ENTERPRISING CRAIGSLISTER: “TETRIS LESSONS OFFERED AT AFFORDABLE RATES”

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4.17.2009

Brandon Boyer

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Heads up Vancouver, lessons offered if not from the master, then at least from “someone who has played numerous variations of Tetris on a number of different platforms and consoles, in the relative comfort of his own home.”

What you get:

Tetris Fundamentals – 90 minutes $30.00

After completing Tetris Fundamentals, you will have:

• the ability to identify and maneuver all 7 Tetriminoes, as well as their major uses
• an understanding of how to achieve back to back Tetrises
• learned to optimize your use of basic features and techniques such as hard drops and wall kicks, as well as making the most out of holds and block preview (these features may not be native to all versions of Tetris)
• watched me play Tetris for 45 minutes
• gained the confidence to play Tetris by yourself or against friends, strangers, and family members

The two hour intermediate course, offered at a variable rate of $40-55, includes “all of the modules covered in Tetris Fundamentals but also includes beer, wine or liquor. You will challenge yourself by applying the skills you’ve learned while growing increasingly intoxicated and playing against someone who is similarly drunk.”

Tetris lessons offered at affordable rates [Craigslist, via Margaret]

The students meet the master: Swedish game music coverband Power Play do a live performance of composer Hip Tanaka‘s original Metroid music, live at Tokyo’s 8bit Cafe.

There’s tons more Power Play to be had around YouTube, primarily via user apansonsyrke: see also, their Super Mario Bros 2 and RöjMedley of Konami’s Goonies II alongside MegaMan boss music.

Power Play [MySpace, via TinyCartridge]

UK GAMES FESTIVAL GAMECITY RETURNS OCT 27-31, GOES FREE OF CHARGE

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4.17.2009

Brandon Boyer

1 Reply

Organizers of the Nottingham, UK-based games festival GameCity have announced that the festivities will continue for their fourth year this October 27-31st, and will be, they say, “very different from other videogame events [including GameCity 3]”.

Even more importantly, in a subsequent update, shortly thereafter, the GameCity crew have announced that all of the formal sessions/events at this newly dubbed ‘GameCity Squared’ — which in previous years were open to the public but commanded individual ticket prices — will now be free of charge.

While I unfortunately wasn’t able to make it to the 2008 GameCity, I did spent the week in Nottingham in 2007, and this is what made it near-instantly my favorite games event:

* Public access: the foundatational principle of GameCity is that, unlike most other worldwide events (bar Tokyo Game Show and, now, E4All), it’s a chance for the wider public to interface with game developers themselves. Case in point:

* In 2007, Lego Star Wars producer Jon Smith took to the stage to reveal the Wii version of Star Wars for the first time, to a crowd of pre-teens [read: the game’s actual target audience], where he was able to have a dialogue with the crowd (and was quickly shown up on Star Wars trivia by the precocious youth). This doesn’t normally happen.

* 2007 was also the year that Keita Takahashi also showed off Noby Noby Boy for the first time (above), as previously mentioned (and videoed) in my earlier post on the game.

* 2008 was the year that the festival attempted (and managed) to assembled the largest public congregation of zombies [the final tally came in at over 1200], where they were serenaded by Jonathan Coulton (above).

That’s a short list of a lot of fantastic things that happen yearly, and, long story a little bit shorter: you want to be there this year, and I do too.

Check the GameCity site for further upcoming details.

This is when it happens [GameCity]

AREA/CODE IPHONE PUZZLER DROP7 GETS SOCIAL UPDATE, SOUNDTRACK EP

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Just exactly the news I’d been hoping for: area/code’s Drop7 — the puzzle game borne out of their ARG-related web game chainfactor, and the first iPhone game I threw all my unequivocal support behind on its initial release — has just been updated with both a new online leaderboard for each of its three modes, and integrated support for the recently launched Facebook Connect.

