Double Triptych: Gallifreyan Balderdash

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"Peri and the Time Cat" by Steve Andrew

"Donkey Who" (t-shirt) by BazNet

"Relative Dimensions" (t-shirt) by Adam Koford

"Void Stuff Vision" (t-shirt) by Jeffro Kilpatrick

"Sci-Fi Transport Series: The TARDIS" by Josh Ln

"Inside Dalek's Ship" by Loweak

Indiesplosion!

A trio of indie games I've been meaning to post about for a few weeks: Stealth Bastard and Gunpoint are stealth-based 2D platformers, while Retro City Rampage is kind of a satirical 8-bit GTA demake.

STEALTH BASTARD: TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ARSEHOLE
Curve Studios
(PC, free download)

Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Arsehole has been described as the unholy spawn of Super Meat Boy, Portal and Splinter Cell. I'm not 100% certain what makes the protagonist such a bastard\arsehole, but robots and lasers definitely seem to think he's kind of a dick, and wish all sorts of ill upon him. Stealth Bastard offers 28 levels, a level editor, and is completely and unreservedly free.

Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Arsehole Trailer

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GUNPOINT
Tom Francis (Pentadact)
(PC, December 2011 release)

Gunpoint reminds me a lot of an updated Elevator Action, if that game was a lot more violent and had Batman's detective mode from Batman: Arkham Asylum (called 'rewiring mode' here). The game's not out yet so I haven't had a chance to try it out, but it looks fantastic and seems to have a pretty unique gameplay mechanism. The video below is a talk\playthrough of an early, very rough version of Gunpoint which nevertheless contains all of the basic elements of the more polished upcoming version.

Gunpoint Early Talkthrough Video

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RETRO CITY RAMPAGE
VBlank Entertainment
(WiiWare, XBox Live Arcade, release date TBA)

Retro City Rampage is insane. Lots of carjacking and criminal activity and random acts of violence, all in glorious 8-bit. It also looks highly referential, and packed full of classic videogame in-jokes and sight gags: everything from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game to Metal Gear to The Legend of Zelda II get satirised. The game world is huge, and the designers promise over 20 available weapons and 30 available vehicles (including but not limited to the TMNT van, the A-Team's van, and Doc Brown's DeLorean). I'm looking forward to this finally getting released.

Retro City Rampage Trailer

Showcase: PieceOfToast's 8-bit Demakes

"BioShock"

"Portal 2"

"Deus Ex: Human Revolution"

[PieceOfToast's Deviantart]

Triptych: TV Time!

"The Walking Dead Poster" by Andrew Kolb

"The IT Crowd Crest" (t-shirt design) by Tom Trager

"Saved By The Bell: The Columbine Years" by Jude Buffum

Triptych: A Grab-Bag of Miscellany

You may have noticed I've been on a posting bender today, trying to get caught up on my massive backlog of artwork. This will continue until morale improves.


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"Know Your Weak Points!" (poster design) by Olly Moss


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"Power Up And Play" by ~cronobreaker


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"New Game" by Luke Pearson

LIMBO Finally Out On Steam

"8-Bit Limbo For PC!" by The Last Monkey

Way, way, WAY, WAY back in 2006, when this blog was still the Cabinet of Curiosities, I posted about Limbo, an upcoming indie game from Copenhagen-based Playdead Studios. Limbo was subsequently released last year on XBox Live Arcade after a four-year development cycle, but sadly I never got a chance to play it.

Well, now Limbo's been released on Steam for PC, at a more-than-reasonable price of $9.99, so I guess I no longer have any excuse not to play it. The game's garnered rave reviews across the board, and considering it was one of the first indie games that I got genuinely excited about - excited enough to start blogging about videogames, in fact - I think I owe it to myself to put it into rotation.

Showcase: Brendan Corris

"Eat Up Those Power Pills" by Brendan Corris


"The Blue Bomber" by Brendan Corris


"Eat Garlic, Evildoers" by Brendan Corris

[Brendan Corris]



Not enough Simon Belmont artwork out there. Check out Brendan's gallery to see more of his takes on classic NES characters, including Bonk, Bayou Billy and Little Mac.

Triptych: Minimalist Sci-Fi Rosters by Wolfentir

"Minimalist Doctor Who" by Wolfentir


"Minimalist Star Wars" by Wolfentir


"Minimalist Star Trek TOS" by Wolfentir

OSKUNK!'s Videogame Munnys

“Donkey Kong” by OSKUNK!
Bomberman” by OSKUNK!

“Link” by OSKUNK!

Also, check out his rad customised Game Boy:

Triptych: In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

"Pixel People: Star Wars: A New Hope" (cross-stitch design) by weelittlestitches


"How To Use The Force" (t-shirt design) by Sean Husbands


"Build Your Own R2 Unit" by sEAn8181

Use Science On Dead Crewman

A couple more pixelwerks by Andy Helmi, because I'm digging his tumblr today.

Nintendo 3DS, or: This Is Officially The Future

Sometimes you just have to buy a thing.

Therefore, this weekend I joined the ranks of Early Adopters and helped myself to a Nintendo 3DS.  On one hand, it was hardly an impulse purchase: I budgeted around the $250 price-tag, and I'd been considering buying one for at least two weeks prior. On the other, though, given the lean launch-title roster and the fact that I already own a DSi, it seemed like an indulgence more than anything.

This is the fundamental obstacle Nintendo is faced with right now, having saturated the market with new editions of their handheld console: The original DS was released in 2004, the DS Lite in 2006, the DSi in 2009 and the DSi XL in 2010, almost exactly a year to the day prior to the 3DS' release date.  These are all essentially the same device, with the exception of (primarily) cosmetic alterations - the DS Lite was smaller, the DSi XL had considerably larger screens, and so forth - but in basic form and function, every system released under the DS banner has operated in an identical fashion.

