- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
Archive for the ‘Ephemera’ Category
Simon of the Dead
“A guy at work created this using facebook images of people from work… me included! Its epic!”
I’ve got a friend. A very tall and lanky friend. That friend is called Simon, and he’s awesome. But yesterday he somehow become more awesome thanks to a certain Steve Cutts who has created the rather special Shoreditch of the Dead using Adobe After Effects and a load of his work mates’ Facebook photos to render the characters. Simon is the star of the show using Deluxe Paint III (oh yes) and a moment later happily reading a Warhammer Online guide on the lavatory. It’s totally brilliant, totally off its rocker and clearly a labour of blood, er, I mean love. Go see here or view the vid after the jump. Ace of Spades has never been put to better use.
On the Perils of Over Anticipation
This last week my family and I were camping in the woods at Farragut State Park in Idaho. We had planned to go check out the shopping for house stuff in nearby Spokane and take the kids to Silverwood amusement park to give them a taste of a real roller coaster. The land is very similar to the terrain around where we live and since the water in Pend Oreille is very cold and immediately turns my three year old’s lips blue, logistically it would be simpler to just take sleeping bags outside on our lawn but… my partner and I have a modest but unquenchable streak of consumerism running through us. I like my trinkets and baubles, my partner her building supplies and house materials and in this new age hippy vegan lovefesting town we’re in people look at us like we have untreated facial gangrene.
Read More…
Looks Like Someone’s Angling for a Job at Valve
Valve has a history of slurping up talent from the fan/mod community – Adam Foster, creator of MINERVA, now gets his paychecks from Valve. So does the team that created the popular Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients, a game I never really got into. Also scribe Erik Wolpaw. And we’d be remiss not to mention the jewel in their recruitment crown, the DigiPen Institute student team that created Narbacular Drop, a senior project that would eventually become a game called Portal.
Today sees the release of a new machinima called The Jacknife Chronicles, and danged if it doesn’t look hand-made to attract Valve’s attention. Behold its 12 minutes of gore and running around beyond the click.
Karma, We Have a Problem
I’m screwed. We’re all screwed. We’re coming back as dung beetles and fruit flies and those parasites that swim up your urine when you pee in the Amazon. Why?
The Karma Police.
People of Walmart
The website People of Walmart may be old hat to some. I’m sure many Americans witness scenes like these every week (heck, I assure you some of these fine people would look right at home in the UK’s very own Walmart-owned Asda stores) and I’m fully expecting a call from 2009 to ask for it’s website back, but as an immature Englishman who has only just discovered the site, I’m currently finding People of Walmart far too amusing not to share.
The premise is simple. Regular shoppers submit photos of other people looking like complete morons whilst doing their thang across the United States’ many Walmart stores. The result is hundreds of pages worth of pure comedy. Frankly I’m shocked that some of these specimens are free to roam the streets, but hey, who am I to judge? If you fancy killing a few minutes, half an hour, an hour or even half your day (as I’ve pretty much just done), feel free to be as judgmental as you like and indulge in a few giggles yourself.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com
Email the author of this post at matc@tap-repeatedly.com
Also: Godzilla.
As in “things Japanese people are pissed about.” Rock, Paper, Shotgun ran this and I just have to pass it along. Those are Japanese people holding signs written in Japanese complaining about Japanese roleplaying games and how they’re linear and stuff. Whole image follows.
Dream A Little Bigger Darling.
I went to see the mind bending Inception the other night and came away with the same feeling I had after seeing The Matrix back in 1999. Inception is bold and exciting, and has an intensity only exasperated by Hans Zimmer’s unremitting score which seemed to be going full tilt for the entire duration of the film. The soundtrack is every bit as obnoxious as DiCaprio’s other 2010 film Shutter Island, and I love it.
Wordy and Pretentious. That Sounds Right, Yeah
To my horror, I’ve discovered that I write like the late David Foster Wallace. I do not like David Foster Wallace, but the internet doesn’t lie. I Write Like is a prose analyzer developed by a Russian software engineer. Paste in some of the stuff you’ve written and it humiliates you by telling you that you write like David Foster Wallace.