4.16.2009

Brandon Boyer

2 Replies

Why does that matter? Apart from the inherent benefits of socializing the game (and seeing where you actually stand against your friends), the game’s third “sequence” mode — which drops an identical pattern of discs each game for every player — now finally makes sense when you can track your score against the world.

If you haven’t yet picked up the game (and I don’t actually say this this urgently about many games, especially on the iPhone) — do not miss out on this one, it truly is one of the platform’s finest.

And! As a side note, flipping through its menus has also brought to my attention that the composer of the game’s fantastic Reich-ian soundtrack loops, Steve Horelick, has just released an EP of music from the game via his website. Even more oddly, that has also just brought to my attention that he’s the composer behind the original Reading Rainbow TV theme, which is my mind blown, just a touch.

Drop7 home [iTunes link, SteveH soundtrack]

From Remi Gaillard, the man behind the real life Mario Kart (who apparently is quickly turning into the French Mega 64), Pac Man in real life.

Remi Gaillard channel [Dailymotion, via mbf]

The week’s best LittleBigMachinima, via Media Molecule themselves: Seakitten Collective’s LittleBigRevenge, which asks “what would happen if a diplomatic mistake causes [sackboys] to take revenge on humanity? A Belgian couple finds out right in their living room…”

Stick with it to the end for the thrilling Colossal conclusion.

We love Machinima – LittleBigRevenge [Media Molecule]

GOOMBA’S TERROR: ALLEN SUTTON’S MOLESKINE MARIO SKETCH

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4.16.2009

Brandon Boyer

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Spotted by GamOvr, Allen ‘offkilterart‘ Sutton’s moleskine sketched Mario grotesquery takes on a whole new brutal light now that I’ve seen life through the eyes of a Goomba.

offkilterart sketch [‘skine.art, via GamOvr]

Cosmic Nitro [iTunes link] wears both its influences and its premise on its sleeve. As you can tell by the video above, putting it any other way than “it’s survival mode Missile Command x insanity” would be doing it a disservice.

The game’s the latest from Phil Hassey, creator of IGF Mobile innovation award winner Galcon, and, despite appearances, its greatest weakness might be that it’s too easy: I managed to survive the three minutes of even its 9th maxed-out level at first touch.

Though it sorely lacks any connectivity — even a simple online leaderboard would give subsequent runthroughs of its levels more purpose, and its ‘apocalypse mode’ (which counts the timer up rather than down) begs for worldwide ranking — it’s probably the best take I’ve played of the arcade classic on the device, and is easily today’s best 99 cent distraction.

Cosmic Nitro home [Phil Hassey, iTunes link]

Adding to the insanity of Xkeeper’s original drag and drop Super Mario Bros hack, the FCEUX emulator includes a second LUA script that turns Super Mario Bros. 3 into the DS game Nintendo never made.

The hack disables direct control of Mario completely, and only allows you to manipulate him (and protect him from the rest of the world) via mouse-drawn lines ala the DS’s Kirby Canvas Curse and Atari’s The Chase. Admittedly still a bit rough around the edges, but still incredible to see the depth of remixing possible running directly from the original game.

FCEUX emulator [via Kotaku]

DROP THE GODDAMN RADIO: TOM FRANCIS ON ENDING BIOSHOCK

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4.15.2009

Brandon Boyer

2 Replies

There is essentially no part of Francis’s writeup that doesn’t qualify as a massive spoiler, so avert your gaze entirely from the included link if you haven’t seen BioShock all the way through.

If you have, though, PC Gamer UK’s Tom Francis sez:

I wrote this post – a rant I’ve bored many friends with about how BioShock should have ended – on the 10th of October 2008, but never got round to taking shots for it. Then on February 10th, I got to see what 2K Marin are doing for BioShock 2. And annoyingly, some of it overlaps with what I suggest here.

That meant a) I couldn’t post this, since this would look like me leaking the details I was under a non-disclosure agreement to keep secret, and b) by the time I could post this, those details would have been announced and it would seem woefully unoriginal. I’m posting it anyway.

Ending BioShock [Pentadact]