VIRTUAL APPLE ][: BROWSER EMBEDDED GAME DESIGN LESSONS
Via Darren Gladstone’s latest PC World column, a good way to wile away the weekend with Virtual Apple ][, a browser-embedded Apple II and IIgs emulator last mentioned on the Mother Boing in 2004, but now cross-browser/platform compatible in its 4.0 iteration (though IIgs emulation still requires Windows).
As Gladstone points out, the 1250+ images in stock means you can take a trip through some of gaming’s earliest landmarks that took us where we are today, from Fallout progenitor Wasteland to Beyond Castle Wolfenstein to Ultima and Wizardry to–… ah, who are we kidding, let’s just label this one the Official Play-Oregon Trail-In-Your-Browser Site.
Classic Apple II Games That Inspired Today’s Greats [PC World]
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THREE DOG’S ITUNES MIX TAPE
Even months later, my Wasteland time has left me utterly earwormed with nearly all the songs on Fallout 3‘s stellar soundtrack (as would be expected, I suppose, after being marooned nearly 70 hours with the same song shortlist), and short of GameStop’s pre-order 5-song sampler, or, you know, a modicum of effort at chasing them all down on iTunes, there was no way to collect everything in one fell swoop.
Enter: Bethesda, who have updated their blog with word that iTunes’s ‘iMix’ section has an essentially definitive Fallout 3 mix that nets you 13 songs for just under as many dollars. The blog’s got full instructions on chasing it down, but you can also get there directly via this phobos link.
Fallout 3 iMix on iTunes [Bethesda]
Previously:
Three Dog’s Wasteland Top 40 – Offworld
Fallout 3: Everybody Dance! edition – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
SEAMAN DS IN DEVELOPMENT, APPLE DENYING IPHONE SPIN-OFF GABO?
Since late November, I’ve been doing at very least twice or thrice weekly App Store checks to see if Yoot Saito’s previously mentioned Seaman spin-off caveman sim Gabo has sprung to life, and apparently my checks were all in vain.
In a post-script to a long and otherwise unrelated blog post, Saito has said (as best I can tell, I’m currently working on a more official translation) that the app has long been finished, but that Apple had “expressed displeasure” at the interactions with its perkily umbilical Peking man and denied its release.
Though this part’s even more shakily translated, the post also seems to suggest that because the iPhone app’s developers are currently preoccupied with Seaman DS (which might itself be the even bigger news; it’s the first Saito has hinted at the idea since the beginning of 2008), they’ve given up on making changes to satisfy Apple’s demands for now, but in the long run hope to return to the project and ensure its release.
Something else [rough pass Google translation]
Previously:
Seaman dev going iPhone with Gabo – Offworld
See more posts about: digitoys, Offworld Originals, seaman
MIYAMOTO, SPORE AWARDED JIM HENSON HONORS
In its fifth year running (and, shamefully, the first I’d heard of them), Muppet-makers The Jim Henson Company have put Will Wright’s Spore and Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto in good company amongst prior honorees Al Gore, Hayao Miyazaki, Neil Gaiman, Etsy and the Prius as recipients of their annual Jim Henson Honors, which celebrate “organizations, individuals or products that reflect the core values and philosophy of Jim Henson and the company he founded.”
Miyamoto was awarded the ‘Celebration’ honor for “[making] the world a better place by inspiring people to celebrate life,” most recently with his oversight on Wii Fit, while Spore was honored for “[demonstrating] ground-breaking technology in a creative way,” in giving people “their own personal universe in a box where players build their own galaxy from scratch.”
Also awarded this year was Atlanta, GA non-profit The Center for Puppetry Arts and guerilla design legend Shepard Fairey for his instantly recognizable Hope art campaign for Barack Obama.
