jumping and shooting, before delving into its more obvious gags, as above, including the most obvious Super Mario parody — the previously mentioned super-hyper mushroom grow — and a suddenly a cappella version of its chip-happy theme song.
The game also seems to be reveling in the discrepancy between the gritty realism of its comic-inspired character portraits and their ridiculously over-simple pixellated counterparts, capped off with a perfectly pitched faux cover art inspired by the best of the Famicom-era.
Pole’s Big Adventure [via Siliconera]
Previously:
Sega taking WiiWare on Pole's Big Adventure – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT EXECUTE ITS ALGORITHM
Via the deviant art of deviantart user peganthytus, Code Sharing, one of two (genuinely quite lovely) images of the forbidden love between gaming’s two most maniacal AI: Portal‘s GlaDOS and System Shock‘s Shodan.
Available as a $16/$45 print.
Code Sharing by peganthyrus [deviantart, via ShawnElliott]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Portal
WRESTLE JAM: RANDY ‘THE RAM’ GOES NEXT-GEN
While it may lack that hardened mournful pall that says ‘determination in the face of a life of regret,’ kudos to Create-a-Wrestler forum-goer ‘Mani-Man’ for doing his eager best to recreate Randy Robinson — Mickey Rourke’s just-Oscar-nominated lead in The Wrestler — (without having seen the film!) and bringing ‘The Ram’ home from the 8-bit roots we saw on-screen.
Randy „The Ram“ Robinson (the Wrestler) [CAWs.ws Forum, via branduponthebrain]
See more posts about: Meta, Offworld Originals
WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME? ONE POINT IS RUBBISH EDITION
For this weekend’s Would You Like To Play A Game, my whole hearted suggestion goes to London indie dev Beatnik Games’ Plain Sight, which has just entered into public beta for PC users and, unfortunately, seems to be getting not enough love to maintain a healthy list of open and available public servers (consider this a half-selfish request, then).
As the Beatnik team puts it:
Plain Sight is a 3D multiplayer arcade game with robots; robots who bounce around cityscapes on mini planetoids and wield swords which are used to destroy one another.
That says about all you should need to hear, but, in fuller detail: the game takes Mario Galaxy‘s up-ended flirtatious approach to gravity and world design, and brings it into a modern robot arena setting with fantastic aerial acrobatics. Most uniquely, its multi-faceted score-by-suicide approach sees you more vulnerable the more points you rack up, as you’re only able to bank those points by killing yourself, keeping each individual’s tension high throughout.
Beatnik plan on keeping the beta running until February 8th, and releasing the full version shortly thereafter for PC, with an Xbox 360 version in the works after that. Check their website for more info on the ongoing beta updates, and the poster and T-shirt wares in the store, which I covet already.
Plain Sight [Beatnik Games]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
POLYTRON AFFIRM ESSENTIAL AWESOMENESS
Normally the simple opening of a website wouldn’t be much in the way of newsworthy, but Fez creator Polytron’s new site offers too much to not mention.
Apart from the new Fez images — looking fantastically more intricate than its last IGF-winning showing — and a link to a more conceptual look behind the making of the Offworld-debuted super HYPERCUBE, the site earns my new latest What’re They Building In There Award for the cropped shot of their upcoming iPhone game (abbreviated ‘PP,’ it seems), and the super hyper lens-flared project ‘Z’.
All in due time, I suppose: it seems focus #1 is pushing Fez into our hot hands in 2009, and I’m equally excited to see what sort of futurist design ephemera might come out of its currently greyed-out store.
Previously:
Only on Offworld: Polytron/Kokoromi's Anaglyphic super HYPERCUBE …
Bringing Gamma home to you – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Polytron
REQUIEM FOR A REPUBLIC: WIPEOUT DESIGN GROUP FOLDS
Sad news via design blogs this morning, as Creative Review confirms earlier speculation that Sheffield, UK design group The Designers Republic has officially folded as of this past Tuesday. The group is, of course, most recognized in the games sphere as the visual identity group behind Psygnosis/Studio Liverpool’s Wipeout series.
Its bold, flat fields of color and laser-cut sharp lines helped define not only the future-feel of the racing franchise but to an extent the PlayStation ‘experience’ itself, as it would do again — in spirit — at the launch of the PlayStation Portable, and its influence could be felt elsewhere in places like the early output of Harmonix, particularly Frequency‘s thick-vector ‘FreQs’.
The original Wipeout is available for download on the PlayStation Network (as well as the PSP’s Pure and the PSN exclusive HD remake), and, of course, as revealed earlier this week, cutout costumes will be available in February for LittleBigPlanet for your own Republic memorial levels.
The Designers Republic Is Dead; Long Live The Designers Republic [Creative Review, mitDR home, pho-ku archive, wip3out home]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
SPACE INVADERS GETTING EVEN MORE EXTREME?
I’m not usually one to get taken in by retail conjecture, but Siliconera updates this morning with speculation that Taito might be returning to the DS with more Space Invader Extreme via a listing from import house Play-Asia.
The site gives credence to the rumor based on Play-Asia’s past record, but it’s not just the importer that’s listing the game: amazon.jp and the Eastern wing of HMV also have entries for the game, all with the same inexplicably imminent March 26th release date (which may indeed even pre-date its Xbox Live Arcade release).
It’s not too much of a stretch: Taito clearly has its sights set on continuing to evolve the franchise, and as one of the best games of last year, we would certainly not be complaining.
Space Invaders Extreme [via Siliconera]
Previously:
Space Invaders evolve on Japan's mobiles – Offworld
Space Invaders Extreme for XBLA comes with retro extra – Offworld
PlayStation Network getting besieged by Space Invaders Extreme …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
