RULER OF ALL HOME-CRAFTS: LOUISA GIFFARD’S HAND-ROLLED ROLANDO 2 TOYS
From the patchwork workshop of Louisa Giffard: a collection of characters from Hand Circus’s Rolando 2:
From left to right; the Floating Friend, Lord Derby Disraeli (royal treasurer), the King rolando, Major James Cardigan (royal spiky commando), Turgut Reiss (reformed pirate) and Mr Scruff, the DJ who made the music for the game.
I believe an Etsy outlet is in order. [via Mikko Walamies]
Previously:
See more posts about: Hand Circus, Offworld Originals, Rolando, Toys
WEEKEND WATCHING: MORE INSTANT WATCHING PICKS, AND A BONUS BRITISH INVASION
It’s been too long since our last round of Netflix Instant Watching picks, so let’s rectify that now, with the help of the as-usual invaluable instantwatcher.com, alongside a bonus non-Netflix essential to follow (which, hit the jump for the rest of those). Be sure to let us know what you’ve dug up and been digging via the comments, and don’t miss our two previous / discussions for past recommendations from everyone.
A quick aside: with the preview version of the next round of Xbox 360 dashboard updates currently making the press rounds, it’s clear that the console’s Netflix functionality is about to become even more essential: I’m really looking forward to seeing its ‘party’ feature propagating outward and hopefully hosting and attending pre-scheduled mini-watching-parties, and having the ability to browse new releases from the 360 itself is far more useful than I expected (even if I’m not positive yet that it’s tailoring suggestions specifically to me). But enough about that:
Visioneers [imdb, longest trailer ever]
The first and most enthusiastic pick is Jared and Brandon Blake’s debut feature Visioneers, filmed well before comedian Zach Galifanakis would break into mainstream consciousness with his appearance in The Hangover. While it’s not quite the typecast-reversing performance that Adam Sandler pulled off in P.T. Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love, it’s damned close.
The movie’s a dystopian narrative darkly satirizing all aspects of a not-entirely-unimaginable near-future: a metered, rationed oppressive culture of grey, windowless workplace bureaucracy, mass-market consumerism in bed with all levels of government, and marriages defined by network TV self-help twaddle.
The problem? Widespread outbreaks of explosions: people so overwhelmingly institutionally understimulated and underwhelmed that they literally explode, and we follow Galifanakis as George Washington Winsterhammerman as he himself tries to keep from following suit.
It’s a quieter and more subtle movie than I ever would have expected, but punctuated perfectly with the profane (see also, in this respect: the comics of Chris Ware), and more a love story than you’d imagine, with all actors involved (including Judy Greer, who you remember as Arrested Development’s Kitty) pulling off incredible performances within their individual, soul-sapped restraint (Galifanakis spends 70 percent of the movie not saying a word and simply quietly attempting to keep all emotions in strict check).
And it’s got Polyphonic Spree’s Tim DeLaughter working the score, and it’s as hilarious as it is touching, and it’s one of the best films I’ll see this year.
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Weekend Watching
ONE SHOT: EDMUND MCMILLEN’S TIME UFCK’D TEST PATTERN
Super Meat Boy and No Quarter dev Edmund McMillen gives us the first look at his apparently “super Lynch-ian” upcoming game Time Ufck, about which he cryptically hints:
Time Fcku is a puzzle platformer about finding logic in irrelevance, it’s a 1+1=2 formula that will ask more from you after you leave it alone, it’s a community experience about communication with people who you don’t like.
Previously:
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
UK INDIE MODE7 TEASES ABSTRACT TACTICAL STRATEGY GAME FROZEN SYNAPSE
Known best for their debut mouse-controlled sword battler Determinance, UK indie Mode7 has just sent on new information on their second game, coming as a PC downloadable later this year.
Called Frozen Synapse — and looking quite pleasingly like.. — Rainbow Six, maybe? — by way of Introversion’s early node-hacker Uplink, Mode7 says the game is a “a top-down simultaneous-turn-based tactical game set in the near-future.”
Though details are still light, the studio says the game will feature “bite-sized hardcore strategy” in multi- or single-player matches of “quick, intense battles of wits rather than slow-burn strategic epics.” Above is the first released concept shot of the game — follow its progress via the official site.
See more posts about: determinance, Offworld Originals
GIANT CRAB BATTLES, NARROW BABY-VIOLENCE-AVOIDANCE: IT MUST BE A NEW SCRIBBLENAUTS TRAILER
There’s almost nothing it can’t do, and almost nothing that doesn’t up my desire a thousand fold with every new look: the latest trailer for 5th Cell’s DS game Scribblenauts offers giant crab battles (in tribute, surely, to you know what), restoring sight to the aged via glasses, eyeball, or sniper rifle, Medusan stone attacks, and — seemingly there just to make the ESRB clench up with worry — at least the vague threat of baby violence.
