LIGHT COMMAND: BIT.TRIP CORE COMING TO WIIWARE JULY 6TH
The best bit of this latest Bit.Trip Core video? How completely innocently its gentle blips belie the searing block-tracer madness happening on screen — I’ve already essentially relented to the fact that this is going to be an even harder challenge than Beat, which really is saying a lot.
The Gaijin team recently sent out this encoded message regarding its release date, which, like a fool, I spent a good amount of pre-sleep time trying to mentally work out, before waking up to realize it’s a simple 7 (July)/6 (th)/(of 200)9, but also conveying that they reckon that’ll make it officially the 100th WiiWare game to hit Nintendo’s service.
And, more sadly, they’ve also just sent out this formal goodbye in light of yesterday’s events, proving that MJ touched even the virtual Commander Video, but presumably via Virt’s 8-bit Thriller.
Previously:
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ONE SHOT: BASICALLY THE WORST WARIO IMAGE YOU’LL NEVER UN-SEE
I am really, really sorry for this, and I honestly don’t recommend you click through for the hi-res version because it only gets worse, but, you know, it’s not like illustrator Dustin Wilson invented the move, and you have to admit: it’s a little bit beautiful for being perfectly, utterly repulsive. [via Jon Hicks]
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ONE SHOT: TOKYO ZOKEI UNIVERSITY’S 16-BIT LIFE QUEST
Tokyo’s Zokei University understands just what it has to do to snare new students, with this Earthbound/Dragon Quest-inspired 16-bit tour through its campus. [via James Kochalka]
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FEATURE: THE 15 GAMES YOU NEED FOR YOUR NEW IPHONE (AND 30 MORE TO CONSIDER)
Longtime readers of Offworld will know that the iPhone is something I cover with a lot of intense interest: apart from now being firmly slotted in as the “third” handheld alongside the Nintendo and Sony’s, it’s still the best place for independent and experimental games to try something new and sit side by side with the output of the industry’s biggest publishers.
And so now you, as one of the estimated million who picked up your first iPhone over the weekend, or an upgrader, or even just as a long-time owner who hasn’t paid much attention to games developments over the past year, are wondering where you should head first to see the best the device has to offer.
And so I give you: this list of 15 of the top picks that the App Store currently has to offer. While I can’t promise that it’ll account for all tastes, I’ve tried to present the widest variety of genres with both the longtime classics (some that readers might recognize from my regular Touch Me I’m Slick recommendations) and newer titles that have gone overlooked, even on Offworld.
And even for the unlikely few of you who couldn’t find anything to love out of the 15, the last page of the feature lists 30 more games worth looking at (alongside links back to earlier coverage for more information) in an even wider variety of genres: feel free to swap any of them out for your own set of the perfect 15 (ie. don’t get mad because I didn’t list Flight Control earlier).
And so, click through to read the feature in its entirety, and let us know via the comments below if there’s anything you think we’ve missed.
Continue reading The 15 Games You Need For Your New iPhone (and 30 more to consider).
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OFFWORLD GALLERY: MATISSE MEETS MEGATON IN JAMES BARNETT’S ‘FAUXVISM’ LANDSCAPES
Scottsdale, AZ artist James Barnett, formerly known as El Rey, has invented the term ‘fauxvism’ for his newly-posted series of landscape paintings capturing the videogame vistas of Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto, Half Life and Team Fortress, all in the style of early-20th-century Matisse and Derain-led art movement Fauvism.
He has graciously provided us with a handful of higher resolution images that we’ve included below, with further explanation from Barnett himself. (more…)
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BAD REACTIONS: MORE MINUTES OF HAND CIRCUS’ ROLANDO 2
As promised, Hand Circus head Simon Oliver has continued his guided tour through Rolando 2‘s worlds, first stopping at the Savage Island, where he demonstrates both the various fruit and veggie powered new Rolando techniques (including the titular ‘bad reaction’ to in-game chilis), and explains the game’s new ‘golden idol’ mechanic, which lets users skip levels deemed too frustrating to pass normally.