The Nintendo DS is the best-selling handheld of all time, which may be accounted for by the near-yearly re-launches of the system.  There has always been a shiny new version of the DS on the market, boasting a flashy redesign and extraneous "features", and each release has been accompanied by a potent marketing campaign. 

What's strange about this is that Nintendo has earned itself a reputation as an innovator in the current gaming industry.  Motion control with the Wii, the eponymous dual screens and touch-screen of the DS, and other intuitive, player-immersive features have made Nintendo an industry leader (heck, even the light gun that came with the original Nintendo Entertainment System was astonishing in its day).  From an empirical standpoint, they have introduced new ways of gaming to players which have subsequently been aped by their competitors.  So there's this strange duality to Nintendo, where on one side of the coin they regularly alter the face of videogaming with their clever and brilliantly-implemented ideas, and on the other side, they are content to slap a new coat of metaphorical paint on their existing devices and repackage them as the latest and greatest.

All of this is to make the point that the 3DS straddles the line between these two facets of Nintendo.  It most certainly is, at heart, just another Nintendo DS with all-new bells and whistles, but one of those bells and\or whistles is so revolutionary it almost validates the hefty price tag.  Not to mention the fact that the hardware is, allegedly, souped-up and next-gen (Nintendo has not officially released specs on the 3DS).

I'm not going to lie: the 3D feature of the 3DS is impressive.  It's so novel I couldn't NOT own one.  Even if the market saturation backfires and the 3DS ends up a casualty alongside the Virtual Boy and R.O.B. The Robot, it's going to look good doing it.  But for the average handheld aficionado - especially the younger set, who are simultaneously more concerned with the immediate wow factor and harder to keep interested, in the long run, than grown-up nerds - it's a tough sell, especially considering the DSi XL is only a year old and there aren't a ton of device-specific games that take advantage of the feature just yet.

Here's my run-down of the Nintendo 3DS, what was promised, and what we actually got.

Triptych: 8-Bit Terrariums

"Zelda" by Jude Buffum


"Castlevania" by Jude Buffum


"Super Mario Bros" by Jude Buffum

[8-Bit Terrariums by Jude Buffum]

The Minecraft Experience

Click the image for the (massive) full-sized version.

Drunk Moogles, Tipsy Chocobos, Hammered Metroids and More.

The Drunken Moogle, maintained by Mitch Hutts and Travis Broyles, explores one very specific arena: the space where drinking and videogames meet. From Mitch's own description of the site, The Drunken Moogle is:

... a blog devoted to what might be the two best things this side of Hyrule: video games and booze. Though the generation of gamers who grew up with Mario, Sonic, and Final Fantasy gains new interests, some hobbies never change. We at TDM are dedicated to bringing the evolving gamer the perfect pairing between gaming and drinking culture.

While this is a noble endeavor on the whole and one which I endorse heartily, the true genius of The Drunken Moogle are the gaming-inspired cocktails which Mitch and Travis have compiled, if not concocted themselves. I have yet to apply my own not-insignificant barcrafting skills to any of the recipes below, but rest assured I will do so in due time and report back on the results.

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THE BLANKATINI (Street Fighter)

Blankatini (Street Fighter Cocktail)

Ingredients:
1.5 oz. green apple vodka
1 oz. melon liqueur

Directions: Pour both ingredients into a cocktail glass and stir. Line the rim of the glass with orange sugar or cotton candy and garnish with a lemon peel. Drink and try not to get electrocuted.

Fantastic Four #26, Donkey-Kongified

"Fantastic Four #26", by Anthony Vukojevich

Covered is a blog featuring reinterpretations of classic (and sometimes not-so-classic) comic book covers by a number of artists. There's some excellent work to be seen there, notably Anthony Vukojevich's classic videogame-inspired rehashing of Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky's cover of Fantastic Four #26 (check out the original here for comparison.)

Miscellany: Super Mario Bros. Art

Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 Remake by ~marobot

Super Mario Realistic Pixelated by jimiyo

1985 by Mike Mitchell

So Analog by Squid Kids Ink.

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These are super rad. Meet 10-Doh!, B-Side, and A-Drive, three prototype vinyl figures from Squid Kids Ink. They'll be debuting at DesignerCon 2010 in Pasadena, CA on November 20th. Sadly, since these are only prototypes, they won't be for sale - though there may be a few blanks available for purchase at the Con.

My love of vinyls is well-documented and I can think of nothing better than seeing the So Analog series earn itself a solo custom show (with the exception of maybe owning a few of them). So if you're in the Pasadena area on the 20th of November and you happen to stop by D-Con, make sure you give these sculpts the proper adulation they deserve - and if you so happen to feel like grabbing a blank 10-Doh! for me at the same time, well, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it.

[So Analog, by Squid Kids Ink]

The Legend of Busting Up People's Stuff (or, Why Link Is A Jerk)

A trio of Zelda-related videos for your enjoyment.



Really makes you wonder about Link's priorities. I mean, the dude picks the worst possible time to go fishing. Then again, what's up with villagers handing out pointless busy-work to Link when there are clearly more important things to be focusing on? They should know he's got the attention span of a ten-year-old on a sugar high.



Crazy red-eyed Link ineffectually smacking a chicken with his sword makes me bust a gut every time.



I don't know why this is a thing.

Amazing Races!

Tron, if it had been released in the 1960s and had titles designed by the legendary Saul Bass:

Tron vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.

Truly, this is why I get up in the morning.