OBAMA: FAMICOM-ANIAC
How does our commander in chief relax after a long inaugural day? Surely, as with Gamu-Toys’ celebratory DiD action figure spread, with a quiet night in eating oranges with his trusty original Famicom never more than a few feet away (presumably with Namco’s classic Pac).
DiD US Presidential Election 2008 [Gamu-Toys, via Jean Snow, DiD site]
Previously:
Barack is Mac, and Pac? – Boing Boing
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
HEY MR. LSDJ: BLEEPBLOOP’S CUSTOM USB-TRANSFER GAME BOY CARTS
Would-be Game Boy musicians take note: Jose ‘BleepBloop‘ Torres has completed his run of 16Mbit custom Game Boy cartridges with built-in USB transfer capabilities, specifically created for budding Little Sound DJs.
The classiest part, though, is the on-board “I love my Gameboy” message, which I hope everyone will have the good sense not to cover with the included LSDJ stickers.
Available via Gameboydev.org and Kitsch-bent.
Previously:
BBtv: Jellica, Mr. Spastic, and Nullsleep at Blip Festival 2008 …
BBtv: Bubblyfish at Blip Festival 2008 – Offworld
Octoroc releases the full 8-bit Jesus – Offworld
Listen: Pixelmod Records' Merry Pixmas Compilation – Offworld
Listen: Leeni's 8-bit kabuki 'Underworld' – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
HERE WE GROW AGAIN: EYEZMAZE RETURNS WITH GROW TOWER
The mark of true game-making talent: pseudonymous Eyezmaze head ‘On’ has been an always reliable source of quality Flash gaming for going on five years now, and even if you swapped in new graphics, you can recognize his style from the mechanics themselves.
His newest, after nearly a year in hiatus, is Grow Tower and again consists of his signature fractal-array of possible item combinations that result in ever more bizarre reactions unique to each specific sequence. This one, On says, has only one solution for the truely maxed tower.
My best effort thus far: this 15 meter high contraption: I seem to have got the robot and the button working properly, but I’ve obviously underutilized that crank and gears…
Attention iPhone developers: commercializing these games is an absolute no-brainer (at 99 cents a pop, or as a higher priced collection?). I’m surely not the first to think of it though, On’s FAQ says he’s currently considering incorporating and heading down a monetized path.
GROW TOWER [Eyezmaze]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
EDMUND MCMILLEN’S MEAT BOY GETTING REVAMPED FOR WII, PC
Happy news for fans of Gish, Blast Miner, Tri-achnid, Aether and the just-IGF-nominated Coil: Edmund McMillen has announced via his blog that this year will see the release of a deluxe version of his Newgrounds hit Meat Boy on PC and Mac.
McMillen also teases a third “secret release platform,” but a quick jog over to the game’s new home site reveals that the game will also see a port to the Wii, presumably Nintendo’s downloadable service WiiWare.
The deluxe version will be programmed by Pillowfort dev Tommy Refenes, who was behind last year’s excellent Goo! (not to be confused with 2D Boy’s
World of…), and original Meat Boy developer Jon McEntee.
You can play the original Meat Boy here, and its recently released 70 level fan-submitted expansion pack here — it’s fun and sadistically brutal stuff, something akin to a more visceral take on N+‘s super-jump platforming set in an auto-scrolling world.
The beautiful smell of raw meat. [Edmund McMillen, via Indiegames]
Previously:
Edmund McMillen gives us No Quarter – Offworld
The dynamic fluids of Chronic Logic's Gish – Offworld
The Offworld Guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
SIX WEEKS TO LAUNCH: AUSTRALIA’S STUDIO GAMEON CHALLENGE
Already three weeks in but just spotted today: Studio GameOn is a project in association with the Barbican Art Gallery’s traveling games history exhibit Game On — currently resting in Australia’s State Library of Queensland — to put together a development team and create a debut title in just six weeks.
The team’s lo-fi prototype for its B-movie stuntman simulator was just revealed on Monday — you can follow the group’s progress, as we will be, via its Flickr or YouTube channels.
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
ESRB RATES SQUARE ENIX PUZZLER YOSUMIN FOR PC RELEASE
Very well spotted via Tiny Cartridge, the ESRB — everyone’s new favorite source of pre-release information — has rated a Windows PC version of Square Enix’s excellent puzzler Yosumin. Originally released as an import-only DS title, you may recall rumors spreading several weeks ago of an imminent Xbox Live Arcade port, but this is the first public indication that Square Enix is considering stateside release — though, it should be said, not a guarantee.
Either way, I now have a very good excuse to say here, you can prep yourself for the release by training on Square Enix’s Flash version (hosted grey-ly by thelostmd, click the first of the three menu options to start the game), but — fair warning from personal experience — it’s frighteningly easy to lose hours to the charms of its virus-esque polygons.
The gameplay itself is simple enough: your only task is to find any rectangle amongst the field where the same color shapes make up each of its four corners, at which point all the shapes inside will be converted to that color, collected, and replaced with a new set of randoms. While your score will be boosted by by finding ever wider rectangles within the field, each level ends when you’ve collected the requisite number of each color.
The ESRB notes, as the Xbox Live Arcade rumors did, that the official release will include both high score challenges and multiplayer modes — here’s to looking forward to updating more on that later this year.
