Kill Screen Magazine's Blog, page 466

Still whimsical as ever, but the new Kirby title has Smash Bros. mode

Nothing says bursting over with playfully fanciful behavior like a new Kirby

Surprisingly, Jonathan Blow doesn't hate landscape designers

The importance of a well-placed tree

Dark Souls 2 won't be coming to mobiles, and here's why that's bad for games.

Mobiles can do serious games too, you know?

TV may have an anti-hero fixation, but so do videogames

Righting the wrongs of villainy.

This Minecraft construction reminds us of Studio Ghibli, and that's a good thing

who knew Miyazaki played Minecraft

2013: The Year in Platformers

What did it mean to jump this year? 

Shout your way through the world’s angriest holiday game

How Lifeline predicted the future and saved Christmas.

2013: The Year Social Games Grew Up

Introducing Social Games 2.0.

Dots dev are good at connecting lovers as well as dots

Here’s something nice for the holidays. The guys at We Play Dots—who made Dots, the best game on iPhone about, you guessed it, dots—have helped a couple get engaged. When Shawn, a fan of the game, emailed the team to ask them to assist him in proposing to his girl Cassie, the developer created a special version of the game for the sweethearts. After connecting a few dots, his unsuspecting lady-friend discovered a message asking her to marry him, and the rest is beautiful history. 

Also, be sure to check out our article ROMance on a proposal in Klax.

Carols are even more festive when a Commodore 64 is singing them

Nothing will get you in the holiday spirit faster than an iMac, a Commodore 64, a ZX Spectrum, and a Mega Drive singing a carol. Likely, James Houston of The Glasgow School of Art arranged this harmonic ensemble of synthesized voices for the novelty factor. After all, hearing the voice of Fred of Mac fame sing the words “Merry Christmas” would make any grinch’s heart grow six times the size. But it also serves as an apt lesson in he history of voice synthesis. There’s plenty of interest in the future of voice commands these days, with Joaquin Phoenix’s Her releasing to high praise. This is right on time.