I did get “Kurt Vonnegut” once, and “Douglas Adams” once, but I got David Foster Wallace four times by posting in various stuff from this very blog. Maybe that means that this whole “Wall of Text” thing I do that Yapette teases me about is something I should revisit…
Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
Bronzemurder He Wrote (and Illustrated)
If you aren’t aware, the ASCII matrix that is Dwarf Fortress has a reputation of procedurally generating some of the most incredible (and hilarious) strings of events you’re likely to see in a game, and naturally, players have chronicled these events through storytelling. These stories, in many cases, are so nuanced that it beggars belief that they occurred verbatim in a game and not in the mind of some zealous (and slightly deranged) storyteller.
Anyway, I spotted this link over at RPS to a wonderful, wonderful illustrated battle report from a fortress by the name of Bronzemurder. I don’t want to go into detail because the whole thing is a delight and really deserves to be witnessed at first hand. If you’ve never read any Dwarf Fortress stories of madness, miasma, cats and more madness then this is a great place to start. Just don’t expect many of them (if any) to be this exquisitely illustrated and graphic designed. Big up for ligatures.
If this leaves you wanting more then there are some great short stories over at Dubious Quality (here and here) and if they aren’t enough then visit the Hall of Legends over at the Bay 12 forums for the cream of the crop. Seriously, check them out, they really are quite amazing.
Email the author of this post at greggb@tap-repeatedly.com
New York Gets PWN3D By The 80′s
2012 could turn out to be a big year for human kind. As predicted by the Ancient Mayan civilization and depicted by a particularly rubbish movie last year, our time on this planet is due to come to an abrupt end on December 21, 2012. I’m not sure about you, but I won’t waste my time with any plans for Christmas.
How the human race will meet its untimely demise is currently unknown, but according to this delightful short film by Patrick Jean, there’s a fair old chance it could involve Donkey Kong and Pacman. Joined by a host of other recognizable characters from the 1980s, the video depicts modern day New York (where else for a disaster movie, really?) being terrorized and destroyed by a host of retro gaming icons and sprites. Lasting a little over 2 and a half minutes, Pixels showcases an end of world scenario that in all fairness I’m finding hard to begrudge. Praise be to the Mayans. Unless the whole thing turns out to be as boring as Roland Emmerich’s 2012.
From The Cutting Room Floor
The IGF article I posted at the beginning of March had a somewhat lengthy preamble which I cut just before publishing. After reading it over again it seems a shame to leave it on the cutting room floor so — after a spot of editing and because I’ve just been given a cup of tea without asking, putting me in a splendid mood, I’ll just quietly post this here and you can make of it what you will.
Starfeld: Not Starfield
Beautiful, gripping and powerful. These are all words you wouldn’t associate with Stephen ‘increpare’ Lavelle’s Starfeld, a strange, miniaturised space oddity. I played this a few weeks ago and had a good giggle but after all the talk of RPGs, freedom and linearity here recently it seems only fitting that I throw this one out there now. You Mass Effect players may appreciate the satire here more than I did. I just appreciated the line “I am a fully accredited yoga guru”.
Musical Memories
It’s easiest to let the clip do the talking; besides, Mass Effect 2 just decrypted on Steam (speaking of Steam – Psychonauts! $2!)
I am a great fan of the Video Games Live concert. I’ve seen it three times and would cheerfully see it another ten, and I’m always recommending that people go and check it out. While I think the cosplay contest is probably ill-advised given that we’re trying to attract a non-Otaku audience as well, the rest is worth anyone’s time. But it’ll most affect those who remember the tunes from the days of their youth. Some of them bring a tear to my eye.
This isn’t Video Games Live, but it’s a nice stand-in while we wait for the PBS special. Enjoy!
Every Day The Same Dream
I think this could be one of the most important games I’ve ever played and it took me completely by surprise. Developed by Paolo Pedercini in six days for the Experimental Gameplay Project, Every Day the Same Dream demonstrates beautifully how interactivity can communicate certain concepts every bit as effectively as linear media, perhaps even more so. I noticed it a few weeks ago but haven’t really had a chance to post about it. So before reading any further go and play it now. It shouldn’t take too long. Quick! Before your boss comes back.
Choose Your Own Closure
Information designer Michael Niggel has a great eye and a lot of time on his hands. He took Journey Under the Sea, the second in the classic and long-running Choose Your Own Adventure book series that those of us who grew up in the eighties loved so much, and mapped out all the possibilities.
Turns out that dying horribly is a lot easier than saving the universe. Check it out!
The Bobby Kotick Show: Blame the Victim
SEGA is Sad Panda Over Dead Space Extraction
Superficially Relevant: Do You Drink?
Recent Comments