Jim Henson Honors [via press release]
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MIFFIES’ FAMICOM INSPIRED 8-BIT FONTS GALORE
Keeping briefly on a design kick, Ray Barnholt at 1UP’s new retro blog has dug up this brilliant collection of Famicom inspired pixel fonts, where sussing out the source for each based on their punusual names (Dig Dub, Monkey Kong, Tower of Druger, Sp-Ranker) is quite nearly a game in itself (at right, Coconut Milk, inspired by 8-bit Hudson obscurity Nuts & Milk).
Perfect, I should think, for any upcoming Offworld skin re-designs, or, Barnholt suggests, “bedroom door signs (‘ENTERING AWESOME GAMER ZONE’)” and tattoos.
Miffies | Font [via 1UP]
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GUITAR HERO 1.0 BEGGING FOR REAL-LIFE REMAKE
Today’s brilliant one-off gag: b3ta user ‘ianwarren’s Guitar Hero 1.0, which I’m hoping someone’s already on top of actually coding.
[b3ta, via The Internet Now In Handy Book Form]
See more posts about: Meta, Offworld Originals
ATOMICTOY’S DUDE-A-DAY GAMES DUDES
With AtomicToy’s fantastic Dude-A-Day project currently making the design/culture blog rounds, I’d hoped Andy Helms would make good with the games related dudes, and, happily, the dude’s been abiding since its late October get-go: Half-Life, Metal Gear, and Mega Man abound.
As Helm’s style also brings to mind the double fine work of Psychonauts/Brutal Legend artist Scott C., I’ll also note that the latter has been going great guns with his own Double Fine Action Comic — I’ve been extra sweet on his recent founding father kick.
dude-a-day [atomictoy, via Pica+Pixel]
See more posts about: Andy Helms, Offworld Originals
TAKARA TOMY BANKS INVADERS
Combining Japan’s apparently resurgent enthusiasm for electronic novelty banks and our own ongoing love affair with All Things Invader during Taito’s seemingly bottomless and endless treasure trove of 30th Anniversary tie-ins, CScout’s Japan Trend blog brings news of Takara Tomy’s just released Space Invaders cocktail cab bank.
While it doesn’t actually play so much as count your 100 yen coins with a new on-screen invader each time, its attention to detail, with the itty-bittiest instructions panel and color overlay (making it Space Invaders Part II, for the pedants), still manages to get a lustful rise.
Space Invaders retro tabletop game bank [Trends in Japan – CScout Japan Blog]
Previously:
You've got to spend to save – Offworld
Space Invaders evolve on Japan's mobiles – Offworld
Space Invaders about to Get Even on WiiWare – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
AN UMBRELLA FIT FOR A ZOMBIE APOCOLYPSE
Though presumably it’s just a happy accident, ThinkGeek’s newly offered ‘Umbrella‘ umbrella is the perfect gift to say “let’s ward off the drizzle, and the undead, together.”
Umbrella Umbrella [ThinkGeek, via Wonderland]
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LEFT 4 RACCOON CITY
From one Umbrella to the next: while it doesn’t quite ‘snap into’ the parodical punch of the previously mentioned Macho Man mod (or, indeed, the nauseatingly glorious ‘sexy beast’ Boomer thong), Zac-UK and jonmag’s meticulous recreation of Resident Evil‘s Raccoon City (an obvious and fitting crossover if ever there was one) looks as though it’s shaping up quite nicely:
The campaign places the four survivors on the abandoned streets of Raccoon City after a truck crashes into their car. You head on foot to the police station in hope of rescue. Upon entering the station you receive help from an injured cop who points you in the direction of the sewers to escape the infested city, however the 4 survivors soon end up discovering the reason behind the infection when they come across a top -secret high tech research facility owned by the ‘Umbrella’ Corporation.
[Bioh4zard 2 via Kotaku]
Previously:
Left 4 Dead: Savage beyond belief – Offworld
Left 4k Dead: Left 4 Dead in 4KB of Java – Offworld
Ragdoll Metaphysics: Left 4 Dead, The Thinking Man's Braindead …
Why Left 4 Dead has the best tutorial ever… and why you never …
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