And then, the Temple of Doomishness, in which Oliver demos the fact that Rolando 2 will also be a bit easier on the player by allowing a stun-state versus an instant death when rolling into enemies (with death now following any player hit while stunned), and more action-based sequences with rising lava and Indy-ish rolling boulders as the Rolandos make their way through the temple.
Rolando 2 [ngmoco]
Previously:
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15 KOPEKS AMAZING: A VIRTUAL LOOK INSIDE MOSCOW’S SOVIET ARCADE GAMES MUSEUM
This started to make the rounds a few weeks back, but hasn’t gathered nearly as much attention as it should, for as outstandingly wicked as it is: you may have originally heard of Moscow State Technical University ‘Soviet Arcade Games Museum‘ from an April 2009 Edge article that told the story quite well, but was accompanied by painfully tiny images.
But now, of all people, Art Lebedev‘s design studio — the same creators as the OLED-driven Optimus Maximus keyboard [the same as was featured on, of all things, a 2007 cover of Edge] — has given the museum a full website makeover, complete with a growing collection of its games recreated and playable online.
Of the collection, the most playable is Sea Battle (above, dig the fantastically ambient faint whirr of its machinery as you play, and its rustically smudged viewfinder), but there’s also the Street Racer-esque game Magistral (right), Rally, another competitive racer, and finally Gorodki, a digital adaptation of a traditional sport that, even now having read about, I still don’t quite understand.
In addition to the recreated versions (look around for the ‘play’ link on each page), the site’s collected PDF versions of the machine’s manuals, close-up money shots of its coin slots, and more gorgeous photography of each machine than you could ever want.
The only thing it currently lacks is a full English translation (I’ve somewhat annoyingly linked to Google translations of each of the pages above), but presumably they’re being added over time, as the museum itself continues to restore and collect more historical information on each game.
If you only visit one site today, make it this one.
See more posts about: Arcade, Offworld Originals
LISTEN: YMCK REMIX CLASSIC KATAMARI FOR PS3’S KATAMARI FOREVER
Kicking off a series of official posts for Sony’s PlayStation blog on Namco’s upcoming PS3 ‘tribute’ release Katamari Forever, producer Kazuhito Udetsu relays a message from longtime series (and Noby Noby Boy) sound designer Yuu Miyake, who explains the process of collaborating with various Japanese acts to remix classic Katamari tracks.
Saying he wanted a split between ‘organic’ and ‘electric’ sounds, Miyake highlights oft-blogged NES-samplers YMCK and the chiptune swing of their “A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic” remix. Unfortunately, we don’t get the whole track, but we do get enough to hear that it’s going to be another must-buy collection.
Click through to the original post to hear precisely the opposite: an all-live rendition of the original game’s You Are Smart.
Previously:
- One shot: Namco's Katamari Forever
- HD Katamari in motion: first U.S. video of PS3 remake Katamari …
- Puppets, mecha-Kings, R.C. racers: the latest look at the PS3's …
- Beautiful Star: Katamari Damacy Tribute coming to PS3
- Thrift score: junk paintings enhanced with giant Katamari
- Listen, too: Another PicoPict YMCK NES mega-mix
- Listen: YMCK's Bowser-busting hardcore Mario remix
See more posts about: Listen, Music, Offworld Originals
ONE SHOT: PAC MAN’S TROUBLE WITH TWITTER
Techno-drama aside, it appears that Q-bert’s profane influence has been rubbing off on Pac. [via GamOvr]
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LITTLE WARS: ROCKSTAR’S GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS JUMPING TO PSP
The morning’s most high profile story of exclusives and rebirths: Rockstar sends word that their DS exclusive Grand Theft Auto entry, Chinatown Wars, will be making the jump to the PSP “this fall”, with “upscaled widescreen graphics, enhanced lighting and animation, and… all-new story missions.”
The game will be available in both UMD form and pure digital download for the by-then-released PSP Go, making it currently one of the highest profile third party games (alongside the next Metal Gear Solid entry) to buoy the handheld back into gamers’ consciousnesses.
Previously:
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