Kill Screen Magazine's Blog, page 443
February 12, 2014
Watch in horror as this Cronenbergian virtual life-form learns to walk
No, Tunzelbots are not props from a David Cronenberg film. They are tiny, skeletal robots by Eugénie von Tunzelmann that evolve, and learn to jump, and look really creeping doing it. It has bendable joints, and produces offspring that can adapt different traits, like sometimes freakishly growing an extra limb. This is done by way of evolutionary programming, which sounds like an idea we'd like to see implemented in games. Keep in mind these bots have no way to actually reproduce on their own, but has to be simulated on a computer, thank Christ, or else we would be dousing them with kerosene at this very moment.
Virtual reality meets haute couture in this runway show in East London
We knew that affordable, consumer-level virtual reality would take us to places we’ve never been. We didn’t know that it would be to the front row of a swanky fashion show in London. However, that’s exactly what clothing retailer Topshop plans to do for its Autumn/Winter 2014 line, which they’re showing on February 16 to 18.
By strapping into a virtual reality headset at the flagship store, you can virtually sit at the foot of fashion models as they parade down the runway, which sounds nothing like the dizzying Hawken demo I tried. The great irony here is that virtual reality headsets, which are about the most clunky, unfashionable device imaginable, will be used to take a gander at ultra-chic designer dresses.
Whether are not you’re into fashion, there are huge future implications at play here. While we tend to think of virtual reality as putting us in the action, it could change the way we watch live events like sports, too. It would be amazing if you could watch a boxing match ringside from your living room; or be in the stands at the Olympics from around the globe. Unless you’re watching the luge. That’d have to be first-person, of course.
PSA: Flappy Bird creator has other games to get addicted to, write thinkpieces about
The reaction and the reaction to the reaction to Flappy Bird continues to mystify. But what we should really care about are games, not online circuses. Right? So, let’s talk games.
It just so happens Dong Nguyen has made a few more of those, two of which are still available for free on iTunes: Shuriken Block and Super Ball Juggling. Both are pretty much what you’d expect, seeming to exist somewhere in the city you see in the distance while doing all that flapping. Of course, both are incredibly difficult. And both are pretty solid, in their way.
Shuriken Block is the more adventurous of the two, depicting five miniature feudal warriors with throwing stars raining down on them. You must tap them in the millisecond before a shuriken lodges into their skulls. It’s sort of like Missile Command meets Rhythm Heaven, which aren't bad touchstones.
Super Ball Juggling lacks the brain-splattering sound effects of Shuriken Block, but it’s basically the same idea, with two footballers juggling a soccer ball in the air. I can’t last longer than ten seconds in either of them, which means Flappy Bird advocates should relish them.
Pillars of Eternity’s druid cats are coming next winter
Obsidian’s dark-fantasy Kickstarter project Pillars of Eternity is looking fittingly dark and fantastic. Today, we got word that the anticipated RPG that follows in Neverwinter Nights footsteps will be coming in Winter 2014. This had me super-excited, until it dawned on me that Winter 2014 actually meant it would hit in early 2015. Le sigh.
But it’s not all bad, as we can marvel at druid cats in the meantime. The project director has been posting a steady stream of character models and art assets from the upcoming game, including those darkly handsome evil kitties. Really, this is one of the best things about the Kickstarter: we get a steady stream of information on the progress of games, instead of going for months on end with crickets chirping. With the transparency that crowd-funding brings, there’s no need for developers to hide the game behind timed reveals and teaser trailers to garner excitement.
Gran Turismo as proof of The Singularity, and other things gleaned from KAZ
The pursuit of perfection.
Of course Terry Cavanagh made a tribute to Flappy Bird
We're breaking our self-imposed Flappy Bird embargo because the game has inspired something awesome and new. Terry Cavanagh is known for making perversely challenging games like Super Hexagon. So it comes as no surprise that he made a game in honor of Flappy Bird, the little game that at this point really needs no introduction.
He’s calling it Maverick Bird, and it’s pretty much exactly like Flappy Bird, except Terry Cavanagh-ified, with an almost-bearable dubstep soundtrack and pulsating rhomboids instead of that pitiful looking bird and warp pipes. He made it as part of the Flappy Jam, a game jam that challenged designers to create a hard, almost unplayable game with graphics inspired by the Internet-infamous game; he nailed it.
You can rekindle the magic of slamming repeatedly into the second wall by playing it here.
Why we need more tabletop game stores
Twenty Sided Store in Brooklyn is, if we're lucky, a harbinger for the future of gaming.
This pixel artist knitted a 30-foot shroud depicting the entire story of Star Wars
A really long, cross-stitched fabric that depicts the every major scene of Star Wars in chronological order from Episode 1 to Episode 6 is being sold for $20,000 at Gallery1988 (West) in Los Angeles. The centerpiece of pixel artist Aled Lewis’s first solo show hangs on the wall among rad prints of imaginary beat’em-ups from the late ’80s.
It’s the very definition of lowbrow, but the sheer ambition of this undertaking—and the fact that something like this exists at all—transcends ETSY and nerd culture. It is worth noting that a crazy Star Wars hieroglyphic language skirts the border of the cloth, preserving the tale of Yoda for future generations. Truly folk art for the consumerist era.
Kill Screen Magazine's Blog
- Kill Screen Magazine's profile
- 4 followers