Previously:
Atlus PR manager defies genetic programming, exhibits sense of …
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
CHANGE I CAN BELIEVE IN: THE PRESIDENTIAL MECH-WARS OF METAL WOLF CHAOS
Offered as a counterpoint to 1UP Retro Blog’s timely “worst presidents of gaming” article (a list including, of course, Bad Dudes‘ own burger-loving Mr. President), I submit gaming’s greatest commander in chief, the hard-boiled, dual-wielding mech-pilot Michael Wilson of From Software’s 2004 import-only Xbox title Metal Wolf Chaos.
Wilson not only soldiered bravely against the rebel army of his vice president, Richard Hawk, but commanded one of gaming’s most fantastically ridiculous entrances, exploding through the West Wing walls.
Microsoft, if you’re listening, now that we’ve ushered in a new era: now’s the time to correct your prior error and bring this to the States as a special Xbox Originals download.
The worst presidents in gaming [1UP.com]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
INTANGIBUILD TRAINING ‘KNITTING HEROES’ WITH WII-MOTE ENHANCED KNIITIING
Though there doesn’t appear to have been much activity on the site since mid-2008, after coming across the project today I’m tentatively hopeful it’s still moving forward: artist Rachel Beth Egenhoefer and scientist Kyle E. Jennings have partnered to create KNiiTTiiNG, a Wii-mote enhanced, presumably PC-based application that would use motion control to teach the basics of knitting via minigames and on-screen tutorials.
Egenhoefer explains:
The more we started to work together and play silly Wii games, the more the ideas started to come. We thought about the craze of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero and then thought we’d make our own type of “Knitting Hero”. Users follow the knits and purls as they move up the screen challenging the player to knit in rhythm with the game, and without dropping a stitch! In Dance Dance Revolution the player produces a dance (or something like a dance), and in Guitar Hero the player creates an actual song. In KNiiTTiiNG however, you can only knit a virtual cloth object which comes back to my ideas about tactility and code, while also bringing in elements of pop culture and scatological video games.”
The site teases three patterns: a tea towel, ‘sensible’ hat and octopus toaster cover, but we might also suggest more game-centric further add-ons: pixel-patterned DS/PSP cozies? Partnering with mad-teaparty’s Xiola for Katamari hat patterns? The possibilities are endless.
KNiiTTiiNG!! [Intangibuild, thanks Kristen!]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
LLAMASOFT’S GRIDRUNNER+++ GETS APRIL DATE FOR XBOX LIVE ARCADE
A month after ruing the fact that Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade team were “sitting on” his submitted demo, Llamasoft head Jeff Minter has announced (alongside an excellent review for Space Giraffe PC) that the Xbox 360 remake of his cult retro shooter Gridrunner will see release via XBLA in late April.
In signature Llamasoft fashion, Gridrunner blends psychedelic light-synth overtones to a simple auto-shoot mechanic, as you can witness for yourself in its original PC and Mac form, or, more socially via its conversion to a Facebook application.
And, best of all, Minter also revealed earlier last year that the Xbox Live Arcade port, as above, would include emulated versions of the original Vic-20 and C64 titles that earned Minter and Llamasoft their reputation, for a release that promises to be as good a newcomer’s introduction to the Llama-legacy as you can find.
Space Giraffe PC gets awesome 92% review [Llamasoft, Gridrunner PC]
Previously:
Llamasoft's Space Giraffe released for PC – OffworldLlamasoft taming PC port of Space Giraffe – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
LISTEN: 2D BOY’S FREE WORLD OF GOO SOUNDTRACK
Update: Well, now that we’ve gone and killed his website, Kyle has sent along word that there’s a temporary mirror at the 2D Boy’s site, which you can find here. Attack!
The best present we could have received today: World of Goo devs 2D Boy have released the game’s soundtrack — truly one of the best in recent memory — as a free download via designer and composer Kyle Gabler’s homepage, with notes on the inspiration for its various tracks. Gabler explains:
The majority of the instruments you’ll hear are computer instruments, with a few live performances on top to add a bit of warmth. For the older music, I used one of those Sound Blaster cards that let you load samples into memory. More recently, I’ve been using the freeware sfz soundfont sampler. I have an m-audio keystation 49e midi keyboard for picking out melodies. Influences include Danny Elfman, Vangelis, Bernard Herrmann, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, and all the big movie guys. I grew up listening to them, and they remain a big influence in everything I write.
It’s hard to pick a favorite, each one conjuring very happy memories of different game highlights, but embedded below, this being Offworld and all, the most obviously Vangelis inspired, ‘Inside the Big Computer.’
[mejsaudio src=”http://venuspatrol.com/ofiles/20.%20Inside%20the%20Big%20Computer.mp3″]
Music from World of Goo [Kyle Gabler, via 2D Boy]
Previously:
At the core of the World of Goo – Offworld
2D Boy's World of Goo: The community updates – Offworld
Ragdoll Metaphysics: Ten Things That Made Me Glad To Be A Gamer In …
The Offworld 20: 2008's Best Indie and Overlooked – Offworld
See more posts about: 2D Boy, Listen, Offworld Originals, World of Goo
