Apocalypse POW!: August 2012

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Triptych: They Call Me Doctor Who

Three things that I love right now, or at least three things that actively dominate my life, done Doctor-style: Ikea (thanks to the girlfriend), Terminator 2 (technically, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which I'm rewatching lately) ~~and Cave Story (picked up for $9.99 from the Nintendo Direct store, and which I'm enjoying probably more than Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance at the moment.)~~

EDIT: I don't know what I was thinking. That is clearly Fez, not Cave Story. My apologies.

Triptych: Shadowy Giant Men On A Shadowy Planet

"Thy Next Foe Is..." by Steve Courtney

"Colossus" by Pauline Acalin \ 72 Pins

"Shadow of the Colossus" (minimalist poster) by Marinko Milosevski

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Triptych: The Wonderful Land of Ooo

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"Adventure Kong" (t-shirt) by BazNet

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"Choose Your Own Adventure Time" by Das Chupa

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"Adventure Time: Land of Ooo Katamari" by Marcos Henríquez

Triptych: Hudson Uses Game Over!

"Alien Eats Alien" by Letter Q

"AlieYUMS" (t-shirt) by Gimetzco

"Alien RPG" (t-shirt) by BazNet

Triptych: The Happiest Place Left On Earth

"The Happiest Place Left On Earth" (t-shirt) by MicusFicus

"Flesh Wound" by Loco Robo

"Fallout Minimalist Poster" by Christopher Bowden

Monday, August 27, 2012

Square Enix...

You're a bunch of dicks.

Let's break this down:

1. I don't have an iPhone or an iPad, nor do I plan on getting one. You may be surprised to learn this, but there are gamers out there who are not part of the cult of Apple.

2. If I did have an iPhone or an iPad, I wouldn't be playing games on it. Why? Because I'd rather play games on a handheld or home console that was actually designed for such, and doesn't specifically cater to 'casual gamers' (oh how I hate what that phrase has come to mean) over people who actually enjoy playing proper games that aren't Angry Birds or Bejeweled.

3. If I did have an iPhone or an iPad and I did play games on it, I still wouldn't play The World Ends With You: Solo Remix because it's freaking $19.99.

Well-played, I suppose, Square Enix. You got me all excited about the possibilities of a sequel or a 3D remake of a cult classic, only to let me down in every single imaginable way. A countdown timer for an iOS remake of a four-year-old game? You got everyone all riled up for something cool, and your big reveal was the furthest thing from cool that i can imagine. But, eh... Maybe there are some Apple fanboys out there who are excited about this. I'M HAPPY FOR YOU JERKS.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Triptych: When This Baby Hits 88MPH, You're Going To See Some Serious Shit

"I'm Your Density" (t-shirt) by Synaptyx

"This Is Heavy" (t-shirt) by Putricide

"Marty McPrime" (t-shirt) by Nathan Davis

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Triptych: Mario With A Shotgun

"Mario Bros." by Danvinci

"Toad Girl" (t-shirt) by Baznet

"Mario 13" by Bob Dob

Triptych: Aperture Science Posters

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"Aperture Science Camp" (t-shirt) by The Hookshot

"Aperture Volunteer" (t-shirt) by DarkChoocoolat

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"Aperture Science 1953 Poster" by DJ Corny

Triptych: Dios De Los Muertos, Nintendo-Style

"Sugar Pellet" by Jonathan Koshi

"Dios De Los Metroids" by Beware1984

"Daisy De Los Muertos" by Andrew Wilson

Triptych: Rom-Zom-Com

"Player 2 Has Entered The Game" by Aled Lewis

"Zombie Weapons: Cricket Bat" (t-shirt) by robotrobotROBOT

"The Living Dead" by Jeff Victor

Triptych: Kneel Before Your Master!

"Skeletor Battle Damage" (t-shirt) by Lofton

"Old School Heroes: Skeletor" by Fabian Ciraolo

"Skeletor" by Carlos Hernández

In my daily perusings of art on the internet the other day, I kept coming across Skeletor art for no particular reason I could determine. Clearly the universe was telling me that I should do a Skeletor Triptych, and so here we find ourselves.

Only those of a very specific generation are going to get the Battle Damage reference by Lofton. For those of you who do... Haven't you always wanted a Battle Damage t-shirt? I mean, that's just genius.

The World Ends With You 2?

So I don't know if I've talked about my love of the 2008 DS game The World Ends With You here before, but believe me when I say that it is far and away the best DS game ever made, in my opinion. It was the first game that I really got into when I first got my DS and the first game I played to completion. TWEWY made excellent use of all of the DS' then-revolutionary features, most notably the touchscreen and the microphone, and was an incredibly well-designed and visually appealing game to boot.

TWEWY made a name for itself as something of a cult classic - made by Square Enix, it followed the basic format of a traditional JRPG, but subverted the tropes of that genre by setting itself in contemporary Tokyo and incorporating the food, fashion and music of the Shibuya district, and offering an ability leveling system through a set of collectible pins, each of which offers a different attack or power. Pins can be set to evolve, bringing in a mechanic not unlike the Pokemon games, and this evolution can occur even when the DS is in sleep mode. After finishing the game, I left it in my DS for a few weeks and came back to discover my pins had evolved into an entirely different set.

To me, TWEWY was a revelation. I'd never played a game even remotely like it in my life. Story-wise, the game threw me for a loop on a regular basis; each of the three major chapters pairs your main character Neku up with a different partner, with their own strengths and their own storyline. Between the pin mechanic, the wide range of abilities and the strong narrative, I fell in love with TWEWY and I missed it dearly once I'd completed it.

So when I picked up and started playing Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS a couple of weeks ago, I was elated to discover the first segment of the game featured Neku, Joshua, Beat, Shiki and Rhyme. They weren't playable, and so far have only popped up briefly during the Traverse Town levels, but it was a reminder that Square Enix hadn't forgotten about TWEWY entirely, that they were considered part of the core stable and beloved enough to include in a Kingdom Hearts release (side note: the TWEWY crew are the first non-Disney and non-Final Fantasy characters to show up in a Kingdom Hearts game.)

Well, it looks like the Kingdom Hearts cameos were just the beginning, because all evidence points to the fact that Square Enix may be releasing a follow-up to The World Ends With You. On Monday a countdown timer went live on Square Enix's Japanese site. So far, not much is there, but the evidence is fairly suggestive: the countdown timer font is identical to TWEWY's distinctive typography, character design is attributed to Tetsuya Nomura & Gen Kobayashi (the artists responsible for TWEWY, and there's a silhouette of what appear to be modern-day buildings in the background.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this. If there's any game that deserves a follow-up, it's The World Ends With You. My best guess at this point is that the game will either get a sequel or the remake treatment on the 3DS. Unfortunately, we still have to wait five and a half days to find out. If it does end up being a sequel, you can bet I'll be first in line at my local EB Games to pick it up.

[THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU: COMING SOON Countdown Timer]

Monday, August 20, 2012

Double Triptych: King Worm

"Adventure Time Stylized" by Dan Thompson

"Limbo Time" by Philip Meagher

"King Worm Duel" by Joseph Game

"Tree Trunks" by Liam Brazier

"16 Bit Adventure Time\Totoro", artist unknown (via unexplainable4now)

"Hello Adventure!" (t-shirt) by Yayzus

Did you guys watch the latest Adventure Time episode, "King Worm"? That was some surreal business right there. I couldn't look away. I've never seen anything so warped in my life.