Previously:
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COMIC-CON: HARASSMENT AND OBJECTIFICATION FOR FUN AND PRIZES
It’s like they’re trying to live up to some expectation of precisely what the games industry self-loathes itself for: the worst thing EA’s Visceral Games team — the one behind the forthcoming adaptation of Dante’s Inferno — has brought to Comic-Con? It’s not, surprisingly, yesterday’s panel where one team member lamented:
In the original game script we wrote that Cerberus was going to shove Dante up his ass…it was a crazy, crazy scene. We just couldn’t do it in the game for a lot of reasons.
It’s this bit above, as tipped off by ticked off Offworld-er Tiff Chow (via Ars Technica):
It’s hard to imagine that someone on EA’s behalf didn’t realize how offensively sexist this marketing contest for their upcoming game Dante’s Inferno is. It’s bad enough that game companies are still stringing lines of half-naked booth babes at their shows to bait oncoming nerds to check-out their products, but it’s absolutely the worst that they would actually facilitate an avenue for this kind of assault. Poor move, and absolutely tasteless.
I can think of at least six other deadly sins they could have chosen from with less blatantly objectifying results, but I suppose this someone’s — I don’t know? — idea of keeping it real?
EA baits Comic-Con attendees to harass booth babes [.tiff]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals
LISTEN: ANAMANAGUCHI LAUNCH NEW SITE FOR U.S. SUMMER TOUR
Oft-mentioned 8-bit punk purveyors Anamanaguchi — most recently heard on Pterodactyl Squad’s chiptune Weezer cover album — have written in to notify us that they’ve just launched a new site for their upcoming U.S. tour, which will kick off in NYC on the 6th of August in NYC and end on the 6th of September in Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo.
The first half of the tour will be supported by fellow NYC chip band Starscream, and all dates will include graphics by frequent Pulsewave visual collaborators Paris and Outpt. I’ve got it on good authority that there may be much more to the August-end Los Angeles shows than you might imagine.
Below is a sample of what to expect, or you can listen to the entirety of their last Dawn Metropolis EP at this previous Offworld post:
Check the official site (created by former One Shot featured artist David Mauro) for tour dates and more information.
Previously:
- Listen: Anamanaguchi's 8-bit punk EP, Dawn Metropolis
- Listen: Anamanaguchi, Bit Shifter, Tugboat cover Weezer, in 8-bits …
- One shot: David Mauro's Deus Ex Machina Puniat Arkouseus
- Listen: Future Boy's 8-bit Megamix, the last chiptune mixtape you …
- 8Bitpeoples/BlipFest prep Data Pop 09 SXSW chiptune party
See more posts about: Listen, Music, Offworld Originals
DYSTOPIAN DREAM GAME: COMIC-CON’S VIEW OF THE BORDERLANDS
The premise: Half-Life: Opposing Force/Blue Shift and Brothers in Arms creators Gearbox do first-person Mad Max online co-op post-apocolyptia with procedurally generated weapon creation and customization (for a claimed in-game arsenal of some ’round about 87 bazillion, apparently). The latest trailer: speaks for itself a bit, doesn’t it.
Borderlands [Gearbox/2K]
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
COMIC-CON MEGATON: UBISOFT DEVELOPING SCOTT PILGRIM, THE GAME
The best news I’ve heard out of Comic-Con so far: Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley has let slip at his session Thursday afternoon that Ubisoft Montreal is currently developing a PlayStation Network/Xbox Live Arcade downloadable game based on his comic series.
IGN and /Film report that the game will be a side-scrolling brawler that will retain the look of the comic, and is due to be released alongside the series’ film adaptation, currently in development by Shaun of the Dead/Spaced director Edgar Wright, with Michael Cera starring as Pilgrim and with original music by Beck, Broken Social Scene, and Metric.
The comic, for those that haven’t discovered it yet, draws heavily from videogame lore, as the otherwise pedestrian titular Pilgrim finds himself suddenly required to use super-natural fighting skill and power-ups to battle — one by one, El Topo/No More Heroes-style — a series of his crush’s ex-lovers in order to win and maintain her heart.
Ubisoft is said to be releasing more concrete details next week, but from the sound of the Comic-Con reporting, O’Malley appears to be at least in part working with the studio in retaining some creative control.
Until then, find out more about — and do not hesitate to purchase — the comic here, and watch progress unfold on the film via Wright’s frequently updated video and photo blogs here.